GARDINER — Twelve beards enter. One beard leaves.

Swine & Stein Brewfest, one of Gardiner’s largest annual events, returned for its 15th year with a marquee facial hair competition to complement the free samples of beer, wine, cider and more offered throughout the day.

To both organizers and attendees, the competition is the highlight of the day’s festivities.

“This is what these people live for all year,” Mike Miclon told the crowd as he ran the competition. “Their jobs mean nothing, their families mean nothing, the victory means nothing. Their follicles mean everything.”

Seven finalists with braided beards, handlebar mustaches and pointed mohawks were selected out of the 12 competitors this year. Kyler Carty of Boothbay took home the top prize with a beard he’s been growing for seven years.

“I want to dedicate this victory to my buddy Bill, who passed away this year,” Carty said. “It’s my first time here. My friends always come and have been trying to get me to, so this was the first year I entered.”

Each of the finalists was lined up “like cattle,” Miclon told the crowd of about 200 who had gathered to watch as a panel of judges carefully inspected each beard up close and personal.

After about 15 minutes of deliberation, the judges were stuck in a deadlock. The competition’s onlookers were tasked with crowning a winner by cheering for the competitor they liked best. Carty’s beard easily took home top honors.

Organizers said this year’s Swine & Stein Brewfest drew about 1,500 people. This year was the city’s 15th annual celebration of beer, cider, wine, facial hair and community.

Downtown Gardiner was shut down for the day as breweries, cideries, distilleries and meaderies from across the region set up tables and booths on Water Street, offering free samples throughout the day.

Gardiner Mayor Patricia Hart said the event serves as the largest fundraiser for Gardiner Main Street, whose purpose is to promote a vibrant downtown neighborhood.

“Swine & Stein has definitely introduced more people to Gardiner, who come back again and again to shop, dine and see a show. It is a terrific event for the city,” she said earlier this week.

Dawn Thistle has volunteered at Swine & Stein each of the last seven years. Thistle is also the director of the Gardiner Public Library and said Swine & Stein provides Gardiner with one of its biggest and most vibrant expressions of community.

She volunteers at many community events in Gardiner each year to bolster the colorful community she and her library help foster. In her view, none of those events truly compare to Swine & Stein.

“It’s just so vibrant and exciting to be a part of. I just love these events that bring locals in, but bring people from away to see all that we have to offer,” she said. “I love hearing people leaving and saying ‘That was so much fun!’ and that they come back now year after year.”