Ramona pair hope to win national ‘America’s Favorite Couple’ contest

A Ramona couple is hoping votes from their hometown will push them from the semi-finals to the finals in the “America’s Favorite Couple” contest.

Jon Hasz and Cat Curry Hasz have made it to the ninth round of the online, nationwide contest. Voting on the Final 14 couples ends at 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 28.

“After six years of friendship, we realized we could adopt some cats and kiss whenever we wanted,” the pair wrote on their contest page. “Now we make music and explore the world together.”

The search is hosted by actor Jeff Goldblum and his wife, Emilie, a stunt artist. The winning couple will take home $20,000 and be featured in a fairytale photoshoot in Variety magazine.

The contest, sponsored by Colossal, a professional fundraiser inspiring people to advocate for themselves and those in need, benefits the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank and Oceana, an advocacy group dedicated to ocean conservation.

“I first saw it as a random thing on Facebook,” Jon recalled. “They asked for who had the most interesting story of how they got together.”

Thinking it would be fun, but not really expecting anything, Jon, 39, and Cat, 37, sent in their own versions of how they met in early June. After they were approved to enter, the first round started on June 30.

For the Final 14 round, there will be one finalist from each of 14 different groups. The couple currently ranks 11th in their group.

“They haven’t given all the metrics yet and they’ve been very vague about the numbers of votes, but it’s been a fun journey,” Jon said.

Well-known locally as the owners of the Ramona Music Center, the couple formed the musical duo The Beard and The Bird about four years ago.

The duo specializes in Western swing music to modern pop folk, with Cat playing the upright bass and typically providing backup vocals, while Jon plays acoustic guitar and sings lead. For bigger venues, they often add a third or even fourth member to the band.

Jon is also co-founder of the Ramona Music Alliance.

They now live as “bicoastals,” splitting their time between the West and East coasts.

“We perform from Montreal to New York; it’s a great excuse to spend more time together and work together writing songs,” Jon said.

In February, they plan to travel to the southeast for their first New Orleans performance.

Their shared love of music played a large role in how they met as teenagers in 2004.

“I went to buy a guitar string at a music store where Jon worked,” said Cat, referring to the store’s former location on Main Street.

“She was a singer in a punk band and came in to get some strings,” Jon recalled.

The pair quickly became best friends, rock climbing buddies and confidants.

They began dating in 2010, married in 2014, and even adopted a pair of cats along the way.

Jon and Cat share a long list of favorite memories together.

“One of my favorite memories was at the recent Ramona Opry event, which was videotaped live,” Cat said. “Just before the end of one of the rounds, they paused the event. More than 200 people took out their phones and voted for us. We were with a bunch of our friends and family and it was perfect timing. I was weeping in the back of the venue.”

Jon’s favorite memory of the event features his wife.

“Cat got to sing the song she wrote about growing up in Ramona,” he said. “It was her first time singing without the upright bass. I loved being on stage and watching her shine.”

The song includes the lyrics, “First kissed my mister/in that old parking lot,/Sun Valley Markets long gone/but the lifers ain’t forgot.”

“I’m always reminded of how bonkers our life is,” Cat said. “Any time I’m asked about my favorite memory, a slide show of things starts going through my brain.”

She recounted a time before they were dating, when they met up at a sports club in Poway.

“We would lament over our current dating situations and we joked that if we weren’t  married to anyone else in two years, we would marry each other,” she said. “That December, we started dating and we set up our real wedding day on that imaginary two-year date.”

In 2020, the couple decided to take a really big risk.

“I had never been to the Northeast, but with the pandemic, you couldn’t travel without proving residency,” Jon said. “So we purchased a 150-year-old house in New York.”

“We thought we would spend a lot of time writing,” said Cat, explaining that Jon writes music while she writes novels. “But it turns out we don’t have much time to write, because there is an epic music scene in New York.”

The couple named the house Eloise, and the many quirks they’ve since discovered about their purchase have inspired them to start an Instagram blog, “My Dearest Eloise,” https://www.instagram.com/mydearesteloise. Also, Cat has a book coming out soon about the house and Jon wrote a song, “My Dearest Eloise,” featuring Cat singing the lyrics, “My Dearest Eloise/You’re vintage and divine/Secrets, truths and love/sure as birds fly up above/Our tale will stand the test of time.”

“Eloise is drenched in history and inspiration, with new stories behind every layer of paint and wallpaper,” he said.

They also manage to combine their love of music with hunting for antiques. Jon has started a traveling Youtube series, https://www.youtube.com/@travelingthroughLive, featuring other musicians they have met; some of the shows are filmed in antique stores.

If they win, they know what they would do with the funds.

“We would fix the decomposing roof on Eloise, and launch into more of our creative endeavors,” Jon said. “Cat is writing books, we have an album we are finishing up and we would hit the road the do some more touring.”

“And snacks. We would definitely get more snacks,” Cat added.

To vote, visit: https://americasfavcouple.org/2025/the-beard-the-bird-jon-cat. One free vote per person is allowed per day; voters can increase the numbers of votes by making a tax deductible donation to the contest charities.