Watch The Running Of The Bulls – Key West Style

  KEY WEST, Florida — Stocky, white-bearded Ernest Hemingway look-alikes proved that their affinity for the author is “no bull” during Saturday afternoon’s “Running of the Bulls” in Key West.

The parody of the annual run held in Pamplona, Spain, was a highlight of Key West’s Hemingway Days festival, a salute to the legendary American author who lived and wrote on the island during the 1930s.

Slower and safer than the Pamplona challenge, the Key West “run” featured costumed look-alikes ambling through the island’s historic downtown with a “herd” of manmade mock bulls.

The event was headquartered outside Sloppy Joe’s Bar, frequented by Hemingway during his Key West years, with a route proceeding along part of the island’s renowned Duval Street.

Saturday night, 25 finalists chosen from 137 entrants will vie for victory in the final round of Sloppy Joe’s three-night Hemingway Look-Alike Contest.

Hemingway Days began July 20 with events include literary readings, a twilight walking tour of Hemingway sites, a marlin tournament and a celebration of the 122nd anniversary of the author’s July 21 birth. The festival concludes Sunday.

Ernest Hemingway wrote some of his most enduring classics while living in Key West including “For Whom the Bell Tolls” and “To Have and Have Not.”