KEY WEST – Key West’s annual Fantasy Fest costuming and masking festival is underway on the subtropical island and Sunday’s Zombie Bike Ride featured several thousand of “the bicycling dead” prowling the island’s Atlantic Ocean shoreline and streets.
Many participants wore “traditional” gory zombie garb paired with scary face and body paint, while others were creatively costumed as everything from evil clowns and pirates to undead brides in tattered gowns.
Standouts included a big-eyed bug that towered high above the crowd, an excursion train carrying “zombie tourists,” a super-sized Frankenstein’s monster and a green-skinned creature pedaling a silver “spaceship.”
The marauding zombies biked down South Roosevelt Boulevard beside the Atlantic and into Key West’s picturesque downtown — where the unearthly antics culminated in the ZombieFest After Party at the Coffee Butler Amphitheater in Truman Waterfront Park.
The Zombie Bike Ride caps the first weekend of Key West’s annual Fantasy Fest celebration that continues through Sunday, Oct. 27.
Other festival highlights include a pet masquerade, the exotic Headdress Ball, a Masquerade March for costumed participants and an evening parade scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 26, featuring lavish motorized floats and elaborately costumed walking groups.
