SEQUIM –– Seven men showed off their clean-shaven faces this week for the last time in the next five weeks as they kicked off the city’s centennial beard and mustache challenge inside the Krush “ultra lounge.”
“It was a nasty day, so it was nice to have these guys come out and show off their clean faces” at the Memorial Day kickoff at the lounge in Rock Plaza, 10181 Old Olympic Highway, organizer Halina D’Urso said Tuesday.
The seven contestants — John Allen, Jerry Hall, James Finnen, Joe McCullough, Aarron Minker, Noah Misch and Travis Scott — now have until the Fourth of July to fuzz up their faces.
The one who does it best will win one of several prizes as Sequim fetes beards and mustaches at the Old Fashioned Fourth of July Picnic at the Water Reuse Demonstration Park on Independence Day, part of the city’s celebration of its centennial.
The celebration, marking the 100th anniversary of the incorporation of the city, kicked off in October and will culminate in a grand finale in November.
Still time to get in
Several other whisker challenges are set up this summer for those who did not make the “new-growth” contest kickoff Monday.
Those with “old-growth” facial hair can vie for awards when prizes at the Fourth of July celebration go to the fullest, longest and most creatively quaffed wearers of beards and mustaches.
“Anybody who has an existing beard and mustache can show up on even the day of the judging,” D’Urso said.
Winners will receive souvenir photographs, matted by Creative Framing of Sequim, after a free photo shoot with Port Angeles photographer Ernst Ulrich.
Winners also will be able to pick out their favorite piece of commemorative centennial wear.
The challenge is free to enter.
Sign-up sheets
Advance applications are available online at www.sequimwa.gov or at Krush; Sequim City Hall, 152 W. Cedar St.; Sequim Gazette, 147 W. Washington St.; Village Hair Salon, 645 W. Washington St.; Art’s Barbershop, 303 E. Washington St.; or The Oasis Sports Bar & Grill, 301 E. Washington St.
For more information, phone D’Urso at 360-808-4428.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Joe Smillie can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or at jsmillie@peninsuladailynews.com.