'Stache Bash 2008!

Well, that's it. I hope that it was as good for you as it was for us. Attendance was not as great as last year- but we can only attribute that to the crappy weather. Whatever, those not brave enough to brave the weather only missed out on the best mustache party in town!

It's the most fun to see everyone in costume and character- many of who didn't break character all night.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Ron Burgundy.



Redneck Matador:



The evening ran smoothly, pausing only for belly laughs and genuine hilarity. Somehow, our esteemed judges managed to keep the tears of laughter at bay.



From left to right, our judges were Mr. Fred Fox, a 7th grade teacher, and DonorsChoose.org project funds recipient (whose T-shirt read 'Shakespeare hates your emo poems' Amen!), Jen LaMastra, Junk to Funk Participant and hair stylist extraordinaire and Jonathan Buhler, M4K PDX Sweetest 'Stache 2007- need we say more.

A huge thanks to DJ ShortChange and Emcee Nicholas Kessler from The Liberators. We always say, leave the hard stuff to the professionals. Thanks guys!



In heats of 4 and 5, the mustaches strutted out to their song and answered the Emcees questions. Nothing was off limits! Questions such as 'Where do you see your mustache in 10 years?' and 'What is your mustache doing to end world hunger?' were fielded masterfully by well-rehearsed mustaches.



After a great deal of pageantry on the part of the mustaches; after nailing every turn, and keeping as sober as they possibly could, it was beyond their control. The judges logically and quantifiably scored each mustache. Then the winners were announced...


FIRST: before we get to Portlands Sweetest Stache- we've almost forgotten the main reason these men have been growing mustaches! For DonorsChoose.org. Including the money we raised at Holocene that evening, Portland Growers have raised over $4400 for DonorsChoose.org! YAY! The most dollars for children award went to Freddy Mercury with a total of $581!



Second runner up was taken by Exercise Eric (his friends call him 'Whiskers')



First runner up went to Lieutenant Dangle



Portland's SWEETEST STACHE of 2008 went to Cowboy Ryan



His mother was very, very proud.



... And we're proud of YOU Portland. Thanks again! See you next year!



Make sure to check out the Flickr site, which includes green room shenanigans!

Checkpoint 3- Slabtown

There are doubters out there, but we have proof that a man can grow a mustache in 4 weeks. The following photos prove otherwise
Check 'em out!





















Good work, men.

In other news, the 'Stache Bash is right around the corner (read: Tomorrow!!), and crappy weather or no, it will be happening.

There will be shenanegins, silliness and a whole lotta 'stache. A better time you will not be able to find in the Portland Metro Area tomorrow night. So you have -NO- excuse not to be there.

After all, it's for the kids!

Checkpoint 2: American Cowgirls

Luckily (?) for the M4K crew, American Cowgirls was a sparsely populated venue on Thursday night. This allowed our mustaches to take advantage of things they otherwise could not:

- The stripper pole had a very short waiting line
- The DJ booth (which also happened to be the cab of an old pick-up truck) proved to be a very agreeable photography backdrop
- The bar staff took our request for country music seriously (for the first half of the night)

Let it be known that Thanksgiving week treated our growers well, and there is some pretty stiff competition out there, if we do say so ourselves. But don’t just take our word for it:








Although we give credit where credit is due, we also give mad props and encouragement where there is low confidence and (perhaps?) even lower self-esteem. For those growers out there who are doubting themselves - keep thy chin up, think of the children and know that if you quit now, there will be endless heckling to face. Endless.

Speaking of ‘end-in-sight’, the Stache Bash is in 1.5 short weeks!! Tell your family, co-workers, friends, and frenemies.

Join us this Thursday, December 11th at Slabtown for some 'friendly' competition.



Cheers!