FARMINGTON -- Chester Greenwood Day, Farmington's distinctive claim to fame, is not just for local earmuff aficionados.

The local display of ear coverings -- from big and fluffy to comic to fashionable -- can be inventive and quirky, and organizers say this year they hope to expand the Dec. 1 event.

"This is an invitation to people from other areas to come and join in the fun," said Lorna Nichols, the executive director of the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce, which hosts the parade and several other events.

"There is a lot of interest in Chester Greenwood Day. I get calls all the time from people who want to know about Chester and whether he really invented the earmuff," she said. "This year, I even got a call from someone in England. People think it is quirky."

"Last year was the biggest and longest parade in memory," Nichols said. "We hope to top that this year."

Parades need music and Nichols is putting out a call for marching bands or any musical group that can walk the parade route or play music on a float.

Greenwood, a prolific inventor, successful businessman and community leader, was born in Farmington in 1858. At the age of 15, he put together some bits of wire, fur and wool and asked his grandmother to sew them in place because he got tired of having cold ears in the winter.

The invention was the precursor of Greenwood's patented "ear mufflers."

By the 1930s, they were being sold as Champion Ear Protectors and kept several hundred local people employed at his factory on Front Street and by doing piecework at home.

A new event this year is a gingerbread house contest, open to adults and children.

For the parade, floats with an earmuff theme will line up at 10 a.m. in the Mallett School parking lot on Middle Street. Judging will be at 10:30.

The parade begins at 11 a.m. and cash prizes will be awarded to the top three winners. A chili contest follows with Chamber Bucks awarded to the top three winners and a traveling trophy will have the winner's name engraved on a brass plate.

Other events of the day are the Farmington Rotary Club's annual Festival of Trees at the Granary Restaurant on Pleasant Street, craft fairs, and store sales. Details can be found on the Chamber's Web site: www.franklincountymaine.org or by calling 778-4215.