Fall Florida festivals full of culture

CELEBRATE 40 YEARS OF FREAKY FUN

Glitter, masks, and body paint are some of the essentials to pack for Fantasy Fest in Key West, Oct. 18-27. Of course, if you can’t run out to your favorite craft store to pick these items up, you can probably find these items in the Conch Republic. Fantasy Fest, the 10-day adult party in Key West, is celebrating its 40th anniversary. This year’s theme is “In Tune But Off Key” and features music.

A group of Key West residents started the event in 1979 to attract visitors to the island during a traditionally quiet time of year. Since then, Fantasy Fest has grown, is internationally recognized, and attended annually by more than 100,000 people from around the world. That’s almost four times the population of Key West.

Some events during the 10 days are family friendly. These include the Bahama Village Goombay Festival in Key West’s historic Bahama Village neighborhood with arts, crafts, food, and music from noon to midnight. The Zombie Bike Ride departs from Fort East Martello (3501 S. Roosevelt Blvd) and thousands are anticipated to ride. Zombie attire is encouraged and 20 zombie face painters will be on hand earlier in the day. Nudity is not permitted.

Fur-kids and their pet parents are encouraged to dress up during the Pet Masquerade at the Key West Amphitheater. The show is free to watch but there is a fee to participate. A Children’s Day is at Bayview Park with family-friendly games, rides, food, arts and crafts, and costume contest for kids.

Most events are more appropriate for adults such as cocktail parties and various adult-themes like the Naughty Bike Ride. Because of this, there is the main Fantasy Fest schedule and a Little Black Book schedule for those 21 and older.

One can’t miss Fantasy Fest event is Sloppy Joe’s 40th Annual Toga Party. Participants are encouraged to dress in a toga with the festival’s theme. The 37th Annual Headdress Ball will feature entrants strutting their stuff at the Key West Amphitheater and wearing innovative headgear creations. Expect feathers, mechanical elements, sequins and entertainment.

Revelers can participate in the Masquerade March, a parade through Key West’s Old Town which includes music and noisemakers. Join about 70,000 partygoers and ogle at the Bud Light Fantasy Fest Parade. It will roll down Duval Street with sparkling floats, extravagant costumes, and sensational dance groups.

TAKE CULTURE VACTION AT FOO FOO FEST

Foo Foo Fest is a 12-day culturally creative blend of performance and visual arts ranging from classic to 21st century. The sensory event, Oct. 31 to Nov. 11, is set in the beautiful coastal community of Pensacola. Celebrating its sixth season, Art, Culture, and Entertainment, Inc. (ACE), is the nonprofit organization producing this cultural festival. According to ACE, a “Foo Foo” is “An impromptu musical band known to come together on late 19th-century sailing vessels, consisting of members from the ship’s crew.” This festival brings together Pensacola’s various arts and cultural organizations, a modern-day Foo Foo.

Recognized as home of the U.S. Navy Blue Angels and sugar-white sand beaches and emerald green water, Pensacola is considered the Cultural Capital of the Southeastern United States. It is the only city on the Gulf Coast between Mobile, Alabama, and Tampa that has the cultural big five, a ballet, museum, opera, symphony, and theatre. The festival features all these performances.

Highlights of this year’s event are Garrick Ohlsson, an internationally-acclaimed piano virtuoso; Big Bad Voodoo Daddy; a performance by The Savannah Sipping Society, a play written by The Golden Girls writers; and the Fire and Rain art installation featuring billowing holographic strands suspended above blocks through a historic district.

Pensacola’s StompFest 2019 hosted by comedian Haha Davis, aka “Mr. Big Fella,” is a must. It is based on “Stepping” which is over a century-old tradition with African American College fraternities and sororities. Rodney Mullen, “The Godfather of Modern Street Skating,” will perform a dazzling skating demonstration at 3D Printsacola on “skulptures,” 3D printed skateable concrete fixtures. The skulptures are a collaboration with the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition and the First City Arts Center and designed by David Fries of IHMC and Mr. Mullens.

Interactive experiences for cultural visitors include Painting with Axes where participants throw axes at wood targets containing balloons filled with paint. Explore one of Pensacola’s historic districts by looking for 12 painted Barn Quilts in a 2-miles radius of Seville Square during the Gulf Coast Quilt Trail.

Additional activities during Foo Foo Fest are the Blue Angels Homecoming Air Show, The Greater Gulf Coast Arts Festival, and the 34th Annual Frank Brown Songwriters Festival. During your visit, enjoy the beautiful beaches, culinary scene, and historic walking tours.

BE INSPIRED BY BOUNTY OF ART

Art Basel in Miami Beach, Dec. 5-8, is an art fair featuring top art galleries from around the world. More than half of the exhibiting galleries have exhibition spaces in North and South America. This year, Art Basel is celebrating its 18th edition with 269 galleries from 33 countries and territories. Twenty galleries will exhibit for the first time including Nicelle Beauchene Gallery of New York, Cooper Cole from Toronto, and Galería Agustina Ferreyra from Mexico City.

Basel, Switzerland gallerists Ernst Beyeler, Trudl Bruckner and Balz Hilt, started Art Basel in 1970 with the intention of hosting an international art fair. It was successful and grew each year. In 2002, Art Basel in Miami Beach, the only North American location, was staged. Art Basel in Hong Kong began in 2013.

Exciting, intriguing, and inspirational artwork from more than 4,000 artists are featured in sectors. Work from Modern, contemporary, and emerging artists from 203 galleries will be on display in the main sector of the art fair. View digital art, films, installations, paintings, photographs, and sculptures over four days.

Galleries presenting one to three artists showcasing pieces created within the last three years are in the Nova sector. New artists present one major project in the Positions sector. Mexico City-based Magali Arriola curates the Meridians sector where galleries present monumental works including live performances and large-scale sculptures.

Artists, gallerists, critics, and others, participate in a series of conversations during Art Basel. These include panels which offer another perspective into the cultural world.

Although held in three cities, Art Basel relies on collaboration of each destination’s features and cultural scene. Art fair attendees are encouraged to visit Miami-area museums participating in Art Basel season.

OTHER SPECIAL HIGHLIGHTS

Of note is the “Mira Lehr: A Walk in the Garden” exhibition at the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU, Oct. 15 through Feb. 3. At age 85, she is a nationally renowned eco-feminist artist producing more work now than in her other six decades of creating art. This exhibition features 180 aerial sculptures descending from the main sanctuary of the museum and 10 monumental paintings. She includes non-traditional media in her work such as gunpowder, fire, and welded steel. Paintings include imprints and holes burned by exploding fuses. The collection addresses today’s issues of protecting the environment and saving the planet.

Art After Stonewall, 1969-1989, is another noteworthy exhibition and marks the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. It showcases LGBT artmaking in 200 works created the first two decades following the riots. Film, performance, and video art are highlighted along with paintings, photography, music, and sculptures. Warhol, Chicago, and Hockney are a sampling of artists with artwork in the exhibit. Historical documentation helps tell the story.

An array of performance, film, and video art, as well as photography, painting, sculpture, music are highlighted in Art After Stonewall. Visual that place in history with the assistance of historical documents and images from magazines, newspapers, and television.

Miami is one of three U.S. cities hosting Art After Stonewall. It is on display now through Jan. 5, 2020, at the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum at Florida International University.

In most of the country, leaves change color in the fall. Here in Florida, fall is an opportune time for enjoying colorful events like Fantasy Fest, Foo Foo Festival, and Art Basel.