Brea : Beard-Growing Contest Gets Under Way for Fair

Brea Police Chief Don Forkus and four Brea police detectives will break with protocol and go for a temporary scraggly look as they race to become the fastest beard-growers in the county by July 4.

As part of the city’s Country Fair, the Brea Soroptimists last week gave Forkus and about a dozen other men in the city “a cheek test” to verify a clean-shaven face. Since then, said Al Tremayne, chairman of the Country Fair steering committee, the contest has attracted about 17 more contenders. The men have until Independence Day to turn scraggly stubs into long, flowing beards.

For participating police officers, the beard-growing contest has meant a temporary deviation from a grooming policy that doesn’t allow hairy faces, said Police Sgt. Ed McDonald, one of the detectives taking part. The Monday following the Fourth of July weekend, “I have to shave it off,” McDonald said.

In the meantime, however, it gives McDonald and others “a chance to see how it would look.” Other detectives participating are Steven Hill, Darryl Disanto and Robert Harper.