Fantasy Fest 2026: Key West Locals Guide to White Street

The 2026 Fantasy Fest calendar runs October 16 through 25. Key West's own community season restarts in those same ten days. Nearly every one of the resident events sits on White Street, in Bahama Village or at the Truman Waterfront, away from the Duval Street blocks the city will close over and over during the week.

This year's theme is "Musical Icons and Iconic Musicals." The costumes will get the attention. For anyone who lives here, the more useful thing to know is which streets close on which nights, and where everything else is happening.

White Street Gets the First Night and the Last Big One

The locals' season starts one day before Fantasy Fest. Walk on White opens its 2026–27 season on Thursday, October 15, from 6 to 8 p.m. The art stroll starts at the Fausto's parking lot, runs along White Street and turns onto Truman Avenue and nearby streets, with more than a dozen venues taking part. It happens every third Thursday through May. That makes October 15 the first night of a monthly routine that outlasts the festival by seven months.

Three days later, the same street holds the Artisan Market's opener. The Key West Artisan Market starts its 14th season on Sunday, October 18, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Indigenous Park at Higgs Beach, 1801 White Street. Its eligibility rule is why it counts as a locals' event in the middle of a tourism week. Vendors must live in the Keys and create or curate locally to qualify, according to KONK Life's season announcement.

The opener is called the "Welcome to the Party" Fantasy Fest Edition, and the program has a few things a regular market Sunday doesn't:

• Caleb Hogan, the Jimmy Buffett impersonator who hosts the "A Pirate Looks Back" tribute show, performs in the new Community Entertainment Pavilion.
• Keys Yacht Rock Station 93.7 broadcasts from that pavilion all day.
• The newly remodeled Key West Wildlife Center is open to explore on the same grounds.
• The Fantasy Fest crew will be there with official merchandise. Hogan will also ride the Just a Few Friends/Margaritaville Cafe Volcano Float in the parade the following Saturday.

Admission and parking are free, and organizers suggest coming by bike.

White Street also anchors the end of the week. The pre-party for the Locals' Parade on October 23 is at Fleming and White. On the resident side of the calendar, White Street opens the week and Duval closes it.

The First Weekend Belongs to the Neighborhoods

Most of the resident-facing events are packed into the opening weekend, before the Duval Street fair and the parade take over. Here is how October 16 through 19 lays out, using the City of Key West's closure notices and the official festival schedule.

Goombay is free and runs both days in Bahama Village, according to the official Fantasy Fest event page. The Friday welcome at 5:30 p.m. is credited to the Bahama Village Community Coalition and the City of Key West. The two sources list different hours. The festival page says noon to midnight, while the city's closure notices give noon to 11 p.m. for the Petronia Street closure. If you're driving that way late, plan on the later of the two.

Saturday has a built-in order to it. The Junk in the Trunk community yard sale returns to the Truman Waterfront that morning with a Fantasy Fest costume swap. It wraps up at 1 p.m., about an hour after Goombay opens a few blocks away. That gives you a morning to put together a costume secondhand and an afternoon to wear it.

Sunday is the busiest day for road changes. The Artisan Market at Higgs Beach ends at 2 p.m. Four hours later, the Zombie Bike Ride sets off from Fort East Martello on a rolling closure along S. Roosevelt, Atlantic Boulevard, Reynolds Street and South Street before finishing on Duval. If you live along that route, those streets will clear in the afternoon and then fill up again in the evening.

The Locals' Parade, by the Clock

The festival's Masquerade March page calls the Captain Morgan Masquerade March "The Locals' Parade." It describes a costumed walk through Old Town with complimentary drinks at selected businesses and guesthouses before the march enters the Duval Street fair. The page doesn't say participation is limited to residents. Here is the Friday, October 23 schedule:

1. 4 p.m. Paparazzi Row party at Fleming and White streets.
2. 5 p.m. Marchers line up at Frances and Petronia streets.
3. 5:30 p.m. sharp Step-off, winding through Old Town and into the street fair.

The heading on the official page still reads "2025," but the event details and linked route map are for 2026. The turn-by-turn route on that map isn't readable in text form, so check the map before you plan where to stand.

The march ends where the second half of the festival is already going. The Fantasy Fest Street Fair and Costume Promenade covers the mile-long stretch of Duval on October 23 and 24. On Friday, arts and crafts run from noon to 10 p.m. and food runs from noon to 2 a.m. Many Artisan Market merchants set up on Duval that Friday next to vendors from around the country. If you missed the Sunday opener at Higgs Beach, you have a second chance to buy from them downtown.

Saturday Night, With No Loop Bus

The Deep Eddy Vodka Fantasy Fest Parade steps off Saturday, October 24, at 7 p.m. According to the city's route notice, the parade leaves Truman Waterfront Park by way of Southard Street, turns left on Whitehead, right on Front, right on Duval, right on United and right on Whitehead, then returns to Truman Waterfront Park. Duval closes at 6 p.m., and the city warns of traffic delays.

This will be the first Fantasy Fest since the Duval Loop stopped running. The downtown circulator has been suspended since December 31, 2025, and it got no funding in the city budget year that began October 1, according to KONK Life's October 3 report. The same report says the city's finance director has asked the Monroe County Attorney's Office for a written opinion on whether tourist development tax money could cover all or part of the Loop's operating costs. That question was still open as of the report. The outlet also reported that a new Island Hopper service will replace Key West Rides on-demand and Workforce Express in the coming months. None of that will be ready for parade night.

This is where the White Street pattern helps. The Higgs Beach market has free parking and asks people to bike in. Walk on White starts from a grocery store parking lot. Paparazzi Row is at Fleming and White. Most resident-facing events this week are easy to reach by bike from the residential side of the island. The parade and street fair are the main events that need downtown transit, and that's the service Key West doesn't have this year.

The Calendar Keeps Going After the 25th

Once the street fair is packed up, the community events that started this week keep running, and most of their next dates are already set:

• Walk on White returns every third Thursday through May.
• The Artisan Market has 29 dates this season. The next one is Sunday, November 1, the "Welcome Race Fans! Power Boat Edition."
• Junk in the Trunk is back at the Truman Waterfront on November 21, December 5 and December 19.
• The Black Friday Shopping Extravaganza comes to Truman Waterfront Park on Friday, November 27, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. It's an expanded holiday market for local artists and small businesses.

A full list of the festival's ticketed events is on fantasyfest.com.

Knowing which streets close and when is the same kind of local detail our team pays attention to in any Keys decision, from a canal's bridge clearance to a short ride over to Bahama Village. If you're thinking about a home in Key West and want to know how it fits into weeks like this one, Shane Wilson and the team are glad to help. Get in Touch.