Liz Love doesn’t checklist juggling amongst her many expertise, however she ought to. The upbeat, energetic lady juggles a large number of duties, roles and enthusiasms with smiling grace.
Her talent is especially obvious each October, when she takes on the massively complicated job of coordinating Fantasy Fest’s lavish spotlight parade — together with different pivotal occasions on the costuming and masking pageant’s 10-day schedule.
Love, who grew up in Arkansas, arrived in Key West in early 2006. She labored because the recruitment supervisor for the native faculty, assistant supervisor of a personal clubhouse, a private coach for personal shoppers and supervisor of a number of fitness-based occasions.
Alongside the way in which, she met and married photographer, author, artist and filmmaker Michael Marrero. They’re mother and father to Isabel, now 10, and Stella, 7.
In 2018 Love was employed by Nadene Grossman Orr, whose firm, We’ve Bought the Keys, had turn into the producer of Fantasy Fest, to direct the pageant’s avenue truthful. After that starting, her work with We’ve Bought the Keys grew exponentially. In addition to her Fantasy Fest duties, she helps coordinate different festivals for the group and serves as its director of company occasions.
“I deal with incentive journey applications, so if folks have met their gross sales targets they usually get an incentive journey to Key West, we make it possible for they get to see the most effective that Key West has to supply — distinctive exercise experiences, eating experiences — and get them immersed within the tradition and the group that’s Key West,” Love defined.
Her Fantasy Fest duties embody not simply directing the parade and avenue truthful, but in addition working with longtime Masquerade March coordinator Mimi McDonald on the beloved march in Key West’s Outdated City.
Love takes nice pleasure within the creativeness and offbeat originality of a number of the parade’s float designers — amongst them David Sloan, whose 2024 float featured Key West’s paranormal doll, Robert, and an precise coffin on a scissor raise — and costume geniuses together with Daniel Bitnar and Man Hermelin.
“I actually admire the artistic power that these strolling teams and float builders deliver to the parade,” she mentioned. “The message is artistic, costumed enjoyable and members are actually embracing that.”
The parade usually consists of a number of dozen large-scale floats and strolling teams, with some entries that includes 50 to 100 costumed members. Love is particularly impressed by those that carry out choreographed dance routines alongside the greater than 1.5-mile parade route.
“That’s simply wonderful to me as a result of I understand how a lot time and power it takes,” she mentioned. “And when you will have 100 members who’re all studying a dance, the extent of power that you just deliver to the parade is a part of what makes it so particular.”
Fantasy Fest director Nadene Grossman Orr, proper, and Liz Love take a second’s break throughout a previous pageant. MICHAEL BLADES/Contributed
She’s fast to credit score her fellow Fantasy Fest crew members for his or her boundless power, in addition to the talent and dedication they carry to their work.
To maintain herself organized whereas overseeing the parade entries, lineup and pacing — in addition to duties for extra pageant occasions — Love depends on an uncommon software: a rack that holds her costumes and equipment for the varied actions.
“I roll it in across the first of October, and Michael at all times says, ‘Oh, right here we go. The rack’s again,’” she mentioned.
“It jogs my memory day by day of what headspace I should be in, so I line up my week and my mind and my life that approach,” added Love, who admitted she actually enjoys costuming and portraying characters. “Someway that simply retains me sane and arranged — to the extent that I can be organized — and retains me going.”
When Love isn’t working, she and Marrero are deeply concerned of their daughters’ actions, starting from soccer to bop to gymnastics, and serve on the boards of group organizations which might be significant to them.
She’s additionally keen about health and enjoys working, which lately led to an only-in-Key-West encounter.
“One Saturday morning my working companion and finest pal, Amy, and I have been working on Atlantic Boulevard in direction of Bertha Road to exit on the seashore — and two folks in pterodactyl and T-Rex blow-up costumes got here strolling down that sidewalk,” Love recalled.
“We’ve seen quite a bit down right here,” mentioned the girl who, as Fantasy Fest parade coordinator, has seen stranger sights than most. “So I do love that Key West means that you can be the truest model of your self. However to see two folks simply strolling of their blow-up costumes … that was sort of wonderful.”