Dave Hemingway, center, receives smooches from Charlie Boise, left, and Wally Collins after winning the 2016 Ernest “Papa” Hemingway Look-Alike Contest Saturday in Key West, Fla. (Associated Press)
In this Saturday, July 23, 2016, photo provided by the Florida Keys News Bureau, Dave Hemingway, center, hoists his trophy after winning the 2016 Ernest "Papa" Hemingway Look-Alike Contest at Sloppy Joe's Bar in Key West, Fla. Success for Dave Hemingway came on the Macon, N.C., resident's seventh attempt to win the coveted title at the highlight event of the island city's annual Hemingway Days festival that ends Sunday. Dave Hemingway is not related to Ernest Hemingway who lived and wrote in Key West in the 1930s. (Rob O'Neal/Florida Keys News Bureau via AP)
In this Saturday, July 23, 2016 photo provided by the Florida Keys News Bureau, Dave Hemingway, center, poses for smartphone photos with celebrity chef Paula Deen, left, and her husband Michael Groover, right, after Dave Hemingway won the 2016 Ernest "Papa" Hemingway Look-Alike Contest at Sloppy Joe's Bar in Key West, Fla. Success for David Hemingway came on the Macon, N.C., resident's seventh attempt. He is not related to Ernest Hemingway who lived and wrote in Key West in the 1930s. (Rob O'Neal/Florida Keys News Bureau via AP)
In this Saturday, July 23, 2016 photo provided by the Florida Keys News Bureau, Frank Kramer, left, implores the judges to choose him to be the winner of the 2016 Ernest "Papa" Hemingway Look-Alike Contest at Sloppy Joe's Bar in Key West, Fla. Kramer didn't win but was among five finalists of the contest that attracted 140 entrants and was the highlight of the subtropical island's Hemingway Days festival that ends Sunday. (Rob O'Neal/Florida Keys News Bureau via AP)
In this Saturday, July 23, 2016, photo provided by the Florida Keys News Bureau, supporters of Michael Groover and Richard Filip cheer for their favorites at the 2016 Ernest "Papa" Hemingway Look-Alike Contest at Sloppy Joe's Bar in Key West, Fla. The event, that attracted 140 entrants, was the highlight of the subtropical island's Hemingway Days festival that ends Sunday. (Rob O'Neal/Florida Keys News Bureau via AP)
In this photo provided by the Florida Keys News Bureau, Ernest Hemingway look-alikes kick off the annual "Running of the Bulls" Saturday, July 23, 2016, in Key West, Fla. The whimsical and much safer answer to the event's namesake in Pamplona, Spain, was staged as a facet of the island city's annual Hemingway Days festival that ends Sunday, July 24. Hemingway lived and wrote in Key West throughout most of the 1930s. (Rob O’Neal/Florida Keys News Bureau via AP)
KEY WEST, Fla. — For the first time in its 36-year history, a Hemingway has won a competition seeking the man who most looks like literary giant Ernest Hemingway.
Dave Hemingway was named the winner of the “Papa” Hemingway Look-Alike Contest on Saturday in Key West, Florida. The winner said he is not related to the late author. The contest, which attracted 140 entrants, is the highlight event of the annual Hemingway Days festival that celebrates the author’s legacy. It was held at Sloppy Joe’s Bar, which was a frequent hangout of Hemingway’s during his Key West residency in the 1930s.
Hemingway won the contest in his seventh attempt.
— Associated Press
, wore a wool, cream-colored turtleneck sweater similar to what the late author favored.
“Even though this sweater is really hot, it was part of my strategy,” he said. “And I think it worked really well.”
Like the author, Dave Hemingway said he likes to fish, to drink a little “and I like women. I like having a good time. I do feel like Ernest because I’m in the town he lived in so many years.”
The husband of celebrity cook Paula Deen — Michael Groover of Savannah, Georgia — finished in the top five for the second straight year. This is the sixth time he has participated in the contest.
