PEMBERVILLE, Ohio — Pemberville's fair is one of the last free fairs in Ohio. This weekend at the Pemberville Free Fair, event board members are trying to host a Mile of Smiles, and they want your help.
Parade Chair Todd Sheets said the goal is to have at least 1,000 people both in and along the mile-long parade route showing off their smiles.
"We decided we would have a Miles of Smiles at the Pemberville Free Fair. So, we have all kind of paraphernalia: smiley faces on paint sticks, hats, bouncy balls, balloons. All kinds of smiley stuff that we're going to pass out," Sheets said.
Sheets owns Beeker's General Store in downtown Pemberville, which is where visitors can buy Miles of Smiles T-shirts. He says the community is excited and hopefully expected to come out and show their smiley spirit.
The parade will step off in Pemberville at 12:50 p.m. Saturday. If you'd like to join the fun you can stand along the parade route, which starts at the corner of Front and Hickory streets.
The fair will include live stock exhibits, bingo, and a 5-mile race, among other activities. This is the 77th year for the Pemberville Free Fair. Fair President, Kelli Bohland said this year's Miles of Smiles event could become a new tradition.
"I think its mainly just that families coming and seeing the smiles on their faces. I think it's every where you look, there's just smiling people," Bohland said.
American Legion Auxiliary President Anne Michael said all the fair food is what truly makes fairgoers smile.
"We sell 400 homemade pies," she said. "Now you cut those in six pieces. So we sell over 600 pieces of homemade pie, every year."
Whether it's the food, the fun, or the Miles of Smiles, Sheets says he cannot wait to see all the planning come together.
"For about five minutes here in Pemberville, we should have a mile of smiles. We'll be ready to show that at 12:50."
The Pemberville Free Fair runs all weekend.
Feel free to send any pictures or videos you take during the Miles of Smiles to pembervillesmiles@gmail.com for the committee to collect them for the website.
More on WTOL: