BARBERTON — Since its inception 34 years ago, the annual Barberton Mum Festival has earned its own place in Barberton lore. This year’s festival, however, will include another bit of unique local history.
Tammy Simmons, assistant director for the Barberton Parks Department, said this year’s Mum Festival theme of “Mums in Flight” was inspired in part by the late Bob Zanella, a local pharmacist and hot-air balloon pilot who popularized the pastime in the area in the early 1970s. Simmons said this year’s festival will include photo opportunities with Zanella’s balloon gondola and visits from two of his ballooning contemporaries.
Simmons said the Mum Festival, Sept. 28-29 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Lake Anna Park, began as a project of the Barberton Beautification Commission. The festival was headed by former Parks Director and Beautification/Special Events Coordinator Lisa McLean for its first three decades…