The Ford Wyoming Center is hosting the 2022 Honest Amish National Beard and Moustache Championships in conjunction with the Booze & Bacon Festival on Saturday, Nov. 12. The beard and mustache event is held in different locations each year while the Booze & Bacon Festival is an annual event that’s been held for several years in Casper.
The championship started in 2010 and has been held all over the country since then in Chicago, New York, and Nashville to name a few.
Bryan Nelson, Creative Director for the National Beard and Moustache Championships said Casper was selected to host this year’s event partially because of the Booze & Bacon Festival. That has been held in Casper annually for a couple of years.
“We're like, booze and bacon, so, we're like yeah, booze, bacon, and beards--sounds like a no brainer, right?” Nelson said.
The beard and moustache event consists of many classes and categories for different styles of moustaches and beards.
“We're going to go through 47 categories of classes of facial hair, moustaches, and partial beards and craft beards, and full beards,” Nelson said. “There's like the Musketeer category and that's like a moustache with a slender goatee and there's a Donegal category, which is like the Amish type beard.”
In addition to the events on Saturday, there will be an attempt to break the world record for the longest beard chain at The Gaslight Social on Friday evening. The current record stands at approximately 62 and a half feet. A beard chain is when a line of people stands next to each other with their beards clipped together.
They’re expecting about 140 people, but that number could rise as Nelson explained previous participants have traveled for the event and often show up on the day of. He added they’re prepared for 300 competitors, which would be more than last year's event.
A percentage of the ticket sales for the event will be donated to Project Kenny and the Unaccompanied Students Initiative, a Wyoming-based charity.
The Booze & Bacon Festival was first held in 2018 and includes beer, drinks, and bacon-themed dishes.
