2010 Super Boat Parade

Every year in November, the Super Boats come to town to race, show their boats, and generally have a powerfully good time.  To kick off the week long roster of events, there was a Super Boat parade on Sunday afternoon.  This is a great way to see the boats up close, and to see the accompanying owners, navigators and friends.

The parade was promptly at four pm, and lasted ten or fifteen minutes.  Owners has to pay a few hundred bucks to be in the parade, so not all boats were represented.  It was a low key parade with thin crowds, with everyone in a mellow good mood, some throwing leftover beads from Fantasy Fest.  One boat in particular stood out, almost literally:  it was an orange boat so wide it had to be placed on its side to fit on the trailor and to be able to fit into traffic.  But the angle of the tipped boat actually allowed us to see it better, and appreciate the scale of these monstrous machines.

It’s kind of like a monster truck rally, only with boats.  Some of the Super Boat engines have I think upwards of 3000 hp in their combined engines!   The Super Boat in the picture, CMS, actually lost function of one of its engines during the race.  That was especially unfortunate for them, since they were favored to possibly win the event.  The winner, by the way, was a boat called Twisted Metal.

One thing we noticed this year, different from previous years, was the absence of helicopters.  At least we didn’t see any the whole week, and usually it’s hard not to notice them.  We think they are for taking pictures and video.

Fantasy Fest 2010 is in session, some photos from the Pet Masquerade held at Casa Marina

Singers at the Womanfest 2010 Street Fair

Post-Labor Day in Key West is when restaurants close up shop for a while, and owners take their yearly break from life in the Southernmost City.  It’s the start of the off peak season, but not for those who come to town for Womanfest 2010.  Each year in September, a week long celebration of Women takes place, in one of the most low-key festivals to hit the streets of Key West.

The events feature mellow gatherings, cocktail parties, and a street fair.  While the bull riding event at Cowboy Bill’s isn’t exactly mellow, everything is done in the name of good-natured fun and games.  This is no man-hating event for lesbians only.  It’s Woman fest, and although there are more lesbians in town this week, most events welcome everyone.

There was a street fair on Saturday from noon to 8pm.  The 700 to 800  block was closed to car traffic and vendor booths were set up.  Jewelry was sold, a local bank sponsored something that gave away free lei’s with employees yelling “free lei, free drinks” but it wasn’t clear what the catch was.  A girl bank set up on the little sound stage in front of Aqua but soon after they finished their mic check, a downpour came out of nowhere.  Everyone had a good time at Womanfest 2010 anyway.

A seven foot pie

Next we went to the waterfront to view the bloody battle. Ships cruised the harbor spraying water into the water. Yeah, don’t really know what spraying water into the water was doing. From what I understand there used to be a big water and fruit fight on the water between boats. My neighbors have lived here forever and used to participate in the battle until the water sports company he worked for was banned from it. He says it used to be very rowdy, but it’s not anymore. In fact I didn’t see any of the boats hit each other with any fruit or even water. Although due to the crowd I couldn’t see everything.

Bloody Battle?

People dressed up in period military outfits fired cannons off of Mallory Square . WOW are they loud. It was kind of awesome actually watching the crowd shudder with each blast. You could just feel the vibrations running through you. To add to the scene bi-planes where overhead dropping “bombs” of toilet paper which created giant streamers sailing down on to the crowd and the harbor.

Boom!

The usual vendors and performers whre present at Mallory Square and the usual performances looked like they were starting on time. There was also some new silver people. There was also a lady dressed up as a sunburned tourist complete with red skin and fanny packs. This didn’t really look like it was a big crowd pleaser.

Mallory Square Vendor

Local Flavor

Fantasy Fest always brings out the best mixture of creativity and daring when it comes to costumes, and Fantasy Fest 2009 was no exception. See some of the most outlandish costumes, body paint, headdresses, and more in our Fantasy Fest 2009 Photos.