Barbers Jim Dougherty, Ronald Fischer receive Legacy Awards

FAIRFIELD - The Barbershop on Broadway hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Oct. 3 to celebrate its move into a new location, 117 W. Broadway Ave.

The barbershop, run by Joey Haynes, Dylan Gridley and Zach Simpson, filled a void when it first opened on the north side of the Fairfield square in 2024. The town had been without a barber for the previous 10 years, ever since long-time barbers Larry Hall and Ronald Fischer both chose to retire within a few months of each other in 2014. Fischer had been a barber for more than 53 years, beginning his career in Richland but spending the bulk of it in Fairfield.

The Fairfield Area Chamber of Commerce and Mayor Connie Boyer used the Oct. 3 ribbon-cutting ceremony as a time to honor both Fischer and another tenured barber in the area, Jim Dougherty, who cut hair in Libertyville for 62 years. Dougherty and Fischer received framed “Legacy Awards” denoting Dougherty as “Libertyville’s Greatest Barber” and Fischer as “Fairfield’s Greatest Barber” for their incredible longevity and commitment to excellence.

Fischer also has a special connection to the Barbershop on Broadway, since Zach Simpson is his grandson.

“I’m really proud of him,” Fischer said. “He’s doing a great job there.”

Dougherty cut his last head of hair two years ago, retiring at age 82. Though he enjoyed the work, he said he had to call it quits after he had new knees put in. He was glad to see a new barbershop open in Fairfield just a year after his own retirement.

“I like the three barbers there, and it’s where I get my hair cut. They’re nice boys,” he said.

Dougherty was inspired to become a barber by his grandfather, Bill Cooksey, and in fact Dougherty barbered in the very same building in Libertyville where his grandpa had cut hair decades earlier. Dougherty said his brother Marty was a barber in Birmingham for 15 years before changing careers, and he has a nephew who barbers in Minnesota.

Fischer and Dougherty both attended Fairfield High School, with Fischer graduating in the Class of 1959 and Dougherty a year later in 1960. Dougherty said there was never any doubt that he’d become a barber, a dream of his since he was in middle school. Fischer, on the other hand, didn’t know what he wanted to do after graduation, and worked at a gas station and a garage before his dad suggested he go to barber school, which he did.

Barbering has changed a lot over the years, but the biggest change has been the precipitous drop in the number of barbers. Fischer recalled that Fairfield had 17 barbers back in 1965. What really hurt the industry was the fad toward longer hair for men in the 1970s, which meant fewer trips to the barbershop.

“It hurt us,” Fischer said about the new style. “We had to change our ways of doing business, and we had to learn to cut the longer hair.”

Fischer said it was a big adjustment from the flat tops and butch cuts he was used to doing when he started in the industry, but he managed. He said everything goes in cycles, and feels like short haircuts in style once more.

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Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com

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