Just a heads up

[Hawkyns]

We were scheduled to go to KW for Fantasy Fest. Wilma stopped that. The festival sponsors and tourist bureau resecheduled Fantasy Fest for December 7-11. Now there are issues.

The Tourist Board, Merchant's Association, and most people in the old town want the festivals to go ahead. They've lost huge amounts of money and all the service staff have lost big time on their tips. On the other hand, the residents in the big houses don't want tourists right now. They don't need the money, so they are more concerned with getting everything cleaned up and rebuilt first. The mayor, who is very recent in the office, is caught in the middle, but seems to be inclining towards the rich residents, rather than the merchants.

PiP may have less issues than FF due to it not being as big or as raunchy, but just be warned. There is an edgy situation down there right now, and not everybody is happy to see tourists.

Hawkyns

[William Brand]

Perhaps we should organize a group of able seaman to help clean up a little during a morning or afternoon at the festival. I'd help.

[hurricane]

Sorry Hawkyns, I can't disagree with you more. I am in constant contact with the festival director on a daily basis and nothing could be further from the truth, at least as far as PiP is concerned.

There are naysayers who just don't want tourists there ever again - same old story as always. The wealthy transplants don't want tourists, but the Conchs do - it's their lifeblood, has been since the turn of the century. But the cruise ships are back to port, the airport is open and the city just hosted thousands of Parrotheads last week. A few venues shifted, a few rooms were closed due to flooding at Casa Marina, but everything else was fine.

Most of the PiP festival does not go near Duval or any of the touristy spots; it is at the fort which weathered everything just fine. The desire to not have FantasyFest in December is because the community considers that a time for families, not wild parties. That's the rub here. But the council is set to decide tonight if there's going to be a FantasyFest this year.

There's a lot of rumors around right now that aren't true. I think Patrick was even told by Greyhound that the airport was still closed. It's caca... In fact, the NY Times is set to do a huge Escapes story on Pirates in Paradise in their publication.

The biggest thing people need to do is contact their hotels to make sure they're open and that the room is confirmed. Also contact your car rental company if you have one - a lot of the cars were flooded at the airport.

-- Hurricane

For a complete look, visit http://www.piratesinparadise.com - it even has a Wilma update on the home page.

In fact, if the council does let FantasyFest go forward this year, catch the final weekend of PiP and stay on for some of Fantasy Fest the rest of the week. Now that's a party....

[Hawkyns]

No doubt there are many stories. I'm getting my info from the Fantasy Fest yahoogroup which is linking stories from the local press. I heard about the vote today, that's where a lot of the links came from. The tourist board and Captain Morgan already posted the new dates. Now the city wants to back off.

It doesn't affect me either way. I went to PiP 2 years ago and was, quite frankly, bored. I went back to KW last year for FF and had a much better time. Maybe they were just more my kind of people. Since I don't have the chance to get down for either this year, since my original res for FF expired, it doesn't make much difference.

Personally, I think the people against FF are idiots. The money that is brought in is what the bars on Duvall want. We spent our money between Cap'n Tony's, Naked Lunch, The Garden of Eden and Kelly's. Lot's of money, over the 5 days we were there, probably 140$per night for 2 of us just in bar bills. We were the lighter drinkers in the group. If the prudes think giving up that much money in the holiday season is worth maintaining their 'family atmosphere', that's their loss. I'll reschedule my vacation and go to St. Martin in March.

Hawkyns

Hawkyns