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U.S. NEWS Monday 4 deceMber 2017

$ 10

American Living:

It’s the most wonderful time to celebrate _ earmuffs

creation. also ran a bicycle shop,
“They’re just ubiquitous. built a plumbing and heat-
People continue to wear ing business and created a
them. It’s something Main- local telephone company.
ers can be proud of,” said His earmuff factory closed
Angela Goebel-Bain from a few years after his death
the Maine State Museum. in 1937.
Greenwood was just 15 Forty years later, the Maine
when he fashioned his first Legislature declared Ches-
muffs out of farm wire and ter Greenwood Day on the
his grandmother sewed fur first day of winter. These
onto them in 1873. days, it’s celebrated on
He made improvements the first Saturday of De-
to his creation, obtained a cember. Festivities include
patent and manufactured a polar dip, gingerbread
hundreds of thousands of house contest, tree lighting
Champion Ear Protectors. and carriage rides.
During World War I, his “People have stepped
factory made earmuffs up to the plate to make it
Courtney Austin of the 21st Century Kids of Franklin after school program hands a candy cane to for the U.S. Army “dough- fun,” said Nancy Porter of
Abigail Toothaker, 5, during the Chester Greenwood Parade in Farmington, Maine, on Saturday, boys” fighting in the frozen Farmington, who authored
Dec. 2, 2017. Greenwood, a Farmington resident, was the inventor of earmuffs in the early 20th trenches on the western the self-published “Ches-
century. front. Greenwood enjoyed ter: More Than Earmuffs.”
(Daryn Slover/The Lewiston Sun-Journal via AP)
tinkering. He came up with As the story goes, Green-
By DAVID SHARP With the arrival of the holi- Saturday honoring the folk more than 100 contrap- wood hatched the idea
Associated Press day season and winter hero who’s credited with tions but received patents for the earmuff to protect
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — around the corner, the the invention that has kept for only five of them, Goe- his generous-sized ears af-
Earmuffs are all the rage town of Farmington cel- ears warm for more than a bel-Bain said. ter a day of ice skating on
on at least one day of the ebrated Chester Green- century. His earmuff design repre- a frigid day.
year. wood Day with a parade Earmuffs festooned floats sented improvements by Over time, some elements
and cars, and people and incorporating a spring that of the Greenwood story
Santa Sunday pets, too. A flag featuring conformed to the head may have been embel-
with supersized earmuffs
and kept muffs in contact
lished, but not the part
was hoisted outside the
courthouse. with the ears, according to about the size of his ears,
his 1877 patent.
Porter said.
Behind all the silliness, Other patents included a “He had pretty good-sized
though, there is pride in rake, a tea kettle and a ears. There’s no question,”
the famous tinkerer and his wood-boring machine. He she said.q

A skier dressed as Santa Claus uses festive canes for ski
poles while skiing at Sunday River during the ski resort’s
18th annual Santa Sunday event, Sunday, Dec. 3,
2017, in Newry, Maine. In the name of charity, 160
skiing and snowboarding Santas raised $2,500 for the
Sunday River Community Fund, a fund that benefits
non-profits in area communities.
(AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)