The American Beard Report Issue #7
*Not a comprehensive list of American Beardspersons attending
Brace yourselves… The 2019 World Beard and Moustache Championships is coming!!
The three day event, beginning on May 17, will have 22 categories including 4 Ladies categories. Beard Team USA is expecting to bring lots of medals back home! Live Streaming of the Championships will be available from WorldBeardChampionships.com, where you can also find additional information on lodging and the schedule of events. Please keep in mind that Antwerp is 6 hours ahead of New York City EST and we will be streaming LIVE! We wish all the competitors a safe journey and the best of luck in Antwerp!
A Brief History of the WBMC:
Originating from a small village in the Black Forest of Germany named Höfen/ Enz, The World Beard and Moustache Championships officially began in 1990. Creating a popular forum for modern competitive bearding, the World Beard and Moustache Championships have continuously grown in popularity, offering competitors from all around the globe an opportunity to show off their whiskers while mingling with fellow facial hair enthusiasts.
Timeline of World Beard and Moustache Championships
1990 Höfen, Germany
1995 Pforzheim, Germany
1997 Pforzheim, Germany + Trondheim, Norway
1999 Ystad, Sweden
2001 Schömberg, Germany
2003 Carson City, NV USA
2004 World Beard and Moustache Association forms
2005 Berlin, Germany
2007 Brighton, Great Brittain
2009 Gründau, Germany + Anchorage,AK USA*
2011 Trondheim, Norway
2013 Leinfelden-Echterdingen, Germany
2015 Leogang, Austria
2017 Austin, TX
2019 Antwerp, Belgium
2021 Auckland, NZ
2023 TBD by Vote at WBMA meeting in Antwerp
*In the year 1997 and 2009 there were two world championships. Both are recognized as Official World Championships. The WBMA and the VDB (Association of German Beard Clubs) have since aligned, and the possibility of two simultaneous WBMCs in the future has greatly diminished.
The Official World Beard and Moustache Championships are held every two years, on odd years only. The WBMA is the governing body for the championships. This association is fully responsible for awarding the contest to member clubs through democratic election, 1 club = 1 vote. Any club may apply for membership to the WBMA and applications to host an upcoming WBMC will only be accepted from established clubs. Please visit the WBMA facebook page for more information.
For upcoming competitions in your area, please check out the Alliance Competition Calendar. While you are there, browse their site and see what they are all about!
Club Of The Month
Queen City Beard and Moustache Federation
Queen City Beard and Moustache Federation
Springfield, Missouri
Our club was founded by Devin Cara (World Champion in the Garibaldi style), Curtis Claybaker, and Christy Claybaker. They first had the idea of forming a Beard and Moustache Club at a Clutch concert. Together they agreed that it would be a great idea to form an organization that would help the Springfield community.
We currently have 20 club members and host our yearly Beard and Moustache Competition the first weekend in May. Every year we pick a different local charity to support with the money we raise. This year it will be our 10th Annual, “May the 4th Be Bearded”, and proceeds will go to The Gathering Friends.
We are proud to be a 501c3 Non-Profit Organization. After ten years of supporting our community, we hope that this May we can reach our goal of raising $100,000.
*The 10th annual Queen City Beard and Moustache Competition
This event will take place May 4th 2019. This competition averagse around 130 competitors, with a total attendance around 350.
This year the beneficiary is Gathering Friends for the Homeless.
QCBMF always stays locally for their charities, and has raised over $81,000 for local charities thus far.
Competitors Fee: Preregister online for $25 and $30 at the door.
Spectators are $10
Kids Competitor Entry Fee is $5
Please come out and help them make out 10th annual Competition amazing and break the $100k for donations to local charities. They will have a fun 3 days of events planned for everyone, from the Meet and Greet to the hangover brunch on Sunday.
More info can be found here.
If you have a club or know of a club that would be perfect for this feature, please click here for more information.
Meet The American Facial Hair Community
Anthony Carty
Hometown: San Francisco, CA
What got you interested in beard contests?
I randomly heard of The Petaluma Whiskerino around 5.5 years ago and thought it would be a fun and random event to check out. Originally me competing was just supposed to be a publicity stunt because at the time I had a podcast and wanted sonething random to talk about on air. All I had at the time was a handlebar mustache so I painted a ninja turtle head on my nose (Raphael to be exact) and got two of the toy weapons, pierced holes through them and put my mustache through them. Little did I know at the time that this would become a big part of my life.
What are some of your favorite competitions to attend?
Sacramento's NorCal Beard and Moustache Championships are always a must go for me. Same goes for Austin's Come And Shave It and LA's Beard Battlr. I really enjoy the top notch competition that comes out to these comps and they all really know how to make a very fun all around weekend experience.
You make a big splash with all of your freestyles. Which one was the most fun to create and wear?
It is hard to say which one in particular is the most fun for me to create and I almost always find myself cursing at the mirror multiple times during my usual 3-6 hours it takes me to do my designs. That being said Im usually very happy with the end results and have found that my beard designs that I theme around comic charecters, like my most recent Joker's smile themed beard, to be most enjoyable for me. It is fun to become the charecters for the day.
We at Beard Team USA are very excited about your new club Beards by the Bay!! Please tell us more and tell us how people can join and support the club...
For as long as I have been in this community I have seen so many cities have beard clubs, even some much smaller cities, and thought to myself "Why does the San Francisco Bay Area not have one of it's own especially since it is one of the majorly populated and traveled to areas in the entire country?" After seeing nobody doing anything to form one I decided to take on the task and I must say, while I am seeing how much work goes into a club, I really am enjoying putting in the work and building it from the ground up! Easiest way to get involved with us is to come to a meeting. We hold one a month. We post up on our Instagram (@sfbeards) and Facebook (facebook.com/BeardsByTheBay) all details of our meetings weeks in advance. We would love any and everyone interested in making a difference in our community (bearded or not) to come hang with us and see what we are about!
You are headed to the World Beard and Moustache Championships in Belgium. Are you ready to crush it?
There is always an excited nervousness going into such a big competition for me. As some know, I never repeat the same design twice, and with it being the world championships the puts even more pressure on me to deliver, esspecially since I have never had the chance to test out the beard in front of any judges before. At the same time I feel it could add some nervousness to my competition because they never know what I am going to show up with! That being said, yes I am ready to compete at worlds against all the best partial beard freestylers this world has to offer!
If you or someone you know would be perfect for the American Facial Hair Community feature, please click here for more information.
So many beardspersons look glorious with their unique and bold styles. What if our Representative Government reflected these personalities and styling decisions?
MJ Johnson and Bobby Scott (VA) (Styling Suggestion)
Aarne Bielefeldt and Dwight Evas (PA) (Styling Suggestion)
Joyce Quiding and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY) (Styling Suggestion)
Bill Mitchell and Sgt. At Arms Paul D. Irving
Jimmy Fox and Mitch McConnell (KY) (Styling Suggestion)
Incredibeard and Eric Bassler (IN) (Styling Suggestion)
MJ Johnson and Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower (Styling Suggestion)
Elmar Weisser and Senator Rand Paul (KY) (Styling Suggestion)
