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Super Bowl XLVIII has local flavor
RESS December 23, 2013
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By Mark Griffin Press Contributing Writer sports@presspublications.com
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So never tell yourself that it’s too late because your mind will believe it. Bryan Golden See inside
Holiday treat
Pre-kindergarten student Michael Luther says a prayer before snack-time at a Christmas celebration at St. Kateri Catholic Academy. See more photos from this event, inside. (Press photo by Ken Grosjean)
Music, art could drive Main St. By J. Patrick Eaken Press Staff Writer news@presspublications.com When the LeSo Art Gallery on Starr Avenue celebrated its one-year anniversary, 400 to 500 people showed up to celebrate, estimates District 3 councilman Mike Craig. The art gallery is joined on the MainStarr corridor by Frankies Inner City Rock Club and Mainstreet, which both play host to some of the most recognized artists while they tour through the nation. Craig sees an opportunity, and he’s not the only one. Earlier this month, he held a two-anda-half hour forum at LeSo Art Gallery to discuss with the corridor’s property and business owners the future of the Main Street corridor. He, and about a half dozen property and business owners in attendance, would like to see more art, music, and culture. “This is an idea that can really revitalize five or six blocks of Main Street,” Craig said. “You know what the good part is? We don’t need very much from the city. If we get something from the city, if we get grants and stuff, that’s great. “If the business owners are satisfied with the way things are going now, then you know what, I’m done. But if they are
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This is an idea that can really revitalize five or six blocks of Main Street.
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Brad Morrison and the other 31 fulltime employees at Maumee Bay Turf Center in Oregon are truly feeling “Super” these days. MBTC, 7240 S. Stadium Rd., was contracted to help install the turf at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., home of Super Bowl XLVIII on Feb. 2. The Jets and Giants both share the stadium. Morrison, MBTC’s chief executive officer, said the turf was installed last June and July. “There were six installers that go, from all over the country,” Morrison said. “We have guys from the state of Oregon, Texas, and Canada. We did 16 fields this summer and had zero punch list items. A punch list is like when you walk through your house and find things and fix them. We want the field to be perfect. The surface has to be pristine and we did that, and that’s unheard of. We are trying to set a new standard in the industry.” It is the second year in a row that Maumee Bay Turf has installed the turf at a Super Bowl stadium. When New Orleans’ Louisiana Superdome, home of last year’s Super Bowl, decided it was time to replace the field, they invited the leading synthetic turf companies to install test strips so they could evaluate the playing surfaces. When the evaluation was over, the players, coaches, and Superdome management group decided to install the Speed S5-M synthetic turf system by UBU Sports and Oregon-based Maumee Bay Turf Center. Morrison said six people can install a turf field in about 20 days. He said what is unique about MetLife Stadium is that, although the NFL shield logo in the middle of the field is permanent, the aluminum “trays” in the end zone have to be replaced nearly every week during the 16-game NFL season. “One week it will say Giants,” Morrison said, “and another weekend it will say Jets.” It’s the same turf that will be used for the big game — the Super Bowl logo and other art are painted when the time comes.
not satisfied, and they want something better for their businesses, for their property, then this is a good plan. It’s nothing that I came up with on my own. We just need to get the business owners and the property owners together and organize. We have to show them what’s possible. That’s all we need to do because they’ll see what’s possible and they are the ones with the property there. They are going to do what they need to do to make their property more profitable.” Craig plans to hold another forum January 22 at 6 p.m. at a site to be announced, and he’s bringing in a special
presenter — Robb Hankins, the CEO of ArtsinStark, the Stark County Arts Council. Craig is also expecting economic development representatives from Mayor-Elect Mike Collins administration and the Toledo Arts Council to be there. Hankins played a major role turning around similar business districts in nine communities across the country. His latest project was in Canton, beginning seven years ago, where the arts council and the chamber of commerce partnered to revitalize the downtown business district. “He’s done this before and I just kind of want people to understand that this isn’t just something that I’ve come up with and that it’s some wild idea that I have,” Craig said. “This is an idea that he has used in two or three different places and it’s worked. Other people have used it all over the nation and it worked. And, I am happy to steal their idea.” There’s safety in numbers Believe it or not, Main Street has been rated highly for this kind of thing by at least one study. “Part of neighborhood development, they talk about walk-ability. How walk-able a neighborhood is. What services can you get by walking if you live in that neighbor-
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