Sights and sounds from the Beards, Bonnets & Brews Festival at Rock Ledge Ranch in Colorado Springs. (Video by Skyler Ballard)
Hundreds of festivalgoers celebrated Colorado Springs’ 150th birthday at the foot of the Garden of the Gods on Saturday with beer, live music, and clothing and grooming only the 1870s could love.
The Beards, Bonnets & Brews Festival, held at Rock Ledge Ranch, brought modern food and drink along with what organizers called “old school fun” — historical activities like baseball played with 1864’s rulebook.
The city’s normally strait-laced mayor still wore a tie, but it was accompanied by a beard, grown special for the occasion.
“We’re celebrating our past, and we’re starting to think about where we want to go in the future,” Mayor John Suthers said.
The festival also represented a much-welcome return to normalcy, after outdoor events suffered restrictions imposed by the coronavirus pandemic.
Mike “Dawg” Brown, left, and Dan “Shiney” Schalek cheer for their team the Blue Stockings against the Denver and Rio Grande Reds in a old-time baseball game Saturday, June 12, 2021, during the Beards, Bonnets & Brews Plus Festival at Rock Ledge Ranch to celebrate Colorado Springs’ 150th birthday. The Blue Stockings lost 13-9. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock)
Tony Exum Jr. performs with his band Saturday, June 12, 2021, during the Beards, Bonnets & Brews Plus Festival at Rock Ledge Ranch to celebrate Colorado Springs’ 150th birthday. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock)
Toni-Ann Ayzenberg celebrates after winning the fake beard competition Saturday, June 12, 2021, during the Beards, Bonnets & Brews Plus Festival at Rock Ledge Ranch to celebrate Colorado Springs’ 150th birthday. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock)
Mayor John Suthers sports his own beard as he leads the beard competition Saturday, June 12, 2021, during the Beards, Bonnets & Brews Plus Festival at Rock Ledge Ranch to celebrate Colorado Springs’ 150th birthday. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock)
Susan Sanderman, left, Sarah Sanderman and David Donnelly watch the improv show Saturday, June 12, 2021, during the Beards, Bonnets & Brews Plus Festival at Rock Ledge Ranch to celebrate Colorado Springs’ 150th birthday. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock)
The Blue Stockings’ Shawn “Viking” Abraham swings for a hit during a old-time baseball game Saturday, June 12, 2021, during the Beards, Bonnets & Brews Plus Festival at Rock Ledge Ranch to celebrate Colorado Springs’ 150th birthday. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock)
The Blue Stockings and Denver and Rio Grande Reds tip their hats after the Reds won 13-9 during the first old-time baseball game of the day Saturday, June 12, 2021, during the Beards, Bonnets & Brews Plus Festival at Rock Ledge Ranch to celebrate Colorado Springs’ 150th birthday. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock)
From right to left, Cruz Collins, 7, Radan Peck, 7, and Brantley Harper, 5, wait to compete in the beard competition Saturday, June 12, 2021, during the Beards, Bonnets & Brews Plus Festival at Rock Ledge Ranch to celebrate Colorado Springs’ 150th birthday. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock)
“It’s a celebration of not just the city and its people, but being able to come out,” festivalgoer Daniel Gregor said. “It’s amazing we’re able to have this.”
The event, and the mayoral coiffure culminated the three-month-long “Beards and Bonnets” challenge from Suthers for residents to work on a beard or bonnet. The best head and chin fashions were judged by a panel that included Suthers and City Councilman Wayne Williams, who sported a cattle-drive motif.
The mayor might pay a price for the beard from his most loyal constituent.
“There’s only one thing that could get me to grow a beard, and that’s the 150th birthday of Colorado Springs,” Suthers said. “But the wife is not crazy about it, she’s marked midnight on July 31st so that it comes off at midnight on the sesquicentennial day.”
This content was originally published here.