By Carol Tedesco
Christie Fifer excels at rallying and galvanizing teams. When Hurricane Irma wreaked havoc on Big Pine Key and surrounding areas in 2017, the professional artist and former high school teacher strapped on a tool belt, laced up some work boots and orchestrated a chainsaw-wielding, mud-slinging, earth-moving team of volunteers. Now, following Hurricane Ian, she’s simultaneously mucking out her sea-water wet Key West home and orchestrating a hot-glue wielding, float-building, costume-bedazzling team of creators for the “Cult Classics & Cartoon Chaos” themed 2022 Bud Light Fantasy Fest parade, set to march down Duval Street on Oct.29.
Keys Weekly recently caught up with the intrepid artist for some parade-prepping insights.
What was the first year your team entered the parade and how did it come about? We had actually been participating in the Friday Masquerade March “locals parade” for years, but hadn’t entered the official parade because it didn’t strike us as being very costume-driven, and we were more motivated as costumers – thinking of things that were big and ridiculous and different from everyone else. Our first year to enter the Fantasy Fest parade was 2017, after Hurricane Irma.
What was your entry that year and what followed in subsequent years? We were a walking group costumed as hot air balloons and our theme was “Around the World in 80 Days.” We started with a core group of about eight, and then picked up an additional posse bringing us up to maybe 20-22 people. Then, like Alice (in Wonderland, our theme for this year) we began to grow. In 2018, for the “Oh … the Games We Play” Fantasy Fest theme, we had about 40 people in our wildly colorful “Key West Kandyland” themed group and won the Best Costume category. In 2019, rather than compete, we were asked to appear at the front of the parade. That year we had about 35 people for our “Wizard of Oz”-themed Friday Masquerade March group, and 92 joined in for our “Mozart’s Symphony Comes to Life” for Saturday’s Fantasy Fest parade entry, which made international news.
Do you have a set outline or plan of attack that you follow each year? How about room for spontaneity? Our team has a very succinct plan each year. I typically come up with the idea of how I think it should look as a whole. I also choose a color palette. That helps keep us all uniform with such a large group. Once costumes and roles are assigned, people have versatility and room for their own creativity, to make their costume outstanding. Our motto is “more is more.” And bigger is better.
What would you say are your top 5 must-have materials for float building? Our top five items are glitter, lights, glitter, lights and glitter. In no particular order. And I would be lying if I didn’t say we hot glue absolutely everything.
Will you share what you’re cooking up for 2022? We have always been walking entries, but this is our first year entering as a float — and we actually have three separate floats underway to create the world of “Alice’s Excellent Adventures.” I don’t claim to know anything about inverters, generators, electricity or hydraulics, but I know in my head what I want it to look like, so I surround myself with people who are knowledgeable and way better at that sort of thing. This year we are fortunate to have a couple of guys on the team who have completely invented and manufactured a giant head-turning Cheshire cat. And that makes me very, very happy.
How many participants do you expect to have this year? Do you have many return ones? We currently have 90 people; about 75% of them are return participants, and we have several who come from out of town.
How does a person join your team? In order to participate with us it helps if someone can vouch that you’re not high-maintenance.
Any advice for anyone thinking about entering? Get organized and stay organized. It is far more difficult keeping 100 adults on track than it is 100 teenagers, and I say that from experience. We hang giant to-do lists on the walls all around our workspace, and things only get crossed off once they are completely, 100% finished. That way little things don’t get forgotten along the way. Fair warning too — we start in June. It takes endless time and plenty of money all for this great hurrah. And when building big, workspace is the crippling equalizer. We were freakishly fortunate this year how we procured our warehouse space, and since I know it won’t be available next year, unless someone comes up with a replacement space for us, this could be our only “go big or go home” float building year — so we’re going to make it visible from space!
For full details and a parade application form, visit FantasyFest.com/Parade.
