LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — Beards, axes, bourbon and a whole lot of plaid could be seen along Turner St. and Cesar Chavez Ave. Saturday afternoon.
“We’re right in the middle of our fourth annual lumberjack festival,” said Robert Doran-Brockway, with the Old Town Commercial Association. “First time since we’ve had this since the pandemic. We’re really excited to host this again. Right here, right in the middle of Old Town. We got people out in their plaid, in their beards. This is a silly, goofy festival and we just really like to have a good time with it.”
People from all over the state came to Old Town in Lansing to take part in the winter festivities.
One of those attendees was Mark Byrnes, who came all the way from Dearborn to judge the beard and mustache competition.
In 2021, he won Top Beard in the nation.
He’s part of a beard league full of veterans who grow their beards out.
“We call it freedom beard. Freedom beard. A lot of times when guys are getting into the beard league or competing, this is kind of like their confidence thing,” continued Byrnes. “We like to support the veterans.”
Doran-Brockway said they were up at 5 a.m. shoveling the snow from Friday’s storm, in order to get ready for Saturday’s festival.
“Of course, we were all crazy last night, right? Because we were in the middle of a huge blizzard all of a sudden, right? But I have to say, I really want to give a shout-out to the city of Lansing, and the mayor especially because they all came out for us last night,” continued Doran Brockway. “They were here this morning at 4:30 a.M. Cleaning the roads for us, they really came through.”
