JULY EVENTS
July 02 - 05, 2025 Key West
The Key Lime Festival celebrates the world’s most sensational citrus with a spectacular lineup of festivities taking place across Key West, the island where Key lime pie was conceived. Highlights include a kick-off cookbook signing and champagne reception with festival co-founder and “Key West Key Lime Pie Cookbook” author David Sloan; delicious Key lime-centric dinner and brunch events; a wild and world-famous 4th of July Key lime pie eating contest; a gravity-defying Key lime pie drop competition from the top of the Key West Lighthouse; a Key lime pie hop; mini Key lime pie making classes; a 4th of July 5K; and for those with a taste for limey libations, Key lime rum tastings and a bar sip & stroll and more!
July 04 Key West
STUDIOS OF KEY WEST: 4TH OF JULY ROOFTOP FIREWORKS VIEWING
Join Studios of Key West for a special Independence Day party on the Hugh's View rooftop! Ticket price includes a free drink, a view of the fireworks on the horizon, and a DJ keeping the soundtrack flowing until 10pm. Wear your red, white and bluest finery and bring your firecracker personality!
July 16 - 23, 2025 Key West
Coinciding with the 45th annual Hemingway Days celebration, anglers ply the waters once fished by novelist Ernest Hemingway, vying for $50,000 in guaranteed cash prizes. The event awards $25,000 to the first-place team with the most points for blue marlin, white marlin and spearfish. Teams can enter one fun fish (dolphin, tuna, wahoo or released sailfish) per day for additional points. Entry is limited to the first 75 boats. Tournament events are based out of Stock Island Marina Village, 7005 Shrimp Rd.
July 22 - 27, 2025 Key West
Ernest Hemingway look-alikes, writers, anglers, and fans of the late author’s work are to gather in Key West for the annual Hemingway Days celebration. The festival honors the legacy of the American literary giant who lived and wrote on the island for most of the 1930s. Events include the legendary Hemingway Look-Alike Contest, the wacky Running of the Bulls on Sat. July 26, literary presentations, a commemoration of the 126th anniversary of Hemingway's July 21 birth, a museum exhibit, a marlin tournament, a 5k run and paddleboard race, a street fair and more.
July 23 - 27, 2025 Key West
SLOPPY JOE'S 44TH ANNUAL HEMINGWAY LOOK-ALIKE CONTEST
The look-alike challenge is a highlight of Key West’s July 23-27 Hemingway Days celebration, created to salute the writing talent and adventurous life of the literary master who lived and wrote in Key West throughout the 1930s. It takes place at Sloppy Joe’s Bar, 201 Duval St., where Hemingway enjoyed sharing cocktails and camaraderie with friends while living in Key West in the 1930s. The contest's preliminary rounds are set for 6:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday, July 24 and 25, and the newest "Papa" is to be chosen during a final round beginning at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, July 26.
July 26 Key West
HEMINGWAY DAYS: RUNNING OF THE BULLS
A festival tradition, this wacky event is sponsored by Sloppy Joe’s Bar and features Hemingway Look-Alike Contest winners and entrants dressed in their Pamplona best — and a breed of “bull” found only in Key West. The fun starts on Greene Street outside Sloppy Joe’s at 1 p.m. Free for spectators.
July 26 - 27, 2025 Key West
Hemingway 5k Sunset Run & Beach n' Beer Mile
Join fellow runners and walkers for the 36th annual Hemingway 5k Sunset Run. This year, final registration for the evening race is at Southernmost Beach Cafe, 1405 Duval St., but, new for 2025, the race is to start and end at the Southernmost Point Buoy/Marker. The run is followed by a beach party with awards and tastings of Papa's Pilar Rum and Islamorada Brewery & Distillery Beer, plus raffles and live entertainment. On Sunday, The Beach N' Beer Mile departs from Southernmost Beach Cafe at 12 p.m., including 4 beers. Costumes are encouraged! A pool party follows at Rum Row, 3824 N. Roosevelt, from 3 to 6 p.m.