After Ellen DeGeneres aired pictures of the Lions Club of Kitchener’s lion float during her show, a campaign was started by a group of fans in the Kitchener-Waterloo area to invite the daytime talk show host to be the 2010 Oktoberfest parade marshal. They also launched a Facebook group, which now has nearly 32,000 fans. However, despite a positive response from the marketing department at Warner Brothers, which distributes DeGeneres’ show, Melissa Little Padgitt, the show’s publicist, confirmed Ellen won’t be available for the parade. “The show will be in production at that time so unfortunately Ellen will not be able to attend,” Padgitt wrote in an e-mail to Waterloo Region Record. “She physically won’t be here. But that can’t be the end,” said Linda Zavarella, the creator of the Facebook group. “Whether she mentions us on the show, [or] tapes a greeting to send to us… There are no negatives here.” Zavarella said she’s talking with the show’s reps to see if Ellen will do a live virtual appearance for the keg tapping that launches the festival.