Liz Love doesn’t list juggling among her many skills, but she should. The upbeat, energetic woman juggles a multitude of responsibilities, roles and enthusiasms with smiling grace.
Her skill is particularly apparent every October, when she takes on the massively complex task of coordinating Fantasy Fest’s lavish highlight parade — along with other pivotal events on the costuming and masking festival’s 10-day schedule.
Love, who grew up in Arkansas, arrived in Key West in early 2006. She worked as the recruitment manager for the local college, assistant manager of a private clubhouse, a personal trainer for private clients and manager of multiple fitness-based events.
Along the way, she met and married photographer, writer, artist and filmmaker Michael Marrero. They are parents to Isabel, now 10, and Stella, 7.
In 2018 Love was hired by Nadene Grossman Orr, whose company, We’ve Got the Keys, had become the producer of Fantasy Fest, to direct the festival’s street fair. After that beginning, her work with We’ve Got the Keys grew exponentially. As well as her Fantasy Fest responsibilities, she helps coordinate other festivals for the organization and serves as its director of corporate events.
“I handle incentive travel programs, so if people have met their sales goals and they get an incentive trip to Key West, we make sure that they get to see the best that Key West has to offer — unique activity experiences, dining experiences — and get them immersed in the culture and the community that is Key West,” Love explained.
Her Fantasy Fest responsibilities encompass not just directing the parade and street fair, but also working with longtime Masquerade March coordinator Mimi McDonald on the beloved march in Key West’s Old Town.
Love takes great pleasure in the imagination and offbeat originality of some of the parade’s float designers — among them David Sloan, whose 2024 float featured Key West’s paranormal doll, Robert, and an actual coffin on a scissor lift — and costume geniuses including Daniel Bitnar and Guy Hermelin.
“I really appreciate the creative energy that these walking groups and float builders bring to the parade,” she said. “The message is creative, costumed fun and participants are really embracing that.”
The parade typically includes several dozen large-scale floats and walking groups, with some entries featuring 50 to 100 costumed participants. Love is especially impressed by those who perform choreographed dance routines along the more than 1.5-mile parade route.
“That is just amazing to me because I know how much time and energy it takes,” she said. “And when you have 100 participants who are all learning a dance, the level of energy that you bring to the parade is part of what makes it so special.”
Fantasy Fest director Nadene Grossman Orr, right, and Liz Love take a moment’s break during a past festival. MICHAEL BLADES/Contributed
She’s quick to credit her fellow Fantasy Fest team members for their boundless energy, as well as the skill and dedication they bring to their work.
To keep herself organized while overseeing the parade entries, lineup and pacing — as well as tasks for additional festival events — Love relies on an unusual tool: a rack that holds her costumes and accessories for the various activities.
“I roll it in around the first of October, and Michael always says, ‘Oh, here we go. The rack’s back,’” she said.
“It reminds me every day of what headspace I need to be in, so I line up my week and my brain and my life that way,” added Love, who admitted she really enjoys costuming and portraying characters. “Somehow that just keeps me sane and organized — to the extent that I can be organized — and keeps me going.”
When Love isn’t working, she and Marrero are deeply involved in their daughters’ activities, ranging from soccer to dance to gymnastics, and serve on the boards of community organizations that are meaningful to them.
She’s also passionate about fitness and enjoys running, which recently led to an only-in-Key-West encounter.
“One Saturday morning my running partner and best friend, Amy, and I were running on Atlantic Boulevard towards Bertha Street to go out on the beach — and two people in pterodactyl and T-Rex blow-up costumes came walking down that sidewalk,” Love recalled.
“We’ve seen a lot down here,” said the woman who, as Fantasy Fest parade coordinator, has seen stranger sights than most. “So I do love that Key West allows you to be the truest version of yourself. But to see two people just strolling in their blow-up costumes … that was kind of amazing.”
