Visitors are in for a hairy experience if they visit Hop Temple on Saturday with the best beards and moustaches in the city on show in the Ballarat Beard & Stache Competition.
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A popular part of Heritage Weekend, the annual competition draws beards from not just Ballarat and Victoria, but from across Australia.
Organiser Jake Warren said entries were strong and expected to be on par or a little ahead of the 85 entrants who groomed and styled their facial hair for last year's event.
"This iconic event continues to grow like the glorious hair on everyone's chin, and it's going to be bigger and better than ever," Mr Warren said.
But curiously, a beard or moustache isn't essential for entrants. There's a 'Just for Fun' categories for women, men and children to showcase their creativity with freestyled beards and creative faux beards.
Mr Warren and fellow organiser Brayden Dorney dropped in to Sovereign Hill this week to pick up their costumes and 17 tropies hand-crafted by the blacksmith and wheelwrights from Sovereign Hill.
Competition is tipped to be fierce, with many hirsute gentlemen having an eye toward the World Beard and Moustache Championships which will be held in New Zealand in 2021.
"We'll definitely have a team heading over there," Mr Warren said.
At the Ballarat competition there are five categories with more than $1000 in prizes including best moustache, verdi (under 10cm), full beard natural (10cm to 20cm), full beard natural (20cm to infinity) and partial beard (anything with a section shaved out like goatees, side burns etc).
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"It doesn't matter whether you have facial hair or not we encourage everyone to come along for a fun filled day with plenty of laughs, great food, great beer and of course great beards," Mr Warren said.
The Ballarat Beard and Stache Competition will be held at Hop Temple on Saturday from 2pm. Doors open 11.30am and registrations close at 12.30pm.
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