When John Bronstein heard about a Bernie Sanders look-alike contest happening in Burlington, the 84-year-old Putney resident with white, receding hair and glasses had a feeling it could be his moment to shine.
“So many people come up to me and say, ‘Are you Bernie Sanders?’” he told Seven Days. “It was worth coming here for sure.”
On Saturday at City Hall Park, Bronstein won the title of best Bernie look-alike, a 2016 campaign sticker and $17 in a ziplock baggie — the amount the independent senator from Vermont has proposed for the federal minimum wage.
The afternoon event, organized by Mike Trioli, a 45-year-old dealer services representative at Darn Tough Vermont, drew a few dozen spectators and eight contestants. Most of the latter were older men dressed in suits or winter coats, glasses and mittens — a nod to Sanders’ iconic, meme-worthy outfit at the 2021 inauguration of President Joe Biden.
Still, not all contestants were octogenarians. Austin Grant, 30, may not typically be the spitting image of the 83-year-old Senator, but with his white wig, bushy eyebrows, blue medical mask, mittens and “tax the billionaires” sign, he managed to snag second place.
Others leaned into Sanders’ signature slogans. Bill Frangipane, 67, knew he didn’t exactly resemble Sanders, he said, but people often say he “acts like him.” So, he showed up with sticky notes on his jacket reading “Feel the Bern,” “I wrote the damn bill” and “Medicare for All.”
In the middle of the judging, spectator Laura Larken interrupted to perform a “Bernie rap” she wrote herself — an attempt, she said, to “see how the Bernies move.”
“Bernie Sanders mittens, we all are smitten,” Larken rapped as she danced in front of the lineup of look-alikes bouncing to the beat.
Then Meara Seery, Miss Vermont 2024, crowned the winner based on which Sanders look-alike received the loudest applause.
“Speech, speech!” the crowd urged after Bronstein was crowned.
Bronstein said his father was born in Brooklyn, just like the Senator.
“Who knows, maybe Bernie, Larry David and I have something in common, way back,” he told the crowd. (David, the comic actor who portrayed Sanders on “Saturday Night Live,” discovered in 2017 that he and Sanders are distant cousins.)
“You can run in six years!” a spectator called out to Bronstein.
People lined up afterward to take photos with the look-alike.
Bronstein told Seven Days he wasn’t sure how to spend his $17 winnings.
“Do I have to declare it?” he joked. “The billionaires don’t.”
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