To enter the free contest, send a photo of you and your beard to the Lumber Heritage Region’s Facebook page via Messenger, or email it to info@lumberheritage.org. Submitting an entry provides consent for the photo to be used on LHR’s website, social media channels and newsletters. Be sure to provide an address and contact information with your photo. A brief “beard bio,” of as many as 150 words, is optional. One entry per beard must be submitted by Friday, (October 13th). Voting will occur Sept. 16 to 23.

In celebration of World Beard Day, “a global symphony of bristles and panache” observed the first Saturday in September, the Lumber Heritage Region is hosting a beard contest to find the best of the area’s whiskers.

Beards are often associated with lumberjacks, a topic celebrated by LHR, and there’s even a children’s book called “The Lumberjack’s Beard.”

Staff will upload photos to an album on the LHR Facebook page to be shared beginning Monday. Voters will pick their favorite face ferrets with their Facebook likes or other reactions to the original photo – be sure to react to the photo posted on the LHR page, as opposed to any shared versions. Vote for as many beards as you’d like, but the photo with the most votes (reactions) will be declared the king of beards.

The winner will receive a $50 Visa gift card, an LHR hat, bag and t-shirt, and be featured in the organization’s September newsletter. All real beards are welcome to enter.

Not into the designer stubble? National No Beard Day, according to nationaldaycalendar.com, is observed every year on Oct. 18 to celebrate “the clean shaven among us” and, presumably, those simply unable to grow one.