Fantasy Fest 2008 in Key West
Key West, FL -This year, Key West celebrates the 30th year of Fantasy Fest… where fantastical fun will be shared as usual by more than 70,000 costumed partygoers. This year’s theme is, “Pirates, Pundits, and Political Party Animals.”
Join us as TripSmarter.Com takes you on a little sojourn through theme land… and 29 years of Fantasy Fest themes and memories… both good and bad… at least for those who still have a memory! Afterall… we’re going back a long, long time… from the very beginning!
It was a few “forward thinking” island residents who had a little too much time on their hands… they looked around… saw no one (tourists especially) and decided to have a party and a parade-or was it just a parade that ended up being a party? Oh well, by the time Halloween rolled around, the first Fantasy Fest parade had rolled down Duval. Now, any parade is a good excuse for a party, but a parade in Key West during the Halloween “season” is just two excuses too many to be OUTRAGEOUS! It also proved to be too many crazy people asking for trouble! Perfect! From the very beginning, Fantasy Fest was a hit! A great excuse for all of Key West’s crazy characters to get all dressed up and act a little crazier than usual-it’s always good to have an excuse, right? And apparently where there’s one, there’s two and if you party… THEY (the tourists) will come.
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It was 1979, and the first Fantasy Fest theme was Old Key West! The rumblings of success were everywhere… everyone just did their thing… rather like Key West on any given night… just BIGGER… more people and more FUN. Cool!
Realizing that it was fun to dress up AND it was Halloween, the next year’s theme was the House of Horrors… all the groovy freaks came out in all their splendor and Fantasy Fest really began to pick up steam.
More and more sponsors and more events were added to the 1981 festival, Va Va Voom… there’s nothing more to say about that theme… right Marilyn.
1982’s Carnival marked the arrival of the Pretender’s in Paradise Costume Contest at the Pier House. It would soon become one of the most popular events of the entire festival… an outdoor costume contest on the beach by the Gulf of Mexico… the perfect backdrop for some of the most elaborate costumes ever… and lots of cash prizes.
The theme in 1983… the Plays of Tennessee Williams. Tennessee Williams was a long-time resident of Key West and a familiar sight at many of the best watering holes around town!
1984 saw 50 Years of Film Fantasy and Hollywood was given a new look in the Florida Keys. Ouch!
The event moved its attention back East the following year with its Broadway Fantasies. No doubt, every piano bar in town was hopping and tap shoes made a come back on Duval Street!
Fantasy in Space took flight in 1986 and the “Trekkies” had their turn to take over the festival. Really… that was enough of that!
Halloween with a Key West Flair! It spooked everyone in 1987! The tenth anniversary was suddenly on the doorstep and crowds were getting bigger and bigger, not to mention wilder and wilder… and ok, weirder and weirder!
Fantasy Fest B.C. saw everyone dressing as cavemen and dragging women along the street by their hair… well, not really but it probably happened somewhere!
Next year, Key West revelers once again took a stab at the future with Future Fantasies 2089. Everyone came to the island with a fantasy that was most likely fulfilled by the end of the week… ok, it was fulfilled-more than once!
Caribbean Fantasies sailed in next and the island reggaed like never before with the sound of Bob Marley from every street corner… and atop every head… dreadlocks! OMG!
Junglemania appeared in 1991 and the city was filled with Tarzan’s, Jane’s and every conceivable animal in the jungle. It was around this time that “things” got a little out of hand… and the first efforts to enforce a dress code cropped up. Of course, they failed splendidly! Something about pretending to be naked, though not naked, is NOT appropriate… no one ever understood what “they” were talking about?
So… Key West moved on, though Halloween in the Devil’s Triangle was also a mystery to most. The real fun was trying to figure out what anyone would wear in the Devil’s Triangle?
That sense of confusion was the perfect state to be in for 1993’s Lost in the ‘60’s! “Give me a head with hair… long, beautiful hair” - every latent hippie on earth descended on Key West that year… and most of them stayed. They’re still here.
Mystical Myths and Twisted Tales was the theme for ‘94. It was an exceptionally beautiful year with everyone dressed as Greek Gods… it was truly twisted, but nothing nearly so twisted as the following year’s theme, Tinseltown Dreams. Uh oh, Hollywood again!
Or as WILD as 1996’s Call of the Wild! Whatever it was, it was heard all around town!
TV Jeebies in 1997 was one of the classic Fantasies… with every maladjusted TV icon misinterpreted & misunderstood.
1998 returned Key West to its roots with Fright Night on Bone Island. Everybody scrrrrream… again!
Rocky horror and all his friends showed up for www.warptime.net in 1999. And yes, we all did the time warp again… and again! You know that’s always LOTS of FUN!
Ladies and Gentlemen… the greatest show on earth - Circuses and Sideshows gave everyone an excuse to “act up” in 2000, followed by Secrets of the Zodiac Revealed in 2001 and Mystical Mornings/Monsterious Nights in 2002. Where do they come up with these “words?”
By the way… in all the years of Fantasy Fest, there has never been one serious crime, mugging or serious felony of any sort committed! Naturally, The Silver Anniversary of Fantasy fest was celebrated with typical hilarity, and Daze of Futures Past − 25 Years of Fantasy came and went without incident! Maybe just a few naked...well, let’s not get into that.
Next year saw plenty of Delirious Dreams and Hilarious Screams as 2004’s Fantasy Fest invited people to dream and scream… and why not, Key West has always been known as a dreamers paradise… laid back and funny! And on any given day or night you’re apt to find plenty of Freaks, Geeks and Goddesses in town. They showed up in droves for the 2005 Fantasy Fest and then there was…
Willlllllllmaaaaaaaaaaa! The 2006 hurricane was nothing like the Wilma we know (and love) from the Flintstone’s, but she tore through the island on October 23rd and many thought there would be no Fantasy Fest… but apparently it takes more than a hurricane to stop this juggernaut! They called it Key Weird on the Disoriented Express and no one knew the difference… a party’s a party and it’s always been a BIG one and Wilma only made it a little wetter!
Skip to 2008 and Key West is ready for another one… and there’s nothing like a few Pirates, Pundits, and Political Party Animals in late October! Make your plans now, because YOU and everybody else plan on making their way to the Keys for this celebration. It’s Key West and Fantasy fest is always a blast-just bring your costume and your best Halloween attitude and get ready to party. It’s an island answer to Mardi Gras on America’s only Carribean island! With over twenty-five years of trying to get it right, this year’s Fantasy Fest is sure to be better than the rest… the world’s great party in paradise! 
For the most recent info on this event and others,
check our Key West Special Event Calendar.
