By Lori Perkins
I guess nothing should surprise me these days, but until last week I was blissfully unaware that there is an annual Hemmingway Look-Alike Contest in Key West, Florida every year. And that this has been going on for four decades!
Hemmingway’s old hang-out, Sloppy Joe’s, a stone’s throw away from the Hemmingway historical house, which is a national monument, is the sight of this yearly event. This year more than 100 white-bearded men competed for the prize. According to the Associated Press, the Pulitzer Prize cos-players “showed up in wool fisherman’s sweaters — while other contestants wore sportsmen’s attire.”
Attorney Jon Auvil, a Florida resident, won the coveted bust of the famous writer, saying, “every man wants to write like Hemmingway.” Of course, he has unpublished fiction of his own.
There were four runners up.
Sloppy Joes says these men return year after year for the fellowship and the opportunity to represent the spirit of Hemmingway and promote the scholarship which is the biggest contributor to the Community Foundation of the Florida Keys.
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