Key West Set For New Year's Eve Antics
KEY WEST (CBSMiami/FKNB) - Despite its diminutive 8-square-mile size, New Year's Eve revelers on this subtropical island can choose between six offbeat warm-weather takeoffs on New York City's Times Square "ball drop."
Among them, female impersonator Gary Marion, portraying drag queen Sushi is to be lowered in a huge facsimile of a woman's high heel at a bar on Duval Street.
Down the street outside Sloppy Joe's Bar, thousands are expected to gather to watch a gigantic manmade conch shell, the symbol of the Florida Keys, once a hangout of famed author Ernest Hemingway.
Revelers also can applaud a huge replica of a Key lime wedge splashing down into a larger-than-life margarita glass at a harborside resort; the "landing" of a flight attendant in a section of a replica aircraft at First Flight restaurant, known as the birthplace of Pan American World Airways; a faux "tuna drop" and a "pirate wench" being lowered from the top of a tall ship's mast.
The Key West Dachshund Walk is to kick off at noon Tuesday. Organizers are expecting more than 200 of the short-legged, long-bodied canines and their human companions.
Tail-wagging participants typically include miniature and standard dachshunds -- many garbed in costumes or quirky accessories. The walking route is deliberately brief to cater to the dogs' short legs, and spectators typically line the streets to applaud and snap "pupparazzi" photos.
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