A FANTASY FEST COSTUME MAGICIAN REVEALS HIS SECRETS

As the Dove of Peace for Fantasy Fest 2017, Daniel Bitnar’s costume included articulating wings with a full 14-foot span. CAROL TEDESCO/FantasyFest.com

By Carol Tedesco

The annual Bud Light Fantasy Fest parade doesn’t roll down Duval Street until Saturday, Oct. 29, but if you’re Daniel Bitnar, costume creator and magic-maker extraordinaire, you’ve been getting your ducks and sequins lined up for a full calendar year. Keys Weekly recently caught up with Bitnar for some insider Q&As.

What year did you first enter the parade and how did it all come about? It all started around 2003/2004. I was living in Fort Lauderdale and my then-boyfriend, now-husband Michael Soddy was living in Key West. A friend asked if I was coming down for Fantasy Fest and I said, ‘What’s that?’ Michael said, ‘Oh, it’s crowded, it’s a nightmare – and I’m working.’ I said, ‘I want to see it.’ So I arrived and thought it was amazing, fascinating.

I moved down in 2006 and my first job was at the Pilot House, where I worked with Virginia Wark for 10 years. It was Virginia who pushed me. She said, ‘Daniel, you have to do costumes, you have to do Pretenders in Paradise, you have to do the Parade.’ I said, ‘Virginia, I don’t know if I’m up for that.’ The first year was 2010 and I built this costume called Solaris, God of All Predators. I won Pretenders in Paradise first place, and placed in the Headdress Ball as well. The next year for the Aquatic Afrolic theme I made this huge octopus costume – Poseidon, God of the Sea, and won Pretenders in Paradise again.”

Michael Soddy keeps husband Daniel Bitnar company as he works on sewing a costume part in their Key West home. CAROL TEDESCO/FantasyFest.com

Was there anything in your pre-Key West life that prepared you for this? I studied Industrial Design in Venezuela, where I was born, and did a master’s degree in Florence, Italy. When I returned to Caracas, I started working in the high-end shoe industry and also as a Miss Venezuela pageant image consultant. But as far as actual costume manufacturing and head-to-toe presentation, I’m completely self-taught; I’ve never taken any classes in sewing, hair, or makeup.

What are your five most crucial materials for costume making? Fabric, the right vision of what I’m going to make for each person, glue gun, zip ties and sewing machine.

How do you select participants for your teams? My groups have always been small because I make the costumes for everyone, and it takes me a year to make them. As soon as the next year’s theme is announced, I start the research, plotting the costumes, and thinking about who will be just right for each character. This year’s team is my husband, Michael; our local friend Sandy Guy; Gary Horne from Atlanta, Georgia; new Key Westers Keith Grigsby and Roger Helsler; and my niece Cristina Dzialo if she can make it here from Orlando.”

Any hard and fast rules or practices that you abide by? On my team, when we are on parade, no one drinks, and no one does drugs. Everyone can do what they want after the parade, but my philosophy is that we represent Key West, and we have to give our best — walk with pageantry, show off with a smile — and every year it comes out beautifully.

Daniel Bitnar, supported by Dan Soddy, center, and Gary Horne, right, portrayed Atlas for the A-Conch-Alypse-themed Fantasy Fest 2012. CAROL TEDESCO/FantasyFest.com

Any favorite Fantasy Fest side stories? One year after the parade, we were in our archangel costumes and were walking home via Elizabeth Street, very narrow. The week before there’d been a big spread about me in the Miami Herald. A car comes towards us from the opposite direction … honks; flashes its lights. Then it stops; the door flies open and a woman runs towards us screaming, ‘There you are! There you are! I’ve been looking for you!’ … Then her husband gets out of the car and says, ‘She saw you in the paper, fell in love with your work, and made me drive her down to see you.’ For a moment it was scary and then it was like, ‘Oh my God, someone drove down from Miami just to see my costumes.’

Any budgeting wisdom to share? My yearly goal is to not exceed $200 total. I recycle a lot. We have a friend from Wisconsin who sends two boxes of beautiful fabrics every year; she’ll send mannequins, anything she thinks I can use. There’s a second-hand store in Ft. Lauderdale where I can buy gowns for as little as $4 and I’ll collect all the beading from the gowns. I can spend a little and make it look like a million dollars.

What motivates you to create each year? It’s joy; it’s happiness; it’s like fireworks in my head and a wonderful therapy. Sometimes I look up and 12 hours have passed without me realizing it. The biggest reward for me is when I create something and hear oohs and aahs and see people’s expressions of amazement and delight.Fantasy Fest 2022 is presented in part by the Monroe County Tourist Development Council. More information and a parade application form are at FantasyFest.com/Parade.

Master of pageantry Daniel Bitnar has been creating Key West Fantasy Fest magic since 2010. CAROL TEDESCO/FantasyFest.com