Vroom Vroom in Heels

Independence Day celebrations in Key West started Friday with the Conch Republic flag going up at Fort Zachary.

Saturday brought a Bahamian Festival at the San Carlos Institute. We'd always wanted to go inside this place, they sponsor quite a few events, so decided to check it out. Plus, we were curious what kind of food they'd have for this event - most of it turned out to be conch. The guys making rotis really need to stop cheating with the tortilla wraps.

The institute is described as being "founded in 1871 by Cuban exiles of Key West as an educational, civic, and patriotic center. The San Carlos is a multi-purpose facility that serves as a museum, library, art gallery, theater, and school."


 

The architecture is quite pretty, there's a large theater I didn't take a picture of for some reason, and lots of statues or pictures of stoic, unsmiling Cuban patriots. This picture just scared the bejeebers out of me. Talk about a "caption this" opportunity.

Now I know why they weren't smiling in any of their other photos.
I'm waiting for him to go:  Mwa haha!!

Then we headed down to the Bourbon St. Pub to watch the first round of drag races, and when I mean drag races, I mean drag queen races - remember, this is Key West. I have no idea how some of them wore the heels they did just to stand in, let alone run. It was crowded and pretty difficult to get pictures, so I'll have to borrow from a few others who had a better spot (MileZero's got some).

These guys kept us entertained for a bit.


   

The MC was a hoot.

 

And then the train came in bringing the competitors.


   

A little stretching before the big event, and then it was time to get ready to hit their marks.

 

The course included shopping carts and tires and these guys (gals?) were not kidding around. These photos are from the Conch Republic or LezliesWorld blog.

 
  

I give these guys credit - not only for their get-ups, but for being able to do this in the heat. It's been really hot and humid - we've set a record for highest low temps every single night now for almost 2 weeks. As a matter of fact, the evening was capped off around 11:30 last night with some lightning, thunder, and a little rain. It did bring the temps down a bit, but supposedly a stalled cold front (how ironic) is going to keep funneling in this hot, wet air until early next week (watch for waterspouts).

Today's event is the Cruiser Car show at Schooner Wharf. A different kind of engine revving.