halloween

A woman holding a hand-painted pumpkin

Along busy U.S. 33 in Mercer County, traffic often slows or even stops when drivers catch a glimpse of Karen Elshoff’s roadside stand.

After she read that story, she rounded up all the gourds and pumpkins she could get her hands on and painted them, just for fun. One year, she decided to take a load to a craft show in nearby Fort Recovery and, to her surprise and delight, she sold every single one.

Rae Hruby and family

Never let it be said that Rae Hruby let a holiday pass without cooking something specific to the occasion.

“I’ve just always done my themed foods,” says Hruby, who lives in Grafton, where she and her husband, Paul, are members of Wellington-based Lorain-Medina Rural Electric Cooperative. “I took four years of foods classes in high school, and I’ve always enjoyed doing creative things with food.”