STRUTHERS Not yet 2 years old, twins take 1st prize

Visitors see double everywhere they look, according to one festival organizer.
By MARALINE KUBIK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
STRUTHERS -- Andrew and Aaron McCullough may have had a rough start.
Born three months premature, they spent their first two months in the hospital attached to ventilators.
Now, not quite 2 years old, they are strutting their stuff as first-place winners.
The toddlers were voted most-alike twin boys in the 1-to-2-year-old division at the annual Twins Days Festival in Twinsburg last weekend.
The festival attracts about 3,000 sets of multiples each year, and about 50 sets of twins competed with Andrew and Aaron for the most-alike title, said Karin McCullough, the boys' mom.
This is the first year Andrew and Aaron were able to attend the festival. Last year, they were both still too fragile.
Andrew still uses a feeding tube at night, McCullough said, but neither child is expected to suffer any long-term effects from the premature births.
Although they are still too young to have taken note of the other twins at the festival -- or the triplets, quads and other multiples -- or take a keen interest in some of the activities, McCullough said she expects their interest will grow as they get older. She is already making plans to attend next year's festival.
What happens
Twins Days, the world's largest annual gathering of twins, takes place each year during the first full weekend in August. The festival began in 1976 with 37 sets of twins in attendance.
This year, more than 3,000 sets of multiples from as far away as Europe, Australia and Japan attended, said Sandy Miller, office manager for the Twins Days Festival.
In addition to contests and entertainment, the festival features researchers studying multiples, a double-take parade, and networking opportunities for multiples and their parents.
Multiples ranged from a few days old to the 80s.
"It was an extreme success," Miller said. "You see double everywhere you go."
The event is open to both identical and fraternal multiples with or without their siblings.
For more information, log on to www.twinsdays.org.
kubik@vindy.com