Alaska gives good beard

Alaska hosts world beard championships
By MARY PEMBERTON/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The world's fanciest whiskers are coming to Alaska so their owners can strut their manly stuff in a land that has long appreciated furry faces.

On Friday, the 2009 World Beard and Moustache Championships will come to Anchorage, where more than 200 competitors from 12 countries will brandish facial hair ranging from delicate Salvador Dali-style mustaches to bushy full beards.

Seasoned competitors say Germans have the facial hair to beat.

"They take it very seriously. It is an age-old tradition there to have beards," said Bob Gengler, a 44-year-old physical therapist in Anchorage who sports a big bushy beard.

The Germans' 20-person contigent this year will not include Elmar Weisser, who is renowned for his ingenuity in the freestyle full beard category. In 2005 in Berlin, he styled his beard into the shape of the Brandenburg Gate. Two years later in Brighton, England, his beard formed London's Tower Bridge.

David Traver, 43, of Anchorage, has won three times in the world championships and hopes to capitalize on Weisser's absence. He's planning something special for the freestyle competition, he said, but he'll only reveal that is is "very Alaskan." Mount McKinley, perhaps? The Northern Lights?


"In freestyle, you can do anything except you can't use wires and pins. It is anything goes. The only drawback is your lack of imagination," Traver said.

No wires and pins in the freestyle competition? That's BS. If there is one competition that should be free of all rules I think it should be a Beard Competition. Sarah Palin has to step in and restore the sanctity of the Beard Contest. If she is truly a patriot rallying against socialism she needs to set things right here. She's probably too busy salivating over getting to meet ZZ Top. They've got to be at this thing right?