Jul 21, 2008 8:55 am US/Eastern
Key West Crowns New "Papa"
Winner: Tom Grizzard Of Leesburg
KEY WEST (CBS4) ―
A Leesburg man with a thick white beard and a piercing gaze has won this year's Key West Ernest Hemingway Look-Alike Contest.
Tom Grizzard, who has competed for the honor 8 previous times, bested 141 other look-alike contenders in the competition at Sloppy Joe's Bar, Hemingway's favorite watering hole when he lived in Key West throughout the 1930s.
Look-alike contenders in sportsman's attire paraded across the stage at Sloppy Joe's during preliminary rounds Thursday and Friday before a judging panel of former winners. Twenty-five prospective "Papas" made it to Saturday's finals where Grizzard was crowned the winner.
The contest was a highlight of the annual Hemingway Days festival that ended Sunday, a day before the 109th anniversary of the legendary author's birth.
A one-time fishing guide who has fished in Havana's Hemingway International Billfish Tournament, Grizzard prefers "Islands in the Stream" over Hemingway's other books.
"I relate to his love of the sea and love of people," said Grizzard who wore a cream-colored turtleneck sweater suggesting Hemingway's garb in an iconic 1957 photo portrait by Yousuf Karsh.
Other Hemingway Days events included the Drambuie Key West Marlin Tournament, writers' readings and a short story competition directed by author and Hemingway granddaughter Lorian Hemingway.
Ernest Hemingway's grandson Edward Hemingway, a writer and illustrator who showcased his new children's book at the festival, said he thought Hemingway Days would appeal to his late grandfather.
"I imagine my grandfather would get a kick out of the festival," he said. "The spirit of his life is here in Key West."
During his 10-year residence on the island, Ernest Hemingway penned literary classics including "For Whom the Bell Tolls," "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" and "To Have and Have Not."
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