The Vermilion High School marching band marches in the Woollybear Parade along state Route 60 in Vermilion. (Photo by Chuck Humel, The Chronicle-Telegram.)
VERMILION — Forklore forecaster Bud Summers weathered the estimated 125,000-strong crowd’s groans of disappointment when he predicted a hard winter at the 39th annual Woollybear Festival on Sunday in Vermilion’s Exchange Park.
“Everything, as I see it, it looks like we’re gonna have a hard winter,” Summers, the festival’s third forecaster, said. “It looks to me like we’re gonna have a white Christmas.”
Brooke Yontz, 4, of Vermilion, rides Joshua, a camel at the Woollybear Festival. The camel was owned by the Hole in the Wall Farm Animal Rescue Inc. (Photo by Chuck Humel, The Chronicle-Telegram.)
Longtime meteorologist and local celebrity Dick Goddard with Fox Channel 8 hosted this year’s festival as he’s done for the past 38 years.
“So … it’s going to get cold … and then it’s going to snow,” he joked.
Folklore holds that the smaller the orange stripe on a woolly bear’s back, the harsher the winter will be.
Following the weather prediction, nine woolly bear finalists raced for the gold — a trophy, a $50 Toys “R” Us gift card and candy.
Seven-year-old Elijah Cooper came out on top with a 32-second final heat as Waffle crossed the finish line ahead of challenger Parrot who’d come all the way from Michigan.
“I feel great,” Elijah said.
Tragedy was narrowly avoided as Parrot took a 5-foot fall through the cracks of center stage, but 7-year-old Molly O’Leary of Brighton, Mich., was happy when Parrot was found a few minutes later.
Molly comes to the festival every year and visits her grandparents while in town. She was too shy to speak after the Woollybear 500, but Molly said through a family spokeswoman that she was glad Parrot was safe and sound.
Other winners Sunday included a family of three girls, 4-year-old Haiden Clark, 2-year-old Chloe Clark and 1-year-old Haylee Clark, of Vermilion, who will share the Woollybear Queen Crown for 2009.
Seven Hills brothers Shawn Kessie, 5, and Trevor Kessie, 7, will also share the crown as Woollybear King for 2009.
Four-year-old Aryssa Horne of Plymouth dressed her poodle/Pomeranian mix dog up as a scarecrow, put on a matching costume and walked away with the Best Pet Prize.
It’s this sense of family and community that brings Goddard back year after year.
“It is a family fun, free event and you can’t get many of those anymore,” Goddard said.
The festival is sponsored by Channel 8 and the Vermilion Chamber of Commerce.
It’s billed as the largest one-day festival in the state and Chamber President Pam Cooper said the 125,000 estimate of attendees is probably conservative. No one can say for sure, however, because tickets aren’t sold.
“People were parking as far away as a mile away to get here,” Cooper said. “You take a little town of 11,000 people and fill it with 125,000 and we’re bursting at the seams.”
Mayor Jean Anderson said that’s OK with her.
“I think this has been off the chart as far as the people, the activities, the parade go,” she said. “I think everybody has come to enjoy the Woollybear Festival and the events, the food and the comraderie. It’s quite a tradition.”
More than 120 vendor booths filled Exchange Park and parking was virtually nonexistent anywhere near the parade, which lasted three and a half hours and included more than 15 marching bands and floats from nonprofit groups, organizations and businesses.
“We’re proud of it,” said Chamber Director Louise Woehrle, adding their booth saw visitors from all over the state and as far away as South Africa. “It’s gone fantastically well. We’re amazed it’s getting so big.”
Cooper agreed it’s shocking how the festival has grown from around 2,000 attendees at the first festival held in Birmingham. But no one’s complaining — unless it’s about the parking.
“It’s a great event for our city,” Cooper said. “The businesses and nonprofits do great. This is one of the biggest crowds we’ve ever had.”
Contact Alicia Castelli at 329-7144 or acastelli@chroniclet.com.
