The number of vendors was up. The carnival sales were up. The crowds were definitely up from previous years and Superman Celebration organizer Karla Ogle describes this year's celebration as, "Super, ultra fantastic." …

She said that from her observation of the event, I was the biggest crowd ever. "It was a huge success."

According to Ogle, the visitors from out of town always compliment Metropolis on the friendliness of the people and the celebration because there is so much to see and do.

Each year the Superman Celebration committee chooses the celebrity line-up. This year the celebrities were Michael Rosenbaum, from Smallville; Noel Neill, from Adventures of Superman; Stephen Bender, the young Clark Kent in the new Superman Returns movie; and comic book writer and novelist Mary Wolfman.

Rosenbaum and Bender both had to leave town on Saturday afternoon. As they were signing autographs during the afternoon session, it became obvious that they would not be able to get everyone through the line.

According to Ogle, about 45 minutes prior to their departure, Rosenbaum offered to go through the line and sign items. Bender agreed to do the same.

Ogle said that they went through the line and quickly signed as many items as they could and that they got through the line of people before they left.

"To me that shows a true star, right there," said Ogle, noting that Rosenbaum and all the celebrities want to come back to Metropolis. …

Ogle estimates that the celebration may have drawn close to 60,000 people this year.