For ten years, the barbers at JP Hair Design on Madison’s west side have donated a day of their time to give free back-to-school haircuts for any kids in grades K-12 who need them.
It’s been a tremendously popular event, and an important community contribution. After this long, though, it became almost too much for the eight of them to handle — 200 kids in a five-hour period last year — and they knew there were a lot of kids they couldn’t get to. They wanted to do more.
So this spring, JP Hair Designs owner Jeffrey Patterson began recruiting barbers from other shops and lining up sponsors to expand the event. As a result, this Sunday, August 27, a group of 30 barbers is aiming to give more than 1,000 haircuts, all free, at the Alliant Energy Center’s Exhibition Hall between 10 and 5. Parking will be free.
Haircuts will be free, but Patterson stresses that in order to keep the event orderly, appointment tickets are required. Tickets can be picked up at any of the participating barber shops, and each ticket specifies an appointment time. Organizers have made 200 appointments available each hour beginning at 10 am.
“That’s a lot, 200 haircuts in an hour,” Patterson says. “The last thing we want is for a parent to be upset because they show up without a ticket.”
Participating barber shops include JP Hair Design, Resilient Hair Design, Atwood Barber, Crowns of Glory, Barberstown, Mr. Rudd’s and Vernee Nycole Barbers. They all have tickets available now. Anyone in need of a back-to-school haircut should pick up tickets before Sunday.
Event sponsors include United Way of Dane County, MG&E, MSCR, Rebalanced Life Wellness Center and 100 Black Men of Madison.
“They’ve done a wonderful job of helping pick up the expenses, paying for the venue … getting our chairs moved,” says Patterson.
That’s right — crews are removing barber chairs from five different shops around Madison and setting them up at Alliant Energy Center.
“It’s going to be like a real barber shop,” Patterson says.
A very large, free barber shop, just for one day.
