Manufacturers throughout the state open their doors to the public, offering tours to demonstrate how they produce everything from modern vehicles to old-school items and providing prime examples of the Buckeye work ethic.
Plan ahead: Since production schedules can affect factory tour availability, always call to confirm dates and times.
Beginning Labor Day weekend, the woods at Renaissance Park become enchanted as the clock turns back to 16th-century England. Step into the village of Willy Nilly-on-the-Wash, where history blends with fantasy in a joyous mix as strolling minstrels, swashbuckling pirates, fair maidens, kilt-clad gents, and more beckon, “Come play.”
You descend from a long line of walkers. Walking was a way of life for virtually all of your ancestors. Other forms of conveyance, from bicycles to jet propulsion, are, in the scheme of things, quite new to us.
This primal form of getting from one place to another is an elixir: it burns some calories, improves your heart’s health — and takes the wrinkle out of your brow.
Attractions across Ohio host dining events throughout the year that feature more than just food — the guests of honor include historic figures (actors, impersonators, or simply historians with a flair for the dramatic, most with Ohio ties) and make for enriching experiences that combine a dash of education with a huge helping of dinner theater.
Twenty years ago this fall, Rick Wilson was driving along a Virginia highway when he spotted a woman standing beside a car with the trunk open. “From the way she was dressed and by the appearance of the car, it looked like she was not doing too well financially,” Wilson says. “When I stopped and asked if her car was broken down, she said, ‘No, but could you please help me load a deer into the trunk?’”
Location: Northern Ashtabula County between Lake Erie and Interstate 90.
Provenance: Roy and Debbie Brant established the orchard in the early 1980s, and built a barn that houses an on-site bakery and farm market. In 2014, they sold the 79-acre property to current owners Brian and Jenn Diehl, who operate Brant’s Apple Orchard with help from their two teenage sons as well as orchard manager Brian Morris and farm market/bakery manager Shelly Damon.
Imagine being 13 years old and going home every day for the next six years — to jail.
Nelson Smith, chairman of the board of The Energy Cooperative in Newark, called the Licking County Jail home for nearly the entire span of his teenage years, but not because he had committed any crimes. Smith moved into the Licking County Jail when his mother was hired in the early 1960s to be the head cook and jail matron, the person in charge of the female prisoners.
Just as Paul Bunyan cuts an enormous figure in American folklore, the Paul Bunyan Show has carved out a huge reputation as one of the nation’s oldest and largest logging and sawmill equipment expos. Started in 1957, the Ohio Forestry Association event takes place at the Guernsey County Fairgrounds and boasts some 130 exhibitors who feature everything from lumber products and services to chainsaw sculptures and power tools.
