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National facial-hair face-off headed to Portland, Ore., Oct. 25

Competitors are shown in 2010 at the first nationwide beard and mustache competition held in Bend, Ore. This year the event returns to Oregon, scheduled to take place at Portland's Keller Auditorium on Oct. 25.
(Adam Tschorn / Los Angeles Times)
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Portlandia meet beard mania -- the annual nationwide Beard and Moustache Championships organized by Beard Team USA (BTUSA) is set to take place in Portland, Ore., on Oct. 25, drawing beardsmen and ‘stache-thletes from across the country to compete in 17 categories of fanciful facial hair.

We’ve received word that competitor registration is now open and attendee tickets may be purchased for the annual conclave of whisker enthusiasts now in its fifth year.

This will mark the second time Oregon has hosted the BTUSA event -- the inaugural national event was staged in Bend in June 2010. In 2011 the event took place in Lancaster, Pa., with the follicular frenzy moving to Las Vegas for 2012 -- where, full disclosure, this writer was an unpaid, volunteer competition judge. The 2013 nationals unspooled last September in New Orleans.

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(Note that in the past the event has been referred to as the National Beard and Moustache Championships, but this year’s press release calls it the “World Beard and Moustache Championships” a term we’ve always reserved for the internationally organized every-other-year event.)

While Just For Men returns as the event’s title sponsor, there are a few noteworthy changes. Among them this year’s grand prize, which will be an all-expense paid trip to next year’s biannual world championships in Leogang, Austria, on Oct. 3.

Also new is this year’s official charity -- the Truckee, Calif.-based High Fives Foundation, which will receive $5,000 from Beard Team USA. High Fives Foundation is a nonprofit that provides financial support to winter action sports athletes through the recovery process after life-altering winter sports injuries.

And if Portland in October seems either too far to travel or too long to wait for competitive facial hair fun, the Los Angeles Facial Hair Society recently announced it’ll be staging its second annual beard and mustache competition at the Federal Bar in North Hollywood on June 21.

Additional information about the fifth annual BTUSA Beard and Moustache Championships in Portland, Ore., including registration and spectator tickets, can be found at beardteamusa.org

ALSO:

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U.S. Sikhs say military ban on beards keeps them out

Results of the 2013 World Beard and Moustache Championships

adam.tschorn@latimes.com

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