1966 Ohio State Fair Ad

This weekend is the final weekend of the 2026 Ohio State Fair, so if you're pondering a visit, then this is your last chance. As you can see from the logo for the 1966 Ohio State Fair above, it used to run right into September.

Speaking of the 1966 edition of the Ohio State Fair, here are a few ads showing the entertainment headliners. Just like the 1976 Fair, it has an impressive lineup, including Bob Hope, Perry Como, Art Linkletter, the King Family, Jimmy Dean, Herman's Hermits, the Lovin' Spoonful, and Miss USA-World.

August 11, 1966

August 18, 1966

August 23, 1966

And here's the whole page showing the August 23rd ad. Hey, the big screen Batman movie was in local theaters at that time!

There's also an ad for Hanna House, subject of a few posts back here. (It was formerly known as Fior's Spaghetti House).

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So what was the Miss USA World pageant? It wasn't the same as Miss USA (written about extensively here through my posts about Jackie Mayer and Laurel Lea Schaefer). According to Grokipedia, " Miss USA World 1966 was a national beauty pageant organized in 1966 as part of a series of contests aimed at selecting an American representative for the international Miss World competition, amid ongoing legal disputes over similar naming conventions with established pageants like Miss USA. 

"The event, held at the Ohio State Fairgrounds in Columbus, Ohio, crowned 19-year-old Denice Estelle Blair of Layton, Utah, as the winner; she had previously held the title of Miss Utah and defeated entrants from 46 states.  

"The pageant, the fifth edition under the Miss USA World banner, was sponsored by figures including comedian Bob Hope and featured state preliminaries across the country, reflecting the era's growing popularity of televised beauty contests despite trademark conflicts. 

"The Miss USA World 1966 pageant took place on Saturday, August 27, 1966, at the Ohio State Fairgrounds in Columbus, Ohio. This venue, part of the ongoing 67th Ohio State Fair, drew an estimated audience of 32,000 spectators to the evening event, held in a spacious fairground arena suitable for large-scale presentations including swimsuit and evening gown segments."

So the appearance of Miss USA World at the 1966 Ohio State Fair made sense: the pageant actually took place at the Fair, and Old Ski Nose himself – Bob Hope, who was appearing at the Fair – was a sponsor of it.

Frostie Root Beer is her favorite?
She's my kind of gal!

Frostie Root Beer Revisited

The current logo

One of the reasons I don't remember going to the A&W Root Beer stand in Vermilion more than once or twice is because for many years, we had root beer floats at home on Saturday night. And while Mom bought a variety of root beers over the years (including Don Hilton's favorite: Hires), she bought a lot of Frostie Root Beer.

Here's an ad for Frostie Root Beer that ran in the Lorain Journal back on August 15, 1959 (the year I was born).

I always liked the little guy with the beard on the bottle. He changed a lot over the years.

Up until recently, the root beer bottle looked like this (below). It was a nice design, but with a little too much going on for my taste. And I wasn't crazy about the new rendering of the little old man. Sometimes things that are redrawn in Adobe Illustrator end up sort of flat – like root beer without its fizz.

Wisely, the owners of the brand decided to go back to one of the old designs from the 1960s for a retro look (below). I like it a lot. I also like the pure cane sugar in it. Like Hamm's Beer, it jumped into my shopping basket at Vermilion Farm Market.

How do I remember that Mom brought a lot of Frostie Root Beer? Because we sent away for these character mugs (below). We had a whole set of those things.

Anyway, I thought it was odd that one of the other pops that Mom bought regularly – Vernor's – also had a little guy with a beard. But he was supposed to be a gnome. 

As for the little old guy on the Frostie label, I'm not sure if it was just a frozen old man or an elf or – ?

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My previous post on Frostie Root Beer included some other renderings of the ad mascot over the years.

Frostie Root Beer Ad – July 15, 1959

Pop sure does seem to be a regular topic on this blog.

Here's a vintage newspaper ad for Frostie Root Beer that ran in the Lorain Journal on July 15, 1959 – 54 years ago today. The ad was promoting the fact that the root beer was distributed locally by Dr. Pepper, which had a facility back then on Lake Avenue in Elyria.

It's funny that there used to be so many ads in the Journal for soft drinks in the 1950s and 60s. Maybe it was because pop wasn't something that people drank every day (like they do now), and the bottlers were aggressively competing for the same limited market share.

Anyway, I've always liked the Frostie Root Beer mascot. The bearded guy with icicles on his hat has been around a long time (the beverage has been bottled since 1939), and you can find him adorning many antique advertising signs.

When I was a kid, I thought the Frostie Root Beer guy bore a striking resemblance to a character in an old Golden Book we had – The Golden Goose – with haunting illustrations by Gustaf Tenggren. Here's what the mysterious little old man (who set the whole plot in motion) looked like in that book (below).

We must have drank a lot of Frostie Root Beer as kids, because at some point we sent away for Frostie Root Beer mugs that looked just like the mascot. I don't know what ever happened to our mugs, but they seem to pop up on Ebay frequently. Here's one (below) that was for sale a few weeks ago.

Over the years, the appearance of the Frostie Root Beer mascot was tinkered with once in a while, making him look a bit odd at times. Here's one of the later redesigns (below).

But the owners wisely went back to the original, classic design and that's what's on the bottles today.

Frostie Root Beer is still available today. One place where it is available locally is Vermilion Farm Market. Every once in a while I pick up a carton just for old times sake.