Happy Chester Greenwood Day!

I invite one and all to don their favourite pair of earmuffs in tribute to the father of muffs himself, Chester Greenwood. On the first Saturday of December, Farmington, Maine, the Earmuff Capital of the World, holds a parade with firetrucks, police cars, and countless imaginitive floats, all decorated with giant earmuffs. Hundreds of people turn up, wearing either their usual earmuffs or special-edition "original earmuffs", based on Chester Greenwood's original design (much thinner than we're used to). Chester Greenwood invented the earmuffs at the tender age of 15 in the year 1873, and his original factory still stands just outside Farmington. He made quite a fortune, and his former home, really a mansion in rural Maine terms, sits high on a hill overlooking downtown Farmington. In addition to the parade, the Polar Bear Club takes its annual dip in Clearwater Lake; there's a "Festival of Trees", where local businesses and individuals decorate trees and donate them to be auctioned off for charity; there's a chili cookoff; local businesses have special sales; and there is the ceremonial raising of the Chester Greenwood Flag at the courthouse. Many more activities abound, I just can't remember them all. It's definitely a unique thing to see an entire town decked in earmuffs, from light poles to school buses, and of course all the people. One of these days I'll see if I can upload some pictures for all of you that may find this spectacle interesting.

While you're reading about other people's lives, check out these blogs: Rebecca and Jack