It started as a fluke, the salt-and-pepper beard that envelops Bill Peduto’s jaw from ear to ear.
But now that it has grown in, the Pittsburgh mayor said he’s sticking with it — at least until Christmas, anyway. He might even costume himself as an Ewok — the furry Star Wars creature — for Halloween.
“I think the beard is very Ewok-like, although I would prefer considering it more like Henry Clay Frick or Czar Nicholas II,” Mr. Peduto said Thursday, indulging a reporter after an appearance on the North Shore. (He was there to highlight the Gold 1 parking garage near Heinz Field, designated the world’s first “Parksmart Gold” project for its sustainability features.)
The mayoral facial hair has stirred buzz across city hall and onto the internet the past few weeks, drawing both fans and pans. Normally clean-shaven, Mr. Peduto, 53, of Point Breeze, said he started letting his stubble go during a break in late August.
For the first time in five years, he said, he had a full week and an extra weekend away from work. He faced a big to-do list at home but “accomplished very few things.”
“I said to myself, after three days of not shaving: ‘What if I grow a beard?’” Mr. Peduto said. “So it was sort of a delusional way for me to think I accomplished something.”
He kept it going over Labor Day. After “hitting the ‘Snooze’ three times” that morning, he didn’t have time to shave before marching in the annual parade in Downtown, he added. “And so I kept it. That’s the entire background of it.”
So far, Mr. Peduto has trimmed the growth twice. He figures he’ll keep doing that, lest he look disheveled or too much like Santa Claus. His whiskers seem to grow faster now than when he embraced the unshaven look in 2014, he said.
Another thing: He doesn’t dye his hair — and he won’t dye his beard, either, the mayor said. The sharp color contrast between his new bristles and jet-black hair inspired plenty of speculation, both online and off.
“Just for the record, I’ve never dyed my hair in my life,” Mr. Peduto said. “My dad lived his entire life with never having gray go beyond the temple. My brothers [are] all the same: The gray hair never raised above the temple.
“It’s one of the wonderful benefits of being Italian.”
Adam Smeltz: 412-263-2625, asmeltz@post-gazette.com, @asmeltz.
First Published: October 4, 2018, 6:39 p.m.