Noel Spangler, man who designed the Summerfest smile, has died
By FOX6 News Digital Team
Published
Noel Spangler
MILWAUKEE - Noel Spangler, the man who designed Summerfest s iconic smile logo, has died. He was 97 years old.
Documents from the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner s Office indicate Spangler went to a Milwaukee hospital on Dec. 10 after an accidental fall. He suffered a fracture and later developed COVID-19 while in the hospital. Spangler died in hospice care on Dec. 29.
How did Spangler come up with the iconic Summerfest smile?
In a 2017 interview with FOX6 s Mary Stoker Smith, Spangler said he knew the festival planned for Milwaukee s lakefront needed a face. He was looking for something that would stick and stand out kind of like the way his wife, Jan, a former first-grade teacher graded papers.