Wizard of Oz fans in Northeast Ohio do not need to travel on the yellow brick road to see the Wizard. The Bertram Inn & Hotel Conference Center hosted the Wizard of Expo for the second consecutive year in Aurora over the weekend of Oct. 27-Oct. 29.
“It is still working and people are still coming and very year we improve and it is a work in progress,” Wizard of Oz Expo Creative Director Joe Shipbaugh told The Weekly Villager. “It is a nice crowd of people to come in and have a good time.”
Shipbaugh, of Canton, partnered with Don Davis, the event director, six years ago to bring the Expo to Northeast Ohio after several years traveling to attend the Wizard of Oz Expo in Chesterton, IN.
Shipbaugh, who has been a fan of the movie since he was 2, said what he liked most about attending the Expo was the cast of character actors who performed every year and also having the chance to buy more memorabilia.
“My favorite thing about going as a kid was being such a big fan and a collector and having a place to go where I could buy so much stuff,” he said.
The Town of Chesterton hosted the Festival for 28 years but ended that tradition in 2008.
According to Shipbaugh, several years after the Festival ended Davis approached him with the idea of hosting an event in Northeast Ohio.
“It was something I was like, okay, we have some big shoes to fill,” he added. “I was excited. It’s exciting to have something Wizard of OZ-related event so close to home.”
The two began hosting the Expo in 2017 and it originally took place in Macedonia, Davis’ place of residence, and then moved it to Twinsburg because Shipbaugh said the outdoor park was a better venue.
The Expo shut down for several years after the COVID-19 pandemic but returned in 2021 in Twinsburg and then came to Aurora in 2022.
“We decided to do indoors because outside was too much of a risk with the weather at that time of year, so we decided to move it to Aurora because they had the Bertram Event Center and it was a good place to host something indoors,” Shipbaugh said.
For Wizard of Oz Fans, the fantasy becomes a reality. Upon entering the Bertram Inn & Hotel Conference Center, they were greeted by a cast of character actors from local theaters to take pictures against a backdrop.
There was great fan interaction throughout the event with a trivia contest held in a conference room and every right answer would win someone cashier tickets that could be redeemed at the prize booth, offering prizes such as plush dolls and figurines courtesy of Davis, who sells Wizard of Oz collectibles as a business.
Another captivating event of the Expo was a puppet show that acted the entire plot of the movie, courtesy of Steven’s Puppets, a company that puts on fully-staged productions of fairy tales and classic children’s literature.
According to Shipbaugh, one of the best parts of the experience was that each performance happened multiple times throughout the day, giving visitors the chance to take in the Expo at their own pace.
Many people who attended the Expo showed up in costumes as their favorite character ranging from the central characters like Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man or the Cowardly Lion to the Tornado, Yellow Brick Road and even the Angry Talking Tree.
The Expo also invited several local vendors to attend and sell their products like board games, puzzles, magnets, porcelain dolls, and welcomed up-and-coming author, Jordan Riley Swan from Columbus, to sell copies of Through an Emerald Glaze.
The romance and fantasy-fiction author said his novel was a combination of the elements from The Wizard of Oz and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
A big advocate of the fantasy genre, Riley Swan said he was impressed with everything the Expo had to offer.
“It’s super exciting,” he said. “One thing I did not count on was how accepting the Oz community is and how they just want to support people who are creating in the Oz realms. Oz has always been accepting of everyone for so long that it just feels natural for it be a safe place.”
After another successful weekend of celebrating The Wizard of Oz, Shipbaugh said he and Davis will explore the possibility of moving the Expo to an outdoor venue next year.
