Safari is the Theme for Duct Tape Festival

Lions and tigers and duct tape! Oh, my!

Safari is the theme for this year's Avon Heritage Duct Tape Festival, which will be held , and at in neighboring Avon.

"We're going to have some really great stuff this year," said Patti Sack, assistant communications manager at ShurTech, the Avon company that makes Duck Brand duct tape.

Befitting a safari theme, this year's grand marshal is Outback Ray. He will also do a meet-and-greet at the festival, where visitors can see and maybe touch his animals.

There will also be carnival rides, food and games. The festival draws heavily not just from immediate communities, but from around the state and country.

Duct tape has become more than Dad's favorite fix-it. The Duck Brand Facebook page has more than 5 million fans. The videos on the Duck Brand YouTube page have had more than a million views.

Duck Brands sponsors an annual contest where people make prom outfits with duct tape. , 2011 Miss America Teresa Scanlan, loves doing crafts with duct tape.

And, with colors and patterns including zebra and leopard prints, NCAA sports team logos and Hello Kitty, making things with duct tape is a colorful pastime.

One of the most popular attractions at the festival remains the craft tent, where people can make their own duct tape items.

"Every year, it gets bigger and every year, it's full from when it opens to when it closes," Sack said.

Professional crafter Marisa Pawelko will be on hand to share project ideas and tips.

Chance Foreman, a Texas artist who has created duct tape portraits of people from Mother Theresa to Bob Dylan, will be creating a new work at the festival. Art students at Kent State University are currently working on a sculpture involving duct tape that will be exhibited.

The first 500 people in each day get a free roll of duct tape to get started on their own projects.

For more information, check out the Avon Heritage Duct Tape Festival website.