Information not accurate?
Help us improve by making a suggestion.
Hemingway Days Blends Literature, Competition, and Key West Tradition
Key West hosts five days of literary events, contests, and island traditions, pairing summer travel with nearby recreation and convenient overnight lodging.
Event details
Ernest Hemingway spent enough time in Key West to leave a permanent mark on the island, and Hemingway Days turns that legacy into five days of readings, museum programs, a marlin fishing tournament, a road race, and, the event’s most photographed moment, the Hemingway Look-Alike Contest at Sloppy Joe’s Bar, where dozens of bearded, white-haired contestants compete for the title.
The festival’s range is what makes it work as more than a costume spectacle. Literary panels and museum tours at the Hemingway Home sit alongside a genuine fishing tournament and running events, giving the week substance for visitors more interested in the author’s actual legacy than the look-alike theatrics. Even so, the contest remains the week’s centerpiece and its most reliable source of local color.
Given the breadth of programming spread across five days, a longer stay rewards visitors far more than a single-day visit built around the contest alone. Key West’s beaches, boating, and historic sites fill naturally around the festival’s scheduled events, and the island’s late-July heat makes an early beach morning a welcome complement to the afternoon and evening programming.
Information not accurate?
Help us improve by making a suggestion.
