Torrential rain can't spoil hot-diggety fun at Niles Hot Dog fest

Staff report

NILES

Even the occasional torrential rainfall could not deter an estimated 1,500 people from turning out for the third annual Harry Stevens Hot Dog Day – a tribute to the British-born Niles resident credited with naming his frankfurter concoction “hot dog” in 1901.

“We sold 1,800 last year, and we’re projecting 2,000,” said Barry Steffey, president of The Avenue and Main, the local citizens group that was selling small hot dogs for $1 each. “The crowd is here and it’s beautiful.”

Then came the downpour.

Steffey and his volunteers were not deterred. “We’re still doing well,” he said.

The Niles Pageant, in which girls age 5 to 17 vie for titles, had just begun when rains pelted the younger children, age 5-8, as they modeled their outfits before several hundred in front of the William McKinley National Memorial.

“Let’s get some umbrellas out there,” said MacKenzie Bart, reigning Miss Ohio 2014, who announced the pageant along with WFMJ-TV 21’s Matt Stone.

The children somehow managed to smile as they carried their umbrellas and continued to pose until the rainfall gave way to sunshine. Spectators under umbrellas cheered the girls as they battled the elements.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com.