Thankfully. Visitors are WAY DOWN from last year. Hotel rooms and vacation homes still available on Friday. Never before. Has been that way since 2005 Wilma and economic meltdown (thank you dems and repubs - you both need to go!)KW Citizen poll said it was one of the worst ever. Downhill fast. Nothing but old fat people in body paint and drunken kids stabbing one another. First time murder in FF in all the years held. Cops had a field day with arrests. US1 accident on Sat backed up traffic for hours. Speeding p/u truck hits cab of diesel tractor trailer truck at MM9 and caused massive problems. Lovely.
You are absolutely correct: I saw vacancies all last week. For instance, Cocoanut Mallory at the top of the island had the "Vacancy" sign up all throughout Fantasy Fest . . . including Saturday night. Downtown, I saw numerous vacancy signs at the bigger chain hotels and motels. And I saw vacancies at the expensive condotels.
When Sunday came around, I could not believe how few people remained in town.
Lastly, I noticed two more stores closed forever this past Sunday in the 700 block of Duval. I watched them cart their stuff out and run away at 4:30 AM.
That accident you're talking about? Missed it by about 5 minutes! I was one of the first allowed to go around it...I want to say it was somewhere between 6:30 and 7:15 PM (I wasn't watching the clock as I was taking my time, thinking about where I would park downtown.)
Speaking of which, the barricades were not closed off at sunset. Eventhough I parked at United and Simonton so I could walk around one end of the parade route, I found all cross-streets still open allowing workers to get to the other side of Duval from the South Side. I want to say this was about 7:30PM. Last year, it was so crowded, the police could not allow you to cross intersections by say 7:00 PM.
Lastly, during the parade, at least in the 600 block, there was plenty of room to walk up and down the sidewalk.
To make it all the worse, the parade was out of sequence: float #19 preceded float #13 and so on and so forth.
One more thing: numbers of people through our door were up, but sales per person were down. Yes, the Great Recession is taking its toll on Tourism in Key West in a big way.
Maybe it is time to rethink Fantasy Fest. Seems like it gets more disorganized each year and all the parties/festivities leading up to it (aka Headdress Ball, homemade bikini contest, etc.) just aren't getting the same attention like before. Too many locals just don't have the money to contribute. And who needs the Miami/Ft L crowd down here to cause trouble and kill and young person over what? Nothing. Terrible. Plus all the idiot drunks spending less yet all the KWPD on overtime to watch the crowds? Just how much money are the organizers losing each year over this? And in no way does it compare to Mardi Gras - been to both and I'll take NO over KW anyday for a good time all around party venue. And I live here in KW!
Anyway, more stores closing and more real estate foreclosures along with no jobs to speak of means death to KW. Glad I got a real job and not with the local yokels govt. either - the real mccoy. With benefits, cost of living raises, job security and advancement. Can't beat em so join em!
4 comments:
Fantasy Fest is over!
Thankfully. Visitors are WAY DOWN from last year. Hotel rooms and vacation homes still available on Friday. Never before. Has been that way since 2005 Wilma and economic meltdown (thank you dems and repubs - you both need to go!)KW Citizen poll said it was one of the worst ever. Downhill fast. Nothing but old fat people in body paint and drunken kids stabbing one another. First time murder in FF in all the years held. Cops had a field day with arrests. US1 accident on Sat backed up traffic for hours. Speeding p/u truck hits cab of diesel tractor trailer truck at MM9 and caused massive problems. Lovely.
You are absolutely correct: I saw vacancies all last week. For instance, Cocoanut Mallory at the top of the island had the "Vacancy" sign up all throughout Fantasy Fest . . . including Saturday night. Downtown, I saw numerous vacancy signs at the bigger chain hotels and motels. And I saw vacancies at the expensive condotels.
When Sunday came around, I could not believe how few people remained in town.
Lastly, I noticed two more stores closed forever this past Sunday in the 700 block of Duval. I watched them cart their stuff out and run away at 4:30 AM.
That accident you're talking about? Missed it by about 5 minutes! I was one of the first allowed to go around it...I want to say it was somewhere between 6:30 and 7:15 PM (I wasn't watching the clock as I was taking my time, thinking about where I would park downtown.)
Speaking of which, the barricades were not closed off at sunset. Eventhough I parked at United and Simonton so I could walk around one end of the parade route, I found all cross-streets still open allowing workers to get to the other side of Duval from the South Side. I want to say this was about 7:30PM. Last year, it was so crowded, the police could not allow you to cross intersections by say 7:00 PM.
Lastly, during the parade, at least in the 600 block, there was plenty of room to walk up and down the sidewalk.
To make it all the worse, the parade was out of sequence: float #19 preceded float #13 and so on and so forth.
One more thing: numbers of people through our door were up, but sales per person were down. Yes, the Great Recession is taking its toll on Tourism in Key West in a big way.
Maybe it is time to rethink Fantasy Fest. Seems like it gets more disorganized each year and all the parties/festivities leading up to it (aka Headdress Ball, homemade bikini contest, etc.) just aren't getting the same attention like before. Too many locals just don't have the money to contribute. And who needs the Miami/Ft L crowd down here to cause trouble and kill and young person over what? Nothing. Terrible. Plus all the idiot drunks spending less yet all the KWPD on overtime to watch the crowds? Just how much money are the organizers losing each year over this? And in no way does it compare to Mardi Gras - been to both and I'll take NO over KW anyday for a good time all around party venue. And I live here in KW!
Anyway, more stores closing and more real estate foreclosures along with no jobs to speak of means death to KW. Glad I got a real job and not with the local yokels govt. either - the real mccoy. With benefits, cost of living raises, job security and advancement. Can't beat em so join em!
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