Dropping a Pirate Wench in Key West

In New York City tonight, just on the other side of the Hudson River from where I am now typing, roughly one million people gather  in Times Square to watch a crystal ball being dropped on exactly midnight to celebrate the new year.  (To be precise, it is actually carefully lowered to coincide with the stroke of midnight.)   Another hundred million or so folks will be watching the ball drop on television in the US and an estimated billion people will see the event on video around the world.

In Key West, Florida, the southernmost city in the  United States, they do things just a bit differently.  They will celebrate the New Year with  three different “drops” – a giant conch shell at Sloppy Joe’s Bar on Duval Street,  a pirate’s wench from the masthead of a tall ship at Key West’s Historic Seaport, and if conchs and wenches are too tame for you, Sushi, a drag queen, will be dropped at the Bourbon St. Pub also on Duval Street.

New Year’s Eve in Key West: A Wench, A Shell and A Drag Queen

Wherever you may be, we here at at the Old Salt Blog wish you all a most Happy New Year!