Key West, Florida welcomed 2014 by
lowering drag queen Sushi in a giant high heeled shoe from a rooftop.
Gary Marion, who goes by the stage name
Sushi, started the annual celebration in 1996.
Thousands of revelers gather each year
outside the island's Bourbon St. Pub complex on Duval Street to watch
Sushi “drop” to the street below in the red shoe, which is
constructed of fiberglass and stainless steel.
“It was inspired by Priscilla
Queen of the Desert when it first came out, with the whole high
heel on top of the bus,” Joey Schroeder, owner of Bourbon St. Pub,
told CNN. “I wanted to take that idea and do something fun on New
Year's Eve.”
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 said last year.