{"id":7591,"date":"2013-08-21T11:46:02","date_gmt":"2013-08-21T15:46:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rochestersubway.com\/topics\/?p=7591"},"modified":"2013-12-28T11:46:29","modified_gmt":"2013-12-28T16:46:29","slug":"northeast-regional-beard-and-moustache-championships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochestersubway.com\/topics\/2013\/08\/northeast-regional-beard-and-moustache-championships\/","title":{"rendered":"The Northeast Regional Beard and Moustache Championships"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"On<\/a>
\nThe following is a guest post submitted by Chris Clemens<\/a>.
\nSubmit your story today<\/a>.<\/i><\/small><\/p>\n

On Saturday, August 17th the Rochester Beardsmen Society \"external<\/a> hosted the Northeast Regional Beard and Moustache Championships at Water Street Music Hall \"external<\/a> in downtown Rochester, NY. Competitors from the U.S. and Canada assembled to show off their facial hair and compete in 17 in different categories to determine who\u2019s facial follicles could produce the top ranking tufts…<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
\nThe first World Beard and Moustache Championship \"external<\/a> took place in 1990 in Germany and allowed a subculture of facial hair donning men to show off amongst one another. Since then there have been a number of like-faced competitions and clubs that have formed to celebrate all the different styles of facial hair.<\/p>\n

\"More<\/a>
\nMore recently, the sport has made its way into the common household thanks to a reality tv show called Whisker Wars \"external<\/a>, the Mo-vember Campaign \"external<\/a>, a documentary called Growin\u2019 A Beard \"external<\/a>, and the worldwide traipsing of World Championship Full Bearder Jack Passion \"external<\/a>. (By the way, Mellitus \"external<\/a> from the Austin Facial Hair Club, often featured in the show \u2018Whisker Wars\u2019 was here to compete in the Donegal event, but I didn\u2019t get to meet him.)<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
\nThe competitions are intended to be friendly and as fun as possible, but it\u2019s no secret that some of the bigger personalities in the world beard competitions have clashed. In fact, there would probably be some people who would be very put off by my even mentioning Jack Passion, and more so for crediting him for helping to move the sport along. <\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
\nNonetheless, the sport and competition are growing way faster than the beards themselves, and the culture that goes along with it has found itself a large following.<\/p>\n

\"This<\/a>
\nAt first glance it may seem like the regional competitions are just a reason to show off a visual representation of one\u2019s testosterone levels, drink beer and hang with like-minded tattooed friends\u2013but ultimately the events are philanthropic. This event in particular was held to raise funds for both the Villa of Hope \"external<\/a> and the family of Jack Schifano \"external<\/a>, a Rochester Beardsmen Member who recently passed away.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
\nThe competition served as an opportunity to come out on top, but it didn\u2019t seem to matter who won or lost, the sportsmanship was one of support, fun and camaraderie. Though I could\u2019ve competed in the \u2018Less Than 2 Inches\u2019 category, I chose to keep my beard in the audience and meet people who had traveled from all over to attend.<\/p>\n

\"Congrats<\/a>
\nCongrats to all of those who competed, and to the Rochester Beardsmen Society and Water Street Music Hall for hosting such a great event!<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
\nSee the final results of the competition at the Rochester Beardsmen Society website \"external<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2022 \u2022\u00a0\u2022<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Competition Categories<\/h3>\n

Mustache<\/p>\n