Facial hair to spare at city shave-off Saturday

Oh, they were a hairy bunch.

Was a ZZ Top convention in town? Or a fan club for Festus, the whiskery TV deputy on Gunsmoke? (Google him here if you like.)

There was facial hair to spare in downtown Owen Sound Saturday morning, when nine local political leaders showed up for a shearing.

The fundraiser for the Owen Sound Regional Hospital Foundation raised more than $8,000 for the hospital’s critical response fund, for COVID-19 protective equipment and extras like iPads for patients to keep in touch in lieu of visitors.

Before the shave-off, from the left, Owen Sound Coun. Travis Dodd, Mayor Ian Boddy, Coun. Scott Greig, Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound MP Alex Ruff, Southgate Mayor John Woodbury, Owen Sound Coun. Richard Thomas, Hanover Deputy Mayor Selwyn Hicks, Grey Highlands Deputy Mayor Aakash Desai and Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound MPP Bill Walker on Saturday, July 11, 2020 in Owen Sound, Ont. (Scott Dunn/The Sun Times/Postmedia Network)

The shaggy group showed up for 10 a.m. at The Georgian Bay Centre for the Arts, the secret shave-off location in the old bingo hall downtown, kept hush-hush lest crowds gather (contrary to pandemic rules), for this grand finale, almost four months in the making.

Having it at GB Arts was apropos because Mane Street Hair Salon stylist Jeffrey Robins should call himself a sculptor for some of the whimsy he fashioned from faces so bushy a weed whacker seemed called for.

First he tamed the bearded beasts, creating Simpsons-calibre characters with his electric clippers, before shaving off the rest.

He left trimmed beards on some, though when Travis Dodd’s friends saw his stunted Foo Manchu ‘stash and chops on the live-streamed Facebook event, they offered more money to have him shaved clean.

Owen Sound councillor Dodd raised the most money, $1,670, of the nine in this Beards for Bucks Shave-Off. Next came Southgate Mayor John Woodbury, at $1,020, and Owen Sound Mayor Ian Boddy, with $895.

Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound MP Alex Ruff’s six-year-old daughter, Naomi, helped guide the clippers on him while her dad watched admiringly.

And Selwyn Hicks’ 11-year-old daughter, Chloe, said charming things about her father’s bearded face after it was shaved. “I really liked his beard. I think he looked nice in it. I feel like his face just needed something.”

Not so his wife, Barbara Hicks: “I’m just not a fan.” That was also true for others’ wives in the no-beard camp, including Joan Moores, Ian Boddy’s wife, who said simply “I don’t like it.”

It was Boddy who proposed the shave-off for a good cause when he noticed he and others stopped shaving during the lockdown, which has kept most working from home since mid-March. Fellow city councillor Richard Thomas then got it organized.

Owen Sound Coun. Richard Thomas reacts to the new look hairstylist Jeffrey Robins left him with — until he shaved the rest off — Saturday, July 11, 2020 at a fundraising shave-off in Owen Sound, Ont. (Scott Dunn/The Sun Times/Postmedia Network)

Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound MPP Bill Walker said his mom never let him wear a beard, so this one was a first. “Feels much better. I don’t know if it looks better,” he quipped. Said Thomas of his post-shave look: “It feels much lighter.”

Most times each in turn came into the arts centre, while the others remained outside, a nod to COVID, and tried to space out for group photos before and after.

Aakash Desai, Grey Highlands deputy mayor, and Owen Sound city councillor Scott Greig were also shorn for the cause.

Are you looking for a Personal Injury Attorney in Ontario?

Neinstein Personal Injury Lawyers is a leading Toronto injury law firm. Our attorneys feel it is their duty to aid you to discover the government and also health and wellness companies that can also assist you in your roadway to recovery.

Neinstein Accident Lawyers has actually managed severe accident claims across Ontario for over Fifty years. Its areas of know-how consist of medical, legal, and insurance coverage concerns related to medical neglect, car injuries, disability claims, slip and falls, product legal responsibility, insurance disputes, plus much more.