We are getting ready to board the bus home. People are tired and ready for a nap.
Mostly, that Tampa area crew had a quiet morning. Some had brunch, others rested, a few went to church.
Key West just keeps chugging.
Duval Street has rejuvenated with a new collection of tourists looking for rest, food and a good time.
Scooter rentals seem brisk for the slow season, as nervous riders make their way around town.
By 4 p.m., a few bars started to fill up. Restaurants are in the lull before the dinner rush.
The Tampa crowd seems ready to head home.
I must finish this assignment alone.
Photographer Chris Urso decided to rent a car this morning to spare himself the nine hour bus ride to Tampa.
He said he wanted to leave early to get back to his wife and young child, but I suspect he needed the long drive to sort out his new-found love of Key West’s zany brand of drag shows.
Duval Street seems to have changed Urso for good.
We followed the crew from Tampa to a drag show on our final night in Key West. We were well passed deadline, but went in case something newsworthy happened.
A few performances into the evening – including a riotous one about a romantically frustrated woman – the festive mood took hold of Urso.
“This is great,’’ he kept saying. “This is so great.â€
When one of the drag queens mentioned she had written a book about her journey from Oregon, Urso insisted he needed to buy it.
This morning, he was off to see his family. But his final words were about that book.
This is a tough assignment to explain to friends and loved ones. All sympathy for the fact we are working on a weekend runs dry when they find out we are in Key West.
Urso tried to call his wife last night to tell her about our very long day.
He made a crucial mistake of calling from a wonderful little Latin restaurant in a covered alleyway. We are about to have a late dinner. Laughter and island music from the street seemed to float in on the warm breeze.
Her night with their child wasn’t nearly as festive.
“I sensed some tone,†he said after a brief phone conversation with his wife.
He seemed to forget all about the “tone’’ midway though the drag show.
This morning he insisted he had to come back to Key West – soon. But next time he will bring his wife.
She better like drag shows.
People don’t take anything too seriously in Key West.
Today’s half-hour gay pride parade was a perfect example. Plenty of cocktails were consumed before the march down Duval Street. Destiny was tough to miss, the 7’ 1” (in heels) drag queen, who apparently is Miss Pride Fest 2005.
The parade began with barking commands from some guy in the front of the parade who knew how to throw a march. He directed participants to hold the flag at the right height so the media could get the best photos. In Key West, marches start to feel routine for many locals. Just a block into the march, some were asking how soon until they were at the bar.
“This is a town that knows how to protest and how to party,’’ said Mark Bias, of St. Petersburg.
A bubble machine toward the end of the march reminded people that no protest should be too serious.
Many were thankful for the lighthearted protest of Hillsborough County Commissioners decision to ban recognition of gay pride displays and events.
“Thank you for making fun of how ridiculous this is,’’ said Nadine Smith, executive director of Equality Florida.
The organizers of “Pride in Exile” knew what they were doing when they decided not to start any events before 11 a.m. Things got a little crazy last night at Aqua nightclub on Duval Street. Melanie Minyon, a drag queen from Tampa, did things on stage that we certainly can’t run on a blog, much less in a family-friendly newspaper.
Everyone on the trip seemed to shake the buzz from the nine hour drive from Tampa and replace it with a more fluid buzz by midnight. The buzz was more of a chemical frenzy by 2 a.m., when we lost track of the Tampa Bay crowd.
This morning’s planned historic trolly tour of Key West looked more like a hangover wagon. It’s a good thing they didn’t take attendance. I doubt they had 50 percent.
Mostly, people spent the day regrouping and refueling for tonight’s march down Duval Street. Oh, and the “Best Commissioner” contest. It had been called the “Best Bigot” contest, but organizers thought that was a little over-the-top, even for Key West.
Advertisement
