Hector Rodriguez, 19, from Tegucigalpa, Honduras, savors the taste of victory after devouring a 9-inch Key lime pie in 1 minute and 58.52 seconds, defeating 24 others in the 2024 World Famous Key Lime Pie Eating Championship on July 4 in Key West. CAROL TEDESCO/Florida Keys News Bureau
New York might have its July 4 hotdog-eating contest, but competitors in Key West gobbled sweeter fare during the World Famous Key Lime Pie Eating Championship — and Hector Rodriguez consumed it faster than anyone else.
The 19-year-old student from Tegucigalpa, Honduras, devoured a whipped-cream-topped 9-inch Key lime pie in just one minute and 58.52 seconds, besting 24 rivals in the oceanfront contest that highlighted the annual Key Lime Festival.
Contestants weren’t allowed to use forks, spoons or their hands — resulting in inventive and messy methods of consuming the Florida Keys’ signature dessert.
Other Key Lime Festival events include the gravity-defying Key Lime Pie Drop in which 31 individuals and teams attempted to create a pie-protecting device and test it by dropping a pie from the 88-foot Key West Lighthouse.
The competitions were two of numerous Key Lime Festival events held July 3–7.
Competitors plunge face-first into creamy Key lime pies during the annual World Famous Key Lime Pie Eating Championship Thursday, July 4, 2024, in Key West, Fla. The eating competition, a hands-free event that serves as a sweeter alternative to New York City’s traditional July 4 hot dog-eating contest, is a highlight of the subtropical island’s annual Key Lime Festival that continues through Sunday, July 7. (FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY (Carol Tedesco/Florida Keys News Bureau/HO)Abel Berlanga, 4, beams while accepting the Grand Prize trophy for the annual Key Lime Pie Drop at the Key West Lighthouse. Abel, with help from his mother Amanda, assembled his pie protector with a laundry basket, water balloons and bubble-blowing toy lawn mower. CAROL TEDESCO/Florida Keys News BureauEmma Bradshaw, 12, left, and Cielo Hackler, 13, launch ‘Bearly There’ from the Key West Lighthouse during the July 6 Key Lime Pie Drop, an annual Key Lime Festival competition that calls for competitors to create a device or container to protect a 5” pie and keep it from exploding on impact when dropped from the historic tower. MARK HEDDEN/Key Lime Festival
