Bartender in Richmond Tourism Ad ‘Shocked’ by Hipster Headline

So, how does Derek Rowe feel about becoming the face of Richmond hipsters?

“I’m a husband and father of two very small kids,” he says. “I just happen to have tattoos, and we wear plaid behind the bar. I don’t know why that necessarily brands me a hipster.”

Rowe, a bartender at Rappahannock on East Grace Street, posed for what became the “History+Hipsters” ad for Richmond Region Tourism. He is pictured smiling, handing off a beer to hypothetical tourists just out of frame. He says he thought the word “hipster” was being used as a joke during the shoot and was “shocked” to see they used it in the ad.

In his book, hipsters are group of people looking for the next new thing. Or, he says, someone who “has a problem paying $7 for a beer, but no problem paying $200 for a pair of jeans.”

Still, he says he’d be happy to offer his services again. “If Richmond wants to promote this kind of thing — the regional food and the craft bar scene, dads who bartend — I’d be a part of it.”

And if someone wants to call him a hipster, he won’t protest. Doing so, of course, would make him a hipster.

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