Shaving off the old cookie duster for a good cause (5 photos)

A multitude of moustachioed men stepped into the barber chair Saturday night during the Movember Shave Down Gala at Outspoken Brewing. 

Owner and operator Graham Atkinson told SooToday that even before the actual shave-down commenced, his fundraising team - Outspoken Whiskers - had already raised roughly $2,500 for the Movember campaign. 

“We’ve done an event related to Movember every week of the month,” said Atkinson. “We had DJs come in, live bands perform, we had a local photographer donate all of their time.”

“None of these were paid gigs - they donated their time to the cause to draw people in to raise funds that way.”

The Movember Shave Down Gala featured musical performances by Harmonicles and DJ Oosik, while Danny Trevisanut of Trevisanut's Barbershop handled the eradication of the guest's cookie dusters. 

For Atkinson, now in his 11th consecutive year raising funds for Movember, his fundraising efforts have taken a more personal meaning over the years.  

“The first couple years I got involved, it kind of seemed like a fun thing to do - and then as the years have gone on, people close to me and family, friends have had issues with cancer. People have passed away that I know,” he told SooToday. “Over the course of the 11 years, it became that much more important to get the word out.”

Atkinson would like to thank everyone who donated their time to Outspoken Brewing's Movember campaign: 

• Derissa Vincentini
• Kaitlynn Cruikshank
• Dale Ratelle
• Vaughn Alexander
• Asleigh Sauve
• DJ Seith 
• Twin’d
• Jay Case 
• The Harmonicles 
• DJ Oosik 
• Sleepy Avalon
• Danny Trevisanut
• Randie Leanne

Donations to Movember assist the organization in funding work around prostate cancer, testicular cancer, mental health and suicide prevention.