Fantasy Fest 2017: The Masquerade March
In my book, the annual Masquerade March is one of the ‘do not miss’ events of the whole festival.
Parade streets are closed to vehicles. At 5 PM, hundreds of marchers in the wackiest, imaginative, often flesh-baring costumes walk through usually staid neighborhoods from the Key West Cemetery to Duval Street. MAP
The route is lined with locals lounging on lawn chairs, hanging out on porches of single-family homes and grand three deckers, some of which double as guest houses.
Residents applaud, snap photos, and shout out to costumed people they know. After what they’ve been through, they really needed to dive into the quirky culture that drew them to Key West in the first place.
Who’s having more fun, the marchers or the spectators?
I step out of the march to take a photo of a group of spectators clearly enjoying the merry spectacle. By now, nothing should surprise me, but what happens next certainly does, a ten-minute history lesson.
It gets complicated, is subject to my memory but fun to recall. Once I disclose that I’m from Boston, a woman who lives a few feet from where the gang is sitting at 526 Simonton Street decides to let me know that Key West has a pride in history not unlike Bostonians.
History footnote: In 1521, Ponce de Leon was the first European to set foot on the island where he encountered the Calusa people already there. In 1822, a US Navy schooner planted the US flag in the sands of Key West, claiming the Keys as United States property. Not a peep from Spain, the Florida Keys became property of United States of America.
For the next ten minutes, I'm told that a man named Robert Watson settled in Key West in 1847, fought in the Civil War and returned to Key West in 1865 and built the house next door.
A three-decker across the street at 525 Simonton Street opened a VRBO named The Grande Dame Key West – (The Watson House). The use of Watson’s name, ”usurped,” I believe was her word, was a rather tacky thing to do to promote the rental property, but locals knows better.
As I write this, I see that home listed by a local real estate agency lists 522 Simonton Street as “… one of the most historic and iconic homes in Key West. Built in the 1860’s and the Key West home of Robert Watson, officer in the Confederate Army and later Confederate Navy, and his family. Watson later served briefly as mayor of Key West. There have only been two families to reside here since the home was built.”
Hmmmmm, the Watson saga. Here’s the point of the story. “Knock at my door next time you visit Key West. I’ll supply the wine and tell you more stories about the Watsons.”
Key West warmth? You bet.
A few houses away, as dusk set in, I walk by a woman on the sidewalk drinking a beer and overhear her say this was one of the best parades she has ever seen.
“The annual Masquerade March is really a march for the locals,” she says. “Everybody went all out to create costumes and let loose because of the ravages of the storm,” she said.
That registered.
An hour before, I stepped out if the march to chat with a middle aged fellow and his wife standing next to a golf cart full of children.
“I live up-island in Big Pine Key. My roof is still covered with a blue tarp while I work on fixing it up,” he says. “All I needed today was a cold beer and my family and I’m good to go.“
Over the next two days, I learned some of the darker effects Irma will have on the Florida Keys. Stay tuned... but for today...
The Conch Republic, bloody but unbowed, the tribe is still intact.
Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.
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