SHEFFIELD, Iowa (AP) _ ″Ear Force One,″ a balloon likeness of Mickey Mouse, was grounded by high wind Saturday, but seven small Iowa towns still got a lift from the celebration of the 60th birthday of Walt Disney’s famous cartoon character.
An estimated 15,000 people filled this north-central Iowa community of 1,200 for a parade, fireworks and birthday party that doubled as a pep rally for Sheffield and six neighboring towns depressed by the farm crisis of the 1980s and the drought of 1988.
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Disney spokeswoman Mimi Schaff said the company normally celebrates milestone birthdays of cartoon characters at Disneyland at Anaheim, Calif., Disneyworld at Orlando, Fla., or in some major U.S. city.
But the fair in Sheffield is the first time Disney has taken its party to a rural area, she said.
The celebration was part of the unveiling of ″Kernel″ Mickey Mouse, a huge likeness planted in a 520-acre farm field northeast of Sheffield, about 90 miles north of Des Moines.
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