The Natural Resources Park at the southeast corner of the Ohio Exposition Center (also known as the state fairgrounds) is an 8-acre oasis in what is otherwise a vast sea of concrete.
Smokey, of course, is best known as the star of the longest-running public service announcement campaign in American history, cautioning people since 1947 on behalf of the U.S. Forest Service to “remember ... only YOU can prevent forest fires.”
That’s why it’s appropriate that standing behind the giant Smokey at the state fairgrounds is a second icon of Ohio forest management history: the 60-foot Armintrout Fire Tower.