The 53rd Annual Woolly Bear Festival is coming up this Sunday in my town of Vermilion, so it's a good time to look back at how and when it all got started.
What follows are clippings from the Journal going back to 1973 (the first year of the festival, when it was located in nearby Birmingham) through 1981 (the first year it was held in Vermilion).
The first mention of the Woolly Bear Festival was in the Fireland News column, followed by a few more blurbs in other Journal column. As noted, the festival originated as a Florence Elementary PTA affair.
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| October 4, 1973 |
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| October 11, 1973 |
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| October 13, 1973 |
In 1974 Channel 8 weatherman Dick Goddard, in his second year of involvement with the festival, really helped generate a lot of publicity for it.
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| October 16, 1974 |
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| October 21, 1974 |
But by 1975, coverage of the event appeared to once again be limited to a single column mention.
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| October 8, 1975 |
The 1976 Woolly Bear Festival had a nice roll call of TV and Radio celebrities that were to appear at the event.
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| October 13, 1976 |
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| October 18, 1976 |
It seems that the
Journal sent a photographer to the festival each year, but didn't always devote a lot of space for additional coverage. Here's the 1977 photo from the event.
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| Sept. 28, 1977 |
The Sixth Annual Woolly Bear Festival in 1978 finally warranted a nice article in the
Journal.
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| October 1, 1978 |
The Journal continued this level of coverage in 1979.
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| Sept. 20, 1979 |
In this article from 1980, the
Journal provides a comprehensive look at how the festival got started.
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| October 9, 1980 |
It notes, "The idea for the festival was conceived eight years ago as a fund raising project for the Florence Parent-Teacher Group. Club officers Maureen Coe, Pat Mazzoni and Gay Zurcher (wife of television newscaster Neal [
sic] Zurcher) were tossing around ideas on how to make money. They came up with the Woolly Bear Festival. Zurcher was able to help persuade Channel 8 meteorologist Dick Goddard become the official host of the festival."
By 1981, the festival had become so big and so popular that a move to a bigger venue was needed; thus the move to Vermilion.
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| October 1, 1981 |
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| October 1, 1981 |
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| October 5, 1981 |
See you at the Festival on Sunday!
