Press Releases

Just as swallows fly to Capistrano each year, flocks of stocky white-bearded Ernest Hemingway look-alikes make an annual pilgrimage to Key West. Spectators can applaud their favorites Thursday through Saturday, July 19-21, as 125 or more aspiring “Ernests” compete in the annual Hemingway® Look-Alike Contest. 

Ernest Hemingway fans can celebrate the late author’s literary accomplishments and colorful Key West lifestyle Tuesday through Sunday, July 17-22. The 38th annual Hemingway Days festivities salute the legacy of the Nobel Prize winner who lived and wrote on the island for most of the 1930s.  

The Keys are to add nearly 1,500 rooms to their lodging inventory as the destination continues to unveil new and fully refurbished properties. The Keys’ first luxury-inclusive, adults-only resort is to debut in late fall.

Some get “that sinking feeling” before leaving the dock, while others capsize somewhere along the course. A hardy few actually manage to stay afloat — but whatever the fate of their favorites, spectators can anticipate silliness and seafaring spirit Sunday, May 27, during the 27th annual Schooner Wharf Minimal Regatta.

Almost every traveler to the Florida Keys samples Key lime pie, the island chain’s signature dessert. Visitors can immerse themselves in all things Key lime, including a wacky pie-eating contest and gravity-defying “pie drop,” June 30 through July 4 in the town where the pie was born in the late 1800s.

No sleuthing skills are needed to understand why missing Mystery Fest Key West, set for Friday through Sunday, June 22-24, would be downright criminal. Readers and writers seeking clues about crafting and enjoying mystery fiction can meet, interact with and learn from some of America’s most notable authors during the fifth annual Mystery Fest Key West. 

The Key West Songwriters Festival wraps up Sunday night after treating music lovers to 50-plus shows featuring some 200 chart-topping hit-makers, talented newcomers and other performing songwriters.

Hundreds of spectators, including moms with their families, applauded staff of the Florida Keys-based Turtle Hospital Saturday as they released a 150-pound sub-adult loggerhead sea turtle that has been convalescing at the rescue facility in Marathon.

Some 160 travel industry volunteers from around the country helped Florida Keys organizations Friday to launch “Uniting for Resilient Destinations” for Tourism Cares, an organization that focuses on industry volunteering and charitable giving to travel destinations.

A popular girls' getaway for over 20 years, "Ladies, Let's Go Fishing!" provides female anglers a learn-on-the-water weekend of education combined with a one-day, fun Screamin’ Reels tournament. Events are to be held Friday and Saturday, June 22-23, in the Florida Keys' sport fishing capital of Islamorada.