At least once a year, Mike Sczepanik wakes up to nearly two months' worth of dark, thick hair covering most of his face - grown in an attempt to be named the hairiest at the Elks Rodeo Beard-A-Reno contest.

On Friday, Sczepanik proved that patience can be rewarding. In the 47th annual competition, the 53-year-old Santa Maria man earned the title of longest beard, at approximately 2 inches long.

His secret to success: “You just have to wait until the end to cut it,” Sczepanik said.

Sczepanik's face was among more than 45 others riddled with hair - dark, white, red, long, curly, hair-sprayed, waxed - in a soiree that helps kick off the 64th annual Santa Maria Elks Rodeo.

The traditional contest is said to have started in the 1940s when the Elks Rodeo was in its infancy, said Mike Boling, organizer of the Beard-A-Reno.

When everybody danced, “you had to have (a beard) or else they'd pick you off,” he said. “It was a whole different world then, but we still try to carry on some of those traditions.”

And with the traditions - the music, the barbecue meal, the cowboy boots and hat dress code - variety has been added. Awards for costumes and wildest mustaches have been thrown into the mix.

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Chris Spence, 22, of Orcutt was also a returning competitor.

Last year, he said, he won for the most original costume - a clown with flags all around. This year, he hoped to have won more than just attention in the multipurpose room at the Elks Lodge.

“Most of the guys are dressed like cowboys,” he said. “I'll be a beer can.”

And so he was: A 55-gallon drum painted to look like a Coors Light beer can was strapped on to cover most of his body. He said that if that didn't win him anything, the bulk of red hair under his chin might get him picked for the reddest beard.

But this year, he walked away with neither.

To win in the colored-beard categories - which include blackest, reddest and whitest - 10 judges are handed a flashlight to peer through the mane.

“If you see through it or see it turn into different colors, you know it's dyed,” Boling said.

To win the longest beard, he said, judges measure from the tip of the chin.

The prize for winners? Silver belt buckles. Runners-up get T-shirts and a chance to join the rodeo parade.

The list of winners and runners-up was not available as of press time. The names will be printed in Sunday's edition.

Luis Ernesto Gomez can be reached at 739-2218, or

lgomez@santamariatimes.com.

May 19, 2007