Florida’s summer covid spike is clearly over with daily cases back to normal levels its time for the Key West mayor to allow Fantasy Fest to resume festivities that will clearly help STOP the spread of covid.  There is still 25,000+ people who will be attending this event and the current plan calls for everyone to attend private indoor bar parties which will only increase the risk of spreading covid.

The Key West Mayor and city council need to issue the permits that allow the organizers to establish the outdoor fantasy fest zones which will allow participants to social distance outside and stay safe.  In addition to this they should allow for the Friday – October 29 masquerade march which is an outdoor event as well that takes little city resources and encourages participants to spend the day outside versus at indoor venues.

We understand the main parade and street fairs take an enormous amount of city resources to coordinate so we are not asking you to reinstate these events – only to give us outside areas where we can safely spread out and enjoy our time on the island as the crowds are larger than normal and these two permitted requests take very little city resources to accomplish and are clearly in the best interest to help stop the spread of COVID-19.

If the Mayor and City Council are truly concerned about the safety of its citizens and visiting guests it will act in the best interest of the community and work with the Fantasy Fest planning committee to provide safe open spaces and encourage everyone to spread out in an outside environment.