Fantasy Fest's Friday night

Packed. Thats what Duval Street was last night. As vendors sizzled onions and shwarma, scantily clad revelers crowded Key West's main party artery. Body paint covered a collection of boobs that ranged in size and shape like the produce section at the supermarket. For all those that think this is heaven, be warned: most of those who choose to expose are not "Bay Watch" material. Many are grannies or gargoyles.
Mostly it's in a fun, heavily buzzed atmosphere. Some costumes are creative (the guy dressed as a large Queen Angelfish with an extendable tongue was a laugh), some costumes are mass produced (the inflatable sumo wrestlers in the crowd), and some costumes are little more than body paint.
The Festival keeps gaining a bit of a corporate tone, with it's Captain Morgan sponsorship and the hawking of everything including an official DVD, t-shirt, beads, yada yada yada.
If I could change one thing, magically that is, I'd make the cameras disappear. Too many people crowd around anything bawdy like a bunch of paperazzi's. Many are trying to create some type of "gone wild" video. Rather, let's just enjoy it as it happens. Forget about taking pictures.
Today is the big parade...Actually tonight. The street festival continues for the day, and by night seventy-thousand people will line Duval and watch one of America's wierder parades.
Now I just have to get rid of this hangover. I'm glad I didn't end up going tarpon fishing at the crack of dawn. Last night, in typical drunken bravado, I said to a friend "sure, I'm in...tarpon fishing in the a.m." I left my phone off.

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