Once confined largely to loggers, poets and Farley Mowat, the burly beard is officially back. In recent years, such indie rockers as Kevin Drew, Sam Roberts and the boys of Wolf Parade have become famous while looking like they just spent six months on a desert island. Now Toronto’s sub-culturati are following suit, growing beards faster than you can say “Woodstock was 40 years ago.”

Name: David Baker, 26
Location: Outside the Gladstone
Gig: Painter
Last clean shave: Six years ago
Inspiration: ’60s-era Eric Clapton

Name: Thrush Holmes, 28
Location: Outside Starbucks at Dovercourt
Gig: Artist and owner of Thrush Holmes Empire
Last clean shave: Four years ago. “Wearing glasses makes you look smarter; maybe a beard makes you look more mysterious”
Inspiration: Santa Claus

Name: Nelson Silva, 31
Location: Mezzrows
Gig: Footwear designer
Last clean shave: A couple of months ago
Inspiration: “I want to say Wolverine”

Name: Dave Montour, 39
Location: The Cadillac Lounge
Gig: Construction worker, aspiring producer
Last clean shave: Five weeks ago. “I’ll grow it till it falls out”
Inspiration: “I’m from Hamilton. We’ve always had beards”

Name: Eric Newstead, 37
Location: The Gladstone
Gig: Tattoo artist
Last clean shave: “I only shave when I get my hair cut, and that was five weeks ago”
Inspiration: ”Laziness. I don’t wear a beard because I like beards; I just don’t shave. But I’ve done tattoos of Jesus before. He had a good beard”

Name: Paul Ferguson, 26
Location: The Beaver Cafe
Gig: Server, interior designer
Last clean shave: Years ago, to get a job
Inspiration: ”It’s tradition, not trend. Men in my family have been rocking beards for years, so it feels and looks proper to me”