By LESLIE EIKLEBERRY
Salina Post
I will never look at a beard the same way again.
On Friday, I had the privilege to serve as one of the guest beard designers for The Flower Nook's live floral beard exhibit. Actually, "beard designer apprentice" probably is more appropriate.
The exhibit was part of The Flower Nook's Last First Friday. For years, The Flower Nook, as well as other downtown Salina businesses have celebrated the first Friday of each month with special exhibits, music, food, and fun.
Sadly, Friday was The Flower Nook's final First Friday, as owners Peggy and Wayne DeBey plan to close the longtime downtown shop and retire.
READ: Peggy and Wayne DeBey to retire; The Flower Nook closing
I would have been there just because it was the Last First Friday, but then Peggy sweetened the deal. She asked me to be one of the guest beard designers.
I was honored! Then I began to wonder whether all of the years of hard work to make The Flower Nook one of the gems of downtown Salina had finally gotten to Peggy. What was she thinking?
Nonetheless, I agreed to Peggy's proposal.
In the week leading up to Friday, I began to think of what I might be doing. How would I design the beard? What would be available for me to use?
When I arrived, Peggy took me to the back of the shop and gave me my instructions. They seemed simple enough. Spray the beard with hairspray. Dip the backs of flowers, feathers, greenery, and other decorations in honey and stick them on the beard. Then, spray the whole thing again. Once the beard was done, the model would then walk through the shop, visiting with people participating in the Last First Friday.
My first victim, er, beard "canvas" was Dustin. After finding out that any color but red would be fine with him, I went to the back to select flowers and other decorations. Then the fun began.
I was nervous. People were beginning to arrive for the Last First Friday and were watching the process. I also didn't want to "create" something that would make Dustin look totally ridiculous. Dustin was much calmer. He was agreeable to whatever I suggested.
The process, as it turned out, was a bit messy. I managed to get honey all over my hands and a pair of scissors (sorry, Peggy) while trying to keep some of the flowers on Dustin's beard. We learned quickly that even with the honey, we needed to stick the stems down into Dustin's beard.
I'm still not sure that what I created was good enough, but Dustin was a gentleman and told me it was fine. After he had walked around for a while, he stopped back by and said that he had received compliments on the beard.
Peggy had told me I would be doing more than one beard. My other victim was Russ, whose beard was much shorter. Because of that, I decided to go with a minimalist design of just a few flowers, as I wasn't sure his beard could hold much more. Russ liked it and took a selfie to share with family members.
Both Dustin and Russ were very kind and fun to visit with during the decorating. Gentlemen, I appreciate you letting me stick flowers and other decorations in your beards, and I hope I didn't mess them up too much!
As it turned out, one of my colleagues from Eagle Radio, Sam Pridey, was one of the beard models. Sam's floral beard was done by the King of Design, Wayne DeBey. Like Dustin and Russ, Sam was pretty laid back about having his beard decorated. And Wayne's design did not disappoint!
Here are some of the other beard designers and designed beards from The Flower Nook's floral beard exhibit.
