Attorney wins Ernest Hemingway contest in Key West tradition
Jul 23, 2022, 11:35 PM | Updated: Jul 24, 2022, 1:07 pm
In this Saturday, July 23, 2022, photo provided by the Florida Keys News Bureau, Jon Auvil, center, receives an Ernest Hemingway bust and congratulations after he won the 2022 Hemingway Look-Alike Contest at Sloppy Joe's Bar in Key West, Fla. Left of Auvil is Joe Maxey, the 2019 winner, and at right is Fred Johnson, who won in 1986. Auvil, who finally won on his eighth attempt, beat 124 other entrants in the contest that was the highlight event of Key West's annual Hemingway Days festival that ends Sunday, July 24. Hemingway lived and wrote in Key West during most of the 1930s. (Andy Newman/Florida Keys News Bureau via AP)
(Andy Newman/Florida Keys News Bureau via AP)
KEY WEST, Fla. (AP) — Some came in wool fisherman’s sweaters, and other contestants had sportsmen’s attire. But it was the cream-colored sweater of attorney Jon Auvil that caught the eye of judges who awarded him the title for most resembling author and former Key West resident Ernest Hemingway.
Auvil triumphed Saturday night over 124 other contestants for the title in the annual Hemingway Look-Alike Contest at Sloppy Joe’s Bar, the Key West establishment where the author was a regular patron during his decade-long residence on the island in the 1930s.
The look-a-like contest is a highlight of Key West’s annual Hemingway Days celebration, which ended Sunday.
Auvil said he shares Hemingway’s passion for fishing, has written some fiction and would like to do more writing.
“Every man wants to write like Hemingway,” said Auvil, who lives in Dade City, Florida, northeast of Tampa.
While living in Key West, Hemingway wrote classics, including “For Whom the Bell Tolls” and “To Have and Have Not.”
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