Drag queen Sushi was lowered in a giant high heeled shoe from a rooftop to ring in the New Year in Key West, Florida.

Gary Marion, who goes by the stage name Sushi, started the annual celebration in 1996.

“They said, 'We have an idea: Let's do a shoe drop … We made this shoe for you,'” Marion told WPTV. “'You've got to sit in it for New Year's Eve,' and I said 'okay,' and that is how it started.”

The red shoe, which is constructed of fiberglass and stainless steel, is lowered off the roof of the Bourbon Street Pub along Key West's main street.

Each year, Marion makes a special dress, which isn't revealed until Sushi arrives to begin the countdown.

“In the last 16 years I've been doing this, it has made Key West one of the destinations to come to for New Years Eve,” Marion told the AP. (A video is embedded on this page. Visit our video library for more videos.)