Dachshund Walk Is Canine Kickoff To Key West New Year's Eve
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KEY WEST (CBSMiami/FKNB) - America's southernmost island went to the dogs New Year's Eve, when about 175 short-legged, long-bodied canines and their owners staged the 10th annual Key West Dachshund Walk.
The procession in the island city's historic Old Town was an informal, family-friendly prelude to the more exuberant antics planned to accompany 2015's midnight arrival.
Canine participants included miniature and standard dachshunds garbed in costumes and offbeat accessories. Among the standouts were a "horse" carrying a tiny jockey figure, "wieners" in oversized fabric "buns," superheroes with a "jailbird" companion, diminutive "dinosaurs" and a wire-haired dog dressed in a serape and sombrero.
Later on New Year's Eve, thousands of human revelers are expected to throng Key West's historic district for four unique warm-weather takeoffs on New York City's traditional Times Square ball drop.
One that gets much of the world's attention is the "drop" of female impersonator Sushi in a supersized red high heel shoe on the island's famed Duval Street.
Just before midnight a dazzlingly gowned and coiffed Sushi, perched in the shoe, is to be lowered from the balcony of Key West's Bourbon Street Pub as crowds below erupt in cheers. Live entertainment and special lighting effects add to the spectacle.
Revelers also can celebrate in Key West by watching a gigantic manmade conch shell, the symbol of the Florida Keys, descend to the roof of Sloppy Joe's Bar, a former hangout of Ernest Hemingway. In the island city's Historic Seaport, a pirate wench is to be lowered from the top of a tall ship's mast outside the Schooner Wharf Bar. And at the Ocean Key Resort, plans call for a huge replica of a Key lime wedge to splash down into a larger-than-life margarita glass.
Activities elsewhere in the Florida Keys include waterfront fireworks displays to welcome 2015.
"The Florida Keys News Bureau contributed to this report."
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