Creative Costumes and Cartoon Chaos to Color Key West’s Fantasy Fest
Revelers can express their creativity by donning dazzling costumes during the annual Fantasy Fest celebration in Key West. Set for Friday, Oct. 21, through Sunday, Oct. 30, the 2022 festival is themed “Cult Classics & Cartoon Chaos.”
Several dozen masquerade parties, quirky costume contests, live music and theater shows, and themed events are scheduled during the 10-day festival, culminating in a lavish grand parade featuring massive motorized floats and elaborately costumed marching groups.
Participants are encouraged to draw costume ideas from the festival theme, portraying characters inspired by favorite cartoons and television or film productions with a cult following. Influences might include animated offerings like “Family Guy” or Hollywood classics like “Mad Max” or “Pulp Fiction.”
Events begin Friday, Oct. 21, with the “Thanks for the Memories” Royal Coronation Ball to crown the festival king and queen, held at the Truman Waterfront’s Coffee Butler Amphitheater. Key West’s Caribbean roots are celebrated that weekend with Friday and Saturday’s family-friendly Goombay street party in historic Bahama Village.
Subsequent festival highlights include Wednesday’s Pet Masquerade, where costumed dogs, cats, birds and more prance across the stage at the Coffee Butler Amphitheater. Contestants in the engaging antics might dress as Scooby Doo and his cohorts, cartoon feline Garfield, a flock of Angry Birds or even Wallace and Gromit of British film fame.
Thursday brings the lavish Headdress Ball, also to be held at the amphitheater, featuring prizes for the best masks and headdresses. Typically sporting feathers, glitter and glitzy accessories, many entries tower above their wearers’ heads in a fine display of design artistry.
The cartoon chaos takes to the streets Friday, Oct. 28, during the Captain Morgan Masquerade March. A favorite of Florida Keys residents and visitors, the march features vividly costumed participants promenading from Key West’s Frances Street to an after-party at the Green Parrot Bar, 601 Whitehead St.
Other festival standouts include the mini-but-mighty “Smallest Parade in the Universe,” tutu and toga parties, multigenre musical salutes, themed costume contests and the fun-filled Fantasy Market at Truman Waterfront Park.
Saturday night, Oct. 29, tens of thousands of spectators are expected to line Key West’s Whitehead and Duval streets for the spectacular Bud Light Fantasy Fest Parade. A procession of large-scale decorated floats, exotic marching groups and fantastically costumed characters, the parade displays the freewheeling creativity that has colored the festival for more than 40 years.
Learn more about Florida Keys & Key West
Our emails to you has bounced travelmole.com Or You can change your email from your profile Setting Section
Your region selection will be saved in your cookie for future visits. Please enable your cookie for TravelMole.com so this dialog box will not come up again.
Price Based Country test mode enabled for testing United States (US). You should do tests on private browsing mode. Browse in private with Firefox, Chrome and Safari
You can see how this popup was set up in our step-by-step guide: https://wppopupmaker.com/guides/auto-opening-announcement-popups/
You will be requested to do this only once, unless you do not allow cookies, in which case, please whitelist TravelMole.com for cookies on your desktop browsers or mobile/cell browsers
Your region selection will be saved in your cookie for future visits.
BA flight attendant taken off duty after boozy altercation
Passenger attempts suicide on Bangkok-London flight
Ship crew member arrested after stabbing attack
Report: Viking Sky outage could have been ‘one of the worst disasters at sea’
Spain hits Booking.com with record €530 million fine