diff --git a/manifests/mysql.pp b/manifests/mysql.pp
index 60ff115..b05a7d9 100644
--- a/manifests/mysql.pp
+++ b/manifests/mysql.pp
@@ -32,5 +32,6 @@ class storyboard::mysql (
     password => $mysql_user_password,
     host     => 'localhost',
     grant    => ['all'],
+    charset  => 'utf8mb4',
   }
 }
diff --git a/templates/storyboard.conf.erb b/templates/storyboard.conf.erb
index f046ff4..813c539 100644
--- a/templates/storyboard.conf.erb
+++ b/templates/storyboard.conf.erb
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ max_age=<%= @cors_max_age %>
 # connection = mysql://root:pass@127.0.0.1:3306/storyboard
 # Replace 127.0.0.1 above with the IP address of the database used by the
 # main storyboard server. (Leave it as is if the database runs on this host.)
-connection=mysql+pymysql://<%= @mysql_user %>:<%= @mysql_user_password %>@<%=@mysql_host %>:<%= @mysql_port %>/<%= @mysql_database %>
+connection=mysql+pymysql://<%= @mysql_user %>:<%= @mysql_user_password %>@<%=@mysql_host %>:<%= @mysql_port %>/<%= @mysql_database %>?charset=utf8mb4
 
 # The SQLAlchemy connection string used to connect to the slave database
 # slave_connection =