diff --git a/lib/Lacuna.pm b/lib/Lacuna.pm
index bf16698f..227e9088 100644
--- a/lib/Lacuna.pm
+++ b/lib/Lacuna.pm
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ useall __PACKAGE__;
 our $VERSION = 2.2806;
 
 my $config = Config::JSON->new('/data/Lacuna-Server/etc/lacuna.conf');
-my $db = Lacuna::DB->connect($config->get('db/dsn'),$config->get('db/username'),$config->get('db/password'));
+my $db = Lacuna::DB->connect($config->get('db/dsn'),$config->get('db/username'),$config->get('db/password'), { mysql_enable_utf8 => 1});
 my $cache = Lacuna::Cache->new(servers => $config->get('memcached'));
 
 #use IO::File;