A Hemingway look-alike contest and festival is set in Key West.
Fans of Ernest Hemingway’s literary talent and adventurous life, including scores of bearded Hemingway look-alikes, will converge on Key West from July 21st-26th for the Hemingway Look-Alike Contest and festival.
The annual festivities salute the Nobel Prize–winning writer who lived on the island for most of the 1930s, embracing the easygoing local lifestyle.
The famed Hemingway Look-Alike Contest at Sloppy Joe’s Bar at 201 Duval St. is paired with events that include the tongue-in-cheek “Running of the Bulls”; a Look-Alike film evening and literary reading; a high-energy storytelling competition; the Key West Cooking Show’s Hemingway–themed cocktail experiences; a street fair on Duval Street; a 5k run; a high-stakes marlin tournament; and a presentation on Hemingway’s angling exploits.
The festival begins Tuesday, July 21st, the 127th anniversary of the author’s birth, with a Hemingway museum exhibit at the Key West Museum of Art and History at the Custom House, 281 Front St. That evening at Williams Hall, 729 Fleming St., audiences can enjoy a reading of the Lorian Hemingway Short Story Competition’s winning entry; view the short film “The Beard Also Rises” and a sneak preview of “Beards Go to Cuba,” both depicting the Look-Alikes; and watch the Hemingway classic “The Old Man and the Sea.”
The schedule’s undisputed highlight is Sloppy Joe’s annual “Papa” Hemingway Look-Alike Contest, held at the renowned watering hole where the author often drank with friends. Up to 160 bearded contestants will parade across Sloppy Joe’s stage, attempting to convince a judging panel of past winners that they deserve the title of “Papa.” Preliminary rounds are scheduled at 6:30pm Thursday and Friday, July 23rd and 24th, with the final round Saturday, July 25th.
Thursday’s round is preceded by the Hemingway Look-Alike Society’s presentation of scholarships to local students. To date, the society has awarded more than $350,000 in scholarship funding.
The “Papas” also enliven Saturday’s infamous “Running of the Bulls,” featuring manmade bull replicas and recalling Hemingway’s fascination with bullfighting. Backdropped by the all-day Caribbean Street Fair, it’s set for 1pm outside Sloppy Joe’s following a look-alike photo session with fans.
The Hemingway festivities conclude Sunday with Sloppy Joe’s belated birthday party for the author, an encore “museum day” at the Custom House, and the new “Papa’s Tales” storytelling competition at the Hemingway Distillery’s popular Hemingway Social Club, 201 Simonton St.
The Hemingway Look-Alike Contest and festival is presented in part by the Monroe County Tourist Development Council. Check online for more details and a full event schedule.
