BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – We’re just a month away from Vermont’s top facial hair faceoff, The Beardies.
The fundraiser for Make-a-Wish Vermont is now in its 8th year and has raised a half a million dollars to help grant wishes for Vermont kids. The competition started as a joke but the event has grown among participants. Categories include “Best Urban Beard,” “Freestyle,” “Backwood,” and “The Best Beard in Vermont.”
Past winners have a personal connection as their familes have benefitted from having their wishes granted. “It means a lot to me. It means a lot to these young kids and when you see something happen to them. It’s hard to explain, it just hits me right there, right in the heart,” said Michel ‘Pappi’ Fortin, a 2020 Beardies winner.
“Anybody can enter if you have patchy… any hair on your face or if you are like Pappi and you have a three-foot long beard,” said Quinten Lewis with Make-a-Wish Vermont.