Home Plate BBQ, Jing-A Taproom and The Local teamed up yesterday for an afternoon of fun — The Facial Hair Fun Fair — that raised over 7,000 yuan for maovember 2014.
The party started with bingo at Home Plate BBQ, with manager Dave “Bob” Gaspar calling numbers and co-owner Victoria Liu selling cards. Each round featured prizes like bottles of wine and whiskey and free drinks. Cards cost five yuan, with all proceeds to maovember, and bingo alone raised 1335 yuan for charity.
People then went whole hog. A pig smoked by the Home Plate chefs for more than 24 hours was carried to nearby Jing-A Taproom. Jing-A’s Alex Acker explained they got the pig in exchange for the spent grain that results from brewing and is sent to Green Cow farm in Shunyi for use as feed. Pulled pork went by the sandwich (30 yuan) and jin (50 yuan), with Picklebacks and Fireball shots also available, all proceeds to charity. George Smith, regional head of this year’s charity, Orbis, spoke to attendees.
The well-fed crowd then witnessed the first-ever Egg Kart Klassic, a three-lap delivery-vehicle race between Jing A’s’ Richard Ammerman in “The Keg Egg” and Andy’s Craft Sausages’ Andy Horowitz in “The Hamborghini“. Horowitz led after the first lap but Ammerman pulled ahead — and even threw a banana peel at Horowitz — to win. Bets were taken on the race, with a share going to maovember. The race, pulled pork and drinks raised 4613 yuan.
The pub crawl wrapped up with a facial hair-focused charity quiz at The Local. Owner Kenn Bermel started with a photo round that covered everyone from Zhou Enlai and Karl Marx to Charlie Chaplin and Chuck Norris and finished with an intriguing round called “beards, mustaches or weiners?“. Teams paid 100 yuan to enter, received a pitcher of beer or Bourbon Street Iced Tea and, for those with less mustache-savvy members, could buy answers from manager Martin. There were also beverages available, including rum punch, mulled wine and shots, with all proceeds to charity. The quiz raised 1600 yuan for maovember.
All told, the three-venue event raised a total of 7,548 yuan for maovember — and the prospects for another Keg Egg vs Hamborghini showdown.
Maovember focuses on quirky events for good causes. Our 2022 partner is Library Project, which has furnished thousands of reading rooms in rural schools. Learn more about Maovember here. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.