2019!

January 2, 2019

Erin

 

 

2019!

New Year’s Eve in Key West is one of the biggest parties in the entire United States, the New Year’s celebration here was recently ranked as the third best in the entire United States behind only the classic one held in Times Square in New York City and the mega-party in Las Vegas. It is certainly one of the busiest times of the entire year here in the Keys as the week between Christmas and New Year’s is the most crowded time of the entire year with out of town visitors flooding the streets, bars and restaurants.

Kathy

Michael 

Key West has earned its reputation as one of the premier tourist destinations for the New Year by hosting some of the more unique activities you can imagine as an ever expanding series of “drops”, modeled after the famous ball drop in New York City have come to dominate the countdown to midnight on the final day of the year.

KP

The two most famous are the traditional dropping of the Conch Shell at Sloppy Joe’s and in what has become perhaps the most famous due to the continuing live coverage each year on CNN, the  drop of the renowned Drag Queen Sushi in a super-sized red high-heeled shoe at the Bourbon Street Pub. Sushi has been dropping in the pump for 22 years now and has gained fame through the uniqueness of the event and the media coverage.

 

Sushi was by far from the only game in town as she descended in her ruby slipper into the waiting masses on Duval Street, popping the cork on a bottle of Champagne at the stroke of midnight.  Crowds also celebrated by watching a gigantic manmade conch shell, the symbol of the Florida Keys, descend to the roof of Sloppy Joe’s Bar. At First Flight Island Restaurant, they applauded the landing of a flight attendant in a replica aircraft, saluting Key West’s heritage as the 1927 birthplace of Pan American Airways.





Also commemorating 2019’s arrival were the “splashdown” of a huge replica Key lime wedge into a giant margarita glass, an offbeat “tuna drop” and the lowering of a pirate wench from atop a tall ship’s mast in Key West’s Historic Seaport. In addition the traditional lowering of the Unicorn that had traditionally happened at the Porch but has now moved to the Tiki Hut. Even the Cork and Stogie got into the act by lowering a huge smoking cigar as the clock hit midnight.



There is certainly no shortage of fun and crazy antics to see here in Key West and that is just on the night itself, the parties really stretch on well before and after the actual New Year’s Eve. In fact, Kathy and I attended a wonderful family friendly event the night before New Year’s Eve at the Marriott Beachside resort where they were hosting a wonderful Glo party and fireworks display. In fact we stopped first at the party across the street at Sunset Green where a live band was playing prior to heading over to the beachside.







Jimmy

Our friend Jimmy Cooper was DJing the party on the beach/ pool of the Marriott and it was packed with mostly locals there to take in the party and fireworks, which were fantastic. Easily the best fireworks display in Key West in ages, it was a fantastic celebration, early enough in the evening for kids to enjoy and fun for everyone.





Jimmy and Joanna



This week also marked the first shows from the new Backroom Burlesque by Key West Burlesque in their new permanent home at Sidebar behind Aqua. Having just seen their holiday show recently, I might not have been back so soon except that my friend KP was returning to the island for his first performance and visit since he moved north a couple of years ago and I really wanted to go and see and support him.

with KP









Erin

The show was really great with the amazing aerialist returning again as well as awesome performances by Tatah DuJour, Chief Peach and my favorite performer of all the exquisite Cheeky Derriere, aka our good friend Erin. It was a fun night out that I capped off by making a quick visit to see my friend Keith’s newly opened bar, Glitch- which is amazing. Can’t wait to spend more quality time there.



Glitch

Jack