Pirate Wench, Drag Queen Ring In The New Year In Key West
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KEY WEST (CBSMiami/FKNB) - A dachshund parade and six unusual "drops" are to highlight New Year's Eve celebrations in Key West.
America's southernmost island is likely to go to the dogs at noon Monday, when an expected 200 hundred short-legged "wiener dogs" and their people stage the annual Key West Dachshund Walk.
The procession in the island's historic downtown, featuring many canines in costumes, is a lighthearted and laidback prelude to more exuberant revelry marking 2019's midnight arrival.
Monday night, tens of thousands are expected to gather in Key West's historic district for six warmer-weather takeoffs on New York City's traditional Times Square ball drop.
At the Bourbon Street Pub complex on famed Duval Street, lavishly dressed drag queen Sushi is slated to "drop" in a super-sized red high heel shoe. Nearby, crowds can celebrate while watching a gigantic manmade conch shell, the symbol of the Florida Keys, descend to the roof of Sloppy Joe's Bar.
Outside the Schooner Wharf Bar in the island city's Historic Seaport, a pirate wench is to be lowered from atop a tall ship's mast. Revelers also can applaud 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 American Airways.
A celebration at the Ocean Key Resort is to feature a huge replica of a Key lime wedge "splashing down" into a larger-than-life margarita glass, while the Smokin' Tuna Saloon plans to host an offbeat "tuna drop."
Elsewhere in the Florida Keys, festivities scheduled to welcome 2019 include waterfront fireworks displays in Key Largo and Islamorada, and the "drop" of an anchor at a historic replica lighthouse in Marathon.
(©2018 CBS Local Media. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Florida Keys News Bureau contributed to this report.)
