Mantua Designated As Buckeye Trail Town
Mantua - The Buckeye Trail winds a large loop around Ohio, spanning over 1,400 miles. From a beachhead on Lake Erie near Cleveland, to a hilltop overlooking the Ohio River in Cincinnati, hikers on the Buckeye Trail(BT) can experience a bit of all that Ohio has to offer as they travel the trail. Many aren’t aware that our area...
Portage County Clothing Center Looking for Volunteers
Ravenna - For over 30 years, the Phyllis Zumkehr County Clothing Center, located at 3377 OH-59 in Ravenna, has helped families and individuals in Portage County by providing clothing, shoes and household items at no cost. By doing this, the County Clothing Center is able to offer comfort and confidence to those in need in our community. With the school...
Portage Park District Seeks Public Input On New Properties
Ravenna – Portage Park District is now seeking public input to inform plans for creating two new parks on properties acquired in recent years, currently known as the ‘Tinkers Creek Greenway’ and the ‘Kent Bog Expansion’. Input from the community is being collected on the types of amenities that will be added to each location and suggestions for the...
Library Director encourages residents to take part in a community conversation
Geauga County – How do you want your community library to serve you? That question will be discussed in conversations in Thompson and Bainbridge in July. These discussions will serve as a critical step in establishing the types of spaces that patrons can look forward to. Whether the need is for more creativity and storytime rooms or for private...
Upcoming Events at the Garrettsville Library
Learn Japanese Calligraphy II - Guest speaker Haruhide Osugi will speak about calligraphy again on Monday, July 16 at the Garrettsville Library from 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm. Osugi, a Japanese outreach coordinator from Kent State University’s Department of Modern and Classical Languages, will go into more details regarding calligraphy skills and those attending will get the chance to...
Pathways Of Hope’s Holistic Approach to Long-term Care
Portage County - Pathways of Hope is a collaborative, holistic approach to providing strength-based, long-term case management as part of the Salvation Army’s initiative to help families with minor children break the cycle of multi-generational poverty by identifying barriers that prevent families from attaining self-sufficiency. The program elevates the impact for families using Salvation Army services and connects clients...
A Weekend Of Great Events In Hiram
Hiram - On July 14th, the Hiram Police Department will hold its annual “Fill a Police Car” Food Drive and Pet Adoption event. Last year there were over 400 pounds of nonperishable food that was collected for the area Food Cupboard and over 350 pounds of pet food donated, that went to the Portage County Animal Protective League. There will...
Special Event In Middlefield Marks 200 Years
Middlefield - Here’s a local history question for you to try: What’s the oldest building in Middlefield? It’s the building now known as the Century Inn, formerly known as Thompson Tavern or Batavia House. Now home to Middlefield Historical Society, the Century Inn has reached a major landmark. The main building was erected in 1818 by James Thompson (a member...
Hiram Township Trustee News
Hiram Twp - Fiscal Officer Diane Rodhe noted that Portage County Recycling sent a reminder about recyclable items. According to the note cans, bottles, beverage and food cartons are all acceptable for recycling, as long as they have been rinsed. In addition, cardboard is acceptable, but must not contain grease or food remnants. They conveyed the need for residents...
Local Family Provides Scholarships…and Hope
Mantua - “We are happy to finally announce the scholarship winners from the 2017 raffle,” Nora Brant announced, sharing the details of this year’s winners of the Meghan R. Brant Memorial Quilt raffle. “We held off on this announcement in order to make it part of the Senior Award ceremony for one of the candidates,” she a explained. “Congratulations...
A Little Garrettsville History Lesson…
In 1803 John Garrett of Christian Hundred, Delaware bought 300A of land in the Wild West--OHIO--for $1,313 (about $4.38 per acre). A year later, he and his family--wife, children, two slave girls--and Abraham Dyson, a blacksmith, arrived at his property in the southwest corner of Nelson township in the Connecticut Western Reserve in the new state of Ohio, finding...
ASPIRE Celebrates HSE Graduation
Approximately 250 guests attended the ASPIRE HSE Recognition that was hosted by The Portage County Literacy Coalition on Thursday, June 7, 2018, held at Maplewood Career Center. Laure Gauntner, ASPIRE Coordinator and Portage County Literacy Coalition President, welcomed HSE graduates, guests, and friends. She also introduced special speakers: Christy Elliott, ASPIRE Program Manager; Mike Kerrigan, Portage County Commissioner, Sasha...
Garrettsville Farmers’ Market Open For Business
How Ya gonna keep ‘em down on the farm? Well, who wants to, when they can come to the Garrettsville Farmers’ Market every Thursday from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m.? Yes, indeedy, the summer is looking more tasty already, after the grand opening on June 21, for all comers—and there were quite a few. The Market will be held on the...
99th Reunion of Newton Falls Schoolmates & Friends
The Newton Falls Schoolmates and Friends 99th reunion was celebrated June 16th at DiVieste’s Banquet Room in Warren with 337 persons in attendance. Welcoming the schoolmates in the foyer were members of the Class of 1969, Ken Layshock, Dennis Kirkland, Rosie Domyanich, Howie Wolf, Linda Bennight, Delbert Wolaski. The celebration began with the members of the honored class of 1968...
Portage Park District launches community Park Prescription program
Portage Park District recently launched its Park Prescription program, known as Park Rx. The program’s goal is to help the community get healthy and stay healthy while enjoying Portage Parks. Park Rx encourages visitors to use parks to focus on taking care of their health, including taking part in activities like walking or biking, rehabilitating after surgery or simply...
Clerical Error Corrected at Nelson Trustee Meeting
Nelson Twp. – Township officials present at the second Nelson Township trustee meeting of June were Fiscal Officer John David Finney; Trustees Kevin Cihan, Anne Mae VanDerHoeven, and Joe Leonard. The meeting was called to order by Leonard at 7:00pm. The trustees were presented with meeting minutes from the previous meeting held on June 6, which were approved with minor...
Thomas Wadkins Recognized at Hiram Village Meeting
Hiram - At the last Village Council meeting, Mayor Lou Bertrand and Council issued a public proclamation honoring Council President Thomas Wadkins. He noted that Wadkins was a 2003 Hiram College graduate who has served his community as a councilman for 12 years, serving as Village Council President for the past 10. The mayor’s proclamation reads, “Whereas, Thomas Wadkins has...
A Garfield Teacher And An American Hero
As baby boomers most of us hardly paid attention to the heroes around us. They may have been our parents, aunts, uncles , mailmen steelworkers or teachers. More than likely we chose our heroes from the bulky box in the family room that flickered black and white images across the screen. John Wayne, Davey Crockett, The Lone Ranger, were...
Protect Geauga Parks Shelter Sound-Off
Protect Geauga Parks will be having a Shelter Sound- Off on Thursday evening, July 12, 6:30 - 8:30 pm at the Minnow Pond Shelter at Beartown Lakes Reservation in Auburn Township. There will be refreshments and opportunity to meet and greet at 6:30 with updates and discussion beginning at 7. Come and hear updates on what PGP has been doing...
Upcoming Events At Angelic Presence
Garrettsville - Angelic Presence will be hosting a class with Carol Borkoski entitiled “How different are you willing to be?” Join us for a fun, interactive class that will help you create a more fun and joyful life. Cost is $30 includes a manual which we will work through. The class will be held on July 1st from 10...
Red Cross urges donors to fill Missing Types to prevent summer blood shortage
The American Red Cross needs help to bring back the A’s, B’s and O’s. This is not a typo. These letters represent blood types, and the reality is that during blood shortages these letters do go missing from hospital shelves. The American Red Cross urges donors of all blood types to give now to help prevent delays in patient...
Upcoming Community Events – Week of June 29
Portage Senior Citizens Opportunities Weekdays The Portage County Senior Center, located at 705 Oakwood St., in Ravenna has many daily opportunities for local seniors to enjoy. On any given day, you can enjoy, bingo, Tai Chi, educational programs, art class, corn hole, cards & dominos with friends, and they even have a pool table. They serve lunch daily (by reservation) and...
First Responders Honored At Garrettsville Summerfest
Garrettsville’s first responders were honored this past weekend as the Grand Marshals for the 2018 Garrettsville Summerfest Parade. Although they only recognized the chiefs of each department -- Fire, EMS and Police -- on stage, homage was paid to all of those who served the community. The Garrettsville Fire Department was established in 1888 and became a joint district in...
Garrettsville History Book Coming! By Popular Demand!
Well, it was a request from Ellen at The Village Bookstore and you know how popular she is. It seems that she’s had people asking if there was a book about Garrettsville, its history and local culture (Might be a stretch to call what we’ve got “culture”, but we’re plenty local.) No such thing exists! Pam Montgomery of the James...
Crestwood District Shares 5-Year Forecast
Mantua - When news of the recent reductions was made public in recent months, many in the community expressed surprise at the state of their school District’s financial situation. It’s important to note that two times each year, the District Treasurer shares the District’s Five-Year Forecast publically, at the monthly School Board meetings. As is the common practice, the...
CHS’s American Experience II Class speaks to the Mantua Village Garden Club
Andy Brown, teacher of the American Experience Academy II class at CHS, brought 5 of his students to a recent Mantua Village Garden Club meeting. The students shared their knowledge and stories relating to the Aquaponics Program, and also spoke about learning to write grants to fund this amazing new project at CHS - the Aquaponic Research Center. Aquaponics is...
Garrettsville-Hiram Rotary Discusses Boardwalk Lighting
The June 18, 2018 meeting of the Garrettsville-Hiram Rotary Club welcomed Portage County Auditor Janet Esposito, who presented information on the activities and responsibilities of her office and answered questions of members. Her office handles building permits in the county. She stated the Portage County ranks 2nd in Ohio in the number of mobile homes on the tax rolls....
Garrettsville Summerfest, Something for Everyone
Garrettsville - Its almost here. The event you’ve been waiting for will kick off Friday night in downtown Garrettsville, Garrettsville Summerfest 2018. This year opening ceremonies will begin at 6:30 pm and will pay tribute to our first responders. The chief from each entity, police, fire and EMS will receive a plaque to hang in their facility. An honor...
Hiram Village News
Hiram - Over the Memorial Day weekend, the Hiram Police Department held its annual Kick off to summer, “Click it or Ticket” event. Approximately 300 vehicles were briefly stopped at the intersection of Garfield and Wakefield Roads from 11 am to 1 pm. During these stops, motorists wearing seat belts were rewarded, receiving vouchers for free ice cream from...
Garrettsville Summerfest Announces the 8th Annual Memorial 5K
It’s that time again to dust off the running shoes and start training for the 8th Annual Melana Matson Memorial 5K and One Mile Fun Run which will be held again this year at Garrettsville Summerfest. The race will be held at 9a.m., (runners/walkers should arrive by 8:30 a.m.) on Sunday June 24, 2018 starting right down town. The...
