Saturday, November 14, 2009

Fantasy Fest doesn't benefit all businesses

Every year, this paper makes the same sweeping declaration that Fantasy Fest "keeps local businesses afloat." Exactly what factual information is this statement based on? As a local business directly involved in the tourist industry, I can say without hesitation that Fantasy Fest week is financially one of the worst weeks of the year.

This year, two attractions sponsored the festival. They are both nonprofits, the USS Mohawk and the Haunting of Fort Taylor. Why do not-for-profit attractions sponsor the festival if it's such a boost to our sales? Maybe because it's not.

The tourists who visit that week are too busy parading up and down the street without clothes and getting completely wasted. For those of us who are trying to maintain a family-friendly business, this festival has become a complete hypocrisy. In the name of benefiting those with AIDS, we have a weeklong festival of sexual debauchery?

We all know this year has been financially difficult for most small businesses. Having to close our doors on Halloween while out-of-town vendors sell meat-on-a-stick in front of our businesses that we pay rent, taxes and other expenses for on a year-round basis does not "keep us afloat." October is an otherwise average month until the festival week. This year income dropped 50 percent compared to the week before Fantasy Fest.

If you are going to make a sweeping statement about the economic impact of this event, back it up with facts. What percent of businesses actually profit from this festival? Not just bars and hotels, but all businesses. When has any survey been done of all businesses to evaluate the true economic impact of this event?

This paper is a sponsor of the event and makes great money on all the advertising, but for many of us it directly competes with our normal operations to the point that we close our doors. Saying something repeatedly does not make it a fact, so please do some actual research to support what you print instead of just drinking the Kool-Aid sent over by the festival organizers.

Karen Cabanas Voss

Ghost Tours of Key West

Key West

Maybe we have had enough of Fantasy Fest

Things being the way they are now, maybe Key West has had enough of Fantasy Fest, and maybe we need something better.

Raymond L. Peters

Key West

Citizens are tired of debauchery, lax morals

The Citizen is missing the point of the many comments being made concerning the nude beach issue. A great number of citizens are tired of the debauchery and lax moral compass of this city and it's so-called leadership. The fact is, there are a lot of young families here that struggle every day to raise children and have a semi-normal life. The lifestyle they have chosen here is indeed "laid back." But that doesn't mean we want the city to become the international destination of immorality, debauchery or basic streetside prostitution of moral values.

Most believe that we as citizens here can live together in our diversity without prostituting our city out to those who wish to lead alternative lifestyles. So, there are actually those here who think that Fantasy Fest has digressed into an embarrassing event that will not be something the city can be proud of. This is definitely evident in the loss of revenue over the last several years based on tourists with families preferring other places to visit. Also, our tourists are being robbed and harassed along with our citizenry at an alarming rate by the by-product of adopting such a lackadaisical approach to laws.

It's time to face what we have really become -- a farce. It's a place that people make fun of and talk about in a negative way to their friends. No one has come right out and said they are against the nude beach in a place that is not as public as Smathers Beach. If the naturists want a nude beach, buy the land somewhere, build your beach, run the concessions to make the money to support it. Leave the city and its money and citizenry out of the equation. If you don't believe me, put it to the referendum test. Have the guts to at least be fair and stop shoving this sort of thing down everyone's throat.

Pat Johnson

Summerland Key