Our Town 2019

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a look at small businesses in Seneca County

The Advertiser-Tribune Saturday, August 17, 2019

TRANSFORMING LIVES THROUGH EDUCATION. Bachelor of Arts (BA) Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) Bachelor of Criminal Justice(BCJ) Bachelor of Science (BS) Master of Business Administration (MBA) Master of Education (MEd) Master of Humanities (MH) Master of Science (MS) Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) Global Leadership & Change CLASSES ARE AVAILABLE ON CAMPUS, ONLINE OR AT ONE OF OUR EXTENDED LEARNING LOCATIONS.

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Publisher: Jeremy Speer Advertising: Michelle Steinmetz-Walters, Vickie Comer, Mercedes Schneider and Rochel Swartz O UR C O UNTY O U R C O M M U N IT Y

Circulation: Mari Risner, Darlene Ohl, Charles Lawrence and Donna Adams

O UR TO W N a look at small businesses in Seneca County

Production Manager: Tony Martinez Creative Services: Jessica Everhart Editorial: Joanna Lininger, Zach Baker, Matt Nye, Jill Gosche, Linda Brendle, Vicki Johnson, Bret Nye, Nicole Walby, Beverly A. Gabel, Deb Fowler, Chase Bachman, John P. Montgomery, Bonnie Daniel, Pat Gaietto, Joseph Gilroy, John Kauffman, Naomi Karr, MaryAnn Kromer, Clint Lease, Pat Magers, Al Stephenson, Jane Tomaszewski and Steve Williams Mailroom: Jenni Shade, Michelle Eachus, Lois Franks, Deb Fowler, Rebecca Hook, Ruth Johnson, Otto Klingshirn, Ed Loesser, Francie Risner, Nathan Risner, DJ Wagner and Eugene Zender Office: Mary Martin, Shelley Reyes and Susan Wolfe Pressroom: Dustin Immele, John Price and Jason Scott Trucking: Stephen Wolfe “Our Town” is a special edition published annually by The Advertiser-Tribune.

Receive subscription, editorial or advertising information at (419) 448-3200 or P.O. Box 778, Tiffin, OH 44883.

Additional copies of “Our County, Our Community, Our Town” are available from The Advertiser-Tribune and will be mailed anywhere in the United States for $3.50.

The Advertiser-Tribune Saturday, August 17, 2019

On the Cover

A photo of the Justice Center in downtown Tiffin taken by Seneca County native Jeff Hammer of HammerCam graces the cover of this year’s edition of Our Town. An article about Hammer’s business HammerCam and a selection of photos begins on page 11. Here is the full index:

Inside Ewald Family Furniture

page 2

Honey Creek Retrievers

page 22

Pinnacle Lighting

page 4

Forte Music

page 26

Bailiwicks Coffee Company page 8

Taylor Elchert Photography

page 30

HammerCam Photography

page 11

Stover Veterinary Services

page 34

Reclaim It

page 14

Sauced

page 38

PreGame

page 17

Level Up Tiffin

page 43

Your Legacy

page 20

Our Town

2

The Advertiser-Tribune

Ewald Furniture: More than a century of business, as a family business last four gen- comes from word-of- there for 45 years. Linerations, 119 years, in a mouth, of course, and da Ewald, Dan and Joe’s Staff Writer small town that has en- after all, these are the cousin, also works at the bnye@advertiser-tribune.com dured the economic ups people you live with.” store in a part-time caEwald Furniture is and downs that Tiffin Currently, Dan pacity. a staple within Tiffin’s has? co-manages Ewald FurDan said there was a retail landscape. Their “The loyalty of your niture with his brother time when three genera119-year history can be read in full on their website, but here are some of the highlights: Joe Ewald and Charles Pahl, Ewald’s brotherin-law, opened a store under the name “Ewald and Pahl” on January 1, 1900. They specialized in selling furniture and acting as undertakers. Seemingly unrelated business endeavors such as these made more sense at the time, because they could use their horses to pull wagons that carried furniture and a hearse that carried the departed.

Over the course of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, Ewald Furniture changed locaPHOTO BY BRET NYE tion, had additions built The current Ewald Furniture showroom featues many different styles and types of on at least four times furniture. and switched floor plans and product inventory to customer base in a Joe, and has for the past tions of Ewalds worked keep up with the whims small town like Tiffin is 25 years. Even though in the store simultaneof style and the furniture huge,” current co-owner Dan said he never ously. business. But after more Dan Ewald said. “You planned to work at his “For a while when than a hundred years, have to be able to relate father and uncle’s busi- my dad and uncle were ownership and manage- to people, have good ness when he went off managing the store, my ment of the business re- customer service and to college, today he has grandfather and Joe and mains an Ewald family write a good price,” he tallied 42 years of work I worked in the store at enterprise. said. at the family store, and the same time. But even How does a small “A lot of your success his brother Joe has been with all of the different

By Bret Nye

opinions and personalities, we’ve always respected each other’s duties and decisions,” he said.

Ewald said a clear division of duties and a healthy temperament amongst his family has always been key to the family businesses’ survival over the generations (even his mother Jane worked in the store for more than 20 years, his aunt Chris for a few years and his grandmother for more than 40 years).

“It has helped to never step on each other’s toes,” he said.

“Even when we were fairly young we had our own assigned responsibilities. It’s been that way since 1989, and we’ve never had a problem. We’ve run our own departments and respected each other’s areas and decisions,” he said.

Asked about uniqueness of a family business lasting four generations, Ewald said it’s very uncommon indeed.

“You hear the family business horror stories.

It always seems like there’s a family member that makes working miserable, that other

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Our Town

PHOTOS SUBMITTED

Above, Joseph Ewald (right) and his brother-in-law Charles Pahl stand in front of the Ewald & Pahl storefront at the turn of the twentieth century. The original store opened on January 1, 1900.

3 family members don’t want to work with every day. But we’ve always been lucky and blessed in the way of getting along as a family,” he said.

“You’re not going to agree every day, you know, that’s just life. But we always come out on the other end unscathed,” he said.

Ewald said that he and his brother and cousin are the last Ewalds currently involved in working at the store.

But Ewald didn’t think he’d work in his father and uncle’s (and grandfather’s, and great-grandfather’s)

furniture store when he was a young man, either.

“My brother Joe worked here in the summers and joined full-time right out of high school, but it was not like that for me,” Ewald said.

“I had not planned it when I was 18, 19.”

“Then I graduated college, got married and they needed help here in the store. It just kind of fell into place, and that was the way it worked out.”

Thinking again about the continued involvement of the Ewalds in the business, Dan said “anything can happen.”

Ed Cromer (from left), Joe Ewald, Bill Frederich, May Claxton and Frank Lee pose among the tables, lamps and desks on offer at Ewald Furniture in the store’s early days.

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The Advertiser-Tribune

Lighting up Seneca County and beyond Pinnacle Lighting Group at it again in community

By Vicki Johnson

Staff Writer vjohnson@advertiser-tribune.com

As a teenager on a rural Tiffin farm, Jim Burks had an affinity for working on lighting projects.

Little did he know that ability would someday lead to the nationally-known Pinnacle Lighting Group he leads today.

Pinnacle designs and installs architectural and landscape lighting.

“It’s mainly for safety and security, what we do,” he said. “We’re best known for our moonlighting,” which simulates a moonlit night.

But Pinnacle takes the process to a new level.

Burks speaks of painting things white with light, color kelvins, highlighting architectural features, daylight lighting, neutral lighting and moonlighting.

“The difference in what we do than other companies is we customize the lights to the

color and the landscape,” he said.

“That’s what sets us apart.

It’s just that little stuff.

It’s where PHOTO SUBMITTED we learned to be different Lighting on the cupola of Seneca County Justice Center is a project of Pinnacle Lighting of from every- Tiffin. Here, the cupola is lit in red, white and blue for the Fourth of July. body else.” light bulbs,” he said. dered if he wanted to said he knew little about But he didn’t always know how “Then I did a couple of spend part of the winter being an electrician, and my friends’ basketball down South. when he went to Georgia to do that. courts.

That’s where “It was zero out,” he he learned from scratch.

Burks, who grew up I first knew that I like said.

“I was working in He thought he would on the next farm over lighting.” the shop a bit, but not be a simple crew memfrom Pinnacle’s business He said the vegetable doing much.

The comber. office at 4702 N. SR 53, “But three months said he worked with his harvesters used on the pany was slammed with farm had no lights so business.” into it, he (the owner he family in the farming they only could be used So he went to Sea Isworked for) put me in and produce business for during the day. land, Georgia, to help charge of all four crews,” 26 years.

“I learned to add out for the winter.

Burks said. “I went from “Dad was a dairy “That’s where all the working on he job and farmer and we milked lights so we could harbillionaires from Atlanta learning it to supervising cows until we got out of vest at night,” he said.

Time passed, and live,” he said. and getting a crew startthat business,” he said.

Because of that expe- ed and then moving on “And we got into the Burks followed as a produce business. That’s farmer in his father’s rience, the Burks decid- to the next crew.” ed to sell their farming When work was comreally where I started footsteps.

Then, in winter 1999, operation and go to At- plete, he went back and into lighting.”

As a teenager, he he got a phone call from lanta where he worked made any needed changwanted to light two his sister-in-law in At- for that company for es.

“The owner of that basketball courts in the lanta, who worked for a three years, learning the large lighting company. ins and outs of the deco- company had some health farm’s barn.

“I messed around She said the business rative lighting business. problems and things with different wattage needed help and wonAs a farmer, Burks started to go a little bit

Our Town

The Advertiser-Tribune south for him,” he said.

Burks was laid off, and he went to work for another company in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

“I went there and completed all 12 jobs,” he said. “I figured out how to bid jobs. That’s really what got me started and planted me solid in the southeast.”

When it came time to start his own business, Burks formed a limited liability company based in Ohio, but his start in the business remained in the South. He chose the name because it represented “the top and the best.”

The main Pinnacle office always has been in Tiffin, he said, and his sister, Lynn Miller, has managed it for “five or 10 years.” Their sister, Lisa Yoder, and niece Kelly Yoder also

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work in the office, and brother, Tom Burks, is vice president of operations.

“We have other great workers as well,” Miller said.

“We started out with small jobs in a pickup truck,” he said.

“Myself and one guy. We just gradually kept building and building.”

Since the start, Burks said he’s been involved with the design, installation and service of 10,000-15,000 projects.

He taught himself the nuances of the work and the personal touches that have all the difference, and he learned by doing.

He used creativity to solve problems, and learned to use lighting, color, shading and direction to get the affect he was looking for.

It took three years to get

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business in the Cleveland and Columbus areas, but Pinnacle has been working in Ohio — and many other places — for 14 years.

“We got our first (Ohio) job in Cleveland,” he said. “We’ve done some fabulous homes up there in Cleveland.”

And the growth hasn’t stopped.

“We’ve got three crews now,” he said. “We’ve done projects in over 100 cities and towns and probably 22 states so far. We’re planning on expanding in the next year, maybe add another three crews.”

Eventually, Burks said he would like to work in all 50 states, and he’s met with people in Toronto, Canada.

“Maybe we’ll get into Canada this year,” he said. “It’s just

5 amazing where it’s gone.”

Pinnacle uses a four-step process to meet customer needs — a site visit, project design, installation and maintenance.

“We’re able to give them the artistic security lighting they want, plus we save them watts every night, and money,” he said.

However, Burks is adamant about meeting with homeowners in person.

“If we can’t meet with the homeowners, we won’t do their work,” he said.

Often, he said wealthy people let other contractors handle the details of household projects.

“Early on it was hard,” he said. “But I have to meet with homeowner. The lighting has to be their personality.

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“Everything we design is what the homeowners ask for,” he said.

“That’s the fun part.”

Besides, he said it’s been interesting meeting the people who own the homes he lights.

He’s done work for two NFL team owners — one in Washington, D.C., and the other in North Carolina.

“We’ve done probably eight or 10 Major League Baseball players’ homes, and a lot of very wealthy business people,” he said. “That’s the neat thing about what we do.”

The first moonlighting-style job Pinnacle was for Dan Snyder, owner of the Washington Redskins.

“The was the first over $1 million landscape lighting job we worked on,” Burks said.

“Coming from the farm, that just blew me away.”

That was about 10 years ago.

“We’ve done four projects for Jerry Richardson, previous owner of the Carolina Panthers,” he said. They included two college campuses, his home and work his “right-hand man.”

“The stuff I learned from talking with the business owners that I’ve done is just priceless,” he said. “To hear the stories of where they came from.”

For example, Jerry Richardson grew up on a small, poor tobac-

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PHOTOS SUBMITTED

Examples of residential lighting projects created by Pinnacle Lighting.

co farm before a coach learned about him, arranged for a scholarship and put him on a college football team.

“Then he played for the Baltimore Colts,” he said. “The first year, I think he made $3,000 playing for the Colts.

Then, in 1959 or ‘60, he caught a winning touch-

down pass from Johnny Unitas.”

He made $4,000 that year and quit football to open a restaurant chain, eventually building the chain to 600 restaurants nationwide.

Then he bought an NFL team.

“It’s those type of stories,” Burks said.

Then there was a woman in Cleveland, who didn’t want to talk to him directly at first, but eventually he got an appointment with her after doing work for her daughter.

“We sat around her kitchen table and she spent four hours telling me her story, and talking

a little bit about lighting,” he said.

In 2017, Pinnacle lit up a country club in Georgia where a PGA championship was to take place.

“Two TV networks were going to be there and it was going to be used as a backdrop,” he said. “We had to make sure there was enough light.”

Another project was done for a four-star general in Washington, D.C., and a government official in Chevy Chase, Maryland.

Although he prefers working on homes, Burks said Pinnacle has done some commercial work on five college campuses. Three of them were projects in student housing areas, and were being funded by the private money of his clients.

Some of the people he has worked for are confidential.

“What I learned is all the billionaires I’ve been able to do lighting for, the only thing they do different than everybody else is they learned how to serve more people,” Burks said.

He seems to be using those lessons to his advantage.

“I think we serve more businesses in the landscape lighting business than anyone else in the country,” he said.

“It’s about serving people. When you get the mindset, things fall into

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place.”

That mindset has grown through the years, he said.

“In my earlier years, it was chasing the money. Now it’s about serving more people. It’s a big difference,” he said.

“Chasing money wears you out. Serving people is fun.”

“It’s a whole new level,” he said. “It’s just doing something simple and doing it better than anyone else.

“It’s been a fabulous ride,” he said.

“I haven’t really worked in 16 years since I got going on

my own.

“There’s not enough hours in a day or enough days in a week,” he said.

“It’s challenging sure, and a lot different than the farming business.”

Burks said he has more going on in a week than he used to have going on in a year, although he sometimes misses farming and serving the people he used to serve.

Burks now is back living in Tiffin but spends 90% of his time traveling and working from his car.

“With technology, it’s easy,” he said. “I always intended on coming back. I didn’t intend to live in Georgia for the whole 20 years.

We have nine grandchildren in the state of Ohio.”

Pinnacle has 15 employees, and many have been with the company for 15-19 years.

“You can do a lot with a few people,” he said. “We’re a small company. We just do big jobs.”

He values their judgement and ideas.

“We’ve learned

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more from our homeowners and our employees than I’ve learned at any seminars I got to,” he said.

“That’s where I learned everything we know,” he said.

“Because it’s the extra little things that need to be done or changed that makes all the difference.”

On a week earlier this summer, Pinnacle had crews working in Birmingham, Alabama; Hattiesburg, Mississippi; and Mobile, Alabama.

“We’re just all over the place,” he

said. “We can do this anywhere in the world.”

Or the company can work locally such as lighting the cupola of the Seneca County Justice Center.

And now, Burks said he continues to look further.

“There are a lot more opportunities in the Midwest than there is anywhere in the country,” he said. “I’m excited to get things rolling up here.”

“It’s the art of the business that gets us where we are,” Burks said. “We

don’t sell lighting.

It’s about relationships. You got to be good at the relationships with the people.

“It’s been a fun ride,” he said. “It’s just the feeling that you get when you turn those lights on.

The thing I get the biggest charge out of is the ‘first nights’ that we do, when the homeowners are going to get to look at it for the first time.

“To watch a billionaire’s wife jump up and down and almost wet their pants,” he said. “The rush is over the top.”

At the Eye Centers of Northwest Ohio, we are happy to welcome our newest doctor, Alexzandra Rudinoff, O.D. Dr. Rudinoff was raised in Gibsonburg, Ohio. Upon graduation from Gibsonburg High School, she pursued her undergraduate degree at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio. She graduated with high honors, receiving a Bachelor of Science in Biology, with minors in Chemistry and Psychology. She received her Doctor of Optometry degree with high honors from The Ohio State University College of Optometry.

Dr. Rudinoff has been involved in community service and leadership throughout her entire education. In the past, she volunteered at the Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Cincinnati, Ohio, and she served as a camp counselor at Enchanted Hills Camp for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Napa, California. She has been a member of Lions Club since 2013 and served as President of OSU’s chapter. She also held leadership and served in Student Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity (SVOSH), providing eye care to underserved populations in Nicaragua and Ghana.

She joined the Eye Centers of Northwest Ohio in 2019 and welcomes new patients. Her scope of practice consists of routine eye examinations, contact lens fittings, pre- and post- operative cataract care, as well as treatment and management of ocular disease. Dr. Rudinoff also provides low vision evaluations for individuals who are blind or visually impaired at The Sight Center of Northwest Ohio.

We now have four Optometrists and one Surgical Ophthalmologist in our practice and our services include cataract surgery, glaucoma lasers and surgery, full dilated eye examinations, fitting of contact lenses, diagnostic testing and Infantsee examinations. We also offer Corporate Services, which include comprehensive eye examinations, risk assessment and pressure check as well as OSHA approved Safety Glasses.

We are a provider of Medicare and most major medical insurances as well as vision plans, Vision Service Plan, Superior Vision and Paramount Advantage. We also offer a Membership Plan that you can customize to your own requirements.

For further information on our doctors and services, please contact us through our website www.eyecentersofnwo.com.

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The Advertiser-Tribune

Coffee company brewing up popularity

By Chase Bachman Correspondent

If you’re looking for a great cup of coffee in Tiffin, you can’t go wrong with Bailiwicks.

The shop has been a part of the revived downtown scene, inviting customers to come in and enjoy their wide variety of beverages.

People visiting Bailiwicks for the first time will notice its charming location on the street corner. Located where South Washington and East Perry streets intersect, the small brick building serves as the perfect exterior to a business that is all about simplicity and authentic-

ity.

Once inside, customers are drawn to the array of artwork across the room. A collection of canvas paintings from local artists such as Jon Adams and Steve Terry adorn the walls. Bailiwicks owner Jessica Wirth says the idea is to showcase local art and create a more enjoyable space for people.

At the counter, customers will find a menu with enough options to please even the most particular coffee drinkers.

“We are a full-service espresso bar,” said the Tiffin native. “We feature several different brewing methods including drip coffee,

pour overs, cold brew etc.”

In total, Bailiwicks can serve over 300 custom flavor combinations for lattes, prepared hot or cold, with and without caffeine.

Passersby may look in the window and see hidden behind the shop logo the large green coffee roaster. The tall metal machine resembles a steam locomotive, but you don’t have to worry about this one going off the rails. Bailiwicks roasts all of its own coffee from scratch.

Next to the roaster is a wooden pallet stacked with burlap sacks, all full of raw coffee beans.

The beans are unrecognizable to someone un-

PHOTOS BY CHASE BACHMAN

Tiffin native and Bailiwicks owner Jessica Wirth can usually be found roasting beans and making coffee in the shop. Below is an outside view of the coffee shop.

familiar to the complete process, appearing light green.

The company receives coffee beans from all over the world, from Brazil to Kenya.

“It’s my job to take the coffee bean and

bring out the natural characteristics of the bean in the best way possible, said Wirth.

The person roasting the beans has to regard things like airflow, temperature and time.

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9

ent recipe for every coffee we roast, and they have all been developed here. You can get a Columbia coffee anywhere,” said Wirth. “But you won’t get a Columbia coffee exactly like ours.”

Wirth has developed more than just the coffee roasting formulas. As the sole owner, she’s made decisions on everything from pricing to hours, and even the location of the shop.

Bailiwicks opened its doors in

2012, and has since gone through several time expansions, being open longer for customers. The success of the shop is remarkable, given how it was founded.

“We were completely self-funded,” said Wirth.

“We didn’t have loans or any major investments, which has its challenges, but made it easier developing the vision for the shop.”

Wirth had a dream for her shop.

She spent months researching and

Above is the coffee roaster at Bailiwicks waiting for beans to roast.

Depending on these factors, the coffees that result can be wildly different.

Beans are poured into the roaster through a funnel into a continuously rotating drum below. Heat

and air are added to evaporate moisture and darken the beans. The process can take as little as 13 minutes, but letting the beans degas and cool takes 24-48 hours before brewing.

All these de-

tails make a cup of coffee appear more like a science experiment than someone’s morning routine. Wirth would happily agree, proudly referring to herself as a “coffee chemist.”

“I have a differ-

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Above, the Bailiwicks logo can be seen in the windows on both sides of the building. At right are coffee beens waiting to be put into the roaster.

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planning what would and wouldn’t make her company.

“The vision has always been to create an environment where everyone is welcome. Whether you’re meeting

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your grandchildren (for coffee), or you’re a student studying, or a business professional, we want to be the spot where people can feel welcome, relax, and enjoy coffee,” said Wirth.

Bailiwicks has turned into just that. It is a place that not just the people of Tiffin can enjoy, but also support the local economy, as well as the art/science of coffee roasting.

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Seneca County native captures moments with HammerCam

By Joanna Lininger

Managing Edior jlininger@advertiser-tribune.com

Jeff Hammer started his photography business, HammerCam, about 10 years ago as a way to share sporting event photos of his nieces, nephews and their teammates as well as photos from his work travels.

Hammer has always enjoyed art but did not equate it with photography until he got his first digital camera in 1999.

“My enjoyment of shooting

photos started when I was in college,” said Hammer. “I did a fair amount of web design in college, which required me to provide unique photo content.”

Hammer took the money he earned doing web design and reinvested it in photography equipment. He used that professional photography gear at non-traditional photography events such as his niece’s third grade softball games.

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saw with people that might not have the opportunity to travel or make it to the sideline of a game.”

HammerCam isn’t his full-time job, but through his job at PSIGEN Software, Inc., he gets to travel the world and photograph many unique things.

Hammer spends approximately 50% of his time working from his loft in downtown Tiffin and the other 50% traveling across the world to places such as Canada, Ireland, Chile,

Jamaica, The Dominican Republic and England.

“Travel photography is fantastic because it gives me an opportunity to shoot landscapes of national parks in the area of my travel,” Hammer said. “The beauty found in these parks around our country and world are amazing!”

Most people in the Seneca County area know Hammer for shooting local sporting events but his business HammerCam has grown to include much

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more such as senior pictures, weddings and travel.

“I started doing this for the five nieces and four nephews of my three siblings, but it has grown to include the senior photos and sports banners where I get to give the kids an almost professional athlete experience and look,” said Hammer.

HammerCam is all based online at www.hammercam.com, on Facebook at HammerCam. com Photography or on Instagram @JeffHammerCam. There

is no physical storefront for the business but if the opportunity arises, Hammer would like to display his work in a gallery in downtown Tiffin.

“I’d love to do a gallery show in Tiffin some day to be able to share my photos and more importantly the stories that go with them.”

For more information or to contact Hammer about his photography services, call (419) 566-4060 or email Jeff@HammerCam.com.

13

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Reclaim It: a nonprofit giving a voice to local youth

By Nicole Walby

Staff Writer nwalby@advertiser-tribune.com

Her love of refurbished items has always been there, but it was when she visited a store with a similar concept she knew she had to bring it to Tiffin.

Karen Klepper is the owner of Reclaim It — a nonprofit organization, with a mission to give a voice to the youth and create lasting solutions to issues they face. Reclaim It 127, located at 127 S. Washington St., offers local youth the chance to learn new skills, such as carpentry, painting, and design, while providing a safe space and opportunities to work alongside skilled community members who provide mentorship and support.

“I knew this was such an amazing concept,” Klepper said of when she spent time in the shop, When Pigs Fly in Norwalk.

“I knew this was a calling for me,” she said. “These kids need to have their stories told and need to know they are important and valued.”

Klepper spearheaded the initiative around three-years ago along with a board of 11 community educators and leaders, as well as a youth advisory board made up of 11 college

Pictured is the Reclaim It 127 retail store and studio.

and high school students.

Through furniture, creativity, story, community interaction and group meals, Klepper hopes to create a safe and supportive environment for youth in the community to gather and learn both soft and hard skills, with the assistance of mentors.

Through collaboration, Klepper said she hopes to change the landscape of the community.

When renovating the space, building trades instructor with Sentinel Career Center Aaron Thompson, who, along with his students, assisted in the renovation

PHOTOS BY NICOLE WALBY

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The Advertiser-Tribune of the building itself.

Klepper said the studio brings together different types of talent.

People bring in items that they loved that brought them joy and the students refurbish these items and share them with new owners along with the stories that come with them.

“It is really great these items don’t end up in a landfill,” Klepper said.

In addition to the studio work, Klepper said she has experts come in from

the community to teach the students how to take care of the items they’ve refurbished and she hopes to bring in more classes like that in dealing with finances and others.

“We want to empower these kids,” she said. “These kids deserve to have a voice of their own.”

A senior at Bowling Green State University, Claudia Riedy of Tiffin, is studying art and fist came to Reclaim It to help with designing the logo.

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“I seen it was so much more,” Riedy said.

She didn’t design the logo, but stayed to help put together programming for the kids and helps to refurbish many of the pieces that are donated.

“This has been an awesome experience,” Riedy said. “It is hard to find art related jobs and this work is very fulfilling. You really are making a difference here.”

Riedy said a lot of her job is to sit and talk with the

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kids and to help build their confidence.

“I am close in age to most of the kids here,” she said. “I know most of their interests and how they think.”

Riedy said many of the kids she helps lack a place to effectively channel their creativity and Reclaim It is a perfect place for them to do just that.

Riedy is also responsible for most of the murals you

can see within the studio space.

She first became interested in art in high school at Columbian in Robert Johnston’s class.

“I didn’t know I would like art, but once I was in the class if fell in love with it,” Riedy said.

Riedy hopes to continue her outreach work with the children in the community and help them develop their own skills along with her own.

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PreGame Sports & Entertainment: Diversifing options for having fun in Tiffin

By Bret Nye

Staff Writer bnye@advertiser-tribune.com

What began six years ago as Wormburners, a virtual golf business on Route 20 between Clyde and Fremont is now Pregame Sports & Entertainment, a literal and virtual playpen for gamers and golfers alike.

PreGame, 82 N. Washington, St., is an entertainment venue for people interested in most of the known strands of “fun.” Owner Troy Albright, a former high school football coach from Clyde who has moved to Tiffin recently with his family and works part-time at both Heidelberg (as a volunteer assistant football coach) and Tiffin universities (as an academic success coach), has continued to add activities at the venue over the past year and has rented it out to groups on a weekly basis. And now, by “late summer or early fall,” PreGame will have its grand opening and feature open hours in addition to still renting the venue out, Albright said.

“There is so much unused, old manufacturing space in Tiffin that part of my goal has been to utilize some of that space,” Albright said. “Rather than following the business model of buying up farmland and making a building, this is more of an urban space project.”

“I’m doing this in a customer-driven fashion. If there’s anything out there, any game or pastime that people would want to play at PreGame, I’ll try my hardest to get it,” he said.

Aimed at kids “junior high age and up” as well as adults, as Albright said, PreGame’s grand opening will mean the store will open for normal hours when people can walk-in and pay to play whatever they like.

“The idea is tied into the name of the space, “PreGame.”

We want you to come by and play some games before you go out to the Columbian football game on Friday night, or go out somewhere else in Tiffin afterwards,” he said.

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18 So, what is there to do at PreGame?

The space features a game room in the front of the building with three PlayStation 4 consoles with VR headsets and games, as well as some retro games for those who are interested; a rocky, sandy track for Traxxas RC trucks, which can reach speeds of up to 20 miles per hour; pool tables, ping pong and darts; cornhole boards; a large projector; and more things to come, as Albright continues to add them.

And, of course, the virtual golf simulators.

“These simulators offer shot analysis and a

readout for people who want to improve their game, and different difficulty levels if you’d rather just have fun,” Albright said. “The software has 80 real-life courses that you can play on, so golf fans really enjoy that aspect.”

The golf simulators also adjust to whether a virtual ball is in the rough or on the fairway, changes the way the ball reacts according to programmed weather conditions and it has various game modes, featuring practice mode for pros who wish to improve their game or more open modes for anyone who just wants

to have fun with the virtual software.

Albright’s newest addition to PreGame is an escape room within the building, which is still in the works.

“The plan is for people to have to puzzle themselves out of a sinking ship,” he said.

“The props are here waiting to be installed, and we’ll have cameras in the room so that we can offer help if people want it.

“The room will feature two different sections, so there will be two escape puzzles to work through,” he said.

Albright said he hopes to plan Pre-

The Advertiser-Tribune Game’s grand opening around the time the escape room is finished, which should be in the coming months.

Albright said he credits Amy Reinhart and Tyler Shuff for assisting him in finding the space and working with him in starting the business.

“I have to say, I’m not sure if I would’ve come to Tiffin if it wasn’t for Tyler Shuff,” Albright said.

Shuff, through his company Shuff Consulting, “actively recruited Troy two to three years ago,” Shuff said, because Albright was offering a business model that Shuff wasn’t able to

find in Tiffin at the time.

“I like to go outside the community to look and see what Tiffin needs,” Shuff said.

“I showed Troy maybe a dozen spaces, to try and match his business concept, and it did take two to three years to find the right place. I just kept plugging away and trying to help him,” he said Asked why he was so insistent on recruiting Albright, Shuff said he “sees a lot of good things happening in Tiffin now” but also wants to put businesses in Tiffin that aren’t already there.

“I was excited for

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there to be a place in Tiffin where people can go that had different activities to do,” he said. “I wanted an activity center that was family-friendly.”

Looking to the future, Albright said he hopes to garner interest in people starting leagues of all kinds

at PreGame, holding events based around big playoff games and other televised events he can show on PreGame’s big-screen projector and to continue to add to the offerings already within the space.

“If things go well, I already know

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what I’ll probably do next year, and the year after,” Albright said. “I want to be responsible for what people want to have here, because this is about community for me.”

For more information, visit PreGame’s Facebook page.

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Your Legacy celebrates new chapter with one location

PHOTO SUBMITTED

Your Legacy Federal Credit Union staff.

A centralized location has provided a new chapter on the longtime local history of Your Legacy Federal Credit Union, which has served the area since 1952.

In May, Your Legacy closed its downtown Washington

Street office and moved all of its staff into one location at 25 Shaffer Park Drive. The credit union says it is now able to provide more opportunities for staff to progress and excel while offering one-of-a-kind personalized member services.

This comes on the heels of some other changes for Your Legacy, including an upgraded data processing system, allowing for more technically modern services like online banking, a mobile app, mobile check deposits and, in the fu-

ture, remote account opening.

Your Legacy representatives say even more changes are on the way moving forward.

Contact the credit union at (419) 448-0191 or at info@ legcu.com. Visit them online at legcu.com.

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Learning to hunt at Honey Creek Retrievers

By Vicki Johnson

Staff Writer vjohnson@advertiser-tribune.com

BLOOMVILLE — Trent Cleland and a black retriever stand near the edge of a pond, the dog alertly awaiting a command from his trainer.

Cleland fires a “shot” and the dog stands ready to do his master’s bidding.

A quick command from Cleland and the dog dashes ahead, en-

ters the water and swims in pursuit of the “duck.”

He retrieves it and returns the duck to Cleland, where he receives praise.

Then Cleland sends the dog back into the water to retrieve a “duck” the dog didn’t see fall. The canine alertly watches and listens to the whistles and hand signals Cleland uses to tell him where to find his goal.

“They’re pretty amazing animals,” he

said.

Cleland, who owns and operates Honey Creek Retrievers, rural Bloomville, has turned his property into a dog training ground. In addition to the family’s house, the property includes a kennel that can handle several dogs, a large pond and a grassy area where he trains dogs.

Every day.

“We custom train for whatever the owner wants and what the

dog’s capable of,” Cleland said.

He usually keeps 1216 dogs in his kennel at a time, and he works with each of them frequently. Starting at 5:30 a.m., he said he usually works 12 hours.

“Sometimes up until 8 p.m. at night until we say we’re finished,” he said.

In addition to training the dogs, the kennels are cleaned twice a day. He has employees to help when needed such as

when he’s away at competitions.

Cleland said the dogs he works with are bred for retrieving.

“Any type of retrieving breed,” he said. “We try to promote dogs that come from champion dogs. They have to be able to want to work a lot.”

Training requires a lot of repetition, he said.

“Some of the other breeds are pretty laid back,” he said. “They don’t have the working

PHOTOS BY VICKI JOHNSON

Trent Cleland poses with Choke, owned by Dan Biggert of Oak Harbor and trained by Cleland. Choke recently won master hunter retriever champion status and is a master hunter. Max, a hunting retriever champion and a master hunter, is owned by Fred Zink of Zink Calls, Port Clinton. He was featured on the TV show Avian X on the Outdoor Channel.

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desire and that drive to be a hunting dog.”

Cleland said training starts with basic obedience.

“We try to give them the drive by introducing them to birds and gunfire and decoys — all the stuff they’re going to see in a hunting field,” he said.

As training continues, he said dogs are praised and rewarded for following commands.

“We try to make it so that’s the greatest thing they can do for us,” he said. “We do things to enhance their desire.

“The dogs have skills and we train them to use whistle commands and hand commands to move them to different spots,” he said.

He trains dogs to see a bird and go get it, but if the dog did not see the bird go down, he teaches hand signals and whistles to direct the dog.

“After that, we just keep challenging them with more and more things,” he said. “Some dogs will go further than others. We just try to do as much as we can with them and make them the best they can be.”

Cleland began training dogs full time four years ago, but worked part time earlier in his career.

“I’ve actually been training dogs for about 20 years,” he said.

“I started by doing my own back probably 28 years ago, and then I sold a dog already trained, and that person asked if I could keep the dog ready through summertime.”

During that fall’s duck hunting season, the person who bought the dog was impressed and told a lot of people.

“After that, word got around and people started asking me if I would do training,” he said. “And it just kind of bloomed out from there.”

Max retrieves a “duck” during a training session in the pond at Honey Creek Retrievers.

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Above is the Honey Creek Retrievers kennel and grounds.

Below, Max waits for trainer Trent Cleland to give him his cue during a training session while assistant Bailey Agin, of New Washington, a student studying law enforcement at Tiffin University, watches.

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The Advertiser-Tribune Cleland trains dogs for hunting but also for field trails, which are competitions where dogs show their abilities and to find and retrieve game as well as follow hand signals from their trainer and owner. He said he has trained several champions.

“That’s become a big part of the business,” he said.

“I train them to acquire different titles.

“We just had three new master hunter retrievers,” he said, explaining the designations dogs can receive by meeting certain criteria.

He travels all over the United States with competition dogs. Recent trips have been to South Carolina, Pennsylvania and Michigan.

“Basically, you can run them in every state,” he said.

“There’s also a lot in Ohio.”

He said he’s been to Canada for competitions and as close to home as the Sandusky Bay Retriever Club, a short distance away along Lake Erie.

Dogs he trains are mainly from Ohio — including a few from Tiffin — but also from Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania and other states. A couple years ago, he said an owner in Oregon (the state) flew in a dog for training.

His trainees compete for AKC — American Kennel Club — and HRC — Hunting Retriever Club — titles in addition to actual waterfowl and upland game hunting as well as

obedience training.

Cleland said his reward comes when the dogs he has trained do well — either in competition or on the water in real hunting situations.

“When they’re actually doing their job and I get to watch them and hear from their owners how good they’re doing,” he said.

Fall is duck hunting season, but he also trains dogs for upland game hunting such as rabbits

25

and pheasants.

Mostly all hunting dogs are family pets in addition to working dogs.

“Almost all of the dogs are part of somebody’s fam-

ily,” he said. “It’s not only how much they kill or anything, but it’s more about being in the outdoors and enjoying nature.”

Hunting often is a sport where families spend time together outdoors, and Cleland assists with the Crawford County youth pheasant hunts every year.

Over the years, Cleland said he has trained “a couple hundred” dogs, and adds 10-12 each year.

“We get a lot that come back every year,” he said. “We try to get better and better.”

Cleland said he has a good relationship with owners, and there are certain dogs that special to him.

“They’re almost like mine, so to speak,” he said.

“I’m pretty proud of that.”

Cleland can be reached through his website at HoneyCreekRetrievers. com, or by calling (419) 569-1600.

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PHOTOS BY CHASE BACHMAN

Forte a fine-tuned shop

Guitars hang on display at Forte Music in Tiffin.

By Chase Bachman Correspondent

The school year is just beginning for many area districts, and with it brings all the fun of student life, including music. From concert showcases to marching bands under the Friday night lights, music is an essential part of the school experience. That’s why schools need things to run smoothly, and to make the year a success, there’s no place better to help than Forte Music.

The store located at 717 W. Market Street

is one of two, the other being in Sandusky.

It’s more than just a music shop where you can pick out a new set of strings for your guitar. It’s many schools’ guide to getting the right equipment, and making repairs, which Forte does in-house.

Walking into the store, it’s impossible to miss the guitars that line the walls, as well as a few banjos and horns.

Forte music carries about 12 different kinds of electric guitars, with a medley of accessories including tuners and

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amplifiers.

Customers may even notice Jack the dog lying near the counter. The 7-year old goldendoodle has been coming into the store his entire life.

The business has been providing its services to Tiffin since 1988. It began when owner Ed Adams partnered with the late Ron Borchardt to purchase Goetz Music. The store has relocated several times before moving into its

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current location, but it won’t be there for much longer. The store is moving in the next 6-8 months to a bigger location to meet demand.

The shop’s most significant service is the instruments and repairs it provides to schools, which Adams says is reflected in the customers he sees walk through the door.

“It’s a wide variety,” said Adams. “We have 5th graders, and people in their 70s, but the

Jack, 7, is a Golden Doodle who can usually be found in Forte Music.

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28 heart of it is band kids and parents.”

Forte provides to districts such as Tiffin, Fremont City schools, and Seneca East. It’s a service that many schools and families undoubtedly appreciate.

“Fortunately for us, the area schools are thriving in their music programs. It helps us out,” said Adams.

Whenever, an instrument needs repaired, Forte Music is the place to go. Their repair technicians have years of experience, and can get the job done in as little as one week.

“We’re always busy with repairs,” Adams said. “It takes a qualified person to do it.”

Part of what makes Forte so

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successful is the relationships they have built with area band programs.

“I visit band directors weekly throughout the school year.

We take care of them and it makes their job a lot easier,” said Adams.

A helping hand goes a long way when it comes to music.

Its this importance that makes Forte such a special part of the community.

“Music is really important,” said Adams. “It’s an ageless hobby. It’s something you can do most of your life.”

While families will be getting ready for the school year, Forte Music will be fast at work delivering music to students.

Ed Adams has been running Forte Music in Tiffin since its founding in 1988.

Dale Hildreth is the repair technician at Forte Music in Tiffin. He has been repairing instruments for years.

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Using photography to capture life’s moments at Taylor Elchert Photography

Taylor Elchert is the owner of Taylor Elchert Staff Writer nwalby@advertiser-tribune.com Photography — located Her photography at 184 S. Washington career began in high St. — and specializes school, but her love of in newborn and family photography has been photography. ongoing since she was Her love of photos four-years old. came about after losing

By Nicole Walby

PHOTOS BY NICOLE WALBY

Pictured is Taylor Elchert Photography’s studio located at 184 S. Washington St.

her sister Casey Elchert in a car accident.

“Photos were all that I had,” Elchert said.

“I learned that photos hold so much power at a young age.”

Elchert said growing up she just enjoyed tak-

ing and collecting photos, but didn’t know she had a business.

At 15-years old, she began by taking family photos for family members and it grew from there to taking wedding photos and other’s fami-

ly photos.

“I’ve always loved children and families,” Elchert said. “This was the reason why I’ve always loved photos. It is what I’m passionate about.”

In 2013 Elchert

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PHOTOS BY TAYLOR ELCHERT PHOTOGRAPHY

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32 opened up her studio on Melmore Street near Marcos Pizza and this year in April, she moved downtown to her current location.

“It is super exciting to be downtown with all of the recent events,” she said. “I am glad to be a part of it.”

Through each session, Elchert works one-on-one with her clients to get to know them and learn their interests.

“I want my clients to have the best experience as possible,” Elchert said.

Elchert said she tries to stay away from anything “too trendy” and works to keep her photo sessions, “as timeless as possible.”

“I want people to look back at their photos and see something they still love,” Elchert said.

Small businesses are the backbone to any community, Elchert said.

“The small businesses here are what I love most about Tiffin,” she said. “It is what makes it home.”

Elchert has become more involved with the community throughout the years with philanthropy work.

“This is a way to bless others through the gift of what I love,” Elchert said.

She has worked with various organizations, suche as

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the Seneca County Humane Society, toy drives and school supply drives, to name a few.

“I just hope to continue to be involved with the downtown

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community and hope to continue to give back anyway I can,” Elchert said. “Most importantly, I want to serve my clients the best way I can.”

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Dr. Amber Stover, mobile vet brings veterinary care to the doorstep of area residents and their pets

By Bret Nye

Staff Writer bnye@advertiser-tribune.com

Juju, the fouryear-old Yorkie, trembled a little under the whir of the generator and the clean lights of the clinic. In Dr. Amber Stover’s mobile veterinary clinic, Juju stood with his owner, Lisa Williams, who held him close. But Dr. Stover is a true professional: she talked calmly and straightforwardly to both Lisa and Juju, whom she knows from the time Lisa got him. She asked how his knees are doing. She offered a “cheat sheet” of cost-effective allergy treatments safe for small dogs if Juju’s allergies begin to act up. Stover’s

assistant Lindsay Daniel held Juju while he received his rabies vaccine, but there seemed to be no need. Juju’s quivering stopped, PHOTOS BY BRET NYE and he laid down Dr. Amber Stover coos at Juju, a four-year-old Yorkie, in her mobile clinic during his check-up. on the examination table next to there in the truck, ver. “She knows said. “I knew I had at Riehm Produce his owner, sleepy.

This scene oc- she said, surgery how to speak to me, the choice of either market,” she said, something when I’m under du- going to work for and afterwards curred in Stover’s being that she is very ress, and she knows somebody and losshe keeps her momobile veterinary good at.

She also how to speak to the ing the business I’d bile clinic open for clinic, which is a bit like a food performs orthope- patient, which is the built up, or taking regular visits from truck that serves dic surgeries at the animal, of course,” the next step, which noon to 2 p.m Monwas creating the days. She also has veterinary care in- Animal Care Center she said.

Stover operates mobile clinic. mobile clinic visit stead of fish tacos. in Tiffin from time “So about a year options on WednesThe mobile clinic to time, or even in as a true house call is state-of-the-art: a client’s driveway, veterinary business, and a half ago I de- day and Friday afStover has a move- as she recently did and she’s worked cided to take that ternoons at other locations in Tifable x-ray machine, for a Great Dane this way for 12 next step.” who was too big to years.

There are multifin, and she makes scales for weighing fit into her mobile “I’d been hauling ple ways to see Dr. house calls Tuesday larger and smaller things in and out of Stover for a visit and Thursday all animals, two differ- clinic.

“You just can’t people’s homes for with a pet: Stover day and Wednesday ently sized surgery tables, and anes- put a price on doc- about 11 years, and reserves one morn- and Friday mornthetic and oxygen tors who come to my knees were be- ing per week for ings each week.

“I premachines. Stover the home,” Wil- ginning to get a lit- surgeries, “usually performs surgeries liams said of Sto- tle ache-y,” Stover Monday mornings fer scheduled

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35

Stover’s assistant Lindsay Daniel holds Juju while Stover prepares to give the four-year-old Yorkie a necessary shot.

appointments,� she said, “so people don’t have to wait in line.�

Stover’s assistant Lindsay Daniel, who has been working in the mobile clinic with Stover for a year and a half, said that many of Stover’s clients are “owners of large dogs with mobility issues, families with lots of kids and pets that have

a tougher time getting to the vet’s office, and elderly people as well.�

Stover said she’ll see patients in her mobile clinic if possible, but if not, she still sees pets in owners’ homes. “There is also something comforting and “old-school� in having a veterinarian make house calls to care for your CNC Milling & Turning EDM Grinding Fabrication & Assembly Engineering Support Inspection Fixtures ISO 9001-2015

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36 pets,” Williams said.

“Dr. Stover has euthanized two of my pets at home, and I can’t imagine doing it any other way,” she said.

“It lowers stress for the pets, so they don’t have to go into the clinic and hear all of the other animals talking to them,” Stover said.

“And having a house call business gives me a more relationship-based practice with my patients. I get to see how

the animal acts in the home, what problems they’re having,” she said.

“It takes more time to make diagnoses this way, because the diagnoses become more complex seeing how the pets act in their home.

But it’s worth it, and my patients believe it’s worth it, too,” she said.

Stover grew up in Indiana and got an undergraduate degree from Butler University with

Stover takes a look in Boo’s ear in owner Lisa Williams’ kitchen.

a major in zoology in 1990. She gained a veterinary degree at Purdue University in 1994 and began working at different clinics, looking to buy in and find a partner, but it never quite worked out, she said.

“It has to be somebody you want to spend a lot of time with, and none of my options clicked for me at the time,” she said.

Stover hadn’t planned on setting up a house

The Advertiser-Tribune call business, but after moving with her husband to Ohio in 1998 to be closer to his family and having her son, life soon found a way of changing her path.

“My dream was to own a clinic. But my son Isaac has autism, and he was highly nonverbal when he was little.

When he turned four, his grandma was becoming unable to keep up with him and run around with him during the day, so I

jumped off the wheel and started the house call practice, so I could chase him around after school and go into his school help him when I needed to,” she said.

“The flexibility of the schedule really helped.”

Stover said that recently, though, she has applied more rigidity to her schedule with the purchase of her mobile clinic and her son’s success in school.

“I have a few staff

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Our Town

Lisa Williams, Juju’s owner, talks dog allergies and preferred treatments with Dr. Amber Stover in Stover’s mobile clinic.

members who work with me in the truck, now, and my son is going to be a senior this year and will graduate with everyone else in his class,” she said.

“Also, the practice has grown over time.”

Williams has two cats in addition to her Yorkie Juju, and one of them also needed some attention from Dr. Stover on the day of her house call. Boo, a midnight black cat Williams found “bald, under a house in the dead of a rough winter,” needed a rabies vaccine and a quick physical check-up, Williams said.

Boo has a “challenged immune system,” as Stover put

it, and has been through a great deal.

Stover went to the ground where Boo was walking and pulled him in. She touched and checked on him, and gave him his vaccine. It would be hard to say that Boo was comfortable as Stover looked him over, as Boo is a cat like any other, but it would be harder to say he felt any distress as she gave him care.

Dr. Stover’s house call and mobile clinic business, Stover Veterinary Services, can be reached by phone at (419) 4559572, or through the website stoverhousecall.com.

37

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38

The Advertiser-Tribune

PHOTOS BY VICKI JOHNSON

Erin and Alex Love pose on the outdoor patio at their restaurant, Sauced, in New Riegel.

Keeping it fresh and local in New Riegel

By Vicki Johnson

Staff Writer vjohnson@advertiser-tribune.com

NEW RIEGEL — A “healthier option” in food choices at Sauced restaurant and supporting local businesses have garnered Erin and Alex Love the support of not only New Riegel but a much broader community.

“We’re offering a very fresh, a little healthier option,” Erin said. “We’re slower than some, but we’re

better than most.”

That’s become their motto, she said.

“This is definitely not and in-and-out place in 2 minutes,” she said. “I think that adds to what we’ve tried to create here.”

“We knew when we did this we wanted to do something different,” Alex said.

The menu is limited to the front and back of one sheet.

“We want to do it well,” Alex said. “We

don’t want to have five pages and not do anything well.”

The “healthier” aspect comes from two choices the Loves made.

“We opened a restaurant with no fried food,” Erin said. “That was a hurdle in the beginning.”

She said people expected to find fries and deep-fried foods similar to those offered in other restaurants.

In addition to pizza, customers began to try

different items such as lasagna and ravioli.

“Everything is baked,” Alex said.

“Hoagie buns are made every day. We just switched the hoagie buns and started making them ourselves. We were forced to experiment because we ran out of hoagies one weekend.”

During the Loves’ first year, 68% of the business at Sauced was pizza — and today it’s 48%.

“I’ve seen that swing in our pizza sales,” Alex said.

Sauced offers gluten-free crust and nondairy cheese for those who need or prefer those items.

“It’s as simple and as fresh as possible,” Alex said. “We keep it fresh and we keep things local.”

The Loves work with Perry Street Market, New Riegel, for fresh food offerings and Hohm-an-Garden just

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39

Kitchen manager Lynn Light prepares vegetables.

outside of New Riegel on CR 591 for fresh produce.

“Dan (Hohman) even plants fresh herbs out front (at the restaurant),” Alex said.

The restaurant serves meats from a shop in nearby Vanlue — and bison from a farm in Arcadia.

“The only thing we have in our freezer is bags of ice,” Alex said.

The food is cooked and served fresh, and isn’t frozen.

That’s what takes a bit more time before a meal arrives on the customer’s table.

Erin said Sauced is not necessarily a place to get a quick bite, especially on weekends.

The restaurant attracts a mix of New Riegel people and customers from nearby towns such as Tiffin, Fostoria and Findlay.

“On Friday and Saturday

nights we have a line at the door,” Alex said.

The Loves didn’t know the outcome when they decided to buy the restaurant.

Originally from Michigan, Alex came to Ohio to work as executive chef at Carmie’s and Camden Falls in Tiffin in 2008, where he remained until 2016.

“I’ve been a chef my whole life,” Alex said. “We just hit a spot in our lives where we wanted to do something else.

We live in Tiffin and we wanted to do something ourselves.”

In the meantime, he had met and married Erin, a New Riegel native, and they became interested in starting their own business.

While a student at New Riegel High School, Erin worked for Peg Hammer at what was then Bubby’s restaurant. When

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40 they heard Hammer might be thinking of selling, they considered the possibilities. “We just kind of approached her,� Erin said. “We heard she was looking to sell.�

The Loves said they also looked at other locations in Tiffin such as downtown buildings that are now the Chandelier and the Renaissance. And they considered opening a cooking school, possibly in the Laird Arcade. “We knew we wanted to do something,� Erin said. “We just didn’t know what.�

When they learned about the New Riegel

restaurant, they decided to open a restaurant.

The result is Sauced, which opened in September 2016. “We chose this one because it was functioning and ready to go,�

Erin said. “It was turn-key,�

Alex said. “Other places would have needed a lot set-up work.� “This is a community I’m familiar with,�

Erin said. “I don’t think we could ask for a more supportive community.�

However, the Loves said they knew opening a restaurant in a community of 340 people was risky, especially when there’s also anoth-

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er well-known restaurant in town (New Riegel CafĂŠ).

But in less than three years, the restaurant has gained a large following. The Sauced Facebook page has 4,800 followers. “I think what we’re trying to do is create more of a dining experience rather than the inand-out,� Erin said. “We want to encourage people to come in and dine and relax.�

To draw people to Sauced, the restaurant hosts events such as comedy shows, evening crafts and wine-tasting. “We try to offer Friday, Saturday and Sun-

day specials,� Alex said.

Those are items that are not a permanent part of the regular menu. “For people who frequent us, the specials are really important because it gives them a different look at the menu,� Alex said.

And he said specials help alleviate crowded oven space. “That’s a good problem to have,� he said. “Sometimes the specials are easier on the kitchen.

I do that on purpose.�

Neither Alex nor Erin has a culinary degree, but Alex learned the trade by working in the field since his teenage years.

He does, however, have a degree in music and he collects old radio nostalgia, albums and eight-track tapes.

The restaurant’s dĂŠcor is based on his collections. “SameDay Signs (in Tiffin) created the ceiling tiles depicting album covers,â€? Alex said.

Adding to the atmosphere are the familiar faces customers find when they arrive.

There has been no employee turnover, so people see the same faces visit after visit.

The Loves said the people who work at the restaurant are an integral part of it.

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Our Town

Above is Seneca County’s longest bar on the outdoor patio called Sauce on the Side. Below is a sign on the outdoor patio.

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42

The Advertiser-Tribune

Erin Love pours a craft beer from the tap behind the bar at Sauced.

Lynn Light runs the kitchen, while Chelsea Gerschutz manages the dining room and Shawn Ramsey serves customers.

“We’re all family here,” Erin said. “Our staff has been half the key to our success here.”

Some of the people worked with Alex at Camden Falls before joining him in New Riegel.

Erin said family and friends are an important part of the restaurant’s success also.

Erin said a good friend from high school, Christi Coppus, helps with branding and marketing, and fami-

ly members and more friends help out as needed by staffing the patio and kitchen when extra help is required. For example, her aunt tended bar earlier this summer because another person was needed.

“We’ve had ongoing support when we need something,” Erin said. “It has been pretty amazing.”

Even the local bank has been supportive.

First National Bank of Sycamore, which has a branch in New Riegel, was willing to finance their project.

“We had a vision,” Alex said. “I had run businesses for others,

but I hadn’t run my own.”

Not long after opening, the Loves said they notices there was an evening crowd gathering at Sauced.

“The kitchen closes at 10 and we noticed we were getting an after-dinner crowd,” Erin said.

So they began to accommodate them.

And business in the warm-weather months is expanded by the addition of the patio — outdoor dining and a bar.

They built Sauce on the Side in 2017.

Local people designed and built the patio.

“I had a vision and I just kind of threw it at them,” Alex said.

“Last summer was our first full summer,” Erin said. “There’s a little different menu out there, but it’s about 85% of the regular menu.”

The patio features live entertainment every Friday and Saturday night, and 27 bar stools are lined up awaiting customers.

“It’s the longest bar in Seneca County,” Alex said, “which we didn’t know when we did it.

“We’ve been 200 strong on the patio,” he said.

And the Loves aren’t finished yet. They have

another half-acre of property for future expansion.

Inside, the banquet hall holds up to 110 people and is available for rent by organizations, class reunions, showers or similar events.

There’s a catering menu for events in that room.

In addition, the restaurant offers off-site catering for such events as graduation parties, weddings, rehearsal dinners and similar events.

“The local support is unlike anything I’ve ever seen,” Alex said.

“We thought we were just buying a pizza place.”

The Advertiser-Tribune

Our Town

43

PHOTOS BY BRET NYE

Level Up offers all manner and variety of used video games, movies and collectibles from the world of gaming.

Level Up your video game collection with vintage games

By Bret Nye

Staff Writer bnye@advertiser-tribune.com

Anyone who has ever felt the warm pull of nostalgia and early memories can understand the allure of a store like Level Up. And if you’ve ever played a video game or belonged to a related fandom, you’ll be tempted to go inside and browse their ever-changing selection of used video games, movies, collectibles, skateboards and

more.

Level Up Tiffin, 118 S. Washington St., is one of three Level Up stores owned by Tom Hayes, a Sandusky native with a lifetime of gaming, skating and interest in owning a small business in his repertoire. The other two locations are in Bellevue, 121 E. Main St., and Fostoria, 230 N. Main St. Level Up’s shelves are full of video games from the hobby’s past, and all popular video game consoles are represented

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44 in the store. Even less-remembered systems like the Sega CD have inventory in the store from time to time, along with numerous titles for the consoles fondly remembered by all hobbyists like the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and Sega Genesis. Games for newer systems like the PlayStation 2 and GameCube also feature on the shelves, and Level Up even carries copies of the newest re-

leases for current-generation video game consoles.

“I’ve had the ambition for owning my own business since I was in junior high,” Hayes said.

“I always thought, ‘How can I compete with an established business? They already have all the advantages.’

I thought I’d need to invent something new, to find a place to wiggle into,” he said.

It turned out that for

Hayes, a bit of small business acumen and a personal connection to the business he ran was enough for him to get Level Up off the ground.

After being let go at a TGI Friday’s in Sandusky, Hayes had been walking through a nearby mall and saw a space where a new store called Electronics Boutique was coming in, and a sign in front of the drywall-filled space advertising open interviews for positions.

The Advertiser-Tribune After interviewing before anyone else the following morning, Hayes began his sixyear career at the local franchise of what would eventually become EB Games, one of the most popular national video game retail chains from the last couple of decades.

“That’s where I got the experience that I think was crucial for survival of a store like Level Up. And when EB Games and GameStop

Tom Hayes, owner of Level Up in Tiffin, poses before his stock of skateboards that fill the back wall of the store.

announced their merger, it seemed like the perfect time for me to get out of there and open my own store,” he said.

Hayes opened his first Level Up store in Bellevue in May 2006.

Initially, he stocked the store with a large portion of his own video game collection and began scouring local auctions and garage sales for more.

“I got lucky at an auction for a local video store that was closing. I

The Advertiser-Tribune

Our Town

bought a bunch of racks and some games and movies from there, and I still only had probably 5,000 products total,” he said.

“I had eight feet of Nintendo games and only a small handful of PlayStation 2 and Xbox games, which were not popular at used video game stores at the time,” he said.

Hayes said the original store had a breakthrough when he ran a promotion for trade-ins.

“We offered everyone a chance to win a new Xbox 360, which was the new system at the time, for every item

that have come into the store’s possession since they last visited.

“I always wanted to set up a store that had a selection of anything “video game,” but I also want to be as fair as possible and offer the best I can for trade-ins and sell things at a competitive price,” he said.

“We’ve had a lot of customers say they went to some other store and that we’re offering them twice as much as they were offered at the other place for their tradeins,” he said. “I tell people at garage sales all the time that if they don’t sell their old games

they traded in, and that worked really well. We got a lot of trade-ins through that,” he said.

“We haven’t had a promotion like that in a while, though, because for some time we had more trade-ins than we could comfortably afford. This got tricky because I never want to turn away any customers,” he said.

As Hayes described for Level Up, trade-ins are a big part of used video game stores’ business. Level Up has a great deal of repeat customers who bring things in to trade as they peruse new games and movies

45 there, we’ll probably be able to give them more at Level Up. A lot of times they’re surprised at what we can offer.”

“We can’t make everybody happy, but I think a lot of people do still like the option to trade things in.”

Among collectors and hobbyists, Level Up has attracted attention in the region.

“In the Bellevue store we started hearing people tell us they’d come from Huron or all the way from Mansfield, and some even make a trip north from Columbus to hit all three of our locations, for games and

for the skateboard gear we carry,” Hayes said.

Hayes hadn’t planned to offer skateboard accessories and decks in his Level Up stores, but after seeing a local skate shop leave Bellevue some years ago and realizing that a lot of enthusiasts wanted a closer option where they could buy replacement parts, he decided to try the additional venture.

“I’d been a skateboarder for a number of years myself, and a lot of times if a person is riding a skateboard they might not have a credit card to order a part online, or a way to get to a

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46

The Advertiser-Tribune

A part of Level Up’s Super Nintendo game collection, ready to be perused.

store in another city,” he said. “So I started carrying some blank decks and bearings and replacement parts, and then kept expanding on that, eventually,” he said.

Hayes’ Level Up business has expanded in the 13 years since he opened the Bellevue

store and even in the 10 years that the Tiffin location has been open, but there’s concern that, as with all brick-andmortar retail business, the concept behind a used games and movies store like Level Up may become less operable as the years go on.

“There’s definitely

concern, trying to compete with the online giants and even the local giants. There’s also concern about the changing trends of video game distribution.

“Instead of buying a physical copy of a game at a store, bringing it home and waiting for it to install, you can just

download it at home now. And many games you just download for free, and the idea is that you’ll pay for the character costumes and expansion packs and things,” he said.

“If all business moves there, it’ll be harder to keep businesses like ours alive with-

out branching off somehow,” he said.

But Level Up has managed to work in Tiffin for 10 years as these trends have continued proliferating throughout the industry, and Hayes commented on possible reasons for the store’s survival.

“We’ve been lucky, I

The Advertiser-Tribune think in part, because we’ve always carried everything,” he said.

“Also, a lot of collectors are worried that places like GameStop, if they move into retro games, won’t be concerned enough about grade or checking whether games are counterfeit or not,” he said.

“For a collector, it’s a big deal whether a game comes with the original box and instruction booklet, or if the cartridge is scratched up. Think about how they grade comics: if you bend up the pages, that’s not going to be worth as much,” he said.

Hayes’ long-held entrepreneurial streak may have also helped Level Up. “When I was growing up, my parents would never buy me a game system,” h e said. “I always had to earn it myself, whether through a paper route or doing odd jobs and things,” he said. “ T h e r e ’s something about that entrepreneurial venture as a kid that’s important, I think,” he said.

Our Town Asked about the reason old video games are so dear to so many, Hayes wondered if the desire is different depending on a person’s age.

“For older people, they grew up playing these games.

There’s nostalgia and childhood memories and they want to go back to a point in their life they really enjoyed,” he said. “Many people also like to collect, of course, and they want the things they had when they were a kid.”

“For teenagers,” he said, “they might be looking into older games now to discover some of the history of the newer games they grew up with.

“If they just played the newest Mario Kart, they might want to see what the old games in the series were like, or find out where Mario came from in the first place. Some of those old games are so well-polished you can still have a lot of fun playing them,” he said.

For more information on the store and upcoming events, visit Level Up’s Facebook page.

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47

LOGO COURTESY OF LEVEL UP FACEBOOK PAGE

48

Our Town

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Jeff Hammer of HammerCam was the photographer selected to shoot our cover photo and one of his photos was also utilized for an advertisement for Downtown Tiffin. From everyone at The Advertiser-Tribune, we would like to extend a thank you to Jeff for giving us his photographs for us to use in this years edition of “Our Town- Our County, Our Community, Our Town.”

For more information on Jeff and his photography business, HammerCam, please see page 11.

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1033 Bright Rd., Findlay • 419-422-3511 • 1-800-233-6537 Mon-Thurs 8:30-8:00 Fri 8:30-6:00 Sat 8:30-4:00

UPPER SANDUSKY

Reineke Motors, Inc. 1045 E. Wyandot Ave. Upper Sandusky • 419-294-2386 • 800-589-8079 Mon & Thurs 8:30-8:00 Tues, Wed & Fri 8:30-6:00 Sat 8:30-3:00

Reineke Ford-Lincoln

2020 W. SR 18, Tiffin • 419-447-9752 Mon-Thurs 8:30-8:00 Fri 8:30-6:00 Sat 8:30-5:00

LIMA

Reineke Nissan

1350 N. Cable Rd. Lima • 419-227-7400 • 1-888-366-2506 Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs 9:00-8:00, Fri 9:00-6:00, Sat. 9:00-3:00

NORTH BALTIMORE

Reineke Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram 207 W. Water St., North Baltimore • 855-497-5272 Mon & Thurs 7:30-7:00 Tues, Wed, Fri 7:30-6:00 Sat 8:30-2:00