Fantasy Fest Set to Reach Frenetic Highpoint

Key West's annual decadent costuming and masking festival is set to reach its frenetic highpoint Saturday with a nighttime parade down Duval Street, Key West's main drag. Thousands of revelers at Fantasy Fest warmed up for the big event by staging an offbeat Masquerade March late Friday afternoon that began at the local cemetery. Highlights included a scaly 40-foot sea serpent, King Neptune and his queen, a flock of "chickens of the sea" in tutus, a couple dressed as giant big-mouthed groupers, scores of jellyfish with trailing tentacles and a fleet of marchers sporting "cabin cruiser" headdresses.