Features

“As soon as they know who wins, they are making these balls and they are shipping them out,” says Lindsay Hollar, director of the Ada Area Chamber of Commerce. “The guys just want to get their hands on them.” Hollar doesn’t work for Wilson, but like lots of people in and around town, she speaks with a sort of proprietary pride about the local treasure that is the Wilson football. 

It’s from here that WVNU, a tiny 2,300-watt radio station known as Lite 97.5, has been broadcasting adult contemporary hits from the second floor of a downtown office building for the last 30 years. 

“There’s a lot of hope involved in taking a landscape and turning it into a national park,” says Jennie Vasarhelyi, chief of interpretation, education, and visitor services at Cuyahoga Valley National Park, which marks its anniversaries with a series of events and celebrations over the coming year.

The murals are more than just public art; they’re a symbol of resilience. Once a bustling center for steel and shoe manufacturing, Portsmouth saw its fortunes plummet with the collapse of those industries. The floodwall, built after a 1937 flood that devastated the city, stood for decades as a bleak reminder of what was lost. 

“Wheeling Gaunt was a person of faith and a very resilient man who did not let adversity beat him down; he used it as a motivation to achieve,” says Brenda Hubbard Ibarra, Jack and Pat’s daughter. Although she had been born and raised in Yellow Springs, Ibarra was unaware of Gaunt’s story until her mother started getting those gifts. Inspired, she immersed herself in researching that history, and in 2021, she self-published Legacy of Grace: Musings on the Life and Times of Wheeling Gaunt.

Like the Christmas celebration itself, hanging mistletoe in your house is rooted in ancient tradition. But before we get to that, it’s worth noting that mistletoe has no real roots — it’s a parasite, making its way in life by living off of rooted trees. “Mistletoe makes its own sugar, but poaches water from trees,” says Savannah Ballweg, who manages the Miami University botanical conservatory in Oxford.

According to Ballweg, Ohio is home to one species of mistletoe: American mistletoe, also known as oak mistletoe, found mostly in the southern part of the state.

New Year’s Eve Donut Drop, Lakeside

Anyone who has ever spent a summer day experiencing the Lakeside Chautauqua community on the shores of Lake Erie knows that residents and visitors alike relish the Patio Restaurant’s homemade donuts. Those famous cake donuts inspired a new tradition in 2022: dropping an inflatable plastic donut decorated with multi-colored “sprinkles” from Lakeside’s waterfront Pavilion. A DJ plays dance music during this only-in-Lakeside event, which of course serves Patio donuts plus hot chocolate for toasting the new year.

The Whigs picked Harrison and Virginia Sen. John Tyler to top their 1840 ticket. Their campaign slogan — “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too!” — reminded voters that the Ohioan had defeated Tecumseh at the Battle of Tippecanoe.

You might have seen a service flag: a blue star (or stars) on a field of white, surrounded by a red border — hanging in the picture window of a seemingly random home in the neighborhood or in a shop window of a downtown building. But many folks might be unaware, or at least unsure, of its significance.

Barb Barbee Jewelry, Delaware

At her home studio in Delaware, Worthington Craft Guild member Barb Barbee fashions jewelry using 14-karat gold-filled wire, sterling silver, freshwater pearls, and precious and semi-precious stones. Her holiday line has Christmas tree-shaped green malachite pendants; mother-of-pearl snowman earrings; and stunning Christmas spiders that channel an East European folktale.