Fur for All

Vermilion’s Woollybear Festival has drawn crowds to this lakeshore community for decades and still embraces the spirit with which it was founded.

Legendary Cleveland meteorologist Dick Goddard helped create Vermilion’s annual Woollybear Festival in 1972 to celebrate the fuzzy orange-and-black caterpillar that emerges each fall. Folklore says the severity of the upcoming winter can be indicated by the amount of black on its bands, but this long-held celebration of the cri er is all about fun.

“It’s a hoot,” says Sandra Coe, executive director of the Vermilion Chamber of Commerce and organizer of the annual festival. “Everybody can be a kid for the day.” is year’s festival is set for Oct. 8 with festivities for the whole family that range from the annual parade to the kids woollybear costume contest to theWoollybear 500 caterpillar races. A endees can peruse the marketplace, hear live music and grab a bite from the festival’s approximately 40 food vendors that set up downtown.

Goddard’s generous spirit is very much alive in the festival through the participation of animal-welfare groups, which were a passion throughout the meteorologist’s life and a cause he championed onair and o , using his notoriety to get the message out.

“As my dad said, ‘Be kind to all animals,’” remembers his daughter, Kimberly Goddard. “Ohio’s always with me, and my dad is obviously a part of Ohio. It’ll always be like that.” e festival takes place in downtown Vermilion. For more information, go to woollybearfestival.com.