National Beard and Moustache Championships
…is probably the strangest event to come to Bend in recent memory. Saturday, June 5th, the “first national facial hair championship held in the USA” descends on Bend (coincidentally the same weekend as Balloons Over Bend) and competitors vie for the best beards. For money. And prestige, I assume.
Tickets cost $10 and registration is $40; you can buy tickets over at BendTicket.com. Doors open at 1pm that day, and the competition runs from 2 until 9:30pm at the Les Schwab Amphitheater.
And no, I don’t really “get” this. Or I guess I don’t get why it’s in Bend… seems more like something you’d expect in Portland, or the Bay Area, or Las Vegas or something.
But some of the pictures are pretty cool.
Any idea how Bend came to be selected for this? Do we have some underground ‘stache culture I don’t know about? The folks down at VisitBend.com get bored this winter and need something to keep themselves busy/entertained? 😉
It might seem like a weird event, but it bring recognition to Bend, people to Bend, money to Bend. In our economy all of those are good things. Thanks Visit Bend for being creative in finding ways to help!
Actually there is a local group of beard enthusiasts who I believe pitched the idea to the promoters in town. The name of the group escapes me at the moment.
One thing I do know for sure is that this group is big on beer and the presence of several quality breweries was certainly one of the draws for the “beardies”.
Actually, Visit Bend, the City of Bend’s destination marketing organization, brought this event here. We saw it as a prime PR play to get Bend Oregon some national media exposure and to host a really quirky and fun event. Phil Olsen, the Beard Team USA captain and founder, chose Bend because of our beer culture and the Les Schwab Amphitheater. Our little town of Bend beat out Las Vegas for this event. As a result of this event, C.O.M.B.S.(Central Oregon Moustache Beard Society) formed as a Beard Team. In fact, there’s a mulit-media art contest being hosted by COMBS at Thump Coffee going on now. We are really excited about the enthusiasm from the community.