Key West's annual Fantasy Fest celebration is back and in full force, for the first time since the pandemic shutdowns in 2020.
The 10-day event is filled with theme parties, parades and as much rowdy drinking as those in attendance can muster.
Fantasy Fest means big business for the small tourism-dependent island, as tens of thousands of tourists pour in to party in a way they likely can't back home.
But aside from the scantily-clad crowd, including those wearing little more than body paint, Fantasy Fest is a showcase for Keys artists.
Like the partiers, some of them also choose excess.
What does $2,000 worth of glitter look like?
In Key West, it’s only the start of one Fantasy Fest parade entry built bylocal artist Christie Fifer and her team.
They’ve turned the classicLewis Carroll tale, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, into an over-the-top spectacle, with three floats and 120 people in costumes.
It's only one of the entries in Saturday night's marquee parade, which starts at 7 p.m. downtown.
The Fifers Follies creation is "Alice's Excellent Adventure", which fits with this year's Fantasy Fest theme, "Cult Classics and Cartoon Chaos."
Fifer had planned this for the 2020 fest, but the shutdown canceled everything. A smaller Fantasy Fest returned in 2020, but without the big parade or a street fair. This time around the team could finally bring their vision to fruition.
The legendary characters are all portrayed on the Alice float: Alice, the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, the Queen and the Cheshire Cat.
But there are some extra flourishes.
Fifer's cat is a whopping furry figure painted pink and black, and outfitted with hydraulics."His head is going to look side-to-side," Fifer said.
"He’s going to be perched in a tree probably about 8 feet in the air overlooking a table of glittered cakes and tea."
The cost is nearly $20,000. Fifer, donors and her team are paying the bill.
"It’s ridiculously over the top and we know that," Fifer said, while giving a tour of her workshop on Stock Island, where the float pieces were stored at the time.
Fantasy Fest dates back to 1979, a time when the month of October in Key West meant tourism dried up and revenue stalled.
To change that, four business owners, Bill Conkle, Tony Falcone, Joe Liszka and Frank Romano decided to throw a parade.
These days, Fantasy Fest draws about 60,000 people and brings $40 million to the Keys, according to the Monroe County Tourist Development Council.
Fantasy Fest runs through Sunday, Oct. 30.
