Key Wet

Bravo! The Fantasy Fest Parade last Saturday was a very nice visual. The floats, dancers and costumes looked beautiful; the tow vehicles were mostly incorporated into the fantasies and the music was superb!
The rain in the afternoon made the line-up area interesting. "Key Wet" - it's a typo I make frequently, eliding that left-hand ring finger consonant on the keyboard. Last Saturday's downpours made it the correct spelling.
The first issue I faced was evicting the homeless man from the guard shack. “But it's raining,” he pleaded after I nudged him awake. “Exactly,” I responded. “That's precisely why we need it.”
After the rain came the 25 mph winds with gusts to 48. That dried our clothes finally, but handling feathers and fringe and costumes the size of spinnakers was a bit tricky. My lengthy Mylar eyelashes were constantly aflutter.
My hair was wetter than it was in my morning shower so it got tucked up under a railroad conductor's cap - since the theme this year was "Key Weird on the Dis-Oriented Express, train paraphernalia was de rigueur.
By step-off time, the evening was delightful and all we had to do was lever a few of the floats out of holes in the terrain at the unexpected line-up area (we had no notice we couldn't use our familiar grounds) and look pretty and happy for the crowds. As the choreographer for the Philadelphia Mummers parade entry, Dennis Quaile, said, “That's the 'Biz' part of 'Show Biz'!”
The Key West PD and FD report one fire on the parade route and one fight.
Overall, it was delightful.
Add your 'The-Show-Must-Go-On' stories here by clicking on the blue " 2 (or whatever number) comments" below and then typing in your message in the box that pops up.
Thanks to all! --Judi

GET READY, GET SET...

We're almost there! As you add the final touches to your entries, float designers, think about pulling out some elements for the other costume competitions during the festival. See the official schedule at www.fantasyfest.net or the event contact list in your entrant packet for ideas. Best bet is PRETENDERS IN PARADISE, at the Pier House on Thursday, the 26th. Contact Kirsten or Liane in the FF office (296-5334) if you are interested in competing in this dramatic event.

Meanwhile, all else is running according to schedule so far.

AMBASSADORS are still needed. If you know someone who would make a good (sober, responsible) ambassador, call me.

In the PICTURE from the 2005 line-up area here, guess where the beer cooler is concealed in this Cayman Smith-Martin creation.

Well, it's amazing how easy this goes when we don't have to evacuate every three weeks!

AMBASSADORS and entrants who aren't completely burnt out after Fantasy Fest:
Market Share, the company that produces Fantasy Fest, is handling credentials and parking for the Super Boats in November. They will need some workers. Here's the flyer for it, if you are interested.

9/21/06 update

Here are some resources you might find useful:

1. lightupwire.com ---this is cool and reasonably affordable battery powered light cords.

2. Van seat available free -- Patrick on Sugarloaf has a grey 3-seater Dodge passenger van bench (with seat belts!) that he is donating for the parade. Call him at 304-5956.

More later --judi

Congratulations!

Those of you who are here, now, have made the cut in the new competitive entry. Congratulations.

If you have the blog address, it means you have received your entrant packet.
We have one correction to the entrant packet materials. The Key West Junkanoos came in the other day and pointed out that the dates on the event contact list are last year's dates. The office had updated the list, but when we put together the packets and sent them out, we accidentally copied the incorrect list. Just subtract 1 from each date and you'll have this year's dates (i.e. -- parade is on the 28th, not the 29th).

Currently I am working on recruiting ambassadors for the parade route. if you know anyone who would like to volunteer, please have them call the Fantasy Fest office at 296-5334 and leave their name and address and i will get in touch with them.

AMBASSADORS: You have a mixer coming up on Wednesday, October 4. More info is in your letter.
The ambassador meeting is 5 p.m. Monday, October 23. (About 10 of the letters that went out posted the date differently.)

ENTRANTS: The entrant meeting is Tuesday, October 24.

I'll be updating this blog every Monday.

Disoriented Express Train of Thought

This is a functional blog to help me communicate with Fantasy Fest parade entrants and Ambassadors.
Last year, when the parade was blown away into December by Hurricane Wilma, my original blog (southofthemainstream.blogspot.com) was a big help in keeping track of how we were going to salvage the event.
So this year, the parade has its own blog!

The first news is the new competitive entry for the parade:


Attention Fantasy Fest Parade Entrants:

We are embarking on a new era for parade entry. Because the length of the parade is limited, and we have more and more entries each year, we have had to devise a way to manage the imbalance.
I’m giving you, the 2005 parade participants, a heads-up on the new process which will require an earlier deadline than we are used to and a little more prep work.
Applications will be available by the end of this month.
Those of you who have won awards in previous years are grandfathered into the parade and are assured of entry.
All others will submit their application, fees and a design sketch. The selection committee will review the entries and you will be notified within two weeks of the application deadline so you can get started.
Depending on the number of applications, it is possible everyone may be accepted. In any case, there are many other Fantasy Fest costume competitions you may want to apply to as well.


DESIGN WORKSHOP -- We have a design workshop scheduled for July 25 for designers and businesses who are interested in producing a float for the parade. I will try to match up businesses and designers interested in participating in the parade, so if you know either, let me know.
Previous award-winning panelists will talk about the secrets of constructing a parade float with newcomers or anyone interested in knowing more about the subject.
More on this subject later.