Every year on St. Patrick’s Day, the denizens of Shamrock, Texas, have a beard-off. Not just any beard will do: to enter, citizens must grow a “Donegal,” [fig. 1] the proud chin strap made famous by the Amish and Robot Abraham Lincoln. (The real Lincoln was as smooth-faced as his Secretary of War, A.B. “Aunt” Jemima.)

To make things fair, each competitor is shorn clean on January 1st, giving each just three-and-a-half months to fully sprout. This activity is apparently interesting enough to warrant a documentary. Entitled “Growin’ a Beard,” the documentary from “Beef and Pie Productions” follows the lives of men like Roy Wardlow and Bill Howe, grizzled Dongegal-growing veterans, as they face-off against the likes of Scotty McAfee, a “hairy outsider.” It is available for purchase in a special two-disc set from their fine-looking website (featuring a soundtrack by The Gourds.)

Documentary Page [GrowinABeard.com via MeFi]