Weather draws crowds at Woollybear Festival
Steve Fogarty | The Chronicle-Telegram
VERMILION — Sunday’s sun-drenched skies and crisp temperatures were made to order for the city’s biggest one-day party of the year — the Woollybear Festival.
Even though you may have had to wait awhile to get into town to feed your face with all kinds of delectably unhealthy festival food, enjoy the sights or march in the festival’s huge parade.
Milo Hildebrandt was all calmness and smiles, despite having been parked along U.S. Route 6 near Adams Street since midmorning — and despite drawing the 125th position in the parade. A member of Lakeview Baptist Church on the city’s west side, Hildebrandt and a group of 25 adults and kids quietly soaked up the sun as they, along with a few hundred others, waited for the word to move — not unlike troops getting orders to begin a slow but inexorable advance to the front.
“Actually, there’s fewer units this year than last,” Hildebrandt said. “We were the 168th unit last year. Some people apparently decided not to show up because the weather was questionable. There’s a lot of rain supposedly moving this way from Illinois. It’ll probably get here by tonight.”
The church’s parade entry had a replica sailboat emblazoned with the church’s name atop a small cart being pulled by a vehicle driven by Hildebrandt’s stepson, Greg Spangler, 18, of Lorain. Spangler flashed a big smile when he and a group of kids were asked who was walking and who was riding.
“They just said we’re 100 units from the stage” came word from a woman walking up to report the status of the parade, which had started nearly an hour earlier at 1:30 p.m.
“Once the (high school) bands get past, the whole thing starts to really move,” Hildebrandt said. “My adrenaline gets going. It’s a lot of fun then.”
By 1 p.m., hundreds of vehicles inched forward in the westbound exit lane from state Route 2 onto Route 60, where they faced another 1½-mile crawl north before reaching the hubs of festival activity in Victory and Exchange Parks. Traffic was rerouted off Route 6 west of town to lessen traffic congestion near the already heavy backup of parade units and marchers waiting to begin moving into town from Adams Street.
Begun in 1972, the festival pays homage to the furry little orange and black caterpillar, which legend claims can forecast how nasty winter will be based on the amount and thickness of its bands of fur.
Sporting stylish black-and-orange face paint, Taylor Vipperman, a 13-year-old Northwood Elementary School student, put the finishing touches on decorations for Dudley, a black miniature donkey, while her friend, Brooke Baldwin, 14, a freshman at Marion L. Steele High, did the same for Ace, a blond miniature horse.
“His name is Ace but everybody calls him Teddy because he’s like a big, cuddly teddy bear,” Brooke said.
The girls and animals were part of an Amherst 4-H unit under the guidance of Brenda Reasar that was also positioned near the end of the parade lineup. Neither girl seemed to mind being stuck near the end.
“It’s not boring really,” Taylor said. “It’s kind of fun. It gives us time to make sure the animals are taken care of, and look good and ready to go.”
Vermilion Police Chief Robert Kish estimated Sunday’s crowd to be among the bigger Wollybear Festival gatherings in recent years.
“I really have no idea how many people we’re talking about, but it’s a lot,” he said.
Attendance has typically been reported around 100,000.
Contact Steve Fogarty at 329-7146 or sfogarty@chroniclet.com.
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Filed by Steve Fogarty | The Chronicle-Telegram October 6th, 2008 in Top Stories. Popularity: 2% |
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