|
" I don't want to go among mad people," Alice remarked. "Oh, you can't help that," said the Cheshire Cat."We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad." "How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice. "You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn't have come here." |
Meet Mama Guava, the diva of decadence who is the titular ruler of Tampa's Ybor City Cuban quarter. She and her court officially open the Guavaween festivities, tossing conventions and beads to the warm October winds.
|
Many people spend months, even a whole year, creating a costume for Guavaween. Unlike with other costume festivals, most Guavaween costumes are not professionally designed or purchased but are expressions of the wearer's creativity or make a social or political statement. |
|
Our friend Lenny is different. Lenny has a well-developed sense of fantasy, so with a spare mask, scissors and some gold metallic shirts, he put together his alien costume only hours before the festival.
|
| Ornate Mediterranean style balconies overhang the cobblestone streets of Ybor City. On Guavaween night, they provide a perch from which royalty and their guests toss favors to the thousands of costumed visitors below. |
|
I think I may as well go in at once."
Music Stages
"Thus grew the tale of Wonderland.Thus slowly, one by one
its quaint events were hammered out. And now the tale is done,
And home we steer, a merry crew, beneath the setting sun."
"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll
If you are interested in knowing more about Guavaween,
