Ohio Community Sticks Together!

It was nearly midnight on a recent Friday when Keith Urig finally called it quits, though he and his friends weren't quite finished with their life-size model of the time-traveling DeLorean from "Back to the Future."

The pulley system he had rigged up to lift the famous vertically opening gullwing doors was still jerky, and the fog machine was only pushing vapors out of one exhaust port.

"We've been working on the float for three weeks now," said Mr. Urig, a 40-year-old owner of a small excavating company. "Your fingers definitely get tired from ripping up tape."

That is because the faux DeLorean automobile that Mr. Urig helped build for this town's annual parade—along with a 12-foot-tall clock tower also from a scene in the film—was made mostly of duct tape.

In recent years, the tough adhesive, originally designed to waterproof munitions boxes during World War II, has been transformed from a trusty household repair tool to a geeky status symbol. Devotees craft everything from prom dresses to runway fashions to boutique items like wallets, purses and jewelry.

Scenes From a Duct-Tape Festival

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Festival attendees wait to hear results of the duct tape fashion show.

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Here in Avon, a town of almost 22,000 outside Cleveland that bills itself as "The Duct Tape Capital of the World," things go a bit further, with an annual three-day celebration of the stuff. At this year's 10th annual Avon Heritage Duct Tape Festival, there was a duct tape fashion show and duct tape sculptures of everything from giant Buddy Holly eyeglasses to a towering silver duct system. Thousands of visitors strutted their stuff in sticky homemade creations. The highlight was a parade with 19 floats vying for top prize.

"It's really an all-American product," said Bill Kahl, executive vice president of marketing at ShurTech Brands, the locally based maker of Duck Brand duct tape and one of the largest employers in town. "Kind of like bluejeans."

ShurTech, whose Duck Tape Facebook page has 5.3 million fans, provided each parade participant with 60 rolls—or roughly 600 yards—of tape to fashion floats for the festival.

For Mr. Urig, that wasn't nearly enough. "We had to scrounge every store in town," he said. "I called my sister who lives a half-hour west of here. She picked up 20 more rolls for us."

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DUCT TAPE

By Saturday morning, the Avon High School parking lot was crowded with floats that more or less conformed to the parade's theme, Decades of Duct Tape. There was a World War II tank, a multicolored VW Bug and a Landspeeder, the antigravity craft featured in Star Wars.

"It was a madhouse trying to get ready this year," said Pat Klingshirn, head adviser of a local 4-H Club who oversaw the building of a large Sherman tank in her garage.

Dressed in camouflage duct tape, Ms. Klingshirn's grandson, 15, stood on a milk carton inside the tank and peered out the hatch. "You just never know how long this tank is going to stay on the trailer," she said. "I told him, 'Just hold on, Tristan, hold on!'"

The 4-H club has won prizes for its parade floats two years in a row. "We knew that there were a lot of good ones this year," said Ms. Klingshirn.

The last four floats Mr. Urig has built—and entered on behalf of his company—won prizes. This year, he and his wife and two young sons worked with other families on a float for their local chapter of Native Sons and Daughters, a national program that encourages bonding between parents and children.

"Everything is trial and error," said Dave Horwedel, the group's leader. "You just bolt things down and hope it doesn't fall apart on the way."

Excited crowds thronged the parade route, waving as floats passed. Thanks to a thick coat of Vaseline and a second fog machine, the DeLorean's doors flapped flawlessly (until the right gullwing broke) and fog billowed evenly from both sides of the car.

The Sherman tank—and Ms. Klingshirn's grandson—also remained intact. "When he popped up a lot of people cheered," she said.

Over on the festival's main stage, professional models stalked down a runway in elaborate duct tape dresses, including an asymmetrical red and black number that took first prize in a "Project Runway" contest this year.

Afterward, children and teens from around the country—and as far away as Canada—showed off their duct tape wear in front of judges who evaluated them on workmanship, originality and creative use of tape.

"It's all duct tape except for a vinyl tablecloth underneath," said Macy Trout, a 10-year-old New Jersey native whose outfit won first place. Dressed as a diner waitress, she wheeled across stage on roller skates carrying a tray full of duct tape burger and fries.

In keeping with the retro theme, art students from the University of Cincinnati displayed giant duct tape sculptures, including a pair of Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots, a View-Master toy, and a 12-foot-tall Optimus Prime, leader of the Transformers.

"The biggest challenge we faced was getting the tape to stick to the form," said Tyler Hamilton, a recent graduate of UC's College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning, and architect of the View-Master. "The internal structure was made of wood, which got dusty in the studio. I overlapped it a lot, and the tape got strength from sticking to other tape."

In the crafting tent, families sat fashioning knickknacks out of duct tape, while more seasoned artisans hawked their duct-tape wares next door.

Robert Stringham, who was dressed in a duct tape apron, pointed to his brother, who wore a plaid duct tape vest, with matching bow-tie and fedora. "I'm trying to outdo him," he said.

By midafternoon when festival planners announced the winning float—the DeLorean—none of its architects were around to see it take first place. Mr. Urig and the rest of the group had volunteered for cleanup crew, and were busy picking duct tape detritus from the trampled grass.

"Most of the fun is in the building," said Mr. Urig. "I guess we could have a nice little campfire with the DeLorean now if we wanted to."