OHIO
JUNE 2021
COOPERATIVE Firelands Electric Cooperative
Life’s a beach! (and you don’t even have to leave the state)
ALSO INSIDE EV road trip Up, up, and away All-American art
HERE’S A VALUE YOU KNEAD TO KNOW: LOAF OF BREAD
1936......................................................................... $0.08 2020 ........................................................................ $2.19 PRICE INCREASE : $2.11
ELECTRICITY per kWh
1936......................................................................... $0.05 2020 ......................................................................... $0.11 PRICE INCREASE : $0.06 We know you like your bread fresh and your electricity affordable. For more than 80 years, we’ve helped keep it a stable value.
ohioec.org/energy
OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING • JUNE 2021
INSIDE FEATURES
26 BEACH BUCKET LIST Ohio’s Great Lake offers outstanding spots for swimming, sunbathing, and plenty more.
32 UP, UP, AND AWAY Commercial balloon pilots share their passion for the open sky.
36 ALL AMERICAN Louis Zona knows the score at Youngstown’s Butler Institute — the first museum built solely for works by American artists. Cover image on most editions: Ohioans don’t have to leave the state to find sandcastle-worthy beaches (wundervisuals/ via Getty Images).
JUNE 2021 • OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING 1
UP FRONT
Plugged in to driving R
eady or not, we are quickly moving into a new era of plug-in electric vehicles (EVs). EVs first hit the U.S. market in 2010; today there are more than 1.5 million of them on U.S. roads, and that number is expected to keep growing, with millions more plug-in vehicles put in service in the next five years. The attraction of EVs include clean, quiet, high-performance operation, coupled with lower operating costs. EVs also offer the potential for major reductions in emissions from autos and trucks over the coming decades. Like any new technology, there are still some wrinkles to iron out. The largest obstacle is probably a driver’s “range anxiety”: the fear that the car’s battery charge will deplete itself before the car makes it to the next charging station — if there is a next charging station — thus leaving motorists stranded (on a desolate road or highway, of course). Ohio Cooperative Living Managing Editor Jeff McCallister recently put the rubber to the road on a journey from Columbus to Nashville in a Tesla Model S. Check out the story on page 4 to see how Jeff and his family dealt with range anxiety, located charging stations, and experienced the pros and cons of an all-electric excursion. The good news is that charging station availability is growing fast. Many organizations, including electric cooperatives, have begun adding significantly to the public charging network. Currently, there are about 42,000 public charging stations in the U.S., though as you might expect, nearly a third are in California, where more than 10 times more EVs were sold between 2016 and 2018 than in any other state. Expect to see more chargers sprouting up across Ohio in the next couple of years as more businesses and private individuals move to EVs — including pickup trucks, which are just entering the market. Whatever your mode of transportation, as you’ll see in this issue, the Buckeye State has it all — from beaches to balloons to all-American sports art. Hope you’re able to get out and enjoy Ohio this summer!
2 OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING • JUNE 2021
Pat O’Loughlin PRESIDENT & CEO OHIO’S ELECTRIC COOPERATIVES
Many organizations, including electric cooperatives, have begun adding significantly to the public charging network.
JUNE 2021 • Volume 63, No. 9
Ohio Rural Electric Cooperatives 6677 Busch Blvd. Columbus, OH 43229 614-846-5757 www.ohiocoopliving.com
4 DEPARTMENTS
Patrick O’Loughlin President & CEO Patrick Higgins Director of Communications Jeff McCallister Managing Editor Rebecca Seum Associate Editor Anita Cook Graphic Designer Contributors: Colleen Romick Clark, Getty Images, W.H. “Chip” Gross, Catherine Murray, Jamie Rhein, and Damaine Vonada. OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING (USPS 134-760; ISSN 2572-049X) is published monthly by Ohio Rural Electric Cooperatives, Inc. It is the official communication link between the electric cooperatives in Ohio and West Virginia and their members. Subscription cost for members ranges from $5.52 to $6.96 per year, paid from equity accruing to the member. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to editorial and advertising offices at: 6677 Busch Boulevard, Columbus, OH 43229-1101. Periodicals postage paid at Pontiac, IL 61764, and at additional mailing offices. Nothing in this publication may be reproduced in any manner without written permission from Ohio Rural Electric Cooperatives, Inc. All rights reserved. The fact that a product is advertised in Ohio Cooperative Living should not be taken as an endorsement. If you find an advertisement misleading or a product unsatisfactory, please notify us or the Ohio Attorney General’s Offi ce, Consumer Protection Section, 30 E. Broad St., Columbus, OH 43215. Periodicals postage paid at Columbus, OH, and at additional mailing offices.
4
POWER LINES
EV road trip: Think an electric vehicle means you have to stick close to home? We put that to the test.
8
8
CO-OP SPOTLIGHT
Scholarship winners: Ohio’s Electric Cooperatives awarded over $40,000 in its annual Children of Members Scholarship competition.
10 WOODS, WATERS, AND WILDLIFE
Something fishy: Ohio boasts a few connections to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s anniversary celebration.
10
12 CO-OP PEOPLE
Wooly Pig Farm: Get acquainted with Bavarian-style beers and an Old World breed in Coshocton County.
12
17 GOOD EATS
No-bake nibbles: It’s summer! Who wants to turn on the oven just so you can enjoy a little dessert?
For all advertising inquiries, contact
21 LOCAL PAGES News and information from your
Cheryl Solomon American MainStreet Publications 847-749-4875 | cheryl@amp.coop
electric cooperative.
Cooperative members: Please report changes of address to your electric cooperative. Ohio Cooperative Living staff cannot process address changes. Alliance for Audited Media Member Ohio’s Electric Cooperatives is an equal opportunity provider and employer.
17
41 CALENDAR
What’s happening: June/July events and other things to do around Ohio.
44 MEMBER INTERACTIVE Ohio landscapes: The state is
rife with photographic splendor for members to capture.
44
Visit Ohio Cooperative Living magazine online at www.ohiocoopliving.com! Read past issues and watch videos about our articles or our recipes. Our site features an expanded Member Interactive area where you can share your stories, recipes, and photos and find content submitted by other co-op members across the state. JUNE 2021 • OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING 3
POWER LINES
EV ROAD TRIP Think an electric vehicle means you have to stick close to home? We put that to the test. BY JEFF McCALLISTER
I
n 2010, the first year that plug-in electric vehicles were commercially available, 300 were sold. The following year, that number climbed to almost 18,000, and by 2019, plug-in EV sales totaled 327,000 — about 2% of light-duty automobile sales that year. There’s no question that electric vehicles’ popularity is on the rise. As drivers realize the advantages they present compared with gas-powered cars, and as those benefits become even more pronounced because of improving technology, it’s likely we’re going to see more and more of them on the road. Electric cooperatives across the nation are preparing for the increased EV market share — especially as automakers begin rolling out electric pickup trucks and medium SUV models that are more popular with rural drivers. Several Ohio co-ops have installed chargers at their offices, some offer rebates on home charging equipment, and all include calculators on their websites that help their members determine the potential savings if they switch to EVs from their current combustion model. Ohio Cooperative Living’s staff decided to put an EV to the test: How close are EVs to being able to fully replace internal combustion cars when it comes to family use?
4 OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING • JUNE 2021
Newer EV models have an average full-charge range of more than 200 miles, so they’re more than capable of daily, in-town use for the average American driver — even in rural areas, the average U.S. driver travels only about 35 to 50 miles per day. But what about those nonaverage days? I figured the real test would be an old-fashioned family road trip. Could an EV carry us to an out-of-state adventure? Eager to find out, I rented a 2018 Tesla Model S through the Turo car-sharing website and coaxed my wife and kids into a 400-mile, long-weekend trip to Nashville. The first thing to report is that the Tesla is extremely fun to drive. The Model S can accelerate from 10 mph to well over the speed limit in the span of about half of a freeway entrance ramp (don’t ask how I know that). The Model S also had plenty of room for two adults, two teenagers, and our luggage for the weekend. The second thing to report is that “range anxiety” is a real thing. The Tesla folks profess that the 2018 Model S gets between 270 and 320 miles on a full charge. Between the car’s internal mapping software and various apps that find chargers along a route, it’s relatively simple to plan stops between Columbus and Nashville that are easily within that range — even adding what I thought was a good bit of wiggle room — to make the trip without even thinking about running out of juice. You know how automobile ads always include “your mileage may vary” in small print? As it turns out, an EV’s mileage can vary quite a bit. We learned over the course of the long weekend that cruising at highway speeds (therefore not engaging the regenerative braking that helps prolong a charge), carrying a heavier load (I had two teenagers in the back seat), running the heater at full blast to cut the February freeze — not to mention using the rear heated seats, of which my kids were big fans — all takes a lot out of that projected mileage. Of course, I don’t blame the EV entirely for my range anxiety; I probably should have made sure I knew the extent of that variance before I set out on the trip and then adjusted my stop schedule accordingly. But that’s just it: When you’re driving an internal combustion car and realize you’re getting low on gas, there’s almost always a filling station around the next bend. For now, at least, charging stations are still fewer and farther between, so you can’t just say, “Oh, we’ll get the next one.” Beyond that, each charging stop requires a longer time investment than filling up a gas tank. The two charging stops we made between Columbus and Nashville and three stops on the
Road trip by the numbers The last time I drove my family to Nashville, we took a gas-powered Ford Fusion, similar in size to the Tesla. How do the two vehicles compare?
Cost for fill-up Tesla: Typically about $0.18–$0.25/kWh at a supercharger, closer to $0.13 on a home charger at regular utility rates. With a capacity of about 75 kWh, a full charge from completely empty would cost about $18.75 at a supercharger or $9.75 at a home charger.
Fusion: The national average gasoline price in February was $2.59 per gallon, so filling a Fusion’s 16.5-gallon tank from empty would have cost about $42.
Time for fill-up Tesla: Tesla recommends only charging the battery to about 80% (about 25–35 minutes) in order to optimize both charging time and battery life. Our charging times on this trip were between 35 and 65 minutes.
Fusion: Fill-ups take only about 4 minutes.
Totals for the road trip Tesla: Including topping off at a supercharger in Nashville before the trip home and a final charge before turning in the Tesla, we charged for a little more than five hours for just under 900 total miles, for around $75 (during more optimal conditions when the car’s range estimates are closer to actual performance, that figure could have been cut nearly in half).
Fusion: The Fusion gets about 30 miles per gallon combined city/highway, so we would need three stops for gas — about $120 and about 10 minutes total.
JUNE 2021 • OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING 5
terrain pushed the battery to its limit. That last stretch took nearly the entire charge. Driving around Nashville to do our touristy things was easy and fun — and all within about 25 miles, so we didn’t have to even think about the battery, which we charged on the hotel’s EV charger. For the trip home, though (having learned my lesson), I allowed even more leeway in the car’s estimated range and added a stop in Bowling Green, Kentucky, to top off after only about 60 miles. We again found ourselves in a Meijer parking lot. The kids browsed the shelves for video games before we set off again.
way home added more than four hours to the round-trip travel compared to when we made the same trip in our Ford Fusion a couple of years ago. The stop time is mostly manageable, though. The charging stations we used on the trip were situated in busy areas, close to things to do. The Cincinnati stop was in a parking lot between a Meijer and a Target store, and while my wife stayed in the car and happily read her book, the kids and I did a little snack shopping. They did not mind the 50-minute stop at all, and while we didn’t charge all the way to 100%, the range indicator told us we had more than enough to get to the next planned stop. By the time we got to that stop, in Louisville, Kentucky, it was around dinnertime. The charging station was in a bank parking lot, with a nice Mexican restaurant nearby. Again, the charging time was time well spent; we ate a leisurely dinner and got a full charge that the on-board computer told me gave us 100 miles more range than we would need to get to Nashville — though that cushion quickly disappeared as the heater and hilly
Later, we had a late lunch/early dinner at a sub shop while the car fully charged in Louisville, but by the time we stopped again 113 miles later in Cincinnati, none of us were in the mood to do anything. Even with the Meijer and the Target right there, we sat playing on our phones for the 45 minutes it took to charge up to a reported 250mile range for the remaining 110 miles of the trip. Even with that much cushion, I spent the rest of the drive watching the range meter plummet and doing math in my head to try to guess how many miles’ worth of charge we actually had left. By the time we pulled into the driveway at home, the Tesla said it had only 38 miles remaining in the battery. Despite the learning curve, my takeaway is that the fun factor, the reduction of my carbon footprint, and the dollars saved on fuel all easily overcame the trepidation about running out of battery power. As storage capacity and charge rates get better and more charging stations go up all the time, less thought will have to go into planning even cross-country trips. The trip left me thinking that purchasing an EV of my own is probably in my future.
The Tesla Model S had a surprising amount of cargo and passenger space for the author’s family of four.
6 OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING • JUNE 2021
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Children of Members
O
hio’s Electric Cooperatives awarded 24 scholarships to outstanding high school seniors in its annual Children of Members Scholarship competition. Students from member households representing each of the Ohio-based electric distribution cooperatives competed for $41,800 in scholarships. A panel of independent judges reviewed applications and conducted virtual interviews with the students.
First place: Mackenzie Collett, Consolidated Cooperative
Mackenzie Collett
Ranked first in her class at Rutherford B. Hayes High School, Mackenzie involves herself in the community in ways that reflect her interest in her intended major, political science. She served on the Ohio Attorney General Teen Ambassador Board, as an Ohio youth advocate and leader in her local delegation for Ohio Youth and Government, and as a student representative to the Delaware City Schools Board of Education. Her literature teacher says, “A sense of justice is her most commendable trait.”
Second place: Shelby Jones, Union Rural Electric Cooperative Shelby has career aspirations as a veterinarian, and her accomplishments in high school are a strong indicator of her future success. A student in Delaware Area Career Center’s Columbus Zoo and Aquarium School program, Shelby has completed extensive research projects in her field. Her instructor says, “She has proven herself to be a rare mixture of maturity beyond her years, unmatched scientific curiosity, and tenacious ambition.”
Third place: Levi Grimm, Butler Rural Electric Cooperative Shelby Jones
With a heart for service, Levi puts his considerable abilities to work helping others. As the Butler County operations director for JEE Foods, a student-operated food rescue company, Levi has overseen the distribution of more than 3 million pounds of food to families within a 100-mile radius since the beginning of the pandemic. His instructor says, “I think I could solve all the world’s problems if only I had a few more Levi Grimms.”
Other children of members who were awarded statewide scholarships:
Levi Grimm
Trevor Bailey, Darke Rural Electric Cooperative; Zachary Balo, The Frontier Power Company; Kiki Barlow, Buckeye Rural Electric Cooperative; Emma Bodo, Carroll Electric Cooperative; Anthony Buckley, South Central Power Company; Daniel Burggraf, Mid-Ohio Energy Cooperative; Kiersten Cline, North Western Electric Cooperative; Molly Cordonnier, Lorain-Medina Rural Electric Cooperative; Raegan Feldner, Guernsey-Muskingum Electric Cooperative; Jacob Gutberlet, Washington Electric Cooperative; EricaRae Herrick, Tricounty Rural Electric Cooperative; Alyssa Mays, Adams Rural Electric Cooperative; Maxwell Phillips, North Central Electric Cooperative; Evan Powell, The Energy Cooperative; Anna Puster, Holmes-Wayne Electric Cooperative; Connor Rose, Logan County Electric Cooperative; Zebediah Schafer, Firelands Electric Cooperative; Aislen Setty, Pioneer Electric Cooperative; Lydia Spaeth, Hancock-Wood Electric Cooperative; Eric Thornell, Paulding Putnam Electric Cooperative; Casey Topp, Midwest Electric.
SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS 8 OHIO COOPERATIVE 8 OHIO COOPERATIVELIVING LIVING • JUNE • JUNE 2021 2021
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WOODS, WATERS, AND WILDLIFE
Something fishy Ohio boasts a few connections to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s anniversary celebration. BY W.H. “CHIP” GROSS
150 years
James Henshall (center) aboard the U.S. Fish Commission ship, Grampus, circa 1890.
I
n February, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USF&WS) turned 150 years old, and to celebrate its sesquicentennial, it has released a new book of its many finny accomplishments titled America’s Bountiful Waters. A compendium of all things piscatorial, the book details the long history of fisheries management in the U.S. and highlights many of the service’s most wellknown employees — including two Ohioans who are prominently featured: Bob Hines and James Henshall. Henshall (1836–1925) is known as the father of bass fishing in the U.S. He was born in Maryland and moved to Cincinnati after graduating high school. He finished medical studies in 1859, just in time for the Civil War, and promptly joined the Union Army medical corps. One of his most memorable adventures was a run-in with Morgan’s Raiders, a Confederate cavalry unit that crossed the Ohio River and was eventually captured near West Point, in Columbiana County.
10 OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING • JUNE 2021
In addition to his interest in medicine, Henshall began studying fish culture after the war, and he became one of the earliest American authorities on sport fishing. A dedicated angler all his life, he was also a prolific writer — one of the most famous fishing writers of his day — contributing articles to both Forest & Stream and The American Angler, the premier outdoor journals of the era. He is most remembered for his magnum opus, Book of the Black Bass. Published in 1881, it sold nearly half a million copies, with more still being sold today. Hines (1912–1994) was born in Columbus and became interested in the outdoors at a young age. He made it his life’s work while hunting, fishing, and camping close to the Sandusky River near Fremont, Ohio. He was a young staff artist for the Ohio Division of Wildlife in 1948 when he was lured away to work for the USF&WS. No doubt he had gained attention of the agency by designing the art for the 1946 Federal Duck Stamp with his image of redhead
Ask
Email Chip Gross with your outdoors questions at whchipgross@ gmail.com. Be sure to include “Ask Chip” in the subject of the email. Your question may be answered on www.ohiocoopliving.com!
chip!
www.ohiocoopliving.com
If you have a fisherman in your family, America’s Bountiful Waters makes a great Father’s Day gift. It’s available on Amazon, at Barnes & Noble, or from Rowman & Littlefield. ($49.95, hardcover, 330 pages, 400 images)
Bob Hines produced 21 illustrations for Sport Fishing USA, the book published in honor of the Fish and Wildlife Service’s 100th anniversary in 1971.
ducks. Hines eventually took over leadership of that federal annual art competition, overseeing and improving the event for more than 30 years. Hines produced untold numbers of illustrations during his time with the USF&WS, including the first four U.S. postage stamps to feature species of wildlife: wild turkey, pronghorn antelope, king salmon, and whooping crane. He was especially proud of his 1963 Ducks at a Distance, a waterfowl identification pocket guide for hunters that became a bestseller for the Department of the Interior. He is the only individual in the history of the organization to hold the title of National Wildlife Artist. Hines’ image of a cutthroat trout adorns the cover of the new book (see image above). An interesting sidenote about Hines’ long career with the USF&WS is that his first supervisor was Rachel Carson, who would go on to pen Silent Spring in 1962. The book sounded the alarm concerning indiscriminate
National Fishing and Boating Week begins June 5, and a free fishing weekend (no fishing license required) is scheduled in Ohio for June 19 and 20.
use of pesticides and helped kick-start the environmental movement of the 1960s and 1970s. America’s Bountiful Waters has another Ohio connection. The book was edited by an expatriot Buckeye, Craig Springer, who now lives in New Mexico. If his name sounds familiar, that could be because he occasionally writes articles for this magazine. Along with editing, Springer also contributed several stories to America’s Bountiful Waters; one of them is a remembrance of catching his first feisty smallmouth bass from Four Mile Creek, near Oxford, which gave him something else in common with Henshall. “James Henshall and I both caught our first smallmouth bass on an Independence Day outing in southwest Ohio,” Springer says. “They just happened more than a century apart.” W.H. “Chip” Gross is Ohio Cooperative Living’s outdoors editor.
JUNE 2021 • OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING 11
CO-OP PEOPLE
Get acquainted with Bavarian-style beers and an Old World breed in Coshocton County. BY DAMAINE VONADA
O
n Fridays, Wooly Pig Farm Brewery officially opens at 3 p.m., but by 2:30, friends and neighbors are already sitting down at the natural-edge wooden tables that brewmaster Kevin Ely and his family made from a prodigious elm tree on their property. Young, curly-haired pigs eagerly forage in a pasture above the parking lot, while Herr Fuggle, the farm’s porcine patriarch, snoozes in a pen. Aaron Malenke, Kevin’s brother-in-law and the farmer who tends the pigs, returns from hunting mushrooms just about the time that a food truck starts serving burgers. The first customer to snag a beer is a local woman who
cheerily waves to Kevin and his wife, Jael Malenke. “That lady gave me a haircut yesterday,” Kevin says with a grin. Though only minutes from U.S. 36, Wooly Pig Farm Brewery sits off a windy township road in eastern Coshocton County and seems tucked far away in the countryside. Spread across 90 hilly acres and graced by a red barn built in 1899, it was once a dairy farm owned for more than 150 years by the Norman family. “Aaron and I grew up near this farm,” says Jael. “I remember coming here to sing Christmas carols to the Normans.” When the farm was for sale in 2014, Jael was finishing her Ph.D. in biology at the University of Utah, and Kevin was the brewmaster and production manager at Salt Lake City’s Uinta Brewing Company. Kevin, who has a brewing science degree from the University of California–Davis, often traveled to Bavaria to obtain equipment for Uinta. While there, he also explored historic farm and village breweries in northern Bavaria’s Franconia region. Photos of Franconia that Kevin sent to Jael reminded her of Coshocton County, but the wooly pigs in the photos really caught her eye. They had remarkably thick, sheep-like hair, and says Jael, “The mamas and their striped piglets looked so cute.” At the time, Aaron was at Fort Collins where his wife, Lauren Malenke, was studying to be a large-animal veterinarian at Colorado State. They researched the wooly pigs and identified the breed as Mangalitsa, a heritage line developed in Hungary in the 1800s. Although bred to be pasture-raised, wooly pigs are a natural for breweries because they’re partial to spent grain. “On Franconia’s farms,” notes Kevin, “breweries are always beside pig barns because they use the beer-making byproduct for feed.”
12 OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING • JUNE 2021
The two couples soon realized that the Norman farm offered them a unique set of resources — affordable farmland, plentiful water, and strong family ties in Coshocton County — and jointly purchased it. While Aaron and Lauren revived the farming operation, Kevin and Jael planned the brewery. The first farm animals they acquired were wooly pigs: a boar and three breeder sows named for varieties of hops — Fuggle, Willamette, Galena, and Nugget. Inspired by Bavaria, Kevin designed the brewery for making lagers, which, according to Germany’s brewing regulations, permit only hops, malt, yeast, and water as ingredients. To maximize production, he installed two boil kettles. In the cold lagering room, extra-large tanks allow for fresh, unfiltered beers with exceptional character and flavor. When Kevin needed additional electricity for the brewery, the cooperative servicing the farm — The Frontier Power Company — proved quite helpful. “Frontier Power gave us lots of good advice,” he says, “and before they ran lines, they were great about asking which trees we’d like to save.” Kevin got to know the linemen then. “Now they come here as patrons,” he says.
a local Amishman, and in summer, Kevin makes peach and pawpaw beers. “We grow the peaches on the farm,” says Jael, “but my dad gives us the pawpaws.” In addition to crafting excellent beers, Kevin and Jael have crafted a destination brewery where people from as far away as Cleveland and Pittsburgh come to enjoy the fresh country air, family atmosphere, and unusual wooly pigs. With a nod to social distancing, they’ve recently added individual roofed huts called salettls. “They’re popular in rural Germany for drinking beer outdoors,” Kevin says. Complete with benches and a table, the salettls have made the brewery an even more appealing place to linger over a lager. “Customers think it’s just great to sit in their own space,” says Jael, “and not worry about rain, wind, or sunburn.”
Wooly Pig Farm Brewery, 23631 Township Road 167, Fresno, Ohio, 43824. 740-693-5050; www. woolypigfarmbrewery.com.
While the brewery’s top seller is pale and malty Rustic Helles, Kevin’s repertoire also includes Keller Pils, a hoppy Pilsener, and Rye Dunkel, a full-bodied brown beer. His Maple Sap Cream Ale contains sap supplied by
Kevin and Jael Malenke installed outdoor huts called salettls at their Wooly Pig Farm Brewery near Coshocton, where guests can enjoy locally brewed drinks while they hang out with the farm’s permanent residents — the namesake wooly pigs.
JUNE 2021 • OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING 13
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also available in Genuine Italian Leather (and new Chestnut color)
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Pictured: Genuine Italian Leather chair chestnut color.
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back pressure relief, to prevent back and muscle pain. The overstuffed, oversized biscuit style back and unique seat design will cradle you in comfort. Generously filled, wide armrests provide enhanced arm support when sitting or reclining. It even has a battery backup in case of a power outage. White glove delivery included in shipping charge. Professionals will deliver the chair to the exact spot in your home where you want it, unpack it, inspect it, test it, position it, and even carry the packaging away! You get your choice of Genuine Italian leather, stain and water repellent custom-manufactured DuraLux™ with the classic leather look or plush MicroLux™ microfiber in a variety of colors to fit any decor. New Chestnut color only available in Genuine Italian Leather. Call now!
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Because each Perfect Sleep Chair is a made-to-order bedding product it cannot be returned, but if it arrives damaged or defective, at our option we will repair it or replace it. © 2021 firstSTREET for Boomers and Beyond, Inc.
46562
Footrest may vary by model
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No-bake
nibbles
GOOD EATS
It’s summer! Who wants to turn on the oven just so you can enjoy a little dessert? RECIPES AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY CATHERINE MURRAY
CANNOLI CONES Prep: 20 minutes | Servings: 12 1¼ cups mini chocolate chips, divided 12 sugar cones 8 ounces whole-milk ricotta 8 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature
½ teaspoon vanilla extract ½ cup heavy cream ¾ cup powdered sugar 1 teaspoon cinnamon
In a small, microwave-safe bowl that’s wide enough to dip the opening of a cone into, pour ½ cup of the mini chocolate chips. Microwave in 30-second increments, stirring after each time, until just melted. Dip each cone in melted chocolate. Stand the cones upright in tall drinking glasses to let the chocolate solidify. If ricotta is watery, drain through cheesecloth, squeezing out excess liquid. In a large bowl with a mixer, beat cream cheese, ricotta, and vanilla extract. Gradually add heavy cream and beat until light and fluffy. Slowly incorporate powdered sugar and cinnamon until smooth. Fold in ½ cup of mini chocolate chips. Transfer mixture into a piping bag and pipe into cones. Top with remaining mini chocolate chips. Per serving: 399 calories, 23 grams fat (14 grams saturated fat), 70 milligrams cholesterol, 225 milligrams sodium, 36 grams total carbohydrates, 0 grams fiber, 12 grams protein. JUNE 2021 • OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING 17
STOVETOP CHERRY CRISP Prep: 30 minutes | Servings: 6 TOPPING ¾ cup sliced almonds 2/3 cup flour ¼ cup sugar ¼ cup packed brown sugar ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted ½ teaspoon vanilla extract ½ cup oats
FILLING 2 pounds sweet cherries (fresh or frozen) 1 tablespoon lemon juice 1 teaspoon vanilla extract ½ teaspoon almond extract
½ cup sugar ½ teaspoon salt 2 to 3 tablespoons cornstarch
Note: This dessert can also be made over a campfire! To make the topping: Finely chop ¼ cup of the sliced almonds. In a medium bowl, mix the chopped almonds, flour, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in melted butter and vanilla until the mixture easily crumbles. Mix in oats and remaining almonds. In a medium cast-iron or nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, toast almond/butter mixture, stirring regularly to keep from burning. Once golden and crisp (about 5 minutes), transfer back to bowl and set aside. To make the filling: Wipe off skillet and put back on stove. Add cherries, lemon juice, vanilla, and almond extract. Cook over medium-high heat until cherries are warmed. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine sugar, salt, and cornstarch (2 tablespoons for fresh cherries, 3 for frozen). Add sugar mixture to cherries and continue stirring regularly until cherry juice thickens to a nice syrup consistency, about 10 minutes. Let cool 15 minutes, then spread almond topping evenly over cherries. Garnish with whipped cream if desired and serve. Per serving: 552 calories, 18 grams fat (8 grams saturated fat), 31 milligrams cholesterol, 403 grams sodium, 94 grams total carbohydrates, 3.5 grams fiber, 5.5 grams protein.
UNICORN BARK Prep: 25 minutes | Chill: 1 hour | Servings: 20 12 ounces bright pink candy melts 6 ounces turquoise candy melts 6 ounces lavender candy melts ¼ cup pastel sprinkles 6 ounces white candy melts Notes: The candy melts should be vanilla flavored. Candy will lose its consistency and may not re-solidify if overheated or liquid is added (such as food coloring or milk.) Get creative with the theme of your bark, like red, white, and blue melts for the Fourth of July, superhero bark, peppermint bark, rainbow bark, s’mores bark … the options are endless! Place parchment paper onto a baking sheet and set aside. Pour each color of candy melts into a separate microwave safe bowl and microwave according to package directions. Using a large spoon or spatula, drop a dollop of melted white candy on each corner of the parchment paper and one in the center. With a clean spoon, intersperse dollops of the remaining colors in between the white. Use a flat icing spatula to slowly draw lines through all the colors, blending to create a marbling effect. Drizzle any leftover melted candy across the top. While it’s still tacky, garnish with sprinkles, then let cool at room temperature for 10 minutes. Cover loosely with parchment and place in freezer for 1 hour. Break or cut into pieces of bark. Store in a sealed container. Per serving: 210 calories, 12 grams fat (11 grams saturated fat), 35 milligrams sodium, 0 grams cholesterol, 27 grams total carbohydrates, 0 grams fiber, 0 grams protein.
18 OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING • JUNE 2021
FIRELANDS ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE LOCAL PAGES GM’S REPORT
Safety paramount in planning 2021 annual meeting For over a year now, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed how we go about our daily activities — and it continues to affect how we plan future events. Last year, Firelands Electric made the decision to convert the cooperative’s annual meeting to a virtual format. A year later, we and every other cooperative across the nation are facing these same decisions once again. Many have opted to hold a virtual meeting or other alternative to gathering in person. To meet print deadlines, this issue of Ohio Cooperative Living magazine was put together in late April. By the time you read this, we hope that we will be in a much better position with the virus, but we simply do not know what summer will bring and what restrictions may still be in place. At the April board meeting, the cooperative had to decide based on the facts at hand; we had to plan for a future event using the information available at the time. Limitations on gatherings were still in place in late April, and the state had not yet come close to reaching the thresholds necessary to ease restrictions.
Members who attend the
2021
VIRTUAL ANNUAL MEETING on June 19 have a chance to win one of three $85 bill credits.
One of our concerns was even if the restrictions were lifted, would our members be comfortable gathering? Would it be safe for our employees, members, and community? Based on current facts, the board agreed that the 2021 annual meeting would be planned as a virtual event. Members can tune in online or by phone on Saturday, June 19, starting at 9 a.m. More information is available on page 22G of the magazine. Details will also be mailed out to all co-op members in early June.
Dan McNaull
GENERAL MANAGER
Fortunately, in 2019, Firelands Electric’s membership approved alternative voting methods allowing ballots to be cast in ways other than in person at the annual meeting. Voting for the 2021 elections are currently taking place by internet or by mail. Instructions are available on the ballot members received by mail in late April or by visiting www.firelandsec.com/annualmeeting-members. The deadline to cast your vote is June 13 at 11:59 p.m. The annual meeting is one of the key ways that your cooperative stays connected to you, our members. While the virtual platform planned for 2021 will allow the co-op to provide updates, announce election results, and conduct a business meeting, Firelands Electric Cooperative’s employees and I look forward to being able to hold in-person events once again. In the meantime, stay safe — and tune in June 19 to keep connected with your cooperative.
JUNE 2021 • OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING 21
06-21--June.indd 1
5/7/2021 9:31:37 AM
FIRELANDS ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE LOCAL PAGES CO-OP NEWS
BRUCE LEIMBACH CELEBRATES
5 YEARS OF SERVICE This month, Bruce Leimbach celebrates his fifth year as District 4 trustee for Firelands Electric Cooperative. Elected to the board in 2016, he filled a position left vacant following the passing of long-time trustee Dar Anderson. Bruce has served as the board’s vice president since November 2017. Residents of the New London area, Bruce and his wife, Dana, have been Firelands Electric Cooperative members for 30 years. In addition to being a member of the ACRE Century Club, Bruce is active in the New London Ruritan and Norwalk Kiwanis clubs and is a member of the Clarksfield Methodist Church. In their spare time, Bruce and Dana enjoy gardening, biking, kayaking, and traveling. A recently retired financial consultant for Civista Wealth Management, Bruce also worked in the Farm Credit system for over 30 years in various roles, including branch manager, vice president of marketing, and vice president. His experience working for the memberowned Farm Credit, as well as serving on the Firelands board, has made him a firm believer in the power of the cooperative principles.
“The cooperative business model has been around since the 18th century. Its longevity and the success of those businesses that adhere to its principles are a testament to just how well it works,” says Bruce. With a background in finance and cooperatives, Bruce understands that the cooperative’s money and assets must be used in such a way that they fulfill Firelands Electric’s mission and protect the interests of all its members.
POW
VICE PRESIDENT DISTRICT 4 TRUSTEE
Bruce believes in the importance of minimizing rates for members while maintaining a financially sound cooperative. “It’s essential to improve reliability and infrastructure, keep the cooperative’s workers safe, and manage controllable costs to keep rates affordable,” says Bruce.
SAVE ENERGY, GET $100 with COOL RETURNS
85
for
Bruce Leimbach
year
When you sign up for Cool Returns, you help decrease the energy used by central air-conditioning systems when demand for electricity is at its highest. And you can earn $100 just for participating!* To find out if you qualify, visit our website at www.firelandsec.com/ peakbuster-air-conditioning-incentives or call the Member Services Department at 1-800-533-8658. *$100 offer only available to members that are new to the Cool Returns program
22 OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING • JUNE 2021
06-21--June.indd 2
5/7/2021 9:31:39 AM
G
P
85
ERIN W O for
2020 Annual Report
years
PE
OP LE
OWERING PEOPLE
85
r
years
JUNE 2021 • OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING 22A
06-21--June.indd 3
5/7/2021 9:31:40 AM
Powering people for 85 years A MESSAGE FROM YOUR PRESIDENT AND GENERAL MANAGER Firelands Electric is pleased to announce that 2020 was another successful year for your cooperative. Thanks to the diligent efforts of management and employees, we finished the year with margins totaling over $1.5 million. These margins have been allocated to members’ capital credits accounts and will be refunded to them at a future date.
Dan Schloemer, President BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Dan McNaull
GENERAL MANAGER
We returned over $893,000 in capital credits to our members last year and will be retiring over $1 million in 2021. Since 1948, Firelands Electric has returned over $17.4 million in capital credits back to its membership — which is one of the many benefits you receive as a member of a not-for-profit electric cooperative. Your cooperative’s board of trustees, management, and employees strive to keep the company’s controllable costs at the lowest levels possible. Since your cooperative is not-for-profit, we don’t need to earn excess profits just to pay dividends to out-of-state shareholders — we simply need to cover the cost of doing business.
Last April, due to increases in the cost of doing business, your board of trustees saw it necessary to implement the first rate adjustment in over four years. This adjustment also helped to offset effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Even with recent rate changes, Firelands’ rates remain very competitive with other area suppliers. Electricity remains a truly outstanding value when you consider everything it does for us every minute of the day.
OPERATIONS AND SERVICE RELIABILITY Even with all the chaos triggered by politics and a pandemic in 2020, it was a very productive year for Firelands Electric. Your cooperative made investments and upgrades to its electric distribution system, with emphasis on projects that will enhance reliability, power quality, and safety to our members and line crews. Firelands Electric works hard to reach its goal of 100% reliability for its over 9,100 homes and businesses by trimming trees across 995 miles of line in 28 townships and four counties. The continued focus on vegetation maintenance has reduced the number and frequency of outages — improving service quality for all cooperative members. Firelands Electric’s 2020 right-of-way maintenance program included over 350 miles of brush-hogging, trimming, and necessary tree removals at a cost of more than $600,000. Much of this work was completed in Mohican, Montgomery, Orange, Ruggles, and Vermillion townships in Ashland County; Fitchville, Greenwich, and Ripley townships in Huron County; Rochester Township in Lorain County; and Butler Township in Richland County. Crews also completed vegetation management in other areas for line rebuild projects. The cooperative’s right-of-way program also keeps your family safer by ensuring that tree branches and vegetation do not become energized due to close contact with a downed power line or other electrical equipment. With the ability to deliver up to 34,500 volts, a tree branch touching an electric line can be incredibly dangerous — even deadly. The cooperative is thankful for our members’ continued understanding of the importance and necessity of keeping trees away from power lines and your willingness to work with our contract crews when tree work is necessary on your property.
22B OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING • JUNE 2021
06-21--June.indd 4
5/7/2021 9:31:41 AM
In pursuing greater reliability, Firelands Electric Cooperative and Buckeye Power, the generation and transmission provider serving Ohio’s electric cooperatives, worked with our transmission providers FirstEnergy/Ohio Edison and American Electric Power (AEP) to address concerns with transmission outages throughout portions of our cooperative’s service territory. Thanks to their joint efforts, 69-kilovolt transmission line improvement projects began in 2020, which will further enhance dependability for our members. Over this past year, Firelands Electric completed multiple line rebuild projects to replace aging conductors, poles, and equipment, which can better serve increased load capacity. The cooperative inspected nearly 4,000 utility poles in Ashland, Huron, and Richland counties — implementing a process to replace any deficient poles. Crews completed a wide array of line construction and upgrades throughout the Village of New London and Peru Township, Huron County; in preparation for Hillsdale School’s new campus in Mohican Township, Ashland County; and at Pleasant Hill Park in Monroe Township, Richland County. On a lighter note, Firelands Electric Cooperative joined forces with the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District and Greater Mohican Audubon Society to replace two osprey nesting platforms at Pleasant Hill Lake in 2020. The cooperative also assisted in the erection of an eagle nest platform atop poles near Covert Road, including installation of a nest cam for the public to follow the progress of any hatchlings online. As we wrapped up another year of projects, Firelands Electric’s management and crews immediately began the planning phase for future projects. Beginning our next four-year construction workplan is essential to keeping our service steadfast — so members can continue to receive the reliable, affordable electric power they have come to expect from their cooperative.
CO-OP OWNERS FOR POLITICAL ACTION The Action Committee for Rural Electrification (ACRE) is the political action committee of the nation’s electric cooperatives that works with legislators on issues that are important to electric cooperative members, educates lawmakers about the unique co-op business model, and supports candidates on both the state and federal level. In 2019, Firelands Electric hosted its first-ever ACRE Co-op Owners for Political Action breakfast and legislative update
at the co-op’s new facility in New London. The pandemic caused us to cancel the planned event in 2020, but we are making arrangements to hold another legislative update in September of this year. The breakfast event allows members to have an opportunity to meet and hear updates from several local and state government officials. This event is also a way for Firelands Electric to recognize the members who invest in ACRE Co-op Owners for Political Action and serve as champions for the cooperative difference.
MEMBER SERVICES AND COMMUNICATIONS Firelands Electric’s commitment to outstanding service is a passion throughout the cooperative. We continue to be ranked among the top energy utilities in the country in customer satisfaction. In 2020, Firelands Electric’s employees embraced and accepted the risks of being part of an “essential service,” and continued to work through the pandemic. We thank our member-consumers who accepted the inconveniences caused by pandemic restrictions and mandates, such as the temporary closing of our lobby area, which still remains closed. Firelands Electric’s drive-thru window and payment drop box has made it convenient for members to do business this past year. Along with the cooperative’s SmartHub app and online payment system, members are able to keep on track with their payments and electric use with 24/7 availability to members. The cooperative has continued to enhance our safe and secure SmartHub application, empowering members with information that has proven beneficial during the pandemic. SmartHub provides members with detailed electricity use, billing history, and bill comparisons with local weather trends. The system also permits Firelands Electric to communicate with members by sending text and email messages regarding power outages, billing notifications, and more. These message alerts are automated with the cooperative’s system, providing members with timely information they can access anytime, anywhere (by phone, computer, or tablet). In 2020, the cooperative enhanced our information technology with added security and protection against the latest cyber threats, which are constantly evolving. We continued to integrate multisystem platforms for added efficiency and functionality, further benefiting Firelands Electric’s members. continued on page 22D JUNE 2021 • OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING 22C
06-21--June.indd 5
5/7/2021 9:31:41 AM
continued from page 22C
In addition to providing members with reliable electric service, Firelands Electric continues to offer a variety of energy conservation programs, appliance rebates, and incentives. In 2020, the cooperative provided over 400 appliance rebates to members, totaling $66,552. That’s a big savings! The cooperative’s energy advisor assisted more than 300 members with their energy concerns and upgrades — helping homeowners find the best ways to reduce their power needs and energy bills. Communication with our members is vital. Whether you prefer news in printed form, on your computer, or on your mobile device, Firelands Electric has you covered. In addition to traditional printed media, such as Ohio Cooperative Living magazine and mailers, the cooperative also keeps our members informed of the latest news through numerous online outlets. Stay connected with Firelands Electric online at www.firelandsec.com, which contains a recently upgraded platform with advanced features for improved mobile device functionality. You can always find the latest news from your cooperative through our wide array of communication channels on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Flickr.
CONCERN FOR COMMUNITY One of the ways Firelands Electric demonstrates our commitment to community is through various youth programs, including funding $10,500 in scholarships last year for graduating high school seniors. Educating the next generation of community leaders with a better understanding of energy and efficient use is our privilege. Firelands Electric teaches kids about electrical safety and energy efficiency by supporting various youth education programs. With many families spending more time at home during the pandemic last winter, the cooperative came up with a fun way to help our member families alleviate the boredom with our Camp Co-op: Winter Edition. This contest gave member families a chance to win a kit filled with books, games, and activities that focused on electricity and energy education. Firelands Electric received 80 entries and ten randomly selected family winners benefited from this energy education program. The cooperative is also a corporate sponsor of school sports teams, community events, county fairs, and 4-H organizations.
Concern for community is another way the electric cooperative distinguishes itself as more than just a power company. Since 2007, Firelands Electric has been a collection site for the USO of Northern Ohio “Step Up for Soldiers” campaign, where members of the community fill boxes with nonperishable care package items for soldiers and their families that are distributed during Christmas. Since 2009, the cooperative has served as a regional pop tab collection site for the Ronald McDonald House of Akron. Firelands Electric has donated more than 1.5 million tabs for the local chapter over the past decade and continues to collect tabs at our new office facility at 103 Industrial Drive, New London. Charitable giving is also powered by blue jeans and sneakers. For over 17 years, co-op office employees have been permitted to dress down on certain workdays in exchange for a $20 per month donation. Although everyone enjoys wearing jeans to work, the real reason behind their deep pockets is that it’s all for a good cause. In 2020, office employees raised $2,605, donating to a different worthy cause each month.
FIRELANDS ELECTRIC PEOPLE FUND Since 1995, members of the cooperative have been supporting the Firelands Electric People Fund through the Operation Round Up program. Members generously allow their electric bills to be “rounded up” to the next dollar, with the average member contributing around 50 cents per month, or $6 per year. Firelands Electric’s participation rate is over 84% of our 9,143 members. In 2020, members supporting Operation Round Up contributed $43,680 to the People Fund. To date, the People Fund has awarded nearly $1.2 million to individuals and organizations within our local communities to help with special needs. Thank you, Firelands Electric members, for using small change to make a big difference! Firelands Electric is committed to providing our members with safe, reliable, affordable electricity. In a time when our world is rapidly changing, one thing remains the same — our dedication to our community and our members. We thank you for your membership in Firelands Electric Cooperative, and we look forward to continuing to serve you in 2021 and beyond.
22D OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING • JUNE 2021
06-21--June.indd 6
5/7/2021 9:31:41 AM
Capital credits
YOUR OWNERSHIP IN THE COOPERATIVE As a Firelands Electric member-owner, you receive electric service at cost, and any margin the cooperative makes — the money left over after all bills are paid — is allocated back to your capital credits account. We invest those capital credits in new poles, wire, transformers, substations, and other infrastructure in order to provide a reliable supply of cost-effective electric power. Those credits are then retired, or refunded, to you as it is financially feasible to do so.
CAPITAL CREDITS REFUNDS HISTORY 1948-2009
$ 7,950,430
2010
$
125,778
2011
$
717,451
2012
$
970,368
2013
$
962,762
2014
$
959,541
2015
$
923,723
2016
$ 1,071,487
2017
$
856,661
2018
$
840,708
2019
$ 1,195,238
2020
$
TOTAL
$ 17,467,864
5
1
Your co-op tracks how much electricity you buy and how much you pay for it throughout the year.
3
893,717
Firelands Electric notifies you of how and when you’ll receive your capital credits retirement.
2
4
At the end of the year, Firelands completes financial matters and determines whether there is excess revenue, called margins.
Firelands’ trustees allocate the margins to members as capital credits, based upon their use of electricity during the year.
When Firelands’ financial condition permits, your board of trustees decides to retire, or pay, the capital credits.
JUNE 2021 • OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING 22E
06-21--June.indd 7
5/7/2021 9:31:41 AM
Local leadership YOUR BOARD OF TRUSTEES District 1 — Richmond, Norwich, and Greenfield townships District 2 — New Haven, Ripley, Greenwich, Ruggles, Cass, and Blooming Grove townships District 3 — Peru, Bronson, Fairfield, and Hartland townships, and Fitchville Township west of State Route 250 District 4 — Clarksfield and Rochester townships, Fitchville Township east of State Route 250 and north of CSX rail in New London municipality, and New London Township District 5 — Monroe, Green, and Lake townships District 6 — Butler, Clear Creek, Orange, Weller, Milton, Mifflin, and Madison townships north of State Route 42 District 7 — Vermillion, Mohican, Montgomery, and Perry townships District 8 — Mifflin Township south of State Route 42 in Ashland and Richland counties District 9 — South of CSX rail in New London municipality and New London Township
NORWICH
1
RICHMOND
PERU
BRONSON
GREENFIELD
NEW HAVEN
HARTLAND
CLARKSFIELD
FAIRFIELD
FITCHVILLE
NEW LONDON
RIPLEY
GREENWICH
RUGGLES
3
2
BUTLER
4
9
ROCHESTER
TROY
CLEAR CREEK
ORANGE
JACKSON
MILTON
MONTGOMERY
PERRY
6 WELLER
MIFFLIN MIFFLIN
8
Firelands Electric Board of Trustees Sitting (l-r): District 5 Carl Ayers, District 1 Dan Schloemer, District 4 Bruce Leimbach. Standing (l-r): District 9 John Martin, District 7 Rob Turk, District 2 Gene Lamoreaux, District 8 W.E. Anderson, District 3 Tom Lucha, District 6 Kevin Reidy.
7
VERMILLION
MOHICAN
5 MONROE
GREEN
LAKE
22F OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING • JUNE 2021
06-21--June.indd 8
5/7/2021 9:31:43 AM
Official meeting notice Due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation and Ohio’s current safety measures, Firelands Electric has made the decision to cancel our in-person annual meeting again this year. The cooperative is planning a virtual meeting to take its place.
Firelands Electric is committed to the health and safety of our members and employees. While the number of COVID-19 cases has improved, we have chosen to err on the side of caution to protect the communities we serve. For this reason, combined with the directives of the state of Ohio and the CDC at this time, the cooperative has made the difficult decision to move our annual meeting to a virtual format for 2021. Instead of our originally planned in-person meeting and family fun day, Firelands Electric Cooperative’s annual meeting will be conducted as a video broadcast at 9 a.m. on Saturday, June 19. Members will be able to participate in the meeting through one of two options: 1) streaming video on their computer, tablet, or smartphone; or 2) calling a specially designated phone number to take part in an audio-only option. Members will be mailed an official invitation postcard in early June, which will include detailed instructions for connecting and accessing the cooperative’s virtual annual meeting. On the day of the event, members can log in to participate in Firelands Electric’s meeting and hear updates from General Manager Dan McNaull and
Mission Statement
Improving the quality of life of our members by delivering reliable electric service at competitive prices, following the Seven Cooperative Principles, while supporting the communities where our members live and work.
the co-op’s board of trustees. Since the membership is voting for trustees via online and mail ballot prior to the meeting, election results will also be announced during the broadcast. Although we are unable to meet face-to-face, Firelands Electric wants its members to be able to stay informed of their cooperative’s operations, financial health, and plans for the future. This virtual format will allow us to accomplish this goal while still protecting the health of our community.
MEMBERS WHO ATTEND THE VIRTUAL MEETING ON JUNE 19 WILL BE ENTERED INTO A DRAWING FOR A CHANCE TO WIN ONE OF THREE $85 BILL CREDITS. We have sincerely missed the one-on-one interaction with our members over the past year, but the well-being of our members and employees comes first. Thank you for your understanding, and we hope you will join us for our virtual annual meeting!
2021
VIRTUAL ANNUAL MEETING Date: June 19 Time: 9 a.m. Location: Online or by phone Invitations with complete details will be mailed to members by early June. JUNE 2021 • OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING 22G
06-21--June.indd 9
5/7/2021 9:31:43 AM
Meet the candidates Firelands Electric Cooperative serves 9,143 homes and businesses throughout rural areas of Ashland, Huron, Lorain, and Richland counties. It is governed by a board of trustees made up of co-op members nominated and elected by the membership. Districts are drawn based on equitable representation of the geographic areas served by the cooperative, and one trustee is chosen to represent each of the nine districts. In accordance with our Code of Regulations, each candidate has submitted a valid petition signed by members living within their Firelands Electric
Cooperative district. All members will vote for candidates to represent districts 2, 7, and 9 for the next three years on the board of trustees. Candidates in all three districts are running uncontested.
For the 2021 elections, voting is taking place by mail or online, rather than at the annual meeting. Voting opened on May 1, and completed ballots must be received by June 13 at 11:59 p.m. Results will be announced in Ohio Cooperative Living magazine, at the annual meeting, and on www.firelandsec.com. Refer to your paper ballot or the website for complete details on how to cast your vote.
DISTRICT 2 • New Haven, Ripley, Greenwich, Ruggles, Cass, and Blooming Grove townships GENE LAMOREAUX • 1430 Boughtonville Road, Greenwich, Ohio 44837 Lamoreaux is retired from Guardian Manufacturing (formerly Brunswick Defense) in Willard, where he was president for 23 years. He also served in the U.S. Army as an electronic technician for the Hawk missile system. Lamoreaux has a degree in mechanical engineering and extensive leadership skills. He has been a member of Firelands Electric for 50 years and has participated in numerous community organizations. Lamoreaux has served as an elder and governing board member of New London Alliance Church for over 28 years. He served on the boards for Mercy Hospital of Willard and South Central Local Schools and was involved in the school’s athletic boosters. Lamoreaux is an Action Committee for Rural Electrification (ACRE) Century Club member. Lamoreaux believes that maintaining reliable system equipment while providing members with affordable power is a challenge facing the electric utility industry. He feels it’s imperative for the cooperative to continue delivering reliable electric power that is costeffective, while also meeting the membership’s future needs.
Seven Cooperative Principles
1
Voluntary and open membership
2
Democratic member control
3
Members’ economic participation
22H OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING • JUNE 2021
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DISTRICT 7 • Vermilion, Mohican, Montgomery, and Perry townships ROB TURK • 2284 County Road 2175, Perrysville, Ohio 44864 Turk is retired from the Coca-Cola Company in Georgia, where he was a national account operations manager. He has also served as Trumbull County manager for Production Credit Association (now Farm Credit Services), board member of the Mohican Area Community Fund, and eucharistic minister and financial committee member at St. Peter Church in Loudonville. He remains active in community organizations, including the Masonic Lodge in Ashland. Following retirement, Turk and his wife, Kathy, moved to a small farm outside of Perrysville, where they started Gaelic Glen Alpacas. He has been a member of Firelands Electric for 11 years. Turk says his prior business experience, combined with his smallbusiness knowledge, enables him to provide oversight and direction for Firelands Electric. Turk is also an ACRE Century Club member. Turk believes the increased cost of producing and maintaining the electrical system, along with necessary upgrades in a changing environment, are major issues facing electric cooperatives. To him, continuing to deliver reliable electric power that is cost-effective, while meeting the future needs of Firelands Electric’s membership, is the highest priority.
DISTRICT 9 • South of CSX rail in New London municipality, and New London Township JOHN MARTIN • 37 Park Avenue, New London, Ohio 44851 Martin served as a Village of New London councilman prior to being appointed and serving as mayor for four years. Martin has been a Firelands Electric member for over 38 years. He believes his experience provides him with insight in making sound business decisions that benefit the cooperative and its members. He is retired from CSX railroad as a signal manager, foreman, and supervisor. Martin served in the U.S. Navy, where he was responsible for maintaining communication, navigation, and propulsion systems. He is active in Eagles Aerie #2869 in New London and a former member of Rotary International. Martin is also a member of the ACRE Century Club. Martin believes maintaining an affordable and reliable supply of power is a major challenge for electric cooperatives and the utility industry. He feels that keeping costs low and outages to a minimum, incorporating more renewable energy into the generation mix, and protecting the environment are all challenges the electric utility industry is facing now and in the future.
4
Autonomy and independence
5
Education, training, and information
6
Cooperation among cooperatives
7
Concern for community
JUNE 2021 • OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING 22I
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Financial Health COMPARATIVE BALANCE SHEET 2020 $ 50,963,181 2,439,121 53,402,302
2019 $ 43,484,211 8,206,278 51,690,489
(16,918,732) 36,483,570
(16,285,287) 35,405,202
10,114,680 284,928 10,399,608
10,103,931 386,695 10,490,626
1,339,962
1,389,376
1,567,762 307,856 401,507 34,949 3,652,036
1,510,293 494,494 358,873 36,874 3,789,910
$ 50,535,214
$ 49,685,738
$
$
Less: Accumulated provision for depreciation and amortization Net Utility Plant NON-CURRENT ASSETS Investments in associated organizations Deferred charges Total Non-Current Assets CURRENT ASSETS Cash and cash equivalents Accounts receivable, consumers and other, less allowance for doubtful accounts of $221,069 ($219,364 in 2019) Materials and supplies Accrued utility revenues Other current and accrued assets Total Current Assets Total Assets
MEMBERS’ EQUITIES Memberships Patronage capital Other equities Total Members’ Equities NON-CURRENT LIABILITIES Long-term debt CURRENT LIABILITIES Current portion of long-term debt Accounts payable Consumer deposits Accrued taxes Other current and accrued liabilities Total Current Liabilities Total Members’ Equities & Liabilities
28,368 22,413,575 1,859,594 24,301,537
29,328 21,636,835 1,832,996 23,499,159
22,661,746
22,441,099
1,074,493 1,059,837 300,211 761,749 375,641 3,571,931
984,786 1,275,876 280,591 761,912 442,315 3,745,480
$ 50,535,214
$ 49,685,738
EQUITIES & LIABILITIES
UTILITY PLANT Electric plant in service Construction work in progress
ASSETS
FOR THE YEARS ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2020 AND 2019
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STATEMENTS OF REVENUE & EXPENSES 2019 $ 19,620,726
11,184,379 1,190,996 1,677,399 776,371 1,254,112 1,485,788 532,378 18,101,423
11,117,294 1,303,314 1,579,863 789,928 1,394,893 1,398,871 545,977 18,130,140
Operating margins before fixed charges Interest on long-term debt
1,723,810 820,370
1,490,586 830,496
Operating margins after fixed charges Patronage capital assigned by associated organizations Net Operating Margins
903,440 611,758 1,515,198
660,090 573,379 1,233,469
33,521 34,685 (16,143) 52,063
52,851 (113,377) (17,816) (78,342)
OPERATING REVENUE OPERATING EXPENSES Cost of power Distribution expense - operations Distribution expense - maintenance Consumer accounts Administrative and general Depreciation and amortization Taxes Total Operating Expenses
NON-OPERATING MARGINS Interest income Gain on sale of assets Loss on impairment of assets Other income (expense) Total Non-Operating Margins Net Margins for Period PATRONAGE CAPITAL & OTHER EQUITY Net Margins Beginning of Year Subtotal Retirement of Capital Credits and Other Adjustments (Net) Patronage Capital & Other Equities End of Year
$
1,567,261
$
1,155,127
$
1,567,261 21,636,835 23,204,096 (790,521)
$
1,155,127 21,576,297 22,731,424 (1,094,589)
$ 22,413,575
$ 21,636,835
EQUITY
2020 $ 19,825,233
MARGINS & EXPENSES
FOR THE YEARS ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2020 AND 2019
The accounts of your cooperative for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 have been audited. The auditor’s complete report is on file at the office of the cooperative and is available for inspection by the members of the cooperative.
JUNE 2021 • OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING 22K
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A look back
HOW THE COOPERATIVE DIFFERENCE TRANSFORMED RURAL AMERICA ELECTRIFYING YOUR PAST In the early 1930s, only about one in ten farmers had electric service, and those who did paid an average of about nine cents a kilowatt-hour. President Roosevelt created the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) with an executive order under powers granted by the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935. The goal of the REA was to bring electricity to America’s rural areas. Electric cooperatives were created to bring power to the countryside, to enrich the people of this great nation through the use of labor-saving devices, and to grow innovative new industries. Cooperatives provided the backbone for this growth, bringing light, power, and communication to the rural areas and small towns of the United States. Eighty-five years ago, a small group of farmers had a vision for your cooperative when they formed North Eastern Farm Bureau Electric Cooperative, and today, we are reaping the benefits of their foresight and vision. It’s unlikely the founders anticipated the myriad of electronics running in our homes today. From televisions and central air conditioning to computers, cellphones, and even plug-in electric cars, your cooperative’s founders laid the foundation for us to meet the needs of future generations.
BY THE PEOPLE, FOR THE PEOPLE The first steps toward getting electricity for the rural areas of Huron, Ashland, Richland, and Lorain counties began in May of 1936, when a meeting was held to form the local REA, elect officers to head the project, and sign up potential member-consumers. Since then, 63 people have served on the cooperative’s board of trustees. In 1937, the North Eastern Farm Bureau Electric Cooperative facility moved from its original Norwalk location to North Fairfield, and the name was changed to Firelands Electric Cooperative, which was the 83rd electric cooperative formed in the country. Today there are more than 900 notfor-profit electric cooperatives nationwide, serving 42 million people in 47 states. After several years of preliminary work, mapping out the proposed service territory, and applying for a $100,000 federal loan to begin line construction, prayers were answered with loan approval in February of 1938. The first 100 miles of the cooperative’s lines were strung near North Fairfield to the area by Plymouth East Road in Huron County and were energized in August of 1938. In December of 1938, the co-op had 117 miles of line to serve 281 members. By 1939, the average member used about 40 kilowatt-hours (kWh)
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per month at an average cost of approximately 6 cents per kWh. Today, Firelands Electric has 995 miles of line to serve 9,143 members and the average residential member uses 1,250 kWh per month at an average cost just over 12 cents per kWh. A lot has changed at our cooperative over the past 85 years, but our core values of integrity, accountability, innovation, and commitment to community remain the same.
ENERGIZING YOUR FUTURE — THE COOPERATIVE DIFFERENCE Firelands Electric is working hard to meet the needs of our existing and future members. We’re not only working hard; we’re working smart. Your cooperative continues to use innovative technology to improve reliability — our new advanced metering infrastructure helps us to identify possible problems faster, sometimes even before they happen. While many of these enhancements make our jobs quicker and easier, we also maintain the level of service you’ve grown to expect from your cooperative. Firelands Electric has actual people, not an automated phone system, available to assist you 24 hours a day, seven days a week. These knowledgeable member service representatives can process your payments, dispatch reported outages, and help you with dozens of other requests. We pride ourselves on having an actual person assist you, not an automated machine. While much has changed in the electricity business, very little has changed in the heart of the cooperative model. We are still owned by our members, and because of this, we are invested in the communities we serve. We support local youth programs, county fairs, and festivals. We invest in economic development to help improve the lives of our members. We work with our cities, towns, elected officials, and more to make sure we provide the power our members need to live the lives they want today and into the future. We are an active participant in the many things that improve your life and that will enrich the lives of your children and grandchildren. We are proud of our powerful past and to have served our communities and rural areas for 85 years. We look forward to a bright future of meeting our members’ needs.
JUNE 2021 • OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING 22M
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Building a legacy While commonplace in urban areas, most rural Americans didn’t have access to electricity in the 1930s. In fact, at the beginning of the decade, only about one in ten farmers had electric service. The people living in Huron, Ashland, Richland, and Lorain counties were no exception. As the invention and use of electric-driven equipment and appliances grew, so did people’s need for electricity. Investor-owned utilities didn’t see any profit to be made from building their systems out to reach these far-flung homes and farms, however. As a result, rural Americans would continue to lack access to electricity.
Electrification Act that followed in 1936, would pave the way for citizens to take matters into their own hands. Funding would now be available to help rural Americans create their own power companies. The result would be the development of electric cooperatives — including the birth of Firelands Electric Cooperative.
The first meeting of the cooperative and formal election of officers took place.
Trustees mapped out the territory to be served by the newly formed electric cooperative.
Jan. 29, 1938
The name was officially changed to Firelands Electric Cooperative, Inc.
March 16, 1938
Incorporation papers were filed under the name of North Eastern Farm Bureau Electric Cooperative, Inc.
May 28, 1936
May 22, 1936
President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Rural Electrification Administration. The goal was to provide funding to bring electricity to rural America.
December 1937
May 11, 1935
All of this would change when President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) in 1935. The organization, and the Rural
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June 14, 1976
A new building was constructed near the existing one in 1976. Offices were moved here, while operations remained in the old building.
Jan. 17, 2019
Firelands Electric made the final payment to REA on its original $100,000 loan, which was taken out in 1938.
June 1, 1962
Firelands’ original office on Wooster Street in Norwalk was relocated to the Lippert Building in North Fairfield.
In 1948, the office in New London was moved to newly converted space in the building off Prospect Street, which had been purchased to serve as a warehouse in 1943.
1948
The first 100 miles of power lines were known as Project A. Located between North Fairfield and Plymouth East Road, they were energized in August 1938.
1942 and 1943
The USDA’s REA approved the initial loan for $100,000. Firelands would use these funds to build its first 100 miles of power lines.
August 1938
Feb. 1, 1938
In 1942, Firelands purchased the New London Power and Light Company (below). The cooperative’s office then moved to 3 East Main Street, New London (above), in 1943.
Firelands Electric Cooperative moved into its new, all-in-one facility at 103 Industrial Drive, just west of New London.
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At the helm
LEADERSHIP EMPOWERING OTHERS Created in 1936, your cooperative was able to provide affordable power to the rural areas of Huron, Ashland, Richland, and Lorain counties within a few short years. This was a dream come true, thanks to the commitment and leadership of the cooperative’s elected trustees and appointed managers. The cooperative’s first general manager, Milton Wilhelm, was hired in 1938, but was called to serve his country in
the United States Navy during World War II from 1942 to 1945. During that time, an interim manager, C.D. Stevens, was appointed until Wilhelm returned from the war, when he resumed his leadership duties through 1947. Since then, six general managers have provided cooperative leadership to meet the needs of our existing and future members.
FIRELANDS ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE’S GENERAL MANAGERS
Milton Wilhelm
C.D. Stevens
1938 – 1942 and 1945 – 1947
1942 – 1945
Gary Wyckoff
John Noss
1974 – 2001
2001 – 2010
Stanley Cummings
John Harmony
April Bordas
Dan McNaull
1947 – 1962
2010– 2018
1962 – 1973
2018 – PRESENT
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LEADERSHIP: BOARD OF TRUSTEES PAST AND PRESENT • Darwin Anderson
• A.J. Marshall
• Alton Woodworth
• W.E. Anderson
• John Martin
• Edwin Woodworth
• Joe Atkinson
• Larry Messmore
• Donna Woodworth
• Richard Atterholt
• D.F. Mohrhoff
• R.R. Youngs
• Carl Ayers
• John Montgomery
• Robert Zimmerman
• Victor Bailey
• M.H. Morrow
• Eugene Beck
• John O’Hara
• Ted Beck
• Ray Palm
• Linda Beck
• W.F. Porter
• Carl Bruce
• Orlo R. Fast
• Howard Chapin
• Kevin Reidy
• John Copley
• King Rowland
• J.W. Davidson
• J.C. Ruggles
• Harold Fries
• H.E. Ruggles
• Royce Ganz
• C.E. Rush
• A.R. Geiger
• Dan Schloemer
• Preston Golding
• C.C. Sengstock
• Steve Gray
• Earl Shank
• C.D. Harvey
• Ed Sharpless
• D.C. Hawn
• T.H. Smith
• Gilmore Heitt
• John Staples, Jr.
• R.R. Howard
• Don Stauffer
• M.C. Hunter
• Archie Steel
• Lowell Kreager
• H.F. Sturges
• Gene Lamoreaux
• Harry Sutherland
• Lester Leech
• Rob Turk
• Bruce Leimbach
• Elroy Walcher
• Hugh Lewis
• J.K. Weaver
• Tom Lucha
• Neil Winslow
Carl Bruce FIRELANDS ELECTRIC TRUSTEE 1939 – 1999
His dedication and pursuit of excellence laid a foundation for the cooperative we have today. JUNE 2021 • OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING 22Q
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Adversity makes us stronger MAJOR STORMS AND CHALLENGES When a major storm hits, Firelands Electric Cooperative lineworkers are prepared and ready to swing into action and respond to power outages, often before the storm is even over.
answering the phones, dispatching crews, communicating pertinent information, patrolling lines, delivering equipment and material, and making the necessary repairs to get power restored safety, in a timely manner.
Restoring power during and after a major storm is an enormous undertaking. The main goal is to safely restore power to the greatest number of members in the shortest time possible. This process is more involved than just simply throwing a switch or removing a fallen tree from a power line. The safety of our members and employees always comes first — and it’s more important than ever to be cautious during extreme weather conditions. For workers in bucket trucks or linemen attempting to climb poles, high winds are very dangerous.
Over the past 85 years, your cooperative has overcome many adversities caused by major storms and extreme weather conditions. Many times, these challenges have united co-op employees and members of the community to get the job done and help others. Whether it’s a farmer assisting a stuck bucket truck with his tractor, or members offering their snowmobiles and four-wheelers to transport linemen during severe storms when roads were impassable, together, we are co-op strong!
When a major storm hits, the cooperative team moves into action to respond to its member’s needs — from
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Several major storms that made the cooperative’s record books over the past century: • The 1969 flood that struck north-central Ohio on Independence Day is on record as the most devastating summer flooding in Ohio history. A severe line of storms became nearly stationary for an eight-hour period. Many sections of Ashland and Huron counties were flooded and isolated for several days after the initial storm. Rain from the storms measured 16 inches in northern Ashland County. The flood caused major damage to Firelands Electric’s office facility and equipment, which was submerged in over four feet of muddy water. • The blizzard of 1978 was a historic winter storm that struck the Buckeye State from Wednesday, January 25 through Friday, January 27, 1978. It has been cited as the worst blizzard in U.S. history, causing 51 fatalities, $73 million in agricultural damages, the activation of the Ohio National Guard, and a declared state of emergency. Ohio was one of the six states that was particularly hard hit by the storm, when up to 40 inches of snow fell in some parts and winds gusts reached between 75 and 100 miles per hour, causing drifts that buried automobiles and nearly some homes. With temperatures already hovering near zero, the wind chill was deadly. Many homes and businesses lost electricity, and power outages lasted up to four days for many of the cooperative’s members.
scattered parts of the electrical grid were being restored with power. The cooperative was able to restore power in less than six hours, except for a few individual problems scattered throughout the service area. The blackout was the nation’s largest ever, costing the economy up to $10 billion. • The ice storm of 2005 was a devastating and historic winter storm that affected northern Ohio on January 5. Freezing rain and significant ice accumulations occurred across the northern half of Ohio, where some total amounts exceeded one inch of ice. The conditions resulted in numerous downed trees and power lines, causing widespread power outages and making travel nearly impossible. Roadways were blocked and businesses damaged. Firelands Electric lost power to over 93% of its entire electrical distribution system. Substations, poles, line, and equipment suffered extensive damage — resulting in approximately 8,400 members (out of 9,000) to be without power throughout parts of Huron, Ashland, Richland, and Lorain counties — with some outages lasting up to five days for some co-op members.
• The 2003 blackout caused panic for more than 50 million people across eight northeastern U.S. states and parts of Canada when some areas were left without power for more than 24 hours, and some were in the dark for weeks. On August 14, a series of faults were caused by tree branches touching power lines in Ohio, which were then complicated by human error, software issues, and equipment failures. The largest blackout in U.S. history affected 7,300 member-consumers served by Firelands Electric Cooperative. Transmission lines feeding seven of Firelands Electric’s nine substations throughout the four-county area were affected by the outage. As darkness fell, rural area dwellers turned to candles and flashlights as
JUNE 2021 • OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING 22S
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since 1936 FIRELANDS ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE, INC. 103 INDUSTRIAL DRIVE P.O. BOX 32 NEW LONDON, OH 44851 1-800-533-8658 OFFICE HOURS MON.–FRI. 7:30 A.M.–4 P.M. WWW.FIRELANDSEC.COM 22T OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING • JUNE 2021
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integrity
accountability YOUTH PROGRAMS
community commitment
innovation
2020 ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE Winners of April drawing receive Amazon gift cards
Education helps shape the leaders of tomorrow. That’s why Firelands Electric includes it as one of our seven core principles. The A Team is a cooperative program designed to encourage students in their pursuit of academic excellence. Students in grades 6–8 are invited to participate and be recognized for their hard work and dedication to education.
Taylor Smith
South Central Middle School Daughter of Brian and Amanda Smith
Kennedy Cook
Seneca East Middle School Daughter of Tom and Jackie Cook
Send us your grade card and win! The next drawing will be held on July 10.
How you can win Students in grades 6–8 who have a minimum of three A’s on their most recent report card and whose parents or guardians are members of Firelands Electric Cooperative are eligible to apply. A copy of the report card should be submitted by mail to Attn: The A Team, Firelands Electric Cooperative, P.O. Box 32, New London, OH 44851. Report cards may also be emailed to members@firelandsec.com. Be sure to include the student’s name, age, school, grade, address, phone number, parents’ name(s), and email address on your entry. Complete program details are also available at www.firelandsec.com/team.
Nova Mullins
South Central Middle School Daughter of Audry Grant JUNE 2021 • OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING 23
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FIRELANDS ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE LOCAL PAGES
highlights
COOPERATIVE UPDATE
BOARD MEETING Firelands Electric Cooperative’s board of trustees met March 23 and covered the following items:
He also discussed new environmental review requirements for the co-op’s 2021–2024 work plan.
• Board President Dan Schloemer reported that the cooperative received 33 membership applications for approval by the board. • BHM CPA Group, Inc. reviewed Firelands’ finances and announced a clean audit of the cooperative’s financials for 2020. • The board reviewed and approved a safety and training report from a meeting held on Feb. 18. • General Manager Dan McNaull reviewed plans for the annual meeting, scheduled for June 19. • McNaull reviewed tree trimming and outage reports covering the past month. • Director of Finance and Accounting Tabi Shepherd reviewed the February financials and reported on recent accounting and billing department activities. • McNaull provided a recap of the NRECA virtual annual meeting he had attended. • Director of Operations Don Englet reviewed recent activities and projects in the operations department.
• McNaull advised the board that the upcoming trustee elections for districts 2, 7, and 9 were all uncontested. He also reminded them that members of the credentials committee would need to be appointed at the April 27 board meeting. • The board discussed options for this year’s capital credits retirement. • McNaull reviewed a proposal for a member broadband survey through third-party vendor Crowd Fiber. Following discussion, the board approved to proceed with the survey. • Director of Communications and Technology Andrea Gravenhorst reviewed a report on recent activities involving the member services and IT department. • Trustees Kevin Reidy and Tom Lucha reviewed a conference they had attended on cooperative finances. The cooperative’s next board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, June 22. If you would like to attend the next scheduled meeting, please contact the Firelands Electric office at 1-800-533-8658.
FIRELANDS ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
OUTAGE HOTLINE
President, District 1
1-800-533-8658
OFFICE
103 Industrial Drive P.O. Box 32 New London, OH 44851 419-929-1571 OFFICE HOURS
Mon.–Fri. 7:30 a.m.–4 p.m. www.firelandsec.com
Dan Schloemer
Bruce Leimbach Vice President, District 4
Carl Ayers
GENERAL MANAGER
Dan McNaull
HAVE A STORY SUGGESTION?
Email your ideas to: members@firelandsec.com
Secretary/Treasurer, District 5
W.E. Anderson District 8
Tom Lucha District 3
Gene Lamoreaux District 2
John Martin District 9
Kevin Reidy District 6
Rob Turk 24 OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING • JUNE 2021
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District 7
5/7/2021 9:31:54 AM
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lake erie
BEACH BUCKET LIST
Ohio’s Great Lake offers outstanding spots for swimming, sunbathing, and more. BY DAMAINE VONADA
Cedar Point Beach, Sandusky
Cedar Point began with its beach in 1870, and today, the amusement park delivers dual fun-in-the-sun experiences: world-class rides plus a mile of smooth, white sand — all enhanced by splendid lake views and refreshing breezes. Open only to Cedar Point guests, the beach offers amenities and activities that range from lounging in an umbrella chair and snapping photos on its grand boardwalk to renting WaveRunners and parasailing high above the sand. TIP: Guided Segway tours depart from the Beach Gate and include Cedar Point’s lighthouse and historic Hotel Breakers.
419-627-2350; www.cedarpoint.com/play/fun-on-the-water/the-cedarpoint-beach
S
Cedar Point Beach
26 OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING • JUNE 2021
COURTESY OF CEDAR POINT
how of hands: After months of COVID confinement, who wants to lie on a beach towel beside a long stretch of sun-kissed water? Build sandcastles? Paddle around? Go for a long swim? Simply laze away a summer afternoon? You can do all that and more right here in Ohio, on these eight Lake Erie beaches.
East Harbor State Park Beach, Lakeside-Marblehead Extending into Lake Erie from the Marblehead Peninsula, the 1,500-foot beach at East Harbor State Park is protected from strong waves by four breakwaters and boasts fine, barefoot-friendly sand. The designated swimming area has a gentle gradient with no drop-offs, and because of the shallow waters at two sandbars flanking the beach, boaters like to drop anchor and swim from their vessels.
TIP: The park’s beach house has modern facilities, and ramps for launching canoes, kayaks, and paddleboards are located near the beach.
419-734-4424; www.ohiodnr.gov/wps/portal/gov/ odnr/go-and-do/plan-a-visit/find-a-property/eastharbor-state-park
COURTESY OF LAKE ERIE SHORES & ISLANDS
East Harbor State Park Beach
Edgewater Beach, Cleveland featuring made-to-order sandwiches and an outdoor bar ideal for people-watching. TIP: Dogs are welcome on the beach’s west end.
www.clevelandmetroparks.com/parks/visit/parks/ lakefront-reservation/edgewater-beach
Edgewater Beach
KYLE LANZER/CLEVELAND METROPARKS
Minutes from downtown Cleveland, horseshoe-shaped Edgewater Beach is famous for its stunning vistas of both the city’s skyline and Lake Erie’s spellbinding sunsets. The 2,400-foot sand beach is a part of Edgewater Park, which offers a marina, a fishing pier, and walking trails. Rent cabanas and paddleboards at the nature shop or dine lakeside at Edgewater Beach House, a seasonal café
Headlands Beach, Mentor Ohio’s longest natural beach covers a whopping 35 acres and stretches from Headlands Beach State Park into adjacent Headlands Dunes State Nature Preserve. It’s a haven for swimmers, sunbathers, and beach glass hunters and also attracts nature-lovers and birders — the lakeshore dunes harbor rare flora and fauna, as well as migrating songbirds and monarch butterflies.
TIP: Fairport Harbor West Breakwater Lighthouse is visible from the beach and provides an excellent backdrop for photos.
440-466-8400; www.ohiodnr.gov/wps/portal/ gov/odnr/go-and-do/plan-a-visit/find-a-property/ headlands-beach-state-park Continued on page 28
JUNE 2021 • OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING 27
COURTESY OF OHIO DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES
Continued from page 27
Headlands Beach (from previous page)
Kelleys Island State Park Beach, Kelleys Island TIP: Walk over to the Glacial Grooves State Memorial to witness eye-popping evidence of the massive ice sheets that carved the Great Lakes.
419-734-4424; www.ohiodnr.gov/wps/portal/gov/ odnr/go-and-do/plan-a-visit/find-a-property/kelleysisland-state-park
Kelleys Island State Park Beach
Lakeside Beach, Lakeside Chautauqua Lakeside Chautauqua is a gated community dedicated to nurturing the mind, body, and spirit. Thanks to a prime location on the Marblehead Peninsula, it also possesses “Ohio’s Most Beautiful Mile.” The delightfully scenic shoreline includes a small, sandy beach adjacent to a large, 700-foot swimming and fishing dock, and you’ll find a raft of recreational options — sailboats, kayaks,
28 OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING • JUNE 2021
and paddleboards; minigolf; and picnicking in the airy, Victorian-style pavilion — available at or near the water. TIP: Lakeside requires guests and residents to purchase passes, but youngsters under age 12 are admitted free.
419-798-4461, ext. 266; www.lakesideohio.com
COURTESY OF LAKE ERIE SHORES & ISLANDS
What better escape than a beach tucked away on the north bay of an island? Considered one of Lake Erie’s prettiest expanses of sand, the 100-foot swimming beach is surrounded by shade trees and has a gradual slope that is especially favorable for younger children. Slide kayaks into the lake at the convenient launch and pick up soft drinks, snacks, and sunblock at the park office.
Main Street Beach, Vermilion and open-water paddling experience on the 27-mile-long Vermilion-Lorain Water Trail. TIP: It’s an easy walk from the beach to downtown Vermilion’s wealth of indie shops and restaurants.
www.cityofvermilion.com; www.mainstreetvermilion.org
Main Street Beach
COURTESY OF LAKE ERIE SHORES & ISLANDS
The fact that Vermilion’s Main Street ends on a beach tells you all you need to know about why the little town is a quintessential Lake Erie destination. Marked by a replica of an erstwhile lighthouse, the popular beach has an observation deck for watching boats, birds, and sunsets, and its kayak launch provides access to a unique river
Nickel Plate Beach, Huron
Nickel Plate Beach
bring your own game equipment to use the permanent pingpong table and cornhole boards. TIP: The parking fee is $6 per vehicle.
419-433-8487; www.cityofhuron.org/government/ departments/parks-and-recreation/parks COURTESY OF HURON PARKS DEPARTMENT
Known for exceptionally soft sand, the beach occupies 12 acres of Nickel Plate Railroad property and has volleyball courts, a playground, a picnic shelter, a designated swimming area, and a good view of the Huron Lighthouse. Rent kayaks and beach gear at the on-site Paddle Shack, but
COURTESY OF LAKESIDE CHAUTAUQUA
Lakeside Beach
JUNE 2021 • OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING 29
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Doctor urges seniors to carry medical alert device Seniors snap up new medical alert device that comes with no monthly bills People don’t always do what their doctor says, but when seasoned veteran emergency room physician, Dr. Philip B. Howren says every senior should have a medical alert device, you better listen up. “Seniors are just one fall away from being put in a nursing home,” Dr. Howren said. “With a medical alert device, seniors are never alone. So it keeps them living independently in their own home. That’s why seniors and their family members are snapping up a sleek new medical alert device that comes with no monthly bills ever,” he said. Many seniors refuse to wear old style help buttons because they make them look old. But even worse, those medical alert sys-
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Seniors born before 1956 get new medical alert device with no monthly bills ever It’s just what seniors have been waiting for; a sleek new medical alert device with no contracts, no deposits and no monthly bills that instantly connects you to free unlimited nationwide help with just the push of a button for a one-time $149 price tag that’s a real steal after today’s instant rebate The phone lines are ringing off the hook. That’s because for seniors born before 1956, it’s a deal too good to pass up. Starting at precisely 8:30am this morning the Pre-Store Release begins for the sleek new medical alert device that comes with the exclusive FastHelp™ One-Touch E 911 Button that instantly connects you to unlimited nationwide help everywhere cell service is available with no contracts, no deposits and no monthly bills ever. “It’s not like old style monitored help buttons that make you talk to a call center and only work when you’re at home and come with hefty bills every month. FastHelp comes with state-of-theart cellular embedded technology. That means ■ FLYING OUT THE DOOR: Trucks are being loaded with the new medical alert devices called FastHelp. They are now it works at home or any- being delivered to lucky seniors who call the National Rebate Center Hotline at 1-866-964-2952 Ext. HELP2758 today. (Continued on next page)
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tons that come with a hefty bill every month. But now Universal Physicians, the U.S. based heavyweight, just delivered a knockout blow sending the top rated contenders to the mat with the unveiling of FastHelp. It’s the sleek new cellular embedded medical alert device that cuts out the middleman by instantly connecting you directly to highly trained 911 operators all across the U.S. There’s absolutely nothing to hook-up or install. You don’t need a land line
and you don’t need a cell phone. Everything is done for you. “FastHelp is a state of the art medical alert device designed to make you look important, not old. Old style monitored help buttons you wear around your neck, or require expensive base station equipment or a landline are the equivalent of a horse and buggy,” Lawrence says. “It’s just outdated.” Millions of seniors fall every year and spend
hours lying on the floor helpless and all alone with no help. But seniors who fall and get immediate help are much more likely to avoid getting sent to a nursing home and get to STAY living in their own home independently. Yet millions of seniors are still risking their safety by not having a medical alert device. That’s because seniors just can’t afford to pay the monthly bills that come with old style med-
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HOW TO GET IT: IF BORN BEFORE 1956: Use the rebate coupon below and call this Toll-Free Hotline: 1-866-964-2952 EXT. HELP2758 IF BORN AFTER 1956: You cannot use the rebate coupon below and must pay $299 Call: 1-866-964-2955 EXT. HELP2758 THE BOTTOM LINE: You don’t need to shop around. We’ve done all the leg work, this deal is too good to pass up. FastHelp with the instant rebate is a real steal at just $149 and shipping and there are no monthly bills ever. PROS: It’s the sleek new medical alert device that comes with the exclusive FastHelp One-Touch E 911 Button that instantly connects you to free unlimited nationwide help everywhere cell service is available with no contracts or deposits. It connects you to the vast available network of cellular towers for free and saves seniors a ton of money because there are no monthly bills ever making this deal irresistible. Plus it’s the only medical alert device that makes seniors look important, not old. CONS: Consumers can’t get FastHelp in stores until later this year. That’s why it’s so important for seniors born before 1956 to call the National Rebate Center Hotline within the next 7 days. For those who miss that deadline, the sleek little medical alert device will set you back over $300 bucks. P7201A OF22169R-1
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where, anytime cell service is available whether you’re out watering the garden, driving in a car, at church or even hundreds of miles away on a tour or at a casino. You are never alone. With just a single push of the One-Touch E Button you instantly get connected to free unlimited help nationwide with no monthly bills ever,” said Jack Lawrence, Executive Director of Product Development for U.S. based Universal Physicians. “We’ve never seen anything like it. Consumers absolutely love the sleek new modern design and most of all, the instant rebate that practically pays for it and no monthly bills ever,” Lawrence said. FastHelp is the sleek new medical alert device with the best of combinations: a quality, high-tech engineered device that’s also an extremely great value because there are no monthly bills ever. Better still, it comes with no contracts, no deposits and no monthly bills ever – which makes FastHelp a great choice for seniors, students and professionals because it connects to one of the largest nationwide networks everywhere cell service is available for free. And here’s the best part. All those who already have an old style monitored medical alert button can immediately eliminate those monthly bills, which is why Universal Physicians is widely advertising this announcement nationwide. “So if you’ve ever felt a medical alert device was too complicated or expensive, you’ll want to get FastHelp, the sleek new medical alert device with no monthly bills,” said Lawrence. The medical alert device slugfest was dominated by two main combatants who both offer old style monitored help but-
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y
a aw
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ommercial balloon pilots share C their passion for the open sky. BY JAMIE RHEIN
D
uring balloon season (mid-April to November), hot air balloonists take to the skies. Soaring across the patterns and shapes of the landscape, riders get a bird’s-eye view of Ohio. Over lakes and rivers, past cityscapes and suburbs, high above farmhouses and weathered barns, fields, and forests, balloonists take passengers where the wind current takes them. Ask a balloonist where balloon love begins, and it’s usually at a festival. Thirty-three years ago, when Penny Suttle and her sister were at the Coshocton Balloon Festival on an early misty morning, a man stepped out of a tent near them and asked, “‘Hey, do you like balloons? I need someone to crew.” Forgetting she was afraid of heights, Suttle became an instant “wire watcher,” keeping an eye out for power lines and other obstacles. “I hopped into the balloon, and it
32 OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING • JUNE 2021
took off before I knew it. Being able to see the countryside was the most awesome. It was so quiet,” Suttle recalls. She was hooked and crewed all summer. Suttle upped her balloon game when she bought a balloon, became a commercial pilot, and competed in the U.S. Nationals. Out of 100 pilots, she placed 17th in the nation. Suttle, president of the Northeast Ohio Balloon Pilots Association, lives in Tuscarawas County with her husband, Paul, also a pilot. Through their company, Dreams Come True (330-827-2695), they take people on an experience of a lifetime. “They get so excited. Our whole idea is to put smiles on people’s faces.” After Gary Tyo was bitten with balloon love in the early 1970s, he had a decision to make: Buy a balloon or renovate the kitchen. The balloon won. Tyo, along with his wife, Kim, turned piloting fun into Mid-Ohio Balloon Adventures (www.midohioballoon.com; 419-560-7535). Most days, as soon as Tyo and his passengers take off, usually from their Mount Gilead property, “people come out to see,” he says. “Children come running. I remember flying over someone’s house where a man was mowing his backyard. We landed in his front yard. He was so surprised to see us there when we came around the corner.” For Tyo, who flew over 70 flights in 2020, camaraderie and festivals are part of ballooning allure. “Balloonists are a bunch of good people,” he says. If he sees a balloon in the sky, he can’t help but follow it. Like Suttle and Tyo, Stew Gibboney’s balloon passion began at a festival. After 35 years of teaching high school auto mechanics, he turned his longtime balloon hobby into
Places to fall in balloon love Coshocton Balloon Festival June 10–12, 2021 Coshocton County Fairgrounds, Coshocton www.coshoctonhotairballoonfestival.com Over 20 hot air balloons, live music, carnival rides, foods, crafters, and flea market. Ashland Balloonfest June 24–26, 2021 Freer Field, SR 60 (Center St.) and Morgan Ave., Ashland www.ashlandohioballoonfest.com Balloon glow, balloon races, stage performances, food, sports tournaments, and more. All Ohio Balloonfest Aug. 12–14, 2021 Union County Airport, Marysville www.allohioballoonfest.com Balloons, live music, food, and aerial entertainment. Flag City Balloonfest Aug. 13–15, 2021 Emory Adams Park, Findlay www.flagcityballoonfest.com Balloon glow, 5K run, arts activities, food, and live music. a booming business and people magnet. “It’s like being the Pied Piper,” says Gibboney. “I wish I had a nickel for every time someone takes a picture of me.” With five ReMax balloons and nine pilots, his Grove City company, Gibboney’s Aerostation (www.balloonohio.com; 614-2715278), means photo ops aplenty. Gibboney sees ballooning as a growing sport but a pricey investment. “You really have to have a passion for it. If you have more time than money, crewing is a place to start.”
Defiance County Hot Air Balloon Festival Aug. 7, 2021 Defiance County Airport, Defiance www.defianceballoonfest.com Pancake breakfast, balloon glow, 5K run, live music, kids’ fun zone, touch-a-truck, food, and marketplace.
Russ Jurg’s passion began early. At age 4 or 5, his first taste for floating skyward started with his uncle in the Netherlands. “My uncle was a pilot for 45 years in Europe and turned it into an international business.” With his mother’s encouragement, Jurg reached for his childhood dream of becoming a certified FAA hot air balloon commercial pilot and then founded Columbus Aeronauts (www.columbusaeronauts.com; 614-699-1492). In early 2020, Jurg was part of an international 100-balloon-pilot event in Saudi Arabia, landing him on the cover of Ballooning, the national magazine of the Balloon Federation of America. These days, Jurg’s first-time balloon ride thrills come from his passengers. Boyfriends and girlfriends, mothers and daughters, couples double-dating, and bucket list combos keep him busy. “Through ballooning, we touch a lot of people’s lives,” Jurg says. JUNE 2021 • OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING 33
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ALL AMERICAN Louis Zona knows the score at the Butler Institute of American Art. BY DAMAINE VONADA
L
ouis Zona breathed a sigh of relief a couple of months ago when Snap the Whip safely returned to the Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown. Zona is the museum’s executive director, and last year’s worsening pandemic and riots concerned him because the priceless Winslow Homer painting was touring in a national show. “We don’t lend it often, and I worried for months,” he says. Considered Homer’s best work, the 1872 painting depicts high-spirited schoolboys playing an outdoor game. The Butler’s founder, Youngstown industrialist and pioneering American art collector Joseph G. Butler, purchased it shortly before the museum’s 1919 opening. “Snap the Whip is among the country’s most significant paintings because it captures America’s energy and confidence after the Civil War,” says Zona. “Winslow Homer was to painting what Mark Twain was to literature.”
36 OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING • JUNE 2021
The Butler was the first museum built solely for works by American artists, and for decades, Butler family members augmented its collection with masterpieces such as Albert Bierstadt’s The Oregon Trail and Edward Hopper’s Pennsylvania Coal Town. After Joseph G. Butler III died in 1981, Zona was appointed director. At the time, he chaired Youngstown State University’s art department, but his association with the museum began in the early 1970s. “My dissertation was about museum operations, and I used the Butler for my lab,” says Zona. He also was a model for Americans: Youngstown, Ohio, the museum’s monumental painting by Alfred Leslie that chronicles the devasting impact of the “Black Monday” in 1977 when 5,000 Youngstown steelworkers lost their jobs. Zona helped recruit the grim-faced men and women who appear in the painting. “Alfred wanted people from different backgrounds and told us to dress like we were going to the movies,” he recalls.
In 1987, Zona expanded the museum to include a space to exhibit sports art. Today, the Donnell Gallery showcases the games America plays, with works ranging from End Run, John Steuart Curry’s evocative college football lithograph, to Pete Rose, Andy Warhol’s pop art print. The first of its kind in any museum, the Donnell Gallery also reflects Zona’s fervor for sports. “Youngstown sits in a sports-crazy area that goes from eastern Ohio into western Pennsylvania, and I’m no different from everybody else,” says Zona. “I love baseball, and college football makes me crazy.” Zona grew up 20 miles from Youngstown in New Castle, Pennsylvania, and his boyhood idol was Mickey Mantle. “If Mantle went 0 for 4, I couldn’t sleep,” he says. When the 1960 World Series pitted his beloved Pittsburgh Pirates against Mantle’s New York Yankees, Zona had to make a hard choice, but he admits, “I’m a Pirates fan forever.” Both Mantle and Bill Mazeroski, whose home run clinched the series for the Pirates, are featured in the Donnell Gallery’s centerpiece painting, Baseball Album, by Gary Erbe. The Butler commissioned the piece, and its collage of items — including bats, gloves, and a Kellogg’s Corn Flakes box starring Ted Williams — convey the national pastime’s cultural impact. Zona has stories to share about virtually every work in the gallery. Pausing at Davey Moore, an oil painting of the featherweight champion from Springfield, he says, “The artist is Audrey Flack, who told me her father took her to boxing matches.” At Gowanus Canal, Randy Dudley’s vision of Brooklyn ice skaters, he says, “This was a gift
from a New York dealer, and it’s pure fantasy because the polluted canal never freezes.” At A Gentleman’s Sport, Gary Erbe’s golf canvas, Zona reveals he provided the vintage clubs that are part of the work. “Erbe was looking for old golf clubs,” he says, “and I still had my dad’s set.” His inside-baseball comments speak volumes about the Butler’s status as an all-time-great American institution. “Any museum in the world that is doing a show on American art calls on us,” he declares. For 40 years, Zona has acted as the Butler’s manager, coach, quarterback, scout, trainer, and head cheerleader, and during his tenure, the museum has tripled in size and grown its collection to some 22,000 works by thousands of American artists. “People sometimes ask why I’m not retired,” he says. “I tell them I love art, and I’m always happy when I’m here.”
The Butler Institute of American Art, 524 Wick Ave., Youngstown, Ohio, 44502. 330-7431107; www. butlerart.com.
Above right: Louis Zona with Rhoda Sherbell’s bronze bust of Yogi Berra (photo by Damaine Vonada). Above left: Snap the Whip, by Winslow Homer, 1872 (oil on canvas). Collection of The Butler Institute of American Art. Right: Baseball Album, by Gary Thomas Erbe, 2003 (oil on canvas). Collection of The Butler Institute of American Art.
JUNE 2021 • OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING 37
Get Inspired INDULGE IN ART
“A VISIT TO THE BUTLER IS LIKE A WALK THROUGH AMERICAN HISTORY, WITH MASTERPIECES LEADING THE WAY.” - DR. LOUIS ZONA, DIRECTOR AND CURATOR THE BUTLER INSTITUTE OF AMERICAN ART
Walk through history. Plan a weekend in Youngstown.
youngstownlive.com 800.447.8201
COOPERATIVE CALENDAR
PHOTO CONTEST
@youngstownlive
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Ohio Cooperative Living magazine is looking for photos from Ohio and West Virginia electric cooperative members to use in its 2022 cooperative calendar. We’re interested in seasonal scenes from each month of the year — images that really “pop” and convey a sense of time and place. Photo subjects must be interesting and the shot well planned and framed. If their images are chosen for publication, amateur co-op photographers could earn $100 or more. Rules • One photo entry per member. • High-resolution, color, digital images only. • No prints, slides, or proof sheets — no snail mail! Send submissions by email attachment only to photo@ohioec.org. • Photo format must be horizontal and capable of filling an 8 x 11-inch image area. • Include an explanation of the photo — the where, what, when — as well as who took the shot. • Include your name, address, phone number, and the name of your co-op.
Deadline for submission: Aug. 16 • photo@ohioec.org
38 OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING • JUNE 2021
• Shots featuring people who can be identified within the photo must be accompanied by a signed publication release.
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2021 CALENDAR
JUNE/JULY
NORTHWEST
THROUGH OCT. 9 – The Great Sidney Farmers Market, Courthouse Square, 109 S. Ohio Ave., every Saturday, 8 a.m.–noon. Produce, baked goods, and crafts. Follow “Sidney Alive” on Facebook or call 937-658-6945. THROUGH OCT. 30 – Bluffton Farmers Market, Citizens National Bank parking lot, 102 S. Main St., downtown Bluffton (2 mins. from I-75 exits 140 and 142), every Saturday, rain or shine, 8:30 a.m.–noon. Outdoor market offering local produce, plants, and cottage foods. Storytime with the Bluffton Public Library and live music on select Saturdays. www. explorebluffton.com/farmers-market. JUN. 12–13, JUL. 3–4 – The Fantastic Tiffin Flea Market, Seneca Co. Fgds., 100 Hopewell Ave., Tiffin, Sat. 9 a.m.–4 p.m., Sun. 9 a.m.–3 p.m. Free admission and parking; handicap accessible. 250 to 400 dealers per show, featuring a wide variety of merchandise. 419-447-9613, tiffinfleamarket@gmail. com, or www.tiffinfleamarket.com. JUN. 18–19 – Pork Rind Heritage Festival, Main Street, Harrod, Fri. 6 p.m.–midnight, Sat. 9 a.m.–midnight. Family fun, live entertainment, and, of course, freshly popped pork rinds! www. porkrindfest.com.
SOUTHWEST
THROUGH JUL. 28 – Bluegrass Wednesdays, Vinoklet Winery, 11069 Colerain Ave., Cincinnati, every Wednesday, 6:30–8:30 p.m. Enjoy dinner, wine, and an evening of lively bluegrass entertainment by Vernon McIntyre’s Appalachian Grass. Because of restricted seating due to COVID precautions, reservations are strongly recommended and should be made early. Call to confirm before driving. 513-385-9309 or vinokletwinery@fuse.net. THROUGH AUG. 7 – German Biergarten Experience, Germania Park, 3529 W. Kemper Rd., Cincinnati, 5–10 p.m. Enjoy German food, beer, and music. 513-742-0060 or https://germaniasociety. com/biergarten-experience.
PLEASE NOTE: Because of the developing coronavirus situation, many of these planned events may have been postponed or canceled. Please seek updated information before traveling. COMPILED BY COLLEEN ROMICK CLARK
JUN. 19 – Sidney Welcomes WOBA, downtown Sidney. Come for a day of fun, food, and music as we welcome the Western Ohio Bicycle Adventure. Follow “Sidney Alive” on Facebook or call us at 937-6586945 with questions. JUN. 19–20 – Ghost Town Spring Crafts and Antiques Festival, 10630 Co. Rd. 40, Findlay. A family event featuring crafts and antiques, live music and performances, food and beverages, and kids’ activities. See Facebook page for updated schedules. 419-673-7783 or www.facebook.com/Ghost-TownFindlay-Ohio-1525098627787387. JUN. 23 – Verendah Concert: Nostalgia, Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library and Museum, Spiegel Grove, Fremont, 6:30–8 p.m. Ice cream social at 6:30; concert begins at 7. Free, but donations accepted for ice cream. Vocal ensemble Nostalgia will perform songs from the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s. Please bring your own chair or blanket for seating on the lawn. 419-3322081 or www.rbhayes.org. JUN. 26 – Lake Seneca Annual “Miles of Yard Sales,” off N. St. Rte. 576, 1-1/4 miles north of U.S. 20, Montpelier (Bridgewater Township). Chicken dinners ready around 10:30 a.m. at Arrowhead Lodge with plenty of extras and homemade bake sale items. We will have takeout food per health department regulations, but we can allow a small number of guests inside. If any questions, call 419-485-0393. JUN. 26 – Lima Half-Mile Motorcycle Races, Allen Co. Fgds., 2750 Harding Hwy., Lima, 6:30 p.m. Gates open at 1 p.m. $30–$45. Presale tickets available online. See the Grand National Circuit’s top racers in the nation. Meet the drivers during open pits, watch their teams work, get autographs, and take photos before racing begins. www.limahalfmile.com or www. americanflattrack.com/events. JUN. 27 – Author Kirby Whitacre, Fort Recovery State Museum, 1 Fort Site St., Fort Recovery, 3 p.m.
Free. The title of the presentation is “Characters of the 1790–95 Indian War and the Little-Known Facts That Tie History Together.” His book, The Spirit Traveler: The Northwest Indian War in the Ohio Country, will be available for purchase and signing. 419-375-4384 or www.fortrecoverymuseum.com. JUL. 4 – Independence Day Concert, Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library and Museum, Spiegel Grove, Fremont, 2–3:30 p.m. Free. Celebrate the holiday with this patriotic concert by the Toledo Symphony Concert Band on the verandah of the historic Hayes Home. Bring your own chair or blanket for seating on the lawn. 419-332-2081 or www. rbhayes.org. JUL. 7 – Verandah Concert: Cottonwood Jam String Band, Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library and Museum, Spiegel Grove, Fremont, 6:30–8 p.m. Free. Ice cream social at 6:30; concert begins at 7. Enjoy a free concert of traditional acoustic string music. Donations accepted for ice cream. Bring your own chair or blanket for seating on the lawn. 419-3322081 or www.rbhayes.org. JUL. 9–11 – Flag City Daylily Tour, locations around Findlay, Fri./Sat. 10 a.m.–6 p.m., Sun. 12–6 p.m. Free. The sixth annual self-guided tour features seven daylily gardens, each with its own personality. Tour at your leisure and see more than 3,000 different registered daylilies. Some gardens will have plants for sale. 419-889-8827, email Mike at anders@findlay. edu, or www.pplantpeddler.com. JUL. 10–11 – Toledo Lighthouse Waterfront Festival, Maumee Bay State Park, 1750 State Park Rd. #2, Oregon. Arts and crafts, live music, kids’ activities, lighthouse stories, food, and more. Boat rides to lighthouse, weather permitting ($30); for reservations, email sandylakeerie@aol.com or text 419-367-1691. www.toledolighthousefestival.com.
JUN. 11–13 – Versailles Poultry Days, 459 S. Center St., Versailles. Free admission and parking. Featuring the world-famous barbecue chicken dinners, plus contests, tournaments, musical entertainment, antique car show and parade, kiddie tractor pull, and much more! 937-526-9773 or www. versaillespoultrydays.com. JUN. 19 – West Milton Triathlon, starting at West Milton Municipal Park and ending at park entrance. Consists of 3.5 miles canoeing, 5 miles running, and 17 miles biking. Compete solo or in teams of two. Registration fee to participate. 937-698-0287 or www.speedy-feet.com. JUN. 25 – Bluegrass Night, Fibonacci Brewing Company, 1445 Compton Rd., Cincinnati, 7–9 p.m. Free. Enjoy an evening of craft beers and lively bluegrass music by Vernon McIntyre’s Appalachian Grass. Food truck available on site. Schedule may change due to COVID restrictions; please verify before traveling. 513-832-1422 or http://fibbrew.com. JUN. 26–27 – Lebanon Garden Tour, starting at Ohio Train Station, 198 S. Broadway, Lebanon, 11 a.m.–5 p.m. $15 advance, $20 day of tour; free for children 12 and under. Stroll through five private gardens plus the gardens at the Glendower Historic Mansion and a beautiful pet cemetery. This year the tour also features a scavenger hunt. 513-932-3430 or www.facebook.com/LebanonGardenTour.
JUL. 4 – Piqua 4th Fest, Lock Nine Park, downtown Piqua, noon–9:30 p.m., fireworks at 10 p.m. Activities for all ages at this hometown celebration of Independence Day. www.piquaoh.org/piqua-4th-fest. JUL. 5 – Americana Festival, Franklin and Main streets, Centerville. 5K run at 7:30 a.m.; parade at 10 a.m.; street fair 9:30 a.m.–5 p.m., featuring 300 art, craft, and food booths. Kick off the festival on the 4th with music and fireworks at Centerville High School Stadium, 500 E. Franklin St.; gates open at 6 p.m. 937-433-5898 or www.americanafestival.org. JUL. 8–11 – Greenville Farm Power of the Past, Darke Co. Fgds., 800 Sweitzer St., Greenville. $5; free for age 12 and under. Featuring International Harvester tractors, equipment, lawn and garden tractors, trucks, and gas engines; Sears lawn and garden tractors; and hot air engines. 937-547-1845 or www.greenvillefarmpower.org. JUL. 9–11 – Kathy Slack Troy Summer Skating Competition, Hobart Arena, 255 Adams St., Troy. Figure and freestyle competition. www. troyskatingclub.org. JUL. 10–11 – Dayton Air Show, Dayton International Airport, 3800 Wright Dr., Vandalia. See website for details about the new drive-in format. Starting at $99 for a carload of 6. See the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds as well as a lineup of amazing performers. www.daytonairshow.com.
JUNE 2021 • OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING 41
2021 CALENDAR
JUNE/JULY
PLEASE NOTE: Because of the developing coronavirus situation, many of these planned events may have been postponed or canceled. Please seek updated information before traveling.
JUN. 25 – Joe Leaman and Friends, Secrest Arboretum Amphitheater, 2122 Williams Rd., Wooster, 6:30–8:30 pm. Free. The steel drum ensemble brings you the high-energy sounds of the Caribbean. In the event of rain, the concert will be held at Fisher Auditorium, 1680 Madison Ave. 419853-6016 or www.ormaco.org. JUN. 25–27 – Cy Young Days Festival, Newcomerstown. Food, entertainment, contests and competitions, car show, old-fashioned baseball games, and parade featuring a former Cy Young Award winner. Check website for updates. www. cyyoungdaysfestival.com. THROUGH JUN. 30 – Ohio Pioneers Exhibit, Historic JUN. 26–27 – Kelleys Island Motorcycle Tour, Fort Steuben, 120 S. 3rd St., Steubenville, Mon.–Fri., throughout Kelleys Island. Begin a self-led ride to the 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Free. Display based on the acclaimed Kelleys Island Ferry Boat Line in Marblehead; once David McCullough book The Pioneers, which you arrive on the island, visit all 10 stops to enter the chronicles the early settlement of Ohio. 740-283-1787 grand prize drawing. Registration on Jun. 17, 10 a.m.– or www.oldfortsteuben.com. 2 p.m., at Mad River Harley Davidson, 5316 Milan Rd., THROUGH JUL. 29 – Fort Steuben Summer Sandusky. $10 fee gets you a scorecard and ferry Concert Series, Fort Steuben Park, 120 S. 3rd St., access wristband; $20 per bike for the round-trip ferry Steubenville, every Thursday evening. Free. Featuring ride. 419-746-2360 or www.kelleysislandchamber. a variety of live musical performances. Bring a blanket com. or chair. 740-283-1787 or www.oldfortsteuben.com. JUN. 27 – Bus Trip to Cleveland’s Playhouse THROUGH OCT. 30 – “Live Birds of Prey,” Square: My Fair Lady, departure from Medina at Mohican State Park Lodge and Conference Cr., 11:30 a.m., return trip at 5 p.m. From Lincoln Center 4700 Goon Rd., Perrysville, every Saturday at 7 Theater comes director Bartlett Sher’s glowing p.m. Enjoy an up-close experience with a variety production of the Lerner and Loewe classic. Hop on of Ohio’s bird species. Presented by the Ohio Bird the bus at Buehler’s River Styx in Medina, enjoy a Sanctuary. Free and open to the public. 419-938catered box lunch, flowing beverages, homemade 5411 or www.discovermohican.com/event. cookies, chocolates, a trivia quiz, and more! Seating JUN. 11–13 – Founders’ Day Weekend, Stan Hywet is limited, so book now to avoid disappointment. Orchestra seating, $105; balcony seating, $75. Call Hall and Gardens, 714 N. Portage Path, Akron. www. 419-853-6016 or visit www.ormaco.org. stanhywet.org. JUN. 27 – Akron-Canton Comic Con, Chapparell’s JUN. 19 – Opera Under the Stars, Uptown Park, Community Ctr., 2418 S. Arlington Rd., Akron (I-77 Medina, 7 p.m. Members of the Cleveland Opera at exit 120), 10 a.m.–4 p.m. $6; age 6 and under Theater return for the sixth season. Enjoy some of your favorite opera tunes and beloved melodies from free. Cosplay contest! www.harpercomics.com/ conventions.php. operettas and musicals, as well as lesser-known works. Bring your lawn chairs, blankets, and picnics JUN. 30 – Father’s Day Car Show, Stan Hywet Hall to enjoy this free concert. In the event of rain, the and Gardens, 714 N. Portage Path, Akron, 9 a.m.–3 concert will be held at the United Church of Christ, 217 p.m. $14, C. (6–17) $6, under 6 free. View 400 E. Liberty St. 419-853-6016 or www.ormaco.org. classic, antique, and collector cars manufactured from 1915 to 1996. New category is stock antique
NORTHEAST
WEST VIRGINIA
42 OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING • JUNE 2021
JUN. 19–20 – Contemporary Muzzleloader Gun Exhibit, Prickett’s Fort, 88 State Park Rd., Fairmont, Sat. 10 a.m.–4 p.m., Sun. 12–4 p.m. Talk to the makers of these Early American firearms and get their insight on building these beautiful rifles. You will learn about the techniques and materials that are used for 21st-century gun building. 304-363-3030 or www.prickettsfort.org. JUL. 2–4 – Mountain State Art and Craft Fair, Cedar Lakes Conference Ctr., 82 FFA Dr., Ripley. 304514-2609 or https://visitripleywv.com. JUL. 4 – Independence Day Celebration, Prickett’s Fort, 88 State Park Rd., Fairmont, 12–4 p.m. Reading of the Declaration of Independence at noon. Come hear the reading of one of the greatest
motorcycles and production motorcycles, 1985 and earlier. www.stanhywet.org. JUN. 30–JUL. 4 – Orrville Firefighters Fire in the Sky July 4th Celebration, Orr Park, 440 N. Elm St., Orrville. Parade 6/30 at 7 p.m., fireworks 7/4 at 10:15 p.m., softball tournament, carnival, and more. This is what a hometown festival is all about! See website for a full list of festival events and times. 330-684-5051 or www.orrvillefireinthesky.com. JUL. 3 – Red, White & BOOM!, downtown riverfront and the Arena District, Columbus, noon–midnight. Kids’ activities, live music, parade, and much more, ending with Ohio’s largest fireworks display. Subject to cancellation due to COVID concerns, so check website for updates. www.redwhiteandboom.org. JUL. 4 – July 4th Celebration, Fort Steuben Park, 120 S. 3rd St., Steubenville. Music, food, fireworks, and festivities. 740-283-1787 or www.oldfortsteuben.com. JUL. 8–11 – Olde Canal Days Festival, 123 Tuscarawas St., Canal Fulton, Thur./Fri. 5–11 p.m., Sat. 11 a.m.–11 p.m. Parade, fireworks, rides, games, entertainment, arts and crafts, concessions, and St. Helena III canal boat rides. 330-854-9095 or www. discovercanalfulton.com. JUL. 10–11 – Ashland County Yesteryear Machinery Club Annual Show, Ashland County–West Holmes Career Ctr., 1783 St. Rte. 60, Ashland, Sat. 9 a.m.–5 p.m., Sun. 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Free; donations accepted. Featuring the Buckeye Allis Club and Allis Chalmers tractors and equipment. All makes tractors/equipment and military vehicles are welcome. R/C pulls, truck and tractor pulls, kiddies’ pedal pull (Sun. noon), threshing, hit-and-miss engines. Food concessions available. Contact Kevin Williard at 330-496-3382. JUL. 11 – Antique Motorcycle Ride In/Display, Towpath Cabinn, 4462 Erie St. NW, Massillon, noon–3 p.m. Bring your antique bike or just come as a spectator. All are welcome! Sponsored by the Buckeye Chapter of the Antique Motorcycle Club of America. JUL. 13–18 – Trumbull County Fair, 899 Everett Hull Rd., Cortland. An array of grandstand entertainment, daily shows, local bands, exhibits, and rides. 330-6376010 or www.trumbullcountyfair.com.
Submit listings AT LEAST 90 DAYS prior to the event to Ohio Cooperative Living, 6677 Busch Blvd., Columbus, OH 43229 or events@ohioec.org. Ohio Cooperative Living will not publish listings that don’t include a complete address or a number/website for more information.
documents ever written, second only to the United States Constitution. Half-price admission for all U.S. veterans and active military. 304-363-3030 or www. prickettsfort.org.
assist the helmsman in steering the canal boat. www. visitcoshocton.com/events-list.php. THROUGH OCT. 30 – Zanesville Farmers Market, Adornetto’s, 2224 Maple Ave., Zanesville, every Saturday, 9 a.m.–noon. June through August, the market will als be open on North 3rd Street every Wednesday, 4–7 p.m. www. zanesvillefarmersmarket.org. JUN. 8, JUL. 13 – Inventors Network Meeting, virtual event, 7 p.m. Educational presentations and discussion about the invention process. The topic for June is “How to License an Idea without a Patent”; for July, “How Industrial Design Could Enhance the Appeal of My Invention.” 614-470-0144 or www. inventorscolumbus.com. THROUGH SEP. 25 – Canal Winchester Farmers Market, 100 N. High St., Canal Winchester, every JUN. 17–19 – Washboard Music Festival, Main Saturday, 9 a.m.–noon. Locally grown produce, home- Street, Logan. Free. Ohio’s most unique music and baked goods, fresh meat, and craft items. 614-270arts festival, celebrating the old-fashioned washboard 5053 or go to www.thecwfm.com. as a musical instrument. Featuring music with rub THROUGH SEP. 30 – Pickerington Farmers Market, board or washboard percussion, plus arts/crafts, demonstrations, food concessions, kids’ activities, 89 N. Center St., Pickerington, every Thursday, 4–7 Columbus Washboard Factory tours, and other special p.m. Fresh produce, baked goods, crafts, and more. events. 740-277-1806, washboardfestival@gmail.com, www.pickeringtonvillage.com/events. or www.washboardmusicfestival.com. THROUGH OCT. 16 – Lorena Sternwheeler Public JUN. 18 – United Way Day of Action, downtown Cruises, Zanesville, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Lancaster, 9 a.m.–noon. Free event for kids and Saturdays. See website for schedule. $12, Srs. $10, C. (2–12) $8. Enjoy a relaxing cruise down the Muskingum families. Free T-shirts to the first 250 kids. Event will include games and activities promoting physical activity River. Board at Zane’s Landing Park, located on and fun! 740-653-0643 or www.uwayfairfieldco.org. the west end of Market Street. 740-455-8282, www.facebook.com/LorenaSternwheeler, or www. JUN. 28–JUL. 3 – Marion County Fair, 220 E. visitzanesville.com/Lorena. Fairground St., Marion. Harness racing, truck and THROUGH OCT. 17 – Monticello III Canal Boat Rides, tractor pulls, rodeo, rides, live music, and much more. Enjoy spectacular fireworks at 10 p.m. on the 3rd. 740Sat./Sun. 1–4 p.m. $8, Srs. $7, Stds. (6–18) $6, under 6 free. Huge draft horse teams pull the canal boat along 382-2558 or www.marioncountyfairgrounds.com. an original section of the Ohio and Erie Canal as the JUN. 30–JUL. 4 – Ashville 4th of July Celebration, boat captain entertains you with tall tales and history of Ashville Park (across from 200 E. Station St.), 1800s life on the canal. You’ll feel like you’ve actually Ashville. Our five-day celebration features our glided right into the 1830s! You might even get to famous fish fry, where we’ll be frying over 2,500
CENTRAL
SOUTHEAST
THROUGH OCTOBER – Rise and Shine Farmers Market, 2245 Southgate Pkwy., Cambridge, every Friday, 8 a.m.–noon. 740-680-1866 or find us on Facebook. THROUGH DECEMBER – Athens Farmers Market, 1000 E. State St., Athens, every Wednesday, 9 a.m.–1 p.m.; every Saturday, 9 a.m.–noon. Buy local and support your local economy. The market showcases farmers, orchardists, specialty food producers, bakers, horticulturalists, cheese makers, and many other food-based entrepreneurs. 740-593-6763 or www. athensfarmersmarket.org. JUN. 11–12 – Southern Ohio Forest Rally, Chillicothe/Scioto Trails (Friday), West
Portsmouth/Shawnee Forest (Saturday). www. southernohioforestrally.com. JUN. 17–SEP. 5 – Tecumseh!, Sugarloaf Mountain Amphitheatre, 5968 Marietta Rd., Chillicothe, Mon.– Sat. 8 p.m. $21–$50. Witness the epic life story of the legendary Shawnee leader as he defends his sacred homelands in the 1700s. 740-775-4100 or www. tecumsehdrama.com. JUN. 18 – AAP/Millennium Street Rodders Cruise-In, Advance Auto Parts, 1717 Southgate Pkwy., Cambridge, 5 p.m. All years of cars, trucks, motorcycles, and rat rods are welcome. Old-time music and 50/50. 740-435-0144. JUN. 19 – National Road Bike Show and Ribfest, downtown Cambridge, 11.am.–7 p.m. Hot rods, Harleys, Yamahas, and more will take over Wheeling Avenue from 8th Street to 10th Street. Live entertainment, vendors, food trucks, and more. 740439-2238 or www.downtowncambridge.com. JUN. 22–25 – Passport to Fun: Summer Camp at the Museum, Ohio River Museum, 610 Front St., Marietta, 9:30 a.m.–3 p.m. $100 per student. For children ages 7–12. Register at https:// mariettamuseums.org/events. JUL. 1–4 – Beast of the East Baseball Tournament, locations throughout eastern/ southeastern Ohio, as well as West Virginia and
pounds of perch. Free entertainment daily, three parades, lots of great food, and a large midway. Grand Parade at 11 a.m. and fireworks at 10 p.m. on the 4th. http://ashville4thofjuly.com. JUL. 3–4 – Stars and Stripes on the River, Zane’s Landing Park, west end of Market Street (along river), Zanesville. Live music, great food, and activities for all ages. Fireworks on the 4th. All proceeds benefit the community. www.zanesvillejaycees.org/Events/StarsStripes-On-The-River-Zanesville-Ohio. JUL. 8–10 – Pottery Lovers Show and Sale, Holiday Inn Express, 1101 Spring St., Zanesville. Join fellow pottery lovers from across the nation at the largest and oldest gathering of pottery collectors and dealers. 609-407-9997, potteryloversinfo@gmail.com, or www. potterylovers.org. JUL. 9-11 – Lilyfest 2021. Celebrate Lilyfest’s 30th anniversary in-person at Bishop Educational Gardens, 13200 Little Cola Road, Rockbridge. Beautiful garden experience and outdoor education combined with Appalachian artwork, folk music, and more. Reservations required in advance at http://www.lilyfest. com, Free admission, $5 parking. JUL. 11 – The Nostalgics, Victoria Opera House, 101 S. Main St., Baltimore, 3 p.m. Under the direction of Dr. Charles Hildreth, this dynamic big band will fill the historic opera house with swinging music from the Great American Songbook! 614-450-0237 or www. baltimoredowntownrestoration.com. JUL. 11 – Union County Master Gardener Tour of Gardens, 18000 OH-4, Marysville, 11 a.m.–5 p.m. Tickets $8 presale, $10 day of tour. See landscaping examples of perennial, shade, wildflower, and vegetable gardens at residences and the demonstration gardens at the Agricultural Center. There will be educational displays at each site. 937644-8117, https://union.osu.edu, or on Facebook: http:// bit.ly/UCMGFB.
southwestern Pennsylvania. The largest baseball tournament in the country, with over 160 teams. The tournament also offers an annual baseball showcase where participants perform for college coaches and professional baseball scouts. 304281-0525, beastoftheeast@gmail.com, or www. beastoftheeast.org. JUL. 2–3 – Gallipolis River Recreation Festival, Gallipolis City Park, 300 block of Second Ave., Gallipolis. Parade, contests, musical entertainment, arts and crafts, kids’ activities, food, fireworks, and more. 740-446-0596 or www.gallipolisriverrec.com. JUL. 2–4 – Ohio Jeep Fest, Ross Co. Fgds., 344 Fairgrounds Rd., Chillicothe. $10–$30, free for ages 12 and under. Drivers test their wheeling skills and participate in trail-rated challenges. Daily kids’ zone, vendors, obstacle course, mud pits, food, and fun for the whole family. www.ohiojeepfest.com. JUL. 10–11 – Epworth Park Chautauqua Days, Epworth Park, 211 Virginia St., Bethesda. Take a stroll down memory lane and relive the feelings of the days of yore at this historic Methodist Campground. Stroll along the lake, enjoy the beautiful fountain, and reminisce under the majestic oaks at the park. This event features a parade, youth fishing tournament, craft vendors, concession stands, miniature train rides for children, live music, car show, and much more. www.visitbelmontcounty.com/events.
JUNE 2021 • OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING 43
MEMBER INTERACTIVE
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Ohio landscape 1. Driving the back roads of Washington County. Amy Hacker Washington Electric Cooperative member
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2. Outside of Heritage Park in Colerain Township on a warm, overcast October day. Herman Meyer Butler Rural Electric Cooperative member 3. One of the trails at Hocking Hills State Park in Logan. Janeen Melroy North Central Electric Cooperative member 4. Ohio countryside in Tuscarawas County, 2021. Rose Edwards Guernsey-Muskingum Electric Cooperative member
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5. Horses and sheep frolic in the meadow in Knox County. Rachel Blevins Consolidated Cooperative member 6. Located in Tuscarawas County outside Berlin. Jodi Bird South Central Power Company member Below: Countryside cabin off the side roads in Blue Creek.
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Sharon Coleman Adams Rural Electric Cooperative member
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44 OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING • JUNE 2021
COMMITTED TO OUR
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30’x40’x10’ • Garage/Hobby Shop
•2-10x10 Garage Doors
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•1-3’ Entry Door
•1-3’ Entry Door
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30’x60’x12’ • Storage Building
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24’x32’x10’ • Garage/Hobby Shop
•1-60’ Sidewall Open •5-12’ Bays •3’ Overhang On Front
30’x36’x10’ Horse Barn with 8’ Lean-to
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Installed
Installed •2-9x8 Garage Doors •1-3’ Entry Door •Sof�it Optional
30’x48’x16’ • Drive Thru RV Storage
Installed •2-12x14 Garage Doors •1-3’ Entry Door •Sof�it/Wainscot Optional