Battle rages over public nudity at Key West’s annual Fantasy Fest

They’re bare and afraid — of getting to place garments on.

Key West’s famed “Fantasy Fest” — a raunchy annual bacchanal that attracts the garment-averse from throughout the globe — might quickly be pressured to cowl up.

A coalition of residents and enterprise house owners need a crackdown on public prurience through the October bash and adjustments are seemingly imminent, officers mentioned.

“The reality is that there’s an overarching feeling that we have to reduce on a number of the nudity and the debauchery that has been occurring for a while,” District Commissioner Clayton Lopez advised The Submit. “When residents begin complaining, we’ve got to be responsive.”

Native ordinances formally ban nudity however many Fantasy Festers elude the rule with physique paint — or simply ignore it altogether.

Underneath growing strain, officers are contemplating methods to sanitize the occasion that launched in 1979 as a solution to spur commerce through the space’s slower season.

Lopez mentioned he expects Key West officers to suggest a concrete set of reforms within the coming months that may concentrate on suppressing nudity.

“I perceive each side right here,” he mentioned. “Fantasy Fest was by no means meant to be a household occasion. It was at all times meant to be an grownup occasion. Nevertheless it was by no means alleged to be a triple X occasion.”

With roughly 75,000 attendees pouring into city, non-public grownup events abound and a piece of the city is reserved for 2 days to include a number of the kink.

“It’s filthy,” longtime Key West resident Harry Bethel Sr. advised The Submit Thursday. “Persons are having intercourse within the alleys. They’re bare. Some cowl up with paint however you possibly can see proper by means of it.”

Mayor Teri Johnston has additionally indicated that enforcement will stiffen this 12 months.

With roughly 75,000 attendees pouring into city, non-public grownup events abound and a piece of the city is reserved for 2 days to include a number of the kink.

Different highlights embrace Tutu Tuesday, the place members each female and male don the colourful clothes and parade by means of the packed streets.

One bar proprietor, nevertheless, scoffed at makes an attempt to tame the annual pores and skin celebration.

“How about this,” he mentioned. “Don’t go. It’s one week, for goodness sake. It’s not like persons are barging into houses. They’re coming right here and spending cash at our inns and bars and eating places. That’s not a small deal.”

The competition’s organizer, Nadene Grossman Orr, didn’t return a name for remark.