White-bearded “Papas” take over Previous City, wood bulls cost by means of the streets, and the legacy of a literary large comes vividly to life — it have to be Hemingway Days in Key West! Set for July 23–27, this quirky, colourful competition pays tribute to Ernest Hemingway’s larger-than-life spirit and his years dwelling in Key West.
The weeklong celebration facilities across the world-famous Hemingway® Look-Alike Contest at Sloppy Joe’s Bar — the place dozens of stocky, salt-and-pepper-bearded hopefuls channel their interior Papa in a bid for the coveted crown.
Past the laughs, the competition honors Hemingway’s literary legacy with readings, a writing competitors, Hemingway Dwelling & Museum excursions, and a marlin fishing event recalling his ardour for the ocean.
Occasions to notice embody the 2 preliminary rounds with this 12 months’s look-alike candidates at Sloppy Joe’s Bar at 6:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday nights.
Thursday at 11 a.m. Key West Cooking Faculty hosts a “grits-n-grunts” lunch, impressed by the Hemingway novel “To Have and Have Not,” one of many writer’s most well-known works written in the course of the time he lived in Key West.
On Saturday at 1 p.m., the Papa candidates don their Pamplona finest (white apparel with pink berets and sashes) as they take part within the annual playful parody of Spain’s Operating of the Bulls down Greene Avenue, both atop or alongside wood bulls-on-wheels.
Plan to reach early Saturday night for the 6:30 p.m. begin of the ultimate spherical of the Look-Alike contest with the crowning of 2025’s Papa!
For the complete checklist of Hemingwayesque frivolity, discover the full schedule right here.
