Key West’s famous drag queen in ‘shoe drop’ returns to Duval Street on New Year’s Eve
To welcome 2022, a famous Key West drag queen will drop inside a red high-heeled shoe from above a Duval Street bar.
The celebrated New Year’s Eve tradition at the Bourbon Street Pub that has been running for more than 20 years — with performer Sushi in the shoe — was turned into a private party last year after the Southernmost City imposed a 10 p.m. curfew because of the pandemic.
A year later, Key West’s outdoor festivities have returned, along with the star of the big shoe.
“I took some extra time this year to make a fabulous dress,” said Gary “Sushi” Marion, who meticulously creates a new outfit every year. “I can’t wait to reveal it.”
The Duval Street party is back, but so are safety concerns with COVID-19’s omicron variant quickly spreading across the country and setting pandemic daily records of newly reported cases in Florida.
Key West has no COVID-19 rules for New Year’s Eve.
“We hope people stay outside, stay in groups of people they know are vaccinated and stay away from people who are unvaccinated,” said Mayor Teri Johnston. “It’s going to be crowded.”
Marion plans to wear a mask when walking around the crowd and before getting into the shoe.
The location of the drop, the Bourbon Street Pub at 724 Duval St., has limited VIP balcony seating to 100, which is half the capacity, and is also offering outside table seating for a few dozen people.
“We’re trying to be as safe as we can for everyone performing and dealing with the shoe,” Marion said. “Hopefully, the crowd will be safe, too.”
Bourbon Street Pub owner Joe Schroeder expects a huge crowd Friday night.
“Rather than just cancel New Year’s Eve altogether, let’s just help make it safer,” Schroeder said Tuesday. “A lot of people are vaccinated and not worried about it. I’m vaccinated. I’m not being careless.”
However, the shoe drop will have one missing element due to rising COVID-19 case numbers.
CNN, which for about 13 years has captured the Duval Street drop, isn’t coming.
The network canceled its Key West plans out of concern for the safety of crew members being on the streets amid COVID-19, said Andy Newman, the public relations director for the Monroe County Tourist Development Council.
“They decided they were just too concerned about the crowds,” said Newman, who in November was helping CNN plan the coverage. “They were looking at the various live remotes.”
Just before Christmas, CNN backed out.
“We’re hoping they’re going to show something that we’ll tape and provide to them,” Newman said.
City Manager Patti McLauchlin said the island is already busy with tourists.
“We hope people have a safe New Year’s,” she said. “It’d be hard to say practice social distancing downtown on Duval.”
The shoe drop isn’t the only New Year’s Eve drop in downtown Key West. Here are a few other options:
Sloppy Joe’s Bar’s conch shell drop
201 Duval St.
Sloppy Joe’s Bar hosts its own drop, lowering a giant replica of a conch shell to the famous watering hole’s flat roof. Live music starts inside the bar at noon.
Outside at 10 p.m., DJ Sanaris will start playing music from the roof. When a huge clock ticks down the seconds to midnight, the shell will start its descent.
Schooner Wharf Bar’s ‘pirate wench’ drop
202 William St.
At the Key West Historic Seaport, Schooner Wharf Bar hosts a big New Year’s Eve party that features the annual lowering of the “pirate wench” from the top of a tall ship’s mast as 2021 comes to a close. The party starts at 11:30 a.m. Friday with live music.
The bar promises cannon blasts to help ring in 2022.
Sunset Pier’s Key lime drop
0 Duval St.
This private party at the Ocean Key Resort’s outdoor bar costs $125 per person and is limited to 125 people. It starts at 9:30 p.m. At midnight, they’ll drop a replica of a Key lime wedge into an enormous margarita glass.
First Flight Island Restaurant and Brewery
301 Whitehead St.
A ticket to this private party at First Flight Island Restaurant and Brewery costs $250 and includes an open bar, food and live music.
First Flight will have a toast at midnight as a replica of an old Pan Am plane, with someone inside dressed as a flight attendant, completes a make-believe landing.
It’s a nod to Pan American World Airways, which had its original office in this structure on Whitehead Street when it made its first flight from Key West to Havana in 1927.
The party has a Great Gatsby theme with attendees expected to dress accordingly. It starts at 8 p.m.
This story was originally published December 28, 2021 at 4:05 PM with the headline "Key West’s famous drag queen in ‘shoe drop’ returns to Duval Street on New Year’s Eve."
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