HORTON BAY — Renowned American novelist, short-story writer and journalist Ernest Hemingway will be honored and remembered on what would have been his 125th birthday in Horton Bay on July 21.
The Friends of Ernest Hemingway in Horton Bay are having a surprise party from noon to 3 p.m. at the Bay Township Hall at 5045 Boyne City Road to celebrate the writer who grew up in the middle-class town of Oak Park, Illinois, and spent parts of his first 22 summers with his family in Northern Michigan on Walloon Lake near Petoskey.
At the celebration event, attendees can enjoy the festivities and learn more about how to help the township bring a life-size bronze sculpture called “The Young Boy and the Stream” to Horton Bay in summer 2025.
The township is working with Wagbo Peace Center to raise $48.500 to complete this project. To contribute, visit Wagbo.org or stop in at Freshwater Art Gallery for more information. This event is free and open to the public.
In June 2023, the Michigan Hemingway Society dedicated two new sites on its Michigan Hemingway Tour with the presentation of bronze plaques placed in Pigeon River Discovery Center and in Walloon Lake’s Circle Park where a bronze sculpture of Hemingway was installed in 2021.
The two commemorative signs are among 15 officially designated sites in Northern Michigan honoring Hemingway, including several in Petoskey, Horton Bay and Kalkaska.
The MHS organization has been active since 1983 and was incorporated officially as a nonprofit organization in 1993. Made up of university professors, writers, high school teachers, fly fishers, journalists and all kinds of other people who are interested in exploring the life and body of literature created by this Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning author.
Another event celebrating Hemingway and his impact this month is at Sloppy Joe’s Bar in Key West, Florida, where it is hosting its Hemingway Look-Alike Contest July 17-21.
“Participants from around the world don their best Hemingway-esque attire and compete to be named “Papa,” the contest’s site said. “This isn’t just a contest of physical resemblance; it’s a celebration of Hemingway’s larger-than-life persona. Contestants are judged not only on their physical similarity to the great writer but also on their embodiment of his spirit and zest for life.”
For more information on Hemingway and his historical connections to Northern Michigan, visit www.michiganhemingwaysociety.org .
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