Beards on Parade

We woke up today and decided to eat lunch at a place called the White Spot and it was fantastic. Some of the best onion rings I've ever had.

So when there's something scheduled called the "Parade of Beards" how can that not be good? Well don't ask me because this thing was amazing. We all gathered out by the little log cabin visitor center and just kind of hung out. Everyone was dressed up and in good spirits.
Here's Nick from the other night. He shaved his head and joined a cult in that small amount of time.

This guy in particular was very cool. He's from San Francisco and keeps his beard wrapped in this wire thing pretty much all the time. He told me that if he took it out, his beard would probably be down to just about his ankles. In the parade he kept chanting "Beards not bombs."
Different beard and moustache clubs were represented and different country's flags were being waved all around.Paul met up with the rest of his Aussie brethren and they gave him a hat. Which he later gave to me.
And then we began to walk. People were coming out of the woodwork to see us just walking down the street. You could overheard them on their cell phones "Oh man. You have got to come downtown and hurry." There was tons of cheering. A couple people went on top of buildings to get a better view. I've never had my picture taken or been filmed so much. You couldn't ask for a better reception.



Back at the little log cabin, we heard some speeches from people like the Mayor, Bob the organizer, and some guy from the local news. Then a beard rap.



There was a small break in the action and Mom and I went back to the Snow Goose for a quick bite of Northern Exposure pizza and so that I could get my last pint of John Henry stout.
We then went to the Denai'ina Center and started to mingle at the welcome party. Again, serve beer and the beards will come. They had a fun local beard competition that they had pushed back so that the all-stars could join in. It's called Mr. Fur Face. Our friend Brian won the Red Fox category, but Bob the organizer took the whole thing. We saw more and more people and then a band called the Beards took the stage. They rocked out. All songs about beards with titles like "No Beard, No Good," "Beard Revolution," "Beards Don't Kill People, People With Beards Kill People" and more. Classic beard rock.

The party wound down and everyone went their separate ways. Our little group of friends (now 2 New Zealanders, a Brit, an Aussie, and me) went to our usual spot and had a few pints, but kept it relatively low-key since the big day was looming.

note: there's more to see from this day (some of the Beards videos and pics from the party), but we're pressed for time so expect more from this day soon.