Key West Nightlife

Fantasy Fest is the yearly festival held in the streets of Key West. Dubbed as the island's Mardi Gras, the event offers parades, featuring wild costumes or no costumes at all, dancing, music in the streets, and other activities. Held every last week of October, the main events happen on Friday and Saturday and during Halloween Week.

The yearly theme varies. The 1994 theme was "Mystical Myth and Twisted Tales," while the festival that was held last 1995 was dubbed "Tinseltown Dreams, Lights, Camera, Fantasy." During the 1994 Fantasy Fest, the crowd lining Duval and Whitehead streets were estimated to number 55,000 people in all.

Natives of the island are called Conchs, representing a mix of Cuban, Mexican, and Bahamian seafarers. In fact, many of its famous families never left the island.

The place has also attracted artists and writers who made the island's mythology popular. The island has been home to Tennessee Williams, Ernest Hemingway, Elizabeth Bishop, and Thomas McGuane. A lot of winners of Pulitzer prizes have also lived in Key West.

A lot of novels, television programs, and movies that have the island as its setting are also plentiful. Key West is also known for its quite large, accepted, and open gay population that contributes to the island's tourism and business.

In spite of the island's reputation of being laid back, its people are hardworking. This they owe to the fact that everything on the island has to be imported on a one-way truck. Also, owing to the desirability of property on this island, it also has a very high cost of living. Since tourism is the only source of income, many of its population have to hold two or more jobs just so they can survive on the island paradise.

So, remember to check out nightlife in Key West to have a memorable vacation.

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