Key West To Welcome New Year With Multiple 'Drops,' Dachshund Walk
KEY WEST (CBSMiami/FKNB) – New Year's Eve revelers in subtropical Key West can enjoy six offbeat warm-weather takeoffs on New York City's Times Square "ball drop" -- including the "drop" of a renowned female impersonator in a super-sized red high heel shoe.
On Key West's Duval Street outside the Bourbon St. Pub/New Orleans House complex, festivities Tuesday night, Dec. 31, star lavishly gowned drag queen Sushi, perched in the giant red shoe suspended high above the crowd.
Seconds before 2020's arrival, Sushi and her high-heeled chariot are to be lowered from the balcony of the complex, landing as the clock strikes midnight. Live entertainment and special lighting effects add to the spectacle.
Down the street outside Sloppy Joe's Bar, thousands of people are expected to gather to watch a gigantic manmade conch shell, the symbol of the Florida Keys, descend to the flat roof of the legendary bar -- a hangout of famed author Ernest Hemingway when he lived in Key West during the 1930s.
In the Key West Historic Seaport, a "pirate wench" is to be lowered from the top of a tall ship's mast outside the Schooner Wharf Bar.
Revelers also can applaud a huge replica of a Key lime wedge splashing down into a larger-than-life margarita glass on the Sunset Pier at Ocean Key Resort & Spa; the "landing" of a flight attendant in a section of a replica aircraft at First Flight Island Restaurant & Brewery, whose historic building is known as the birthplace of Pan Am; and the wacky "tuna drop" at the Smokin' Tuna Saloon.
Earlier Tuesday, Key West is to "go the dogs" when as many as 300 short-legged, long-bodied canines and their human companions stage the family-friendly Key West Dachshund Walk at noon.
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 photos.
Elsewhere in the Florida Keys, New Year's Eve activities include waterfront fireworks displays to welcome 2020.
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