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Wacky Racers Roll Down Duval St.

KEY WEST (CBSMiami) – Key West's annual Conch Republic Independence Celebration is winding down.

On Saturday, 10 teams of participants took part in the 29th annual Conch Republic Red Ribbon Bed Race on the city's famed Duval Street.

Billed as "the most fun you can have in bed with your clothes on," the race was not only a facet of the city's yearly celebration it was also a fundraiser for the Florida Keys' AIDS Help organization.

Race rules dictated that each colorfully decorated bed was either pushed or pulled up Duval by team members while at least one teammate rode on the bed. Entrants were pitted against each other to pilot their beds as fast as possible to the finish line.

Beds were decorated as everything from a "Batmobile" and a gigantic chile pepper to a "Rocky Horror Picture Show" tribute whose team included a bearded "lady" in black spangled lingerie.

One bed sported a woolly plush sheep as a figurehead, while another was adorned with a trophy deer head and propelled by four men wearing brief costumes, fake antlers and deer-like "tails."

The annual celebration commemorates the day in 1982 when the Florida Keys staged a secession from the United States after a U.S. Border Patrol blockade was installed at the head of the island chain.

The 2012 festival began April 20 with highlights including a re-enactment of the secession and the preparation and serving of a 7-foot-round Key lime pie.

The festivities will wrap up Sunday night after a sailing race that recalls the Keys' early shipwreck salvage industry.

The Florida Keys New Bureau contributed to this report

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