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Key West Considers Costs Of Its Biggest Event

Andy Newman
/
Florida Keys News Service
Fantasy Fest is capped by a parade down Duval Street in Key West. The event brings tens of thousands of people to the island.

  Every year in late October, tens of thousands of people visit Key West for the 10 days of parties and parades known as Fantasy Fest.

It's the island's biggest event of the year, and it fills hotel rooms, bars and restaurants. But it also costs the city more than $280,000 for clean-up and policing.

Under the most recent contract with the event organizers, the city received $62,000. But that contract has expired and city commissioners are holding a workshop at 6 p.m. Thursday to re-evaluate the costs.

"The city contributes hundreds of thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours of staff time to put on this festival," said City Commissioner Sam Kaufman. "I think the city should be getting a lot more money. I'm not sure the taxpayers should be subsidizing a private organization for this festival."

The city does collect additional money from parking fees, as well as increased sales taxes during the festival. Kaufman said he doesn't think those increases justify the amount the city is paying.

The contract renewal comes after several years of concerns raised by Key West residents about public nudity outside of the proscribed "fantasy zones," and lewd acts in public.

"We want to strike a balance between having the promotion of tourism, but we also want to be concerned about the quality of life issues for our residents," Kaufman said. "And we want to have fairness with regard to how much the private provider of Fantasy Fest is paying."

Nancy Klingener was WLRN's Florida Keys reporter until July 2022.
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