Taking the Stage During Hemingway Days in Key West for a Good Cause
2024 Hemingway Days, Key West | The 2024 contest happens July 17-21. Download the entry form here as well as view the schedule. Find a list of all the PAPAs and MAMAs.
I received a letter from Stephen Terry—PAPA 2013—and I was reminded that taking the Sloppy Joe’s stage last year during one of the hottest summer’s on record in Key West meant so much more than a bunch of men vying for the title of PAPA. Here I was, doing something I thought I would never do, compete in the Hemingway Look-Alike Society contest.
First, the competition. Most who stood beside me were like me; not a chance in hell of winning as a lookalike of Ernest Hemingway, but for the opportunity to take home a t-shirt (and be in Key West in July), all bets were off; we all held tightly to a slither of unsubstantiated hope. “I could be PAPA 2023,” I told myself. “After all, I’m a writer, or rather my wife is a writer. I’ve been to Pamplona for the running of the bulls. I’ve been growing my hair long for the past six months for this—and I hate long hair, by the way, and, my bushy beard is gray.”
I soon realized those weren’t nearly enough arguments for winning the title to even be in the fight, and also, it was my first year of competition. The guy to my right was on his 13th try; the one further down, over 20 times in the line-up. I was a baby, an infant, a mere wannabe in a sea of men dressed in khaki shirts and pants, red scarfs, and topped with white hair. On this sweltering hot July day, it was like looking into a mirror; all 80 PAPA wannabe’s.
But first, cut the birthday cake. They begin every year of competition during Hemingway Days in Key West with cake. Past PAPA’s do the honors. In 2023, the giant would have been 124-years-old.
Here I am, far left, looking like I have a clue or a chance.
Two days of competition yielded many contestants who thought like me. I opted for the first day of competition, basically to get it over with; over 80 men took the stage. I was #47. See that red scarf around my neck. I got that in Pamplona; that should account for something. I had 30 seconds to plead my case. I mentioned the writing thing, the Pamplona thing, and the “write drunk and edit sober” thing. And that was my 30 seconds of fame; and just like that, I left the stage knowing it would not be me. Twelve would advance from this round, and twelve from the second round tomorrow.
In the end, the winner Gerrit Marshall, one of the brave ones who donned the wool sweater from one of Hemingway’s famous photos during his later years, got the traditional smooch from previous PAPA’s and THE nod. It was his 11th attempt, and it was on his 68th birthday that he convinced the judges he was ‘the one.’ Joining the ‘bearded brotherhood’ had to be one of the best birthday presents in the history of birthday presents.
Many contestants came with their own cheering sections, sporting t-shirts, yielding signs, screaming at the top of their lungs for their candidate for PAPA.
Now, for the cause. Turns out, Hemingway Days are more than the look-a-like contest, drinking at Sloppy Joes, a marlin tournament, run-walk-paddleboard races, the playful running of the plastic bulls down Duval, or its street fair, but it the Hemingway Look-Alike Society Scholarship Fund that reaps the rewards of all the fun. In 2023, over $112,000 was raised for scholarships presented to 14 College of the Florida Keys students and four Key West High School students. And before the competition for Papa, all recipients took the stage to a round of applause. Also, during this year, they expanded categories to include veterans and first responders training to work in key West. In 2025, they will be adding Marine Science scholarships to the mix.
And that made the entry fee plus all the other expenditures on Hemingway stuff worthwhile.
The festival was started in 1981 by local residents, including Michael Whalton a former Key West resident who worked at Sloppy Joe’s Bar. You can’t sling a cat in the city during this week without “hitting” a lookalike. All the reigning PAPAs sit center stage for all the festivities; the MAMAs (their wives) sit directly behind them. MAMA Paula Deen, whose husband Michael won the 2018 title, chatted with other MAMAs during the competition.
Key West, as well as Sloppy Joes, is where Hemingway called home, 1931 - 1939. He penned classics “For Whom the Bell Tolls” and “To Have and Have Not.” His residence, The Hemingway Home and Museum, on Whitehead Street remains a tribute to the literary giant. Look above to his writer’s studio but look down at ground level to find his “last penny” and his six-toed cats.
It won’t be my last trip to Key West, but I feel sure my last competition unless I really surprise myself. I’ll gladly hang out in Sloppy Joes, body sweat to body sweat with the crowd cheering on the men in khaki, sipping my Sloppy Ritas, and think what might have been.
