The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Woollybears line streets for annual festival
Event, parade gets bigger every year
About 100,000 people packed the streets of downtown Vermilion on Sept. 24 to take part in the 45th annual Woollybear Festival.
The festival was started by WJW-TV personality Dick Goddard and the parent teacher association of the Firelands-Florence Township Elementary School in Birmingham in 1972. The first time it was held it drew about 2,000 people, according to vermilionchamber.net.
By 1980, the festival had grown too large for the tiny township and the decision was made to make the nine mile journey
to Vermilion, which has hosted the event since then, the site said.
It is this humble beginning and its subsequent growth that attracts 71-year-old Marshall Inghram, of Bedford Heights. This was his fourth year attending the festival and though he was there for the food he said the expansion of the festivities is impressive.
“It started small and it just escalated into something this huge and it’s just amazing,” he said. “(Goddard) has put a lot of work and a hard faith into it and it’s impressive. I like to respect people that work that hard.”
A major part of the day’s events was the parade, which took a winding path on Liberty Avenue, starting at Grand Street, then turning right on Sandusky Street, then right onto South Street, ending at Decatur Street. Each inch of the parade route was clustered with people ranging from the very young to the not so young.
It featured marching bands from high schools across northeast Ohio; including Vermilion, Lorain, and Edison; as well as WJW-TV personalities, local businesses and civic groups.
The festival proved so popular this year that the Vermilion police chose to close Liberty Avenue down a half hour earlier than originally scheduled to ensure safety for those along the route.
Despite the early closing of the road, the parade got off to a late start after a young girl fell, hurting herself. She was transported by ambulance, but representatives of the Vermilion Fire Department said she was doing fine.
Despite the fanfare and pageantry, the festival is all about the titular worms that according to folklore can predict the severity of the coming winter. Despite the extreme heat at the festival, everyone’s mind seemed to be on winter.
According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac website, the worms are made up of 13 segments either black or a rust-colored brown. It is the length of these rusty segments that allegedly tell us what the weather will be.
Justo Maldenado, 15, of Amherst, and Tori Church, 15, of Vermilion, were skeptical of the science behind this claim, but enjoyed the festival just the same.
“I’ve never looked into that,” Tori said. “It’s strange. The colors are different, but I don’t know what’s so important about that.”
More photos from this event are available at media.morningjournal.com