Lorain County Independence Day Festivities- 2013

Independence Day is coming up fast and I'm sure many are trying to plan how to spend your holiday. Which leads to the ultimate question of what is going on in the area for you and your family to enjoy? Hopefully the following will give you some great ideas for family fun!

July 3rd

• The Avon Lake Fireworks will be at dusk at Weiss Field (33401 Webber Rd, Avon Lake, Ohio 44012)

• The Oberlin Fireworks will be at dusk at the Hamilton Recreation Complex (225 West Hamilton Road, Oberlin, Ohio 44074)

• In downtown Wellington there will be an ice cream social at 6 pm, a performance by The Patriots Community Band at 7 pm on the steps of the Town Hall, and fireworks at dusk at the Lorain County Fairgrounds. As a Wellington native, I recommend bringing a blanket and watching the fireworks from the top of the above ground reservoir. The fireworks reflection in the water really adds to the show!

• The Lorain Port Fest kicks of at 5 pm at the Black River Landing (421 Black River Lane, Lorain, Ohio 44052). Fireworks are at 10 pm. You can even go on a fireworks cruise! Tickets are $20. Click here for a full schedule of events.
  
  
  

• What better way to celebrate America's independence than by watching America's favorite past time? The Lake Erie Crushers are playing with a special pre/post game concert. More details here. 

• North Ridgeville will be having their annual Party in the Park. Family friendly activities will start at 7 pm and continue until the fireworks at dusk. 

July 4th

• The Grafton Fireworks will be at dusk in Willow Park off of Grafton Road

• Cedar Point will be lighting off fireworks at 10:30 pm in addition to the rest of their 4th of July celebration

• The Lake Erie Crushers will be playing another game (7:05 pm), which will end with a fantastic fireworks show. 

• The 94th Annual Rochester 4th of July celebration will be at the Eagle Street Park and Fire Station. This event has a ton of fun things going on, including a parade at 10:30 am and fireworks at dusk. Check out the complete schedule. 

• Wellington's celebration continues on Thursday with a parade at 3 pm and many other games and events throughout the day. 

Feel free to check out our calendar of events for more fun things happening in Lorain County. Have a wonderful holiday!

~Melody

P.S. If you know of any events in the county that aren't mentioned, please let us know in the comment section!

More Historical Adventures: Underground Railroad Part Two

I know you've all been on the edge of your seat waiting for my first hand account of the Lorain/Sheffield Village portion of the "On the Trail to Freedom"Underground Railroad tour! Never fear my friends,  the wait is over, and I'm back to tell you all about my afternoon checking out these historical sites.

Our first stop of the day was the Burrell Homestead. This house was built around 1820, and for a while it was actually used by the Oberlin Collegiate Institute. Later it became a station on the Underground Railroad.


                                                 I can only imagine how many lives were changed forever because of this house and others that became stops for people escaping to their freedom. If these walls could talk I'm sure we'd hear some truly shocking stories about the people that lived through such an ugly patch of history.


Not only is the Burrell Homestead hugely historically significant, it's on a beautiful property just a few minutes away from French Creek Reservation to balance your day of history with some general fun outdoors. Kaitlin and I certainly couldn't resist the trees in front of the house.

 I mean, how could we? They were just begging to be climbed! Would you expect anything different from a couple of interns spending the day outside?

After we thoroughly explored the area outside the house (we weren't able to go inside, but there are tours available for you to plan your visit around! Keep an eye on our calendar of events for the next one.) Next, we hit the road to make our way to our final stop, Station 100.

Being near a place as busy as Lake Erie, it's no surprise that even our commute was an adventure in itself. We were going down the road when all of a sudden traffic stopped just before the bridge. I knew the bridge was often lifted to let tall boats pass through, but I'd never actually seen it myself. It was really interesting! If you look to the left of the bridge, you can see the top of the sailboat that's heading for open water.

After the boat passed us, we were once again en route to the beautiful Station 100 monument at Black River Landing in Lorain. 

Station 100, — the last stop to freedom — is said to be the area near the mouth of the Black River and the shores of Lake Erie. This is where slaves would finally escape the United States into Canada.





After being at the monument for a little while, we caught a glimpse of something near by. Much to our excitement, we had stumbled upon one of the stops on the Follow the Fish Art and Adventure Trail! The goal of the project is to connect public art to local businesses and guide people to some of the really cool places and events in Lorain County. They come in a variety of sizes, and this one is huge! I could probably crawl up in it if I wanted to (though I'm not recommending that, it is a piece of art). Be sure to keep an eye out on your visit for the other fish!

Recognize that sail boat? I think it's the same one we saw pass under the bridge!

Kaitlin and I ended our day with a pit stop at K-Cream Korner on our way to Lakeview Beach. It was too nice of a day not to stop and small the roses, literally, at the rose garden. It was so tempting to go wade in that beautiful blue water, but we did have to get back to the office. I guess that's an experience for another day!

~Melody

Historical Adventures: Underground Railroad Part One

For our second adventure Melody and I decided to travel along Lorain County’s Underground Railroad Tour. We left early on a Wednesday morning, equipped with Visit Lorain County's On the Trail to Freedom guide, in search of information and new sights. We chose a beautiful day for exploring, it was one of the first sunny days in a few days. Due to unexpected construction, the drive included some creative turns while trying to get to our first location.

The Underground Railroad marker

We started in Oberlin at the Underground Railroad Marker; Garden and First Church. We learned that First Church was the meeting site of the Oberlin Anti-Slavery Society.  From First Church we walked through Tappan Square, which seemed strangely empty, yet peaceful, since Oberlin College is on summer break. Our next stop was the Underground Railroad Sculpture located across from Oberlin College Conservatory of Music. The healing garden, located near the sculpture, contains plants that represent those that were used by slaves on the road to freedom. It was a very pretty setting, I couldn't help but wish my residence hall at school had such an interesting sculpture in front of it.

Oberlin Heritage Center

Melody and I were told that the Oberlin Heritage Center was the place to go for authentic experiences and celebrate the past, so that was our next stop. There we talked to another Leadership Lorain County intern, Michelle, who showed us a map of the Underground Railroad, and a few other interesting pieces of history located at the Heritage Center. I asked about "hidey-holes" or hidden rooms and they told us that the Bardwell House had one but unfortunately isn't open to the public. We drove by it on our way back to the visitors center. It looked like a perfectly normal house to me. It would be pretty cool to be the person living in that house now!

Scanning the QR code

From the Oberlin Heritage Center we made our way to the Westwood Cemetery located on Morgan Street.  Once we arrived at the cemetery we walked to the back corner where the majority of the graves are located. Melody scanned the QR code in our handy On the Trail to Freedom guide to help us find the graves. You could also download the trail here. Since I grew up in Oberlin, many of the names I saw walking through the cemetery seemed familiar to me. Quite a few buildings in Oberlin are named after people who are buried in Westwood. We managed to find quite a few graves. It was amazing to see how many remarkable people lived in the same town as me and to learn about their active role in history.

After all that adventure we decided it was time for a cool treat! Cowhaus Creamery is a fantastic artisan hand-spun ice cream shop on East College Street. With such a great vibe and service the ice cream was definitely worth our side trip! Melody sampled a few flavors before deciding on a seasonal cherry sorbet. I stuck with my favorite, strawberry. We paused a moment while enjoying our ice cream to admire the cute cow decor!

We weren't able to fit the entire tour into one day so stay tuned for part two!

~Kaitlin

P.S. If you find your adventure is too much for one day...check out our lodging info at www.visitloraincounty.com

The Funductors First Adventure: Common Ground Center

Wow, this internship definitely had an exciting start to it! Our orientation was at Common Ground- The Cindy Nord Center for Renewal in Oberlin. I had never been to Common Ground before, so I had no idea what to expect when I pulled in the parking lot. My only clue was the email I got saying to wear comfortable shoes, so I at least knew it wouldn't be a typical day in the office. After a few minutes inside meeting the other people in the Leadership Lorain County Internship Program and getting some paperwork out of the way, we were headed outside to the gorgeous 21-acre grounds to see what was planned for us the rest of the day.

The first activity on the agenda was a game to teach us how to plan and work together as a team to accomplish a task. We had to hold the funnels you see above (with our pinkys always touching each other) and use every one to get a golf ball into a bucket. You can see Kaitlin third from the end on the left side working together with the rest of the team.

Next we were in the woods with a whole new goal. We had to pass all the interns (there are about 30 of us) from one place to another, the only catch that there was a "sleeping spider" and we couldn't just walk. We had to climb across in a net, which as you can see, was pretty far off the ground. We had to pick each other up into the net, make our way across, and help each other down on the other side. Above is Kaitlin being lifted up, and below you see me (Melody) making my way to the other side. 

It was a little scary getting lifted up, but knowing I had people spotting me ready to catch me if I fall and hearing their encouragement made it a lot of fun. 

We played a few other games that day, but this next one was definitely my favorite. Can you guess what we were doing by the picture? 

What you can't see is the two diverging tightropes we were walking on. The further we moved along the wider the distance got, and the more we had to lean on each other to keep from falling. It was really fun to push ourselves to trust people we had just met to make it as far as possible on the ropes. Two boys in our group made it to the end, being almost parallel to the ground! And you can see again the spotters we had to take away some of the nervousness and focus on how much fun it was. 

Kaitlin and I had a blast at Common Ground, and I would spend another day there in a heartbeat. I would absolutely recommend signing up for any of their day camps for kids or their adult programs. If we had such a great time in one afternoon I can only imagine what a full week would be like!

~Melody

*All photos were taken by Leadership Lorain County

Meet our Summer Funductors!

Melody and Kaitlin heading out for another adventure.

Meet the 2013 Visit Lorain County Summer Funductors (aka "Interns"), Melody Reams (pictured left above) and Kaitlin Jackson. Melody and Kaitlin are part of the Leadership Lorain County internship program. Melody is currently attending Ohio State University majoring in Marketing. She is a graduate of Wellington High School and resides in Wellington. Kaitlin is a student at Ohio University who is majoring in Commercial Photography and Middle Childhood Education. She is a graduate of Firelands High School and resides in Oberlin.

Melody and Kaitlin will be exploring all the nooks and crannies for summer fun in Lorain County this summer and blogging about their experiences. Keep an eye on the blog. You never know what they might find and share!