Fantasy Fest 2017:
A Key West State of Mind
On October 23, Key West stuck its middle finger up to Mother Nature and staged its 23rd Annual Fantasy Fest http://www.fantasyfest.com. Six weeks before, it had battened down the hatches as Hurricane Irma tore through town. The need to reopen for tourism was the prod. So was the need to show the world people in the Florida Keys can take a punch.
To say that no festival in the world remotely resembles this is a monumental understatement. Fun like this doesn’t happen in a vacuum.
On April 23, 1982, Key West declared itself “The Conch Republic” and made a picaresque attempt to secede from the United States of America. In 1994, a loyalist composed The National Anthem of the Conch Republic. It was recorded by the Key Lime Pie Band (yes) and accepted by the City of Key West Commissioners. I’m not making this stuff up.
The islanders celebrate April 23rd annually with a week of eccentric festivities, aptly named “A Sovereign State of Mind” with a mission is to bring more “Humor, Warmth and Respect” to the world. I’d probably walk to Key West from Boston for a slice of Key Lime Pie topped with those three toppings right now. I’ve always felt that vibe. In the next three days, I met islanders who personified it.
LINK https://www.keywestvacation.com/learn-about-the-conch-republic/
Given the declaration of the Conch Republic, Fantasy Fest was probably inevitable. The Masquerade March on October 27 is the festapalooza event of the ten-day Fantasy Fest. With this year’s theme of ‘Time Travel Unravels,” it was a way reassert the Conch Republic way of life. They needed the jolt from their famously politically incorrect parade as much as every hotel, gift shop, bar, restaurant, and art gallery in town needed the business it generates.
Some of the locals I talked to didn’t have a roof over their heads. But, miss a Fantasy Fest Parade? Are you kidding? During the Masquerade March on October 27, I met a guy who was living proof.
When I arrived on October 25, its wounds were largely invisible in the Duval Street area, the hub of the tourist industry. But in neighborhoods blocks from Mallory Square there were signs of wreckage not witnessed by tourists. Key West took it on the chin – but Conchs roll with the punches.
The Florida Keys are not your average bunch of islands strung like a strand of pearls. This particular chain is known for having its own quirky tropical culture and going its own way. Being the southernmost territory in the continental USA, it’s adopted a tropical culture as Caribbean as American. And they’re not shy about telling you about it.
Without exception, the themes that ran through every conversation I had during my 72-hour stay were Family and Tolerance, not a far cry from Humor, Warmth and Respect.
The revelations began Wednesday night a few hours after I landed and kept right on going until the hour I left. After a while, I wondered whether the Chamber of Commerce handed every resident a “What to tell tourists about Key West” pamphlet.
There was Dan, middle-aged, trim build, two day growth of beard with tinge of grey, managing the Mattheesen’s ice cream shop on 106 Duval Street just above Mallory Square.
“I came down to Key West from Chicago in October 1993 for an 8 day honeymoon and never left.” This is not an uncommon story. Dan works here as his second job. Also not an uncommon story.
While spooning up some of the creamiest, tastiest Ice cream I’ve ever tasted, Dan says. “When my father visited many years ago, I said something derogatory about gay bars.”
“My father said, ‘Son, listen to me. Everyone needs someone to love and it doesn’t make a difference what sex they are, what color they are, or what religion they are, they are being who they are. And it’s none of your damn business.’ My father was correct and that’s the spirit of Key West.”
There you have it. Key West in 41 words.
What does appear to be everyone’s business is to keep their tribe intact. Recovering from Hurricane Irma is Exhibit A.
“How did you fare with Irma?” says I.
“People help one another out during times like this, it’s a cohesive community, nearly tribal, it takes care of its own.”
“I have a generator to keep all the electronics going. It’s not unusual for Duval Street to flood a few inches during heavy rains but it’s been happening more often. I saw people paddling down Duval Street in kayaks and one guy on a jet ski during the storm. FEMA came down and dispensed truckloads of water since our drinking water became contaminated.”
Key West is 18 feet above sea level. Not good.
The Uber driver from the airport says that Key West had flooding but most of the damage came from hundreds of trees uprooted, squashing cars, clogging the streets and damaging homes. “ About 100 trucks with 500 men from power companies from Wisconsin worked nonstop to repair the electrical system,” he said, “that was a reason the city could re-open ahead of schedule.”
There was a sense of urgency not only to restore essential services to residents but also to open Key West for the tourism industry, the backbone of its economy. And Fantasy Fest was just weeks away.
Eating ice cream at Matheesen’s is habit forming. Jack, at the Matheesen’s across the street from La Concha Hotel, came south from Atlanta during college days with a pal. “I met my wife here and have stayed here ever since.” That was a few decades ago.
He’s as friendly and as genuine as they come with an easy smile, no pretense. Maybe the choice to embrace Key West is a self-selecting mechanism. If there are any Type A personalities here, they’re well disguised in an azure cloak of laid-back fabric. No matter how busy, the sales people and store owners never seem to be in too much of a hurry talk, especially about their bout with disaster.
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This is Jack’s part-time night gig. He also manages a T-shirt store a few blocks away.
“There’s a sense of community here. Most of us who work here know each other.”
Deborah, the night manager of La Concha Hotel on Duval Street adds to the recurring theme. “We took in several homeless people to sleep in the lobby during the storm and fed them and kept them out of danger. The hotel was full because locals who weren’t sure how their houses would fare took rooms here because it was safer.”
Chrissie, the hotel administrator who took my initial reservation said the same thing about looking out for the homeless people on the island. “They don’t have to contend with frigid temperatures or desert temperatures. I’m not sure how many live here but they manage to survive.”
It’s not widely advertised but a few local restaurants give away unused food. One owner in a nearby restaurant called Cowboy Bill’s at 618 Duval Street has led the way toward this type of arrangement to feed the homeless.
“It’s a tight-knit community,” Deborah adds, “we look after one another and live and let live.”
Maybe the sea that surrounds islands acts as a wrap around moat and gives them a sense of identity we just don’t feel on the mainland. It’s not enough to say that the Keys are in the T-shirts and flip flops tropics.
A disaster like Hurricane Irma was not going to erode the “Sovereign State of Mind” that binds the people of Key West together.
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