It's Not a Ball Drop on New Year's Eve in Key West

Online, December 23, 2013 (Newswire.com) - As New York City drops the New Year's Ball in Times Square to mark the changing of the years, many other cities across the globe practice a similar tradition. While the "ball dropping," begun by our own NYC, has been imitated in many major cities, Key West, Florida has put its own spin on that New Year's Ball.

A finale for the Key West Holiday Fest, this tiny tropical island celebrates the arrival of the baby new year in several innovative and festive ways. While fireworks light the sky over Key West Harbor, high above the Bourbon Street Pub, a six foot high heeled shoe begins to descend. The "shoe dropping" has begun. Carrying Sushi, a local celebrity and drag queen, the spiked heel shoe drops to the street into a packed crowd as the New Year celebration begins.

If shoe dropping isn't your cup of tea, just around the corner on Duval Street sits a friendly and inviting restaurant amidst the busy island city streets. Only in the Conch Republic will you witness the dropping of a Conch Shell as a celebration of the incoming year. At Sloppy Joe's, a well known Key West restaurant, the Conch Drop has been a long standing tradition for over twenty years among the locals and island visitors alike.

Finally, and likely most grand, is the completely politically incorrect "Wench Drop." From the mast of a holiday lighted schooner moored in the historical and festively decorated Harbor of Lights of Key West, a pirate's wench is lowered as the year becomes new. Only in Key West, Florida could one expect to see a literal wench drop.

For those less partial to crowds, there are many boat tours of the island offered during the New Year's festivities including paddlewheel and sail boats circling the island giving site seers one of the best views imaginable of the ongoing fireworks displays.

For more information on New Years Eve in Key West, Florida, visit http://www.newyearsevelive.net/cities/key-west-florida.html

JD Arbuckle is a freelance journalist in Minneapolis who would love to bring in the New Year in Key West.