Fantasy Fest Parade Day

Saturday was the day of the big parade. Fantasy Fest actually runs until Sunday when they have "Kid's Day" at Bayview Park. And when "The Fat Lady Sings" at La Te Da late in the afternoon on Sunday, Fantasy Fest is officially over. But the major event is the parade. The parade assembles and starts in Truman Annex near the entrance to Fort Zachery Taylor. I got up early on Saturday morning and took a run. I noticed that a lot of spectators had already lined Southard Street with their chairs. This picture was taken at the entrance to Truman Annex by the guardhouse at about 10:00 in the morning.

So we went and got our chairs so we could have a good spot, too. Neal's trying them out to be sure they're okay!

Then, we got on our bikes and took a ride to the waterfront near the entrance to Fort Zachary Taylor and the beach where the floats were being ever-so-carefully prepared for the big event that night! This year there were about 60 floats in the parade.

These guys were some of the first people to arrive and start to put their floats together.

After checking out the float preparations, we took a walk to see what was happening on Duval. We found they had set up a bandstand in front of the La Concha Hotel and the "Paradise Big Band" was performing. They were really good!

All the costumed people were out again. I'm not sure if this guy was a Villian, Vixen or Vampire but his costume was pretty good!

Hoards of people continued to do the Duval Crawl. They enjoyed the Paradise Big Band as they walked by.

These kids are from KW high school. They had on their costumes and were all lined up on the curb listening the Big Band. (Their mothers were standing behind them.)

These 2 people didn't even know each other. She was walking up Duval and he was walking down Duval. They stopped, danced together to the Big Band, then continued on their separate way. They were both pretty good dancers. It was just cool to see it happen. It made us smile.

This woman had a room on the 2nd floor of the La Concha. She had the very important job of making sure the beads were all ready to toss to the crowds below during the parade.

Lots more really cool costumes on Saturday! This woman was in costume and so wasn't her hand-puppet!

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

The Fantasy Fest pararde started at 7:00 pm. and our chairs were right at the beginning. We had watched the parade at Fast Buck's and at the La Concha in years past but it gets really, really crazy up there. This spot is a little bit calmer.

This couple were spectators sitting behind us. Great costumes, huh?

The parade starts with the KW boys in blue whose motto is "Protecting Paradise".

Captain Morgan is the major sponsor of Fantasy Fest so he gets to be the first float.

Captain Morgan doesn't go anywhere without the Morganettes. Being a Morganette must be a really hard job because they seem to be really thirsty all the time. You can imagine what they're like by the time they get to Duval Street!

Next come the King and Queen of Fantesy Fest. Don't even ask.....

Another great KW Jelly Fish costume.

This group took this year's "Villains, Vixens and Vampires" theme seriously.

The Nina and the Pinta didn't made it to Fantasy Fest but the Santa Maria did!

The troopers of F Troop made it, too!

This one was funny. It's a North Korean "Friendship" Float - complete with a nuclear missile.

Another great float - what do you suppose makes all the float people so thirsty?

Fairville always has a great float. This year they were "Ship of Fools".

And if you're not good, you just might end up here.

Southernmost Bees - not nearly as cute as our little Northern Livvie bee!

Do you suppose this bee is getting honey here? Or maybe another thirsty float person?

KW Coast Guard is always on the lookout for drug smugglers. Here they are chasing an illegal catch of  "square grouper" (aka marijuana").

KW Bubba's Busted!

Great costumes on the Vitality float!

The KW Boys in Blue, this time on horesback, close the parade.

It was a really fun parade. It lasted about 2 hours with lots of floats and really great costumes.  People work on hard on their floats and costumes. One thing that stands out with the parade is that everyone in the parade is in costume. No one just walks along in regular clothes. They are all in really nice costumes. We had a lot of fun. at Fantasy Fest.  After the parade, we walked over to Conch Republic Seafood Company and had some supper. Watch for the Southernmost Bikes in our next post!