San Juan Bautista
– The Mission City is about to get a touch of the Wild West.
San Juan Bautista – The Mission City is about to get a touch of the Wild West.
Downtown San Juan Bautista will host its first Rootin’ Tootin’ Boot Scootin’ Wild Wild West Show today and Sunday. City Manager Jan McClintock said that although the city hosts a number of arts and crafts festivals, this year administrators are hoping to give each event a distinctive touch.
One of the event’s highlights is likely to be Sunday morning’s Whiskerino.
A Whiskerino, for readers not in the know, is a beard-growing contest.
According to City Councilman George Dias, 20 people signed up at the end of January, but social pressure – from, say, horrified wives or girlfriends – whittled their numbers down to four.
Vince Benevento, one of the remaining contestants, said Dias roped him into participating.
“He said it was a community thing,” Benevento said.
Benevento said his bushy, salt-and-pepper beard hasn’t been a big problem because he runs his own landscaping company.
“My clients don’t complain too much,” he said. “One of them said it looks good.”
But that doesn’t mean Benevento won’t be shaving or at least trimming his beard come Monday. After all, he said, his beard could become overheated in the summer – not to mention the sacrifices one must make for love.
“I don’t know if my girlfriend likes it,” Benevento said. “She hasn’t said anything, but I think she prefers that I’d be clean-shaven.”
Which grizzled cowboy will come out on top? It’s hard to say, since the official rules promise, “Winning beards will be determined by a variety of criteria, all arbitrary and at the sole discretion of the Whiskerino judges.”
McClintock said there will be three community members judging the contest, including a real-life judge from the San Benito County Court. Cheating – McClintock said she’s heard rumors of women wearing fake beards – is punishable by hanging, she said.
Not that women will be left out. McClintock said they can buy a cheap hat at event sponsor Mrs. B’s and deck it out with whatever paraphernalia they can find to participant in the crazy hat contest.
And locals without a penchant for beards or crazy hats should still come out, McClintock said, because the city plans to host more than 100 traditional arts-and-crafts vendors.
“These are really top quality arts and crafts,” she said. “It’s great just to look.”
Anthony Ha covers local government for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or [email protected].
