Fort Greene Park To Host Walt Whitman Beard And Mustache Contest

FORT GREENE, BROOKLYN — Before Brooklyn hipsters brought the handlebar mustache to the 21st century, the borough had its own facial hair enthusiast in the form of an 1800s-era transcendentalist poet.

The Brooklyn Public Library and local organizations will come together this summer to celebrate "Brooklyn's own eternal beard growing champion," Walt Whitman, in the first beard and mustache competition in Fort Greene Park.

Hair-growers of all ages can win prizes in Whitman-themed categories such as best natural mustache category Barbaric Yawp, or Leaves of Grass, otherwise known as the best natural beard category —obviously.

The contest, scheduled for June 8, will celebrate Whitman's 200th birthday, which would have been on May 31. It is part of a series of other events held in the poet's honor this year.

"2019 marks the 200th birthday of Walt Whitman, America’s literary radical and great poet of democracy," the library says online. "New York will be enlivened by conversations about his brilliant work and his complicated, imperfect legacy."

The beard and mustache portion of the celebration will kick off at noon at Fort Greene Park’s Monument Steps. Growers can register starting at 11 a.m., organizers said.

The competition will be co-hosted by Coney Island performance artist Adam Realman and "Too Woke!" comedian Nore Davis and include special guest judges Sue Smith, Jordan Temple, Murf Meyer, and Brooklyn Public Library's Norman Eriksen.

The contest will award prizes based on the overall "beauty and creativity" of the facial hair presented, not necessarily for those that look the most like Whitman himself, organizers said.

The event is put on by the library, Ft. Greene Park Conservancy and Coney Island USA's Adam Realman.

Here are the categories so far, for those who would like to, as the library puts it, let the growing begin:

Barbaric Yawp - (Best Natural Moustache)
Leaves of Grass - (Best Natural Beard)
Song of Myself - (Best Costume Beard)
Sea Drift - (Best Styled Beard)
Flag of My Disposition - (Best Styled Moustache)
Out of the Cradle, Endlessly Rocking - (Best Kids Beard)
The Sleepers - (Best Teen Beard)
The Good Gray Poet - (Best in Show)

More info here.