Over the next hour, Marion as Sushi is lowered 20 feet down inside the fire-engine red shoe made of fiberglass and stainless steel. The shoe is a size 8 -- feet, that is -- with a 4-foot-high heel.

"It is very stable and secure," Schroeder said.

That hasn't always been the case.

"It rained the second year, and my foot went through the bottom of it and I was like,'You guys have to make me a new shoe,' " Marion recalled. " '(Otherwise) I'm not going to sit in it.' "

Marion said the months of preparation for the hourlong show, and the potential danger of being dangled in midair, is all worth it because it allows him to represent the gay community and the city of Key West.

"Every year she says, 'This is my last year,' " Schroeder said, "and I say, 'Oh Sushi, you are going to be the old lady in the shoe.' "