For New Year's Eve revellers in Key West, sushi does not mean the Japanese concoction of fish and rice. Instead, it refers to a drag queen who plans to bring in 2009 suspended above the island city’s famous Duval Street perched in an eight-foot red high heel shoe, spraying the crowds below with champagne.

This coming New Year’s Eve will mark the 12th consecutive year that Sushi, the alter ego of Key West resident Gary Marion, has starred in the festivities at the Bourbon Street Pub on Duval Street, the city’s main party strip.

Seconds before midnight, the high heel bearing a lavishly gowned Sushi is to be lowered from the second-story balcony of the complex toward the cheering crowds below. As midnight strikes and 2009 officially begins, she will land and gleefully pop the cork on a ceremonial bottle of champagne.

"In New York City, they drop the ball," Sushi said. "In Key West they drop me, in the shoe."

The multitalented Sushi, known for her svelte figure and faintly exotic air, is also the leader of an acclaimed troupe of drag performers. Called the 801 Girls, they strut their stuff nightly upstairs at the 801 Bourbon Bar.

“I truly love performing,” says Sushi, who has lived in Key West for more than 10 years. “There’s that special feeling you get when you’re onstage — but it really takes a lot of energy.”

Offstage, Sushi is an accomplished costume designer. As well as designing most of the 801 Girls’ stage outfits, she has created costumes for many Keys theatrical productions. To expand her sewing skills, she’s even learning upholstery!

While Sushi has been prominently featured in a book titled “Drag Queens at the 801 Cabaret,” it is her role as a New Year’s Eve icon that has sparked the most widespread fame. She has been featured in "The New York Times” and appeared for several years on CNN’s annual New Year’s Eve broadcast.

“I never thought, growing up, that I’d be on television in a giant red heel,” confesses the irrepressible Sushi. “That’s not something that a young kid aspires to. But I’m so thankful that I live in a city that lets us do whatever we want to do as long as we don’t hurt anybody else.”

For more information about the New Year's Eve celebrations in the Florida Keys, visit www.fla-keys.co.uk.