Eight men sporting white hair and glasses lined up in front of onlookers at City Hall Park in Burlington on Saturday to celebrate their resemblance to U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders.
鈥淎bout half a dozen times people have said, 鈥楢re you Bernie?鈥� said Art Sherman of Burlington, one of the look-alikes. 鈥淎 woman stopped her car and shouted out the window, 鈥楽enator, I love you!鈥欌€�
The event was the latest in a string of viral celebrity look-alike contests popping up around the world. It started in October, when a look-alike contest for actor Timoth茅e Chalamet drew hundreds of onlookers 鈥� and an himself.
Spreading the word through flyers and , fans have since set up their own local look-alike events.
Recent contests have celebrated the likes of singer Harry Styles in London, actor Paul Mescal in London, baseball pitcher Shohei Ohtani in Los Angeles and Strafford musician Noah Kahan at the University of Vermont.
But Mike Trioli, who organized the Sanders lookalike contest, wanted to do something a little bit different.
鈥淚 figure that we should celebrate someone not so much a celebrity in the world at a time like this,鈥� Trioli said. 鈥淏urlington, I feel like, needs a good thing, good people, good times. And Bernie鈥檚 a unifier in my opinion.鈥�
This isn鈥檛 the first time Sanders鈥� look-alikes have captured the public鈥檚 attention. In 2017, the PBS series Finding Your Roots kicked off its fourth season with a big reveal: Sanders is a to comedian Larry David, who impersonated the senator on Saturday Night Live.
Sanders did not attend his own lookalike contest on Saturday; instead, he spent the afternoon at a in Bennington.
Trioli encouraged participants to sport a look from any era of Sanders' life, and they delivered. One participant emulated Sanders鈥� outfit at President Joe Biden鈥檚 2021 inauguration and held a sign that read 鈥渢ax the billionaires.鈥� Another shaved his beard for the event.
After introducing the participants to rounds of applause, Miss Vermont 2024 Meara Seery selected the first, second and third place winners. Seery previously worked as a digital producer for Sanders.
John Bronstein of Putney took home the contest鈥檚 grand prize: a sandwich bag filled with $17, Sanders鈥� federal minimum wage.
鈥淪o many people come up to me and say, 鈥楢re you Bernie Sanders?鈥� Especially people who have poor eyesight,鈥� Bronstein said.
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