Ohio Cooperative Living – July 2024 – North Central

OHIO

JULY 2024

COOPERATIVE North Central Electric Cooperative

National Parkers

Grandmother and grandson hit ’em all ALSO INSIDE Revisiting renewables Those garden gems Sandcastle art

OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING • JULY 2024

INSIDE FEATURES 22 IN A PICKLE

America’s fastest-growing sport is fun, social, and a hit with all ages.

26 SAND MAN

Ohio native Carl Jara uses a beachy medium to reach for the ‘wow’ factor with his art.

Cover image on most editions: When Brad Ryan found his then80-year-old grandmother, Joy, had never seen a mountain, it inspired a record-breaking quest — and healed a family rift.

This page: Pickleball, a sport somewhere between tennis and pingpong, has been America’s fastest-growing sport for three years running (photograph by Olga Nikiforovavia/Getty Images).

JULY 2024 • OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING

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UP FRONT

Where’s our power going to come from?

U

ntil recently, the demand for electricity in the United States has been mostly steady, growing a little less than 4% over the past 20 years. Constant improvement in the efficiency of home appliances, air conditioning and heating systems, light bulbs, even electronic chargers, combined with an “offshoring” of many industrial facilities, largely offset the increase in demand that came from an influx of new homes and electric-powered innovations.

Today, however, things look dramatically different.

Our population is increasingly turning to electricity to power our homes and businesses.

Manufacturing facilities are springing up across the country to shorten supply chains while others are returning from abroad to respond to incentives for domestic production. Electric vehicles are still in their early stages, but typically add 30% or more to a household’s electricity use. Efficiency improvements continue, but there are diminishing returns when improving on already-efficient appliances.

All this means we need to grow and expand our domestic production of electricity. Sounds easy, but it has proven to be slower and more difficult than in the past. The development of large-scale electric infrastructure that will be able to feed the coming growth in demand comes with trade-offs: cost, land use, and environmental impact not least among them.

Wind and solar continue to be the fastest-growing electricity supply sources (see our story on page 4), and those renewable resources will continue to expand. But we all realize they have limitations; neither is available 24/7, and both require (or at least impact) vast amounts of land in order to produce power at the scale we need.

Coal- and natural gas-powered generation can easily supply what we need. However, the U.S. EPA’s most recent rule requiring carbon capture and storage from both existing coalfired power plants and new large natural gas plants will not only force premature closure of remaining coal plants, but will severely limit future development of the most efficient new natural gas plants. Nuclear power plants could be a solution, but they continue to be plagued by high costs and long lead times for permitting and siting, making any significant contribution from new nuclear plants decades away.

With the restrictions that are being placed on current reliable, economical sources of power and limits on the development of new infrastructure, we can only expect a less reliable system, higher costs, and negative impacts on people’s personal and economic well-being. It doesn’t need to be that way.

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OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING • JULY 2024

Pat O’Loughlin

PRESIDENT & CEO OHIO’S ELECTRIC COOPERATIVES

With the restrictions that are being placed on reliable, economical sources of power, we can only expect a less reliable system, higher costs, and negative impacts on people’s wellbeing.

JULY 2024 • Volume 66, No. 10

Ohio Rural Electric Cooperatives 6677 Busch Blvd.

Columbus, OH 43229 614-846-5757 www.ohiocoopliving.com Patrick O’Loughlin Caryn Whitney Jeff McCallister Amy Howat Neal Kindig

4 DEPARTMENTS

President & CEO Director of Communications Senior Managing Editor Assistant Managing Editor Graphic Designer

Contributors: Tim Baldwin, Margaret Buranen, Colleen Romick Clark, Getty Images, W.H. “Chip” Gross, Catherine Murray, James Proffitt, and Jamie Rhein.

OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING (USPS 134-760; ISSN 2572-049X) is published monthly by Ohio Rural Elec­tric Co­op­eratives, Inc. It is the official com­munication link be­tween the elec­­­­tric co­operatives in Ohio and West Virginia and their mem­bers. Subscription cost for members ranges from $5.52 to $6.96 per year, paid from equity accruing to the member.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to editorial and advertising offices at: 6677 Busch Boulevard, Columbus, OH 43229-1101. Periodicals postage paid at Berne, IN 46711, and at additional mailing offices. Nothing in this publication may be reproduced in any manner without written permission from Ohio Rural Electric Cooperatives, Inc. All rights reserved.

The fact that a product is advertised in Ohio Cooperative Living should not be taken as an en­dorse­ment. If you find an advertisement mis­leading or a product unsatisfactory, please not­ify us or the Ohio Attorney General’s Of­fi ce, Consumer Protection Sec­tion, 30 E. Broad St., Col­um­bus, OH 43215.

Periodicals postage paid at Colum­bus, OH, and at additional mailing offices.

4 POWER LINES

Revisiting renewables: What’s

so complicated about switching to green energy?

8

8 WOODS, WATERS, AND WILDLIFE

Walking-stick work of art: Our

outdoors editor goes on a quest for the perfect hiking helper.

10 CO-OP PEOPLE

Destination everywhere: Prolific park explorers now look for new treks to tackle.

10

13 GOOD EATS

Straight from the garden: The

freshest of garden gems take these recipes to the next level.

17 LOCAL PAGES

13

News and other important information from your electric cooperative.

33 CALENDAR

What’s happening: July/August events and other things to do around Ohio.

National/regional advertising inquiries, contact

Cheryl Solomon

33

Sandcastles: Members share their

American MainStreet Publications 847-749-4875 | cheryl@amp.coop

Cooperative members:

Please report changes of address to your electric cooperative. Ohio Cooperative Living staff cannot process address changes.

Alliance for Audited Media Member

36 MEMBER INTERACTIVE

sandy works of art — such as the photo at right, submitted by South Central Power Company member Robin Snyder, who was rightfully proud of “the most, best, never-beenanother-one-like-it” family design!

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Visit Ohio Cooperative Living magazine online at www.ohiocoopliving.com!

Read past issues and watch videos about our articles or our recipes. Our site features an expanded Member Interactive area, where you can share your stories, recipes, and photos and find content submitted by other co-op members across the state.

JULY 2024 • OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING

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POWER LINES

Revisiting

renewables

With reliability and affordability as priorities, power companies find it’s not easy being green.

BY AMY HOWAT

T

here’s an important debate going on currently about the best way to generate electricity to power America’s homes and businesses, framed something like this: Low- or zero-carbon-emission sources that are both generally expensive and only intermittently available on the one side; reliable and economical but carbon-emitting sources on the other.

Ohio’s electric cooperatives, however, insist that generation shouldn’t be a matter of either/or — either fossil-fuel generation or renewable energy sources.

Instead, they execute an all-of-the-above strategy, utilizing the best available mix while also planning for the future with growing use of renewable sources like solar energy — when it’s logical to do so.

“While coal and natural gas provide the bulk of our electricity supply in a reliable and cost-competitive manner, we continue to seek opportunities to develop renewable

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OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING • JULY 2024

energy projects that make sense for our members,” says Pat O’Loughlin, president and CEO of Ohio’s Electric Cooperatives, the trade association that provides services to the 24 electric distribution cooperatives in the state.

“Our hydropower, bio-gas, and solar resources are an important part of the mix. We’re always looking to grow and expand our supply resources in economical, practical, and beneficial ways.”

With that in mind, Ohio’s cooperatives actively oppose new federal regulations that could force the closure of coal-fired power plants in the U.S., because those plants are critical to meeting the needs of cooperative members.

That doesn’t mean co-ops are fighting against renewable energy, but instead are advocating for a realistic timeline for reducing use of fossil fuels. In fact, Ohio’s electric cooperatives and Buckeye Power, the generation and transmission cooperative providing electricity to the state’s

The 14-acre OurSolar 2 site, which provides solar power to all of Ohio’s electric cooperatives, wraps around Hancock-Wood’s original OurSolar array on co-op property near Findlay (photo by Tim Baldwin).

Hydroelectric power – A reliable renewable STATUS: About 75% of Buckeye Power’s renewable energy comes from hydropower, though Ohio lacks the geography — specifically, significant elevation changes — needed to produce large amounts of electricity from dammed rivers in the state. Instead, Buckeye has an agreement with the New York Power Authority to purchase 55 megawatts of hydropower from the Niagara and St. Lawrence-FDR power projects.

ANALYSIS: Hydroelectric power, which relies on the ongoing movement of water through turbines, is a proven and reliable renewable, providing consistent baseload generation as the rivers flow.

However, environmental concerns are now driving efforts to reduce hydropower facilities, particularly in the western U.S. “If anything, there is a push to retire these plants, rather than building new ones,” Buckeye’s Ben Wilson says.

OUTLOOK: While hydropower will continue to be an important portion of renewable energy in the U.S. and in Ohio’s energy mix, it’s not a likely source of growth to replace fossil fuels or meet ever-growing energy demands. Hydroelectric power blossomed in the U.S. starting in the late 1800s, and most rivers that are suitable for hydroelectric plants already have them.

Wind energy – The price is wrong STATUS: Wind, which is an intermittent source like solar, isn’t a significant portion of Buckeye Power’s generation mix. The small amount of wind power it receives comes from member-owned facilities that produce excess energy that feeds back into the grid.

ANALYSIS: “Wind can fit into an overall portfolio,” Ben Wilson says. “It’s lost favor to solar because solar prices have come down quite a bit, while wind costs have not.”

Solar generation also edges out wind for Ohio because solar arrays produce well during the hottest peakdemand weeks of summer. “Sometimes, there’s no wind on hot days, when the energy is really needed.”

co-ops, have expanded renewable energy offerings in ways that meet co-op members’ needs and frequently analyze options to grow renewable generation.

That focus on members’ interests has driven Buckeye Power’s current energy mix, and will continue to guide growth in the future, says Craig Grooms, chief operating officer. “Our mission is to provide affordable, reliable, and environmentally responsible power,” he says. “Affordability and reliability drive everything we do.”

Buckeye’s current portfolio is reliable and cost-effective, so potential changes must be evaluated carefully.

“We have sufficient generation capacity, and it’s still affordable,” says Ben Wilson, assistant vice president of power delivery for Buckeye Power. “It’s like we have a very reliable car that’s not a brand-new car but still runs great. We’ll take action if and when members tell us they want us to and we can do it economically.”

OUTLOOK: Buckeye Power experimented with wind power partnerships for a project in Iowa several years ago, says OEC’s Craig Grooms, but eventually, transmitting that power from the area of the country with the best wind production (the Great Plains) to Ohio simply was not cost-effective. “What we learned, primarily, is there is a lot of value in having our power generation close to where we actually consume it,” Grooms says.

As the market changes, wind might become more viable for Ohio’s co-ops, Wilson says. “If wind prices come down, we could shift back that way.”

Government grants could make new green-energy projects more feasible. “We’re exploring federal funding opportunities that might make sense for Ohio co-op members,” Grooms says. “We’re looking at solar, batteries, or maybe a combination of those.”

On this page and the following pages, we take an honest look at the current status, as well as future growth potential, of various renewable sources of generation.

“Every form of energy has trade-offs,” Grooms says. “There is no perfect form of energy. It’s easy to say we should just build enough solar and wind and transport it where it’s needed, but designing something in a model isn’t the same as building it in reality. It took it more than 100 years to get where we are. We can’t expect that in 15 years, we’re going to transition to something completely different.”

JULY 2024 • OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING

5

Revisiting

renewables

The New York Power Authority’s Niagara Power Project (below) and St. Lawrence-FDR Power Project send 55 megawatts of hydroelectric power to Ohio’s electric cooperative members.

Community solar – By co-ops for co-op members STATUS: Solar power currently provides a little more than 5% of the power from renewable sources in Buckeye Power’s energy mix. Ohio cooperatives have invested in community solar through the OurSolar project, rather than building industrial-scale solar arrays, says Ryan Goolsby, director of engineering at Hancock-Wood Electric Cooperative in New Baltimore.

“OurSolar was sized based on the interest of members,” Goolsby says. “Ohio has seen opposition to very large projects converting thousands of acres of farmland to solar panels to sell electricity into the market. This is a much smaller scale; it’s by co-ops for co-op members.”

OurSolar’s first phase in 2017 saw smaller arrays go up at 23 co-op sites around Ohio. The second phase — a single 14-acre site on Hancock-Wood property with allocations to all Ohio co-ops — doubled the generation capacity for Ohio’s cooperatives, to 4.1 megawatts.

ANALYSIS: Solar energy offers some advantages.

First, of course, is the environmental benefit of carbon-free generation from the sun. In addition, the technology for solar panels is readily available and the costs have been coming down, making solar energy less cost-prohibitive than in years past.

Anyone who’s spent a winter in Ohio, however, can attest to one of solar energy’s major shortcomings:

Biogas – Turning waste into energy STATUS: Nearly 20% of Buckeye Power’s renewable energy comes from member-owned facilities that produce electricity from methane gas — and two-thirds of that comes from landfills, which produce methane as organic garbage decomposes. The rest comes from anaerobic digesters, which break down animal waste for methane, at co-op member-owned farms.

OUTLOOK: While these are valuable sources of renewable energy, significant growth in this area isn’t expected.

66 OHIO OHIO COOPERATIVE COOPERATIVE LIVING LIVING •• JULY JULY 2024 2024

The sun doesn’t always shine. So, while OurSolar has the capacity to produce 4.1 MW, “that’s at midday on a nice, sunny day across Ohio,” says OEC’s Ben Wilson.

On average, actual generation from the solar panels is closer to 1 MW because of cloudy days and dark nights, when little to no electricity is produced.

With community solar, members benefit because they can access solar energy without the up-front costs of rooftop panels. “Most members don’t have the roughly $18,000 or more needed for an average home solar installation,” Goolsby says. “Additionally, residential solar typically excludes renters, homeowners in certain HOAs, and homeowners whose property isn’t well-suited for solar production.

OurSolar is there for any member.”

OUTLOOK: Because solar production is intermittent, though, it makes sense only when complementing reliable, always-available generation. The outlook is better when solar generation is paired with battery storage, to provide electricity when the sun isn’t shining.

“Battery storage is still new enough that there are concerns about longevity and performance,” Wilson says. “But the signs are good that battery storage will be part of grid operations going forward. Pairing solar with batteries is still pricy, but the technology works and can be part of a diverse resource mix.”

Deep geothermal – Maybe someday STATUS: An endless supply of energy exists in Earth’s super-hot core, and keeps the ground even a few feet down at nearly constant temperatures year-round. Homeowners and businesses already can tap into that resource for heating and air conditioning through geothermal heat pumps. Similarly, larger-scale facilities can generate electricity in places where geothermal energy is close to the surface (think volcanoes and geysers).

OUTLOOK: Ohio is not one of those places. Advances in drilling technology could make deep geothermal an option in the future, even where the Earth’s heat is more deeply buried. “Techniques for (natural gas) fracking have gotten very good for deep drilling,” OEC’s Ben Wilson says. “The idea is to drill wells so deep that we can capture that heat. That could happen here in the future.”

Nuclear power – High risk, high reward STATUS: Nuclear power combines the benefits of zero carbon emissions seen in wind and solar production with high reliability that is industry-leading. “Nuclear is the best of both worlds,” says OEC’s Ben Wilson.

“It has no emissions, but it’s very reliable, always on, providing very good baseload power.”

ANALYSIS: With those benefits, why doesn’t Ohio just build nuclear plants to replace coal generation and meet growing energy demand? The answer hinges on cost, time, and red tape. In the past year, utilities in Georgia opened two new nuclear reactors, the first such units built in the U.S. in decades. They will provide carbon-emission-free electricity for years to come, but the project came in about $17 billion and seven years over initial projections. Government regulatory hurdles, coupled with the time and money

needed to site, plan, and build new nuclear facilities, make this attractive energy source a very long-term and risky investment.

OUTLOOK: There is hope on the horizon for more practical deployment of nuclear energy in the form of small modular reactors, also called SMRs. These advanced reactors, which are still in the research and development phase, are smaller than conventional reactors and will provide several advantages, including having a smaller footprint (making them feasible on sites not large enough for conventional facilities) and consisting of prefabricated units that can be manufactured elsewhere and then installed on-site.

Once this technology is available — though no one can say when that will be — new nuclear generation could become more practical.

What’s a megawatt?

Power generation is often measured in megawatts (MW). One megawatt is equal to 1 million watts (or 1,000 kilowatts). Each MW of electricity can power about 250 homes during the hottest or coldest hours of the year.

CALL FOR ENTRIES 2025 cooperative calendar

Ohio Cooperative Living magazine is seeking photography submissions from our electric cooperative members. Send us beautiful landscape, wildlife, and floral photos from your cooperative hometown. Winning submissions will receive a cash prize and be published in the 2025 edition of the cooperative calendar.

Requirements

• One photo entry per household.

• High-resolution, color, digital images only.

• Only JPEG or TIF file formats will be accepted.

• Please send submissions by email attachment only to photo@ohioec.org.

• Photo format must be horizontal and capable of filling an 8x11-inch image area.

• Provide an explanation of the photo — where, what, when — and who took the photo.

• Include your name, address, phone number, and the name of your co-op.

For more information, visit OhioCoopLiving.com/calendar

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION: AUGUST 16, 2024

JULY 2024 • OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING

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WOODS, WATERS, AND WILDLIFE

work of art Walking-stick

A

BY W.H. “CHIP” GROSS; PHOTOGRAPHS BY JAN GROSS

re your favorite hiking trails somehow growing inexplicably longer and steeper? If so, congratulations! You’re a “seasoned citizen.” For most outdoor folks, that hard-won status usually kicks in sometime around age 50.

The realization that I had qualified for the honored designation dawned on me a few years ago while hiking in the Hocking Hills in southeast Ohio. That region has some of the most beautiful trails in the Buckeye State, but also some of the most rugged. About halfway through my day I was wishing I had a hiking staff — especially when ascending or descending the steep, rocky, narrow footpaths.

Thus began my search for just the right sapling from which to make a staff. Sure, I could have purchased a pair of those lightweight, aluminum trekking poles, 8

OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING • JULY 2024

but that’s not what I had in mind. What I was looking for was a single small tree with a natural spiral — something unique, something with character.

After a lengthy search spanning several months, I eventually found just the right tree — growing, of all places, on my own property 100 yards behind the house.

About a dozen feet high, it was a thin sugar maple that had grown straight up for about 3 feet, spiraled for 2 feet, then grew straight again. Perfect!

What caused the spiraling? Chad Sanders, a forester friend of mine who works for the Ohio Division of Forestry at Mohican-Memorial State Forest near Loudonville, has a theory: “Probably an Oriental bittersweet vine or some other vine wrapped itself around the tree for a few years as it grew,” he says.

I’m not a woodworker, but fortunately I have a buddy who is a master at the craft. Gary Isbell, a member of Consolidated Cooperative, turns out gorgeous cabinets, tables, chairs, and other functional works of art from his basement workshop near Sunbury in central Ohio. I asked him if he could work his magic on my maple sapling and turn it into a hiking staff, and he was eager to take it on: “I thrive on trying new projects that I’ve never tackled before,” he told me.

As you can see by the accompanying photos, the hiking staff turned out great — a work of art that I will enjoy for the rest of my days. No doubt, it will be passed down to my kids and grandkids down the

line. Weighing about 3 pounds, the staff measures just over 5 feet in length, is an inch-and-a-quarter in diameter at the top, and tapers to 1 inch in diameter near the bottom.

You don’t have to be a geezer like me to benefit from a hiking staff. In addition to helping you walk more steadily, a hiking stick has other uses. For instance, it can be used to move briars and other obstructions out of your path, and it will help you cross creeks or other wet areas more securely. Also, a hiking staff could potentially be used as a stout defensive weapon to fend off predators.

JULY 2024 • OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING

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CO-OP PEOPLE

Everywhere Destination:

Prolific park explorers now look for new treks to tackle.

BY JAMES PROFFITT PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY @GRANDMAJOYSROADTRIP ON INSTAGRAM

N

o one could have known when Brad Ryan’s parents divorced years ago that it would result in a long, record-breaking, heartwarming journey.

“There was some grievance that I was holding onto,” Brad says, recalling matter-of-factly his decade-long estrangement from his grandmother, Joy Ryan. He began letting go of that grievance when they ran into each other at a family wedding in 2008. “She was 80 and she told me she regretted never seeing a mountain in her lifetime. I’ve traveled around the world a little bit and when she told me that, it kind of jarred my heart.”

Joy lives in Duncan Falls, a sleepy town nestled against the rolling hills along the Muskingum River southeast of Zanesville, where she’s a longtime member of New Concord-based Guernsey-Muskingum Electric Cooperative.

When they finally reconnected, Brad noticed she was suffering some health issues, and clearly needed a change.

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OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING • JULY 2024

Brad was in veterinary school when he took Joy, at the time 85, camping in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. That was the beginning of an odyssey that grabbed national attention — and spurred his realization that something had been sorely missing in his life for years: his grandmother, Joy.

Inauspicious start

That first trip was rough. It was the first time Joy had ever slept in a tent, and she fell off the air mattress — twice. But it was perfect.

“Yeah, that didn’t bother me at all,” Joy exclaims with energetic defiance. “It was raining cats and dogs, but a little rain doesn’t hurt anybody.”

Undeterred by torrential downpours and mud, and inspired by their ascension to the top of the miles-long Alum Cave Trail, Brad wondered if she’d like to visit all 63 U.S. national parks. She replied with a phrase remembered from his youth: “Let’s give it a whirl!”

And so they did. Beginning in 2015, they began hitting more national parks. Zion, check. Shenandoah, check.

Cuyahoga, Rainier, Denali, Yosemite, Everglades, Yellowstone, Badlands, check-check-check-check-check.

You get the idea.

It took eight years to check them all off the list. The final one was also the most distant — they ventured the 7,000 air miles from Muskingum County to the National Park of American Samoa in May 2023.

They chronicled their adventures with plenty of cool photographs via their Instagram account, @grandmajoysroadtrip. Along the way their account attracted more than 107,000 followers.

Active participant

When Joy travels, she doesn’t simply sit in a seat looking out a window; Brad stresses that she gets involved. “I want people to really know what Grandma Joy is actually made of,” he says. And while Joy won’t come out and say she put her grandson to shame on the hiking trails, Brad isn’t bashful about spilling the beans. “If I stopped on the trail to take a picture of a butterfly, I’d look up and she’d be half a

football field in front of me,” he says, laughing. “That’s true.”

There are more examples. Like the time when Joy, alone, rolled down a towering sand dune at Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve in Colorado. What else? “Well, we went whitewater rafting in Alaska,” Joy says, “and we went zip-lining at New River Gorge National Park in West Virginia, and we walked the New River Gorge Bridge.”

In fact, she set the record by a decade as the oldest person to complete the zip-line course, which includes launching off 10 different platforms. The bridge is the third tallest in the U.S. and the longest steel span in the Western Hemisphere. A small wrinkle: Brad’s not so keen on heights. “I’m telling you, when we had to go underneath that bridge, it took him a lot of courage to do that,” she says. “They said, ‘Who wants to go first?’ and of course my big mouth — I said, ‘I’ll do it!’ and I forgot Brad had to go, too. He’s a pretty good guy.”

Gaining fame

The duo’s mission did not go unnoticed. In addition to Insta-fame, the Today show featured them in the Rocky Mountains National Park, and Rachael Ray surprised the pair with trips to national parks in Alaska. They twice appeared on David Muir’s America Strong, and twice on the Tamron Hall Show. They’ve been featured on CNN, on NPR, and in magazines and podcasts too numerous to count.

Continued on page 12

Brad and Joy’s adventures, which started out in U.S. National Parks, have expanded to include anywhere on Earth — including this trip to Kenya.

JULY 2024 • OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING

11

Continued from page 11

But once they finished their list, they realized they didn’t want to quit traveling together, and now they’ve gone international. After jaunts to the African nation of Kenya and to the Galapagos Islands (gifts from Hall and National Geographic), they’ve now set their sights on visiting all seven continents. Recent trips have included Ecuador and Chile — so check Africa and South America off the list, along with North America, of course.

“Right now we’re in the early stages of planning a trip to Australia and a fall trip to Antarctica,” Brad says. “That will be five out of seven continents.”

Joy says that everywhere she’s gone during her adventures, she’s felt at home. “As soon as you say, ‘Hi! How are you?’ strangers become friends for sure.

That’s how everybody is all over the world,” she says.

Now 94, Grandma Joy has earnest advice: “If somebody asks you to go somewhere, do not say ‘No,’ because the next day you’ll regret it. If you don’t go when people ask, you can’t complain because you have to sit there in a chair on the porch.”

Give Grandma Joy a follow @grandmajoysroadtrip on Instagram

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OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING • JULY 2024

Straight from the garden

GOOD EATS

The freshest of garden gems take these recipes to the next level.

RECIPES AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY CATHERINE MURRAY

SORREL AND CHIVE PESTO Lots of ingredients can be made into great pesto: basil, of course, as well as arugula, spinach, parsley, carrot greens, and fennel fronds; this one features sorrel and chives, two fast-growing and spreading perennials. Sorrel, while less commonly known, is easy to grow in Ohio and, like chives, is one of the first things to come up in spring and lasts all the way through fall. Sorrel has a tart, lemony flavor, perfect for pesto. Harvest herbs at the end of the season to make a large batch to freeze for quick dinners all winter long. Note: Sorrel comes in many varieties; one is red-veined, which would likely influence the pesto's color.

Prep: 10 minutes | Cook: 7 to 12 minutes | Servings: 6 to 8 1 medium garlic clove 3 ounces unsalted walnuts or pine nuts 3 ounces Parmesan cheese, divided 1 ounce chives

3 ounces sorrel leaves (thick or tough stems removed) 2 to 6 tablespoons lemon juice 2 to 4 tablespoons olive oil 1 pound pasta of your choice

Cook pasta according to package directions and plan for the pesto to be ready before the pasta is done cooking. Place garlic, nuts, and 1 ounce of the Parmesan cheese in a food processor and pulse until finely minced. Tear chives into 3-inch pieces, add them to the food processor, and pulse again. Add sorrel leaves and pulse again — if the processor struggles to break them apart, scrape sides and rearrange them. Once a finely minced paste is formed, pulse in 2 tablespoons lemon juice and 2 tablespoons olive oil. Pulse until smooth, adding more oil to loosen the paste if needed. Taste: If flavor is dull or bitter, adding more lemon juice (or a dash of salt) should do the trick.

Transfer cooked, hot pasta to a large bowl and spoon some pesto on top. With a pair of tongs, mix to generously coat pasta with pesto.

Just before serving, add a dash of lemon juice and sprinkle with thinly shredded Parmesan cheese. Refrigerate leftover pesto with a thin layer of olive oil on top to prevent oxidation and use within a week, or freeze for up to 3 months.

Per serving: 357 calories, 14 grams fat (3 grams saturated fat), 7 milligrams cholesterol, 129 milligrams sodium, 45 grams total carbohydrates, 3 grams fiber, 13 grams protein.

JULY 2024 • OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING

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GARDEN GEM SALAD Prep: 15 minutes | Cook: 2 minutes | Servings: 8 ½ jalapeño, seeded and diced 1 medium clove garlic 1 tablespoon honey 2 tablespoons lime juice ¼ cup olive oil ½ teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon pepper

a few sprigs cilantro or chives, coarsely chopped 3 cups trimmed and cut fresh green beans 1 cup fresh corn kernels 1 medium cucumber, diced small 1 cup diced fresh tomatoes (Roma or cherry preferred)

Using an immersion blender, blend the first 8 ingredients (jalapeño through chives) to make dressing. Set aside. Bring a small pot of water and a dash of salt to a boil, throw in green beans, and blanch for 2 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water until cooled. In a large bowl, toss vegetables together.

Let sit 5 minutes, then drain excess liquid from vegetables. Toss vegetables with dressing and serve. Refrigerate leftovers; eat within 4 days.

Per serving: 108 calories, 7.5 grams fat (1 gram saturated fat), 0 milligrams cholesterol, 153 milligrams sodium, 10.5 grams total carbohydrates, 4 grams fiber, 2 grams protein.

CHAI-SPICED CARROT CAKE Prep: 20 minutes | Bake: 45 minutes | Servings: 16 to 20 1½ teaspoons cinnamon 1½ teaspoons cardamom 1½ teaspoons ground ginger ½ teaspoon allspice ½ teaspoon cloves ½ teaspoon nutmeg 2½ cups flour 1½ teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon salt 2½ cups grated carrots (or parsnips)

1 cup granulated sugar 1 cup packed brown sugar 1 cup vegetable oil 4 eggs FROSTING 8 ounces cream cheese, softened 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened 3 cups powdered sugar 2 tablespoons milk 2 teaspoons chai spice mix

In a small bowl, mix together spices (cinnamon through nutmeg). Reserve 2 teaspoons of this chai spice mix for the frosting. In a medium bowl, thoroughly whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and the bowl of chai spice mix.

Preheat oven to 350 F. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, blend together carrots, granulated sugar, brown sugar, vegetable oil, and eggs. With a spatula, fold dry ingredients into carrot mixture until just combined. Pour into a greased 9x13-inch baking dish. Bake 40 to 45 minutes, or until tester comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool.

With an electric mixer, blend cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, milk, and remaining 2 teaspoons chai spice mix. Add milk to desired consistency. Frost cake when both cake and frosting are at room temperature.

Per serving: 388 calories, 18 grams fat (6 grams saturated fat), 50 milligrams cholesterol, 199 milligrams sodium, 54 grams total carbohydrates, 1 gram fiber, 4 grams protein.

14

OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING • JULY 2024

K EN C I H C

CACCIA

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cciatore is traditionally served over r ice, p icken ca h c e l i asta Wh n theme with mashed potatoe e d r , or a g e h s t o e po u r n s i pagh cont etti s lenta, q ua sh i nst ea d.

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Cook: 25 minutes | Bake: 30 minutes | Servings: 6 to 8 3 to 4 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken (legs, thighs, and/or drumsticks) salt and pepper 3 tablespoons olive oil 1 medium onion, diced 1 large bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and chopped 5 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

¾ cup dry white wine 3 or 4 large tomatoes a few sprigs fresh rosemary, sage, and/or thyme 1 tablespoon cornstarch 2 tablespoons water 2 pounds mashed potatoes

Boil water in a small pot. Cut an “X” in the bottom of each tomato and carefully submerge them in the water for 60 seconds. Drain tomatoes and run under cold water to cool them down enough to handle. Peel and discard skin, then chop tomatoes and set aside.

Pat dry chicken and season with salt and pepper. Heat oil over medium-high in a large Dutch oven (or a tall oven-proof pan). Cook until browned all over, about 5 minutes per side. Remove chicken from pan and sauté onion and peppers until softened, about 7 minutes, then add garlic and stir for 1 minute. Carefully pour in wine and bring to a simmer, loosening any bits from the bottom. Add tomatoes along with herb sprigs and a bit more salt and pepper to taste. In a small bowl, mix cornstarch and water, then stir into the vegetables. Cook until simmering again.

Heat oven to 350 F. Nestle chicken pieces into the vegetables and place uncovered on middle rack in oven. Bake about 30 minutes, until chicken is cooked through and sauce is slightly thickened.

Discard herb sprigs. Serve over mashed potatoes.

Per serving: 402 calories, 22 grams fat (6 grams saturated fat), 83 milligrams cholesterol, 185 milligrams sodium, 23 grams total carbohydrates, 3 grams fiber, 24 grams protein.

JULY 2024 • OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING

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OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING • JULY 2024

NORTH CENTRAL ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE LOCAL PAGES KEY CO-OP TOPICS WITH ED

STANDING UP FOR RELIABLE, AFFORDABLE ENERGY I know our members look to North Central Electric to provide electricity that is both reliable and affordable. For decades, we’ve been doing just that.

For about a year, though, electricity industry leaders have been talking about threats posed by proposed new regulations from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

In April, those rules were released, and the theoretical danger to energy reliability in this country became all too real.

These regulations demand that coal-fired power plants essentially eliminate carbon dioxide emissions by 2032 or be shut down. The problem is that the required reductions aren’t actually feasible because the technology needed for carbon capture and storage is still being developed and not yet commercially available.

What this means to our co-op In the short term, NCE will continue providing you the affordable, reliable electricity you expect from us. But I think all members should understand these new regulations threaten our ability to provide the same level of this vital service in the future.

renewable energy resources and ongoing reductions in fossil-fuel dependence. Realistically, this transition requires more time than the EPA rules allow.

With that in mind, in April, I joined leaders from other cooperatives from Ohio and around the country in Washington, D.C., both to educate legislators about reliability threats in the new rules and to encourage Ed VanHoose PRESIDENT/CEO congressional action to stop their implementation.

We will continue to advocate for commonsense policies and realistic timelines for reducing carbon emissions while reinforcing the importance of reliable and affordable electricity. In early May, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association filed a lawsuit challenging the EPA’s power plant rule, citing it as “unlawful, unreasonable, and unachievable” in an attempt to protect our members access to reliable electricity.

Nearly 70% of generation capacity for Ohio’s electric cooperatives comes from the Cardinal Power Plant, which delivers baseload power to more than a million people in 77 of Ohio’s 88 counties. Member-owned Buckeye Power has spent more than $1 billion on emissions controls at Cardinal, which has been recognized as one of the cleanest-operating coal-fired plants in the world.

What you can do

Electricity from Cardinal Plant has helped Ohio’s cooperatives avoid much of the recent volatility in energy prices and keep rate increases as low as possible. Without this always-available electricity supply, cooperative members would face significantly higher costs and an ever-growing likelihood of insufficient power availability and increasing risk of rolling blackouts.

Additionally, you can join other cooperative members from around the country to advocate for responsible energy policy through Voices for Cooperative Power, a grassroots effort to promote reliable energy. If you’d like to amplify your voice through political support for reliable energy advocates, join America’s Electric Cooperatives PAC, which financially backs candidates who support the interests of electric cooperative members. More information on both of these programs is available on page 19 of this magazine.

What your co-op is doing Please understand that we support environmentally responsible energy goals, including a well-planned and strategically executed transition to carbon-free electricity sources. Our all-of-the-above approach includes growth in

As a member, you can stand up for energy reliability in several ways. First, you can educate yourself on the issues.

Follow NCE online and on Facebook to stay on top of new developments. Research the energy policies supported by candidates for elected office, and support candidates who value reliable (and affordable) electricity.

Your cooperative, along with our statewide and national organizations, will always advocate for reliable, affordable energy for our members. I hope you will join us in these efforts.

JULY 2024 • OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING

17

NORTH CENTRAL ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE LOCAL PAGES

ADVOCACY IN ACTION COOPERATIVES HEAD TO WASHINGTON, D.C. Here are some fast facts about electric cooperatives you might not realize: •

A combination of more than 900 distribution and generation & transmission co-ops power 56% of the American landscape.

•

Co-ops serve 42 million people, including 92% of persistent poverty counties.

•

Co-ops power 22 million businesses, homes, schools, and farms in 48 states.

Why do we bring this up? To show just how much of a responsibility electric cooperatives have when representing the NCE President/CEO Ed VanHoose sits among other Ohio representatives discussing policy issues people and businesses they serve. It’s no affecting electric co-ops during the 2024 Legislative Conference. small task to provide services that are said. “The voices of our members matter, and every time reliable and accessible to such a large group with very we visit Washington, D.C., we have the responsibility of diverse needs, which is why co-ops make sure to speak making sure those voices are heard on Capitol Hill.” out, especially to legislators making decisions every day that affect rural Americans.

While co-ops are constantly advocating on behalf of the membership, the Legislative Conference is the Each year, the National Rural Electric Cooperative prime opportunity for house members, senators, Association (NRECA) hosts the Legislative Conference in and congressional staff to engage in one-on-one Washington, D.C., bringing together thousands of electric conversations solely about the needs and concerns of cooperative leaders from across the nation to meet with electric cooperatives. It’s the perfect time for co-op leaders members of Congress and White House administration to shine, and to sometimes point out where legislative officials to spread the co-op message. It’s a tradition decisions regarding the electric utility industry may be that has been straying off course. taking place for decades and This year, a heavy focus was placed on spreading the has led to many electric reliability message to representatives regarding policy victories strong opposition to the Environmental Protection for co-ops across Agency’s power plant proposal, which threatens the the country. reliability of the electric grid overall and co-ops’ ability to provide power to all of the people relying on us.

“Fighting for Additionally, topics like alleviating transformer supply and protecting chain challenges, broadband, and protecting USDA our members’ funding for co-ops were also discussed. best interests is something Conversations about the needs of electric cooperatives are we cannot take not partisan issues. Our participation in the Legislative lightly,” NCE Conference yearly helps ensure NCE and other co-ops President/CEO across the nation are speaking to any and all legislators Ed VanHoose impacting our members and communities back home.

18 OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING • JULY 2024

NORTH CENTRAL ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE LOCAL PAGES

A GRASSROOTS EFFORT HOW USING YOUR VOICE CAN HELP ELECTRIC CO-OPS The voices of co-op members are stronger than anyone realizes, especially when it comes to influencing decisions made by local, state, and federal governments. When they are strongest, however, is collectively.

bipartisan, focusing on supporting policies, ideas, and people who actively work in the best interest of electric cooperatives and our members.

The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) offers a couple of ways for members to share their voices all together by supporting two programs that aim to amplify the thoughts and opinions of coop members across the nation. These programs are

Below is a little more information about each program and how you can get involved, adding your voice to help strengthen both NCE and other rural electric cooperatives in Ohio and beyond.

How do I sign up?

Founded in 1966, America’s Electric Cooperatives PAC (formerly ACRE) is the federal political action committee (PAC) of the nation’s electric co-ops. NRECA’s PAC supports political candidates who will speak for and protect the interests of electric cooperatives and their members. Today, more than 35,000 co-op members actively participate in America’s Electric Cooperatives PAC, helping to support candidates for state and federal office ­— both running and currently in office — who support the needs of electric cooperatives.

If you are not already enrolled, please contact the cooperative offices. The cooperative can conveniently add your America’s Electric Cooperatives PAC contribution to your monthly electric bill in equal installments.

For just $25 a year — only $2.08 per month — you can help ensure the cooperative business model thrives. It’s the most effective tool we have to get and maintain the attention of our legislative decision-makers in Ohio and in Washington. Visit WWW.NCELEC.ORG/PAC for more information.

Voices for Cooperative Power (VCP) is a network of electric co-op members working together to influence elected officials who are making energy policy decisions that impact our co-ops and, by extension, our way of life.

Speaking up on issues that affect electric co-ops sends a message to elected officials about the needs of our communities and the people who live there.

VCP gives members a platform to talk about the many ways their electric coops support where they live beyond delivering electricity by providing jobs, stability, and economic growth ­ — all while ensuring that energy affordability and reliability remain foundational advantages of electric co-op membership.

VCP will often request co-op members share their voices by issuing calls to action and making it very simple to send messages and letters directly to their representatives in less than five minutes. Participants will also receive newsletters with regular updates and additional ways to get involved. To learn more about VCP, or to sign up, visit WWW.VOICESFORCOOPERATIVEPOWER.COM.

JULY 2024 • OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING

19

NORTH CENTRAL ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE LOCAL PAGES

May board meeting highlights To provide additional transparency to the membership, highlights of the board meetings each month are published in the monthly Ohio Cooperative Living (OCL) magazine. Due to the expansive number of topics and discussions, these are only the highlights. In accordance with the Code of Regulations, full meeting minutes are available to all members in-person at the co-op during regular business hours.

Call to order • Meeting was called to order at 6:05 p.m.

• President/CEO VanHoose reviewed the monthly management and weekly reports and gave an overview of the REMDC Annual Meeting, where he retired as the Committee Chair. He also discussed the EPA’s new rules, which will significantly impact reliability and costs should they go into effect as written, the co-op’s participation in the 2024 OEC Legislative Day, and an update on the NCE headquarters building project.

Attendance

• COO Warnement provided operations reports.

• All directors were present, as well as legal counsel, President/CEO, and senior staff (or representative).

• CSO Clifford provided a strategy update report, including the energy services report, which now falls under the strategy department.

Approval of the consent agenda • Consent agenda consisting of prior meeting minutes, new membership applications, collections report, delinquent graphs, deceased estates, and outage reports was approved.

Action items •

Safety reports, a financial policy, and personnel policy for holidays were discussed and approved as presented.

Departmental reports • Monthly Financial, Operations, Key Accounts/ Economic Development, Communications, IT, Weekly report, and Billing department reports reviewed.

• CFO Long reported on financial analysis, the cash flow statement, CFC Annual Benefits and Integrity Fund

NORTH CENTRAL ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE INC. CONTACT 800-426-3072 | 419-426-3072 www.ncelec.org OFFICE 350 Stump Pike Road P.O. Box 475 Attica, Ohio 44807 WEEKDAY OFFICE HOURS 8:00 a.m.–4:30 p.m.

24-hour night depository access HAVE A STORY SUGGESTION? Email your ideas to: NCE@fesco-oh.org 20

Contributions, 990 questionnaire, and the PowerBill tracking and analysis.

OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING • JULY 2024

• CAO Ruffing gave the administration update report and reviewed several organizational policies.

Legal • NRECA Legal Reporting Service Bulletin reviewed by the board.

Association/committee reports • Reviewed Buckeye Power President’s report, Cooperative Finance Corporation news bulletins, and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association 2023 Annual Report and board update without comment.

Adjournment • The meeting adjourned at 8:44 p.m.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Rodney P. Snavely Chair, District 4

Dennis W. Schindler Director, District 2

Michael P. Scherger Vice Chair, District 6

Nick W. Wagner IV Director, District 3

Kevin E. Bishop Secretary, District 1

Ronald P. Frisch Director, District 5

Steven J. Seitz Treasurer, District 2

Andrew Brose Director, District 7

David S. Green Director, District 1

PRESIDENT/CEO

Edward VanHoose LOCAL PAGES EDITORS

Justis A. Clifford, Chief Strategy Officer Holly M. Storrow, Manager of Communications Addie M. Martin, Communications Specialist I BILL PAYMENT STATIONS Bascom Communications - Bascom Premier Bank - Carey, Civista - New Washington First Federal - New Washington Discount Drug Mart - Upper Sandusky & Willard

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OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING • JULY 2024

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residents old and young as soon as courts became available. That was nearly 20 years ago.

Now in his 90s, Volkens stopped playing the sport only a year or so ago, but the Middletown Over 50 pickleball tournament that he founded, one of the first such organized tournaments (if not the first) in the state, will be played for the 17th year in August.

Cook, who serves as the tournament’s director, says that more than 300 players from eight states had registered to play by April. “When registration closes we’ll have about 400 players,” she says. “Next year we’ll have nine more courts built, so the tournament will be even bigger.”

What is pickleball?

Pickleball is played on a badminton-sized court with a 34-inch net in the center. Either one or two players per side use composite or wooden paddles about twice the size of ping-pong paddles to volley a perforated plastic ball. Games are played to 11, but the winning side must win by at least 2 points.

Pickleball is sometimes thought of as a sport for senior adults. It is, but it’s not just your grandfather’s game.

Cook often sees kids playing with their parents. In fact, pickleball is taught in physical education classes in Middletown’s public schools.

“The No. 1-ranked female player in the world is 17 and the No. 1-ranked male player is 24,” Cook notes.

Pickleball was invented in 1965 by three Seattlearea residents using an old badminton court in their suburban backyard.

Miami University in Oxford is among the many colleges that have added pickleball courts to their student recreation centers. The pickleball facility Pickle Lodge in Westchester hosts tournaments for college students, drawing players from schools in several states.

There are pickleball venues in every U.S. state and Canadian province — likely spots include senior residence communities, YMCAs, community recreation centers, schools, and parks. USA Pickleball maintains a comprehensive list at www.places2play.org.

“We have former professional football, basketball, hockey, and baseball players playing on our courts,” Cook says. But because pickleball is played at different levels, a person doesn’t have to be a good athlete to enjoy playing it. Cook describes herself as proof of that.

According to USA Pickleball, there were 4.8 million players in 2021; as of February 2024, that number had grown to more than 8.9 million.

“I am the most unathletic person,” she admits. “When I was a child, my mom signed me up for every team that you didn’t have to try out for, just to get me out of the house.”

When Cook moved from Mason to Middletown, she had no idea what pickleball was. A friend who is an avid pickleball player got her interested in the sport.

“I started playing and fell in love with it,” she says.

“It’s easy to learn and it’s addictive.”

Her demanding job as a special education paraprofessional with the Middletown Public Schools limits her to playing pickup games during summers. She serves as director for two other pickleball tournaments.

“I love the atmosphere around pickleball and how it brings people together,” she says. “It’s the most social sport.”

JULY 2024 • OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING

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Sand man

Ohio native Carl Jara uses a beachy medium to reach for the ‘wow’ factor with his art.

BY JAMIE RHEIN; PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF CARL JARA

W

hen a rig filled with 20 tons of sand arrives and dumps it on a beach, Carl Jara digs right in. Armed with shovels, buckets, imagination, and technical ingenuity, Jara turns massive amounts of sand into art.

Swimming pool liners, tiered like a wedding cake and stacked five to six tiers high, become packed with sand and compressed with water. Jara nimbly moves up and down the tiers, working from top to bottom — pulling away, adding to, carefully carving each tier until he’s skillfully turned those billions of glacial till particles into masterpieces.

Jara is a professional sand sculptor, and he’s been at this experiential public art form for 33 years. It’s a career that has taken him to 38 states and 13 countries, as far away as Australia. He’s won 14 world championships and earned medals at countless other contests along the way.

So how does a kid from Akron rise to the top of the sand-sculpting profession? It started back at Firestone High School. When he ran out of art classes to take, his teacher connected him to Tom Morrison, president of

26

OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING • JULY 2024

the International Association of Sand Castle Builders. Jara had found his fit. Under Morrison’s tutelage, he learned how to work sand and envision a business. In the early days, his only pay was a trip with free food and a free hotel room. But paired with his day job as exhibits fabrication specialist at the Cleveland Natural History Museum, Jara’s sand sculpting has become a lucrative career.

He’s been featured in the Travel Channel’s Sand Blasters and Sand Wars, and he’s even made a sculpture on billionaire Richard Branson’s private island in the British Virgin Isles. “I sunk up to my knees in sand,” Jara laughs, recalling the challenge.

Meeting challenges is Jara’s forte.

“Sand sculpture is a muscle. The more you do it, the more you know what to do,” he says. Earlier in his career, when he did as many as eight contests per year, Jara improvised his designs, making them up as he went.

These days, he has a plan in mind before he tackles a sand mountain.

Although he uses sculpting tools, Jara relies the most on his hands. “I like smooth and clean work,” he says. “My

Carl Jara (opposite page and above right) began sculpting sand professionally while still in high school in Akron. Now a 14-time world champion who works for the Cleveland Natural History Museum, Jara uses his life experience as inspiration for many of his works, such as Entropy (above left), inspired by his father’s battle with dementia, while Infinity depicts a childhood revelation about the concept of forever.

hand is more sensitive to imperfections. We respond to the beauty of the material, and the beauty of the sand is that I can take it away and I can add. It allows me to adjust the piece. Light is the biggest issue. It can throw you off. When the sun comes out, mistakes are glaring.

I work the entire piece and go back at different times of the day to see what’s there and make adjustments.”

Entropy, for example, was a sculpture of the head of a man seemingly buried to his nose, with pain etched across his face and vacant eyes, looking as if it might sink further and disappear into the sandy beach. Inside the head were family photographs. The sculpture, which won third place at the Hampton Beach Masters in 2022, was inspired by his father’s longtime dementia.

To win a contest, Jara explains, a sculpture needs to have three things: “The number one factor is the ‘wow’ factor. Does it take your breath away? Does it have a concept? How well is the concept explained?”

Then there is a technical component. “Are people playing it safe?”

“I want you to have your own ideas about what a sculpture means. I don’t have to make it obvious.” Whether Jara is creating a work-for-hire sculpture or getting inspiration from his own life, he sees the importance of the moment.

“Sand sculpting is like a symphony experience. You do it for the experience. When it’s done, it’s done.”

Jara’s strength is not playing it safe, even if it means figuring out how to have a 700-pound head hang over nothing. Or creating a sculpture of a man holding himself in the palm of his own hand and repeating that four times with each identical man smaller than the last — Infinity won him a world title.

He gets much of his inspiration from his own memory.

“I’m translating pieces of my life like pages of a diary,” he says.

See Carl Jara’s sand creations • Headlands Beach State Park, July 10–12 (the Headlands BeachFest has been canceled, but Jara will be creating a sculpture on-site).

• Cleveland Octoberfest, Berea, Aug. 30–Sept. 2 and Sept. 6–7.

JULY 2024 • OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING

27

Another Time From exploring historic neighborhoods to famous stories of intrigue, you can discover the past right here in Greater Parkersburg.

Ride the Island Belle sternwheeler down the Ohio River to explore the dramatic past and scandalous backstory of Blennerhassett Island and tour the reconstructed mansion.

Take a walking tour of ornately detailed Victorian-era homes within the Julia-Ann Square Historic District, the state’s largest and oldest residential historic district.

Visit one of America’s finest and most complete historic mansions, filled with heirlooms collected by the five generations who called Henderson Hall their home. Learn how oil and gas fueled the industrial revolution at the nationally recognized Oil & Gas Museum.

BE TRANSPORTED BACK TO ANOTHER TIME IN GREATER PARKERSBURG.

LEARN MORE: GreaterParkersburg.com | 800.752.4982 28

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SPECIAL ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE

Doctor urges seniors to carry medical alert device Seniors snap up new medical alert device that comes with no monthly bills People don’t always do what their doctor says, but when seasoned veteran emergency room physician, Dr. Philip B. Howren, says every senior should have a medical alert device, you better listen up.

“Seniors are just one fall away from being put in a nursing home,” Dr. Howren said. “With a medical alert device, seniors are never alone. So it keeps them living independently in their own home.

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Seniors born before 1956 get new medical alert device with no monthly bills ever It’s just what seniors have been waiting for; a sleek new medical alert device with no contracts, no deposits and no monthly bills that instantly connects you to free unlimited nationwide help with just the push of a button for a one-time $149 price tag that’s a real steal after today’s instant rebate The phone lines are ringing off the hook.

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“It’s not like old style monitored help buttons that make you talk to a call center and only work when you’re at home and come with hefty bills every month. FastHelp comes with state-of-the-art cellular embedded technology. That means it works ■ FLYING OUT THE DOOR: Trucks are being loaded with the new medical alert devices called FastHelp. They are now at home or anywhere, any- being delivered to lucky seniors who call the National Rebate Center Hotline at 1-800-330-4294 DEPT. HELP8234 today.

(Continued on next page)

30

Everyone is calling to get FastHelp, the sleek new medical alert device because it instantly connects you to unlimited nationwide help everywhere cell service is available with no contracts, no deposits and no monthly bills ever.

OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING • JULY 2024

SPECIAL ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE (Continued from previous page)

that cuts out the middleman by instantly connecting you directly to highly trained 911 operators all across the U.S. There’s absolutely nothing to hookup or install. You don’t need a land line and you don’t need a cell phone. Everything is done for you.

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monitored help buttons you wear around your neck, or require expensive base station equipment or a landline are the equivalent of a horse and buggy,” Lawrence says.

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HOW TO GET IT: IF BORN BEFORE 1956: Use the rebate coupon below and call this Toll-Free Hotline: 1-800-330-4294 DEPT. HELP8234 IF BORN AFTER 1956: You cannot use the rebate coupon below and must pay $299 Call: 1-800-330-9423 DEPT. HELP8234 THE BOTTOM LINE: You don’t need to shop around. We’ve done all the leg work, this deal is too good to pass up.

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PROS: It’s the sleek new medical alert device that comes with the exclusive FastHelp One-Touch E 911 Button that instantly connects you to free unlimited nationwide help everywhere cell service is available with no contracts or deposits. It connects you to the vast available network of cellular towers for free and saves seniors a ton of money because there are no monthly bills ever making this deal irresistible. Plus it’s the only medical alert device that makes seniors look important, not old.

CONS: Consumers can’t get FastHelp in stores until later this year. That’s why it’s so important for seniors born before 1956 to call the National Rebate Center Hotline within the next 21 days. For those who miss that deadline, the sleek little medical alert device will set you back over $300 bucks.

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FASTHELP IS COVERED BY A 30-DAY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE LESS SHIPPING AND A 1 YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY. FASTHELP IS A 4G CELLULAR DEVICE. FASTHELP WILL NOT BE ABLE TO MAKE 911 CALLS WHEN CELLULAR SERVICE IS NOT AVAILABLE SUCH AS IN REMOTE OR HIGH DENSITY AREAS. WE SUGGEST TESTING CELLUL AR CONNECTION BEFORE USE. SEE OWNERS MANUAL. FASTHELP USES GPS TRIANGUL ATIONS TO APPROXIMATE YOUR LOCATION WHEN YOUR DEVICE IS TURNED ON. DR. HOWREN IS A COMPENSATED MEDICAL ADVISOR AND FRANK MCDONALD IS AN ACTUAL USER AND COMPENSATED FOR HIS PARTICIPATION. OH RESIDENTS ADD 6.5% SALES TA X. UNIVERSAL PHYSICIANS 7747 SUPREME AVE, NORTH CANTON, OH 44720.

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32

OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING • JULY 2024

2024 CALENDAR NORTHWEST

THROUGH SEP. 15 – NWORRP Museum Summer Hours, Northwest Ohio Railroad Preservation Inc., 12505 Co. Rd. 99, Findlay, Sat./Sun. 1–4 p.m. $3; 12 and under, $2 (includes 1 train ride ticket per admission). Museum tours, quarter-scale train rides, model train displays, games, play area, and more. 419-423-2995, www. nworrp.org, or www.facebook.com/nworrp.

THROUGH OCT. 12 – The Great Sidney Farmer’s Market, 109 S. Ohio Ave., every Sat. 8 a.m.–noon.

Vendors from all around the area provide great food, crafts, and more! 937-658-6945 or www.sidneyalive.org.

JUL. 3, AUG. 7 – Down on the Farm Story Time, Proving Ground Farm, 5670 E. Twp. Rd. 138, Tiffin, 10 a.m. Stories and activities are geared for preschoolage children and focus on farming and nature in a picturesque outdoor setting. Families welcome! 419447-7073, www.conservesenecacounty.com, or follow Seneca Conservation District on Facebook.

JUL. 19–20 – July Downtown Sidewalk Sales, Sidney.

Various downtown shops will offer deals and discounts.

937-658-6945 or www.sidneyalive.org.

JUL. 20–21, AUG. 10–11 – Findlay Flea Market, Hancock Co. Fgds., 1017 E. Sandusky St., Findlay, Sat. 9 a.m.–4 p.m., Sun. 9 a.m.–3 p.m. Free admission.

Variety of merchandise: new, used, vintage items, crafts,

WEST VIRGINIA

JULY/AUGUST

COMPILED BY COLLEEN ROMICK CLARK

and more. Vendors welcome! Contact Christine at 419-619-0041 or findlayfleamarket@gmail.com for more information.

JUL. 25 – Fourth Thursdays S’more Walk, downtown Lakeview. Collect an ingredient at each participating downtown business to build your own sweet s’more treat, then roast it over our live fire while enjoying food trucks and live music. Get your shopping passport stamped for a chance to win a camping gift basket! www. facebook.com/downtownlakeviewohio.

JUL. 25–28 – Wetzelland 2024 Annual Biker Bash, Grover Hill. Great weekend full of great music! Bike show and bike rodeo games, contests, and more. www. wetzelmc.com or follow Wetzelland on Facebook.

JUL. 26–28 – Hamler Summer Fest, Hamler Community Park, 100 S. 1st St., Hamler. $5–$7, under 16 admitted free with parent. Polka bands, German food, cornhole tournament. Sunday is Kids’ Day. www. hamlersf.com.

JUL. 27 – Flair on the Square, 1 Courthouse Square, Bryan, 10 a.m.–9 p.m. Free. Juried art fair, emerging artists’ exhibit, food trucks, live music, hands-on art projects, performing arts, and more. See the complete schedule at www.flaironthesquare.com.

JUL. 27 – Made in Ohio at Hurley Farm, 9249 St. Rte. 117, Huntsville. Find unique crafts and vendors, check out fresh local produce, eat at the food trucks, and have a fun summer day at the farm! www.facebook.com/ hurleyfarmsllc.

JUL. 27–28 – Family Fun Weekend: “Mid-Summer Celebration,” Northwest Ohio Railroad Preservation Inc., 12505 Co. Rd. 99, Findlay, 1–4 p.m. $5. Games, quarterscale train rides, bounce house, and other family-friendly activities and events. 419-423-2995, www.nworrp.org, or www.facebook.com/nworrp.

JUL. 27–28 – Railroad Heritage Weekend Model Railroad Show and Swap, Van Wert Co. Fgds., 1055 S. Washington St., Van Wert, Sat. 10 a.m.–4 p.m., Sun. 10

a.m.–3 p.m. $6; Scouts in uniform and ages 12 and under free; 2-day admission $8. Handicap accessible. Over 200 tables. All gauges and scales. Railroad memorabilia and railfan items; model railroad layouts and displays; play area. Food available. 260-760-1666, railcarman@ frontier.com (Chuck White), www.vwrrhw.com, or find us on Facebook.

JUL. 28 – “The Art and Science of Nature,” Piatt Castle Mac-A-Cheek, 10051 Township Rd. 47, West Liberty, 11 a.m.–4 p.m. Nature educators will lead tours, discussions, and demonstrations on varieties and species that live in the surrounding area. Discover how artists in the past incorporated elements of the natural world into the construction and decoration of the Castle, and enjoy activities focusing on visual and performing arts exploring nature. www.piattcastle.org.

AUG. 2 – First Fridays Taste of Bellefontaine, 100 S. Main St., Bellefontaine. Use your tasting passport to sample food from many of our downtown restaurants and vote for your favorite. www.firstfridaysbellefontaine. com.

AUG. 6 – National Night Out Tuesday, downtown Sidney, 5:30–8:30 p.m. Free. Activities and more promoting a positive relationship with police, first responders, and community. 937-658-6945 or www. sidneyalive.org.

AUG. 10 – Harborfest Indian Lake, Lakeview Harbor, intersection of OH-235 and OH-366, Lakeview. Back by popular demand are the Wacky Boat Races! Grab your team and build a “boat” that floats using non-marine materials. www.facebook.com/downtownlakeviewohio.

AUG. 10 – Paddles, Pedals, and Pints, Sidney. Free admission; activities/tastings additional charge. A day on the Great Miami River and Tawawa Park featuring kayaking, cycling, kids’ triathlon, craft beer, and soda tastings. After-party on the Square. 937-658-6945 or www.sidneyalive.org.

JUL. 13, 27 – Myths of the Mountains, Fort New Salem, 81 Settlers Lane, Salem. Lamplight guided tour (approx. 1 hour) led by period-dressed guides, with each cabin housing a storyteller who spins tales of Appalachia. Gates open at 8 p.m.; groups begin tours every 10 minutes. 304-695-2220, director@fortnewsalemfoundation.org, or www. fortnewsalemfoundation.org.

AUG. 2–3 – West Virginia’s Largest Yard Sale, Upshur and Lewis counties, 8 a.m.–4 p.m. Shop hundreds of yard sales to find hidden treasures, score amazing deals, and support local communities. https://visitbuckhannon. org/events/wvs-largest-yard-sale-2.

Make sure you’re included in our calendar!

Submit listings AT LEAST 90 DAYS prior to the event to: Ohio Cooperative Living 6677 Busch Blvd., Columbus, OH 43229 or send an email to events@ohioec.org.

Ohio Cooperative Living will not publish listings that don’t include a complete address or a number/website for more information.

JULY 2024 • OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING

33

2024 CALENDAR

JULY/AUGUST

CENTRAL

JUL. 7, 21 – Sunday Sampling, Darby Creek Fields and Flowers, 11500 Darby Creek Rd., Orient. $10; 10 and under free. Families welcome. Stroll through 14 fields of flowers while enjoying some of our favorite locally made foods and beverages. Weather permitting. 614-809-8538 or www.darbyflowerfields.com.

JUL. 11, AUG. 8 – Inventors Network Meetings, Rusty Bucket, 3901 Britton Parkway, Hilliard, 43026, 7 p.m.

Informal meetings for networking and invention-related talk. 614-470-0144 or www.inventorscolumbus.com.

JUL. 12–AUG. 25 – CAPA Summer Movie Series, Ohio Theatre, 55 E. State St., Columbus, Wed.–Sun. 7:30 p.m., Sun. matinee 2 p.m., “Cartoon Capers” Sat. 10 a.m. Series THROUGH SEP. 28 – Sunbury Farmers Market, 36 showcasing classic films and cult movies. 614-469-0939 Cherry St., on the Square of Sunbury, 9 a.m.–1 p.m. or www.capa.com.

Offering local products — handmade, homemade, JUL. 18–21 – Miami Valley Steam Threshers or homegrown. Vendors welcome. 740-513-9192 or Association 75th Annual Reunion, Pastime Park, Plain sunburyohiofarmersmarket@gmail.com.

City. Gates open at 8 a.m. $10. Exhibition of a large variety THROUGH OCT. 26 – Coshocton Farmers Market, of older equipment in operation as well as several steam 22442 Co. Rd. 1A, Coshocton, Sat. 8:30 a.m.–noon. Fresh, engines. John Deere will be our feature tractor. Truck locally grown, in-season produce; baked goods; and and tractor pulls Sat. 6 p.m.; vintage truck/car show Sun. handmade crafts. For the most up-to-date information 10 a.m. Flea market vendors every day. 614-273-5625 or about vendors who will be attending the market, visit www.mvsteamshow.com. www.facebook.com/coshoctonfarmersmarket or email JUL. 19–20 – Pieceable Quilters 2024 Quilt Show, market.manager@coshfarmmarket.org.

Zanesville High School, 171 Blue Ave., Zanesville, Fri. 9 THROUGH OCT. 27 – Rock Mill Days, Stebelton Park a.m.–5 p.m., Sat. 9 a.m.–4 p.m. $6; 12 and under free at Rock Mill, 1429 Rockmill Place NW, Lancaster, Wed./ with an accompanying adult. The show includes a vast Sat. 11 a.m.–2 p.m., Sun. 1–4 p.m. Tour the restored display of guild-made quilts as well as food, a quilt raffle, 1824 gristmill, walk the covered bridge, and view the vendors, and a silent auction. https://pieceablequilters. waterfall near the headwaters of the Hocking River. weebly.com.

On the last Sunday of each month, see how corn was JUL. 20 – Boogie on the Blacktop featuring ground 200 years ago. 614-321-4833 ext. 103 or www.

Rockhouse, Circleville Eagles, 135 E. Main St., Circleville, fairfieldcountyparks.org/events.

7–11 p.m. $5. Outdoor concert with food vendors and JUL. 5, AUG. 2 – First Friday Art Walk, downtown drinks. www.pickaway.com.

Zanesville, 5–8 p.m. Come downtown on the first Friday JUL. 24–AUG. 4 – Ohio State Fair, Ohio State Fgds., 717 of each month, when all our participating galleries, E. 17th Ave., Columbus, Mon.–Fri. 10 a.m.–9 p.m., Sun. studios, and small businesses are open at the same time! 9 a.m.–9 p.m. General admission $10–$12; 5 and under Visit the Artist Colony of Zanesville’s website for a map of free. Free parking. 888-OHO-EXPO (888-646-3976) or current participants: https://artcoz.org/arts-district-map. www.ohiostatefair.com.

JUL. 25–27 – Goodtime Quilters Guild Quilt Show, Ohio Christian University, Maxwell Center, 1476 Lancaster Pike, Circleville, 9 a.m.–4 p.m. $8; 3-day admission $12; cash only. 150+ quilt displays, raffles, door prizes. 740332-6344 (Barb Harwood) or www.goodtimequilters.org.

JUL. 27 – Down on the Farm, Historical Mt. Oval, U.S. 23 and 3601 Emerson Rd., Circleville, 10 a.m.–3 p.m.

Free admission. Antique tractors, animals, farmers market, food, and more. Historical house tours, $5. www. facebook.com/mtovalhistorichouseandfarm.

JUL. 27 – Black Wing Summer Blast Car Show, 3722 Marysville Rd., Delaware. Family-friendly, fun-filled day, all to support youth shooting sports. Car show 10 a.m.–1 p.m., huge raffle, manufacturer rep expo, food trucks onsite, Machine Gun Challenge event, and more. Proceeds to benefit Ohio Clay Target League – 6th–12th grade youth shooters. https://blackwingsc.com/summer-blast.

AUG. 2–5 – 35th Annual Farm Days, Morrow Co. Fgds., 195 S. Main St. (U.S. 42), Mount Gilead. $5; under 12 free.

Featuring Ford tractors and equipment. List of events available at www.morrowcountytractor.com.

AUG. 8–10 – All Ohio Balloon Fest, Union Co. Airport, 15000 Weaver Rd., Marysville. Hot air balloons, aerial rides and entertainment, live music, face painting, food vendors, and more. New for 2024: T-6 Texan rides!

Bring your own lawn chairs. 937-243-1091 or www. allohioballoonfest.com.

AUG. 10 – Books in the Barn, 5530 Radnor Rd., Radnor, 10 a.m.–3 p.m. Free. Book signings by Christian and family-friendly authors. Shop arts and crafts and directsales vendors. Enjoy homemade food and baked goods.

614-381-8191 or www.maryrodman.com.

AUG. 10 – Union County Master Gardeners Plant Sale, Union Co. Fgds., 845 N. Main St., Marysville, 8 a.m.– noon. Sun and shade perennials, native plants, shrubs and trees, grasses, bulbs, and daylilies. Plants are grown

by Master Gardeners and sold at reasonable prices. 937644-8117, https://union.osu.edu, or on Facebook at http:// bit.ly/UCMGFB.

SOUTHEAST

AUG. 4 – An Evening with Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder, Sugarloaf Mountain Amphitheater, 5968 Marietta Rd., Chillicothe, 7–9 p.m. $10–$55. www. tecumsehdrama.com.

AUG. 8–11 – Rivers, Trails, and Ales Festival, East Muskingum Park, 310 Front St., Marietta. A down-home celebration of paddling, road and mountain biking, and fine local ales in Ohio’s No. 1 destination for outdoor adventure: Marietta! Also enjoy live music, kids’ activities, and the RTA Adventure Expo (Sat. 3–7 p.m.). www.rtafest. com or www.facebook.com/RTAfest.

AUG. 9–11 – Salt Fork Arts and Crafts Festival, Cambridge City Park, Cambridge, Fri. 12–6 p.m., Sat. 10 a.m.–6 p.m., Sun. 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Free. A juried festival that showcases high-quality art in a variety of mediums by artists from around the country. Also features student art, Appalachian heritage displays and demos, live entertainment, concessions, and kids’ activities. 740-5840652 or www.saltforkfestival.org.

AUG. 11 – “The Story of Ohio’s Canals: An Engineering Endeavor That Can Still Be Traced in Ohio’s Landscape,” Adena Mansion and Gardens, 847 Adena Rd., Chillicothe, 2 p.m. Free. Tom O’Grady will discuss the construction of the canals and how they opened up Ohio to world commerce. www.adenamansion.com.

JUL. 27–28 – Frankfort Sunflower Festival, downtown Frankfort, Sat. 10 a.m.–10 p.m., Sun. 10 a.m.–5 p.m.

Family fun for all ages with concessions, car show, kiddy tractor pull, games, live music, baby contest, sunflower contest, craft tent, and much more. www. sunflowerfestival.net.

AUG. 2–3 – Deerassic Classic Giveaway and Expo, Deerassic Park Education Center, 14250 Cadiz Rd., Cambridge. Outdoor exhibitors, stage shows, raffles, prizes, food, and entertainment. Call or go online to purchase tickets. 740-435-9500 or https:// deerassicclassic.com.

AUG. 3 – Kings Inn Car Show, 7 N. Main St., Kingston, 12:30 p.m. Annual car show with trophy and gas cards THROUGH SEP. 1 – Tecumseh! Outdoor Drama, awarded for the Top 3. Voting is by public input. No entry Sugarloaf Mountain Amphitheatre, 5968 Marietta Rd., fee; donation requested for the Ross County Humane Chillicothe, 8 p.m. $30–$50. Witness the epic life story of Society. www.visitchillicotheohio.com. the legendary Shawnee leader as he defends his sacred AUG. 3–10 – Ross County Fair, 344 Fairgrounds Rd., homelands in the Ohio country during the late 1700s.

Chillicothe, 10 a.m.–11 p.m. General admission $5. Enjoy www.tecumsehdrama.com. the number and quality of exhibits and displays that are THROUGH NOV. 2 – Athens Farmers Market, Athens products of hard-working, creative individuals from the Community Center, 701 E. State St., Athens, Wed. 9 Ross County area. Food, games, live entertainment, a.m.–noon. Open year-round Sat. 9 a.m.–noon. Voted rides, and much more for the whole family. www.

Ohio’s #1 favorite farmers market! 740-593-6763 or www. rosscountyfair.com. athensfarmersmarket.org.

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OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING • JULY 2024

NORTHEAST

THROUGH AUG. 1 – Fort Steuben Summer Concert Series, Fort Steuben Park, 120 S. 3rd St., Steubenville, Thur. 7–9 p.m. Bring a blanket and picnic basket and enjoy a free concert at this site overlooking the Ohio River. 740-283-1787 or www.oldfortsteuben.com.

THROUGH AUG. 3 – Woodcarver’s Exhibit, McCook House Museum, 15 S. Lisbon St., Carrollton, Fri./Sat. 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Exhibit included in museum admission: $3; ages 5–12, $2. Co-organizers of the event are master carvers Ken Grigsby and Keith Shumaker. For further information, call 330-437-9715 or 330-627-3345.

JUL. 1–SEP. 1 – Steubenville Catfish Crawl, downtown Steubenville. Ten 5-foot-long, intricately painted fiberglass catfish will be on display around the downtown. Grab a map and find them all! Maps available at Leonardo’s Coffeehouse, 159 N. 4th St. www.steubenvillenutcrackervillage.com/catfish.html.

JUL. 19 – Rachel Brown and The Beatnik Playboys, John Streeter Garden Amphitheater, 2122 Williams Rd., Wooster, 6:30–9:30 p.m. The band will perform various country, oldies, rock, and blues covers. In the event of rain, the concert will be held at Fisher Auditorium, 1680 Madison Ave. Free, but registration recommended: 419853-6016 or www.ormaco.org.

SOUTHWEST

THROUGH AUG. 28 – Bluegrass Wednesdays, Vinoklet Winery, 11069 Colerain Ave., Cincinnati, Wed. 6:30–8:30 p.m. Enjoy dinner, wine, and an evening of free entertainment by Vernon McIntyre’s Appalachian Grass. Reservations recommended. 513-385-9309, vinokletwinery@fuse.net, or www.vinokletwines.com.

JUL. 5–AUG. 30 – Night Hikes, Hueston Woods State Park, 6301 Park Office Rd., College Corner, Fri. 9:30 p.m. Meet at the Indian Mound in the Campground for a nighttime adventure. Please wear appropriate footwear. Leave your flashlights in the car; we will hike by moonlight. www.ohiodnr.gov/go-and-do/plan-a-visit/ find-a-property/hueston-woods-state-park.

JUL. 12–13 – Quilts of Highland County Quilt Show, Hillsboro High School, Hillsboro, Fri. 10 a.m.–4 p.m., Sat. 10 a.m.–2:30 p.m. $5. Quilts, vendors, demonstrations, silent auction. “Underground Blues” raffle quilt; tickets $1 each or 6 for $5. For more information, call Connie Storer at 937-763-7650.

JUL. 27 – A.C. Gilbert Heritage Society Annual Convention with Wayne County Maker Faire, Wayne Co. Fgds. Event Center, Wooster, 9 a.m.–3 p.m. Free and open to the public. See vintage Erector sets and running models made by the A.C. Gilbert Company. The Maker Faire showcases local “makers” with 3D printing and CNC, and numerous other talented makers of unique items. https://waynecounty.makerfaire.com.

JUL. 27 – Hobo Day and Model Trains Flea Market, Painesville Railroad Museum, 475 Railroad St., Painesville, 10 a.m.–3 p.m. Railfanning, costume contest, and live music 1–3 p.m. by Young and Blue. Food and beverages available for small donation: hamburgers and hot dogs, 12–2:30 p.m.; hobo beans and corn roast. 216470-5780 (Tom) or www.painesvillerailroadmuseum.org.

JUL. 27–28 – Zoar Antiques Show and Artisan Tent, 198 Main St., Zoar, 10 a.m. –4 p.m. $12; 12 and under free. Shop from high-quality artisans, antique dealers, and folk artists; enjoy the juried craft and art show; and tour historic buildings. 800-262-6195 or www. historiczoarvillage.com.

JUL. 29–AUG. 4 – Columbiana County Fair, 225 Lee Ave., Libson. 330-424-5531 or www. columbianacountyfair.com.

AUG. 3 – Jazz under the Stars: Grant Heineman, Uptown Park, 79–89 Public Square, Medina, 7 p.m. The Cleveland-based musician will present an evening of energetic and melodic jazz fusion arrangements and compositions. In the event of rain, the concert will be held at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 317 E. Liberty St. Free, but registration recommended: 419-853-6016 or www. ormaco.org.

AUG. 4 – Chardon Arts Festival, Chardon Square (intersection of Rtes. 4 and 66), 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Free admission. Juried art show hosting over 100 artists, both local and out of state, and featuring works in a variety of mediums. http://chardonsquareassociation.org.

AUG. 4–11 – Annual Pleasant Home Camp Meeting, 9682 Camp Rd., West Salem. Come enjoy an oldfashioned revival camp service in the exact location it was held more than 100 years ago. Each night we offer dinner by donation (5:30 p.m.) and different singing groups (6 p.m.), with revival services at 7 p.m. Youth night is Aug. 10, with services, food, games, and a bonfire. 330590-9682 or find us on Facebook.

AUG. 9–OCT. 12 – Plant and Animal Fiber Exhibit, McCook House Museum, 15 S. Lisbon St., Carrollton, Fri./Sat. 10 a.m.–5 p.m. $3. See a variety of handmade JUL. 29–AUG. 4 – Medina County Fair, 720 W. Smith Rd., items from local crafters including baskets, rush, reed, caned bottom chairs, woven rugs, wall hangings, knitted Medina. $8; 5 and under free. Tyler Hubbard in concert and crocheted items, and much more. 330-437-9715 or Jul. 31. 330-723-9633 or www.medinaohiofair.com. kathorn4120@gmail.com.

AUG. 2 – First Fridays on Fourth, 155 N. 4th St., AUG. 11 – Bob Mollard: Keyboards, Wadsworth Public Steubenville, 6–10 p.m. Free. Patriotic-themed Library, 132 Broad St., Wadsworth, 2–3 p.m. Mollard, celebration featuring art, crafts, games, food trucks, live entertainment, and activities to stimulate the imagination. the principal keyboardist for the Akron Symphony Orchestra, will take us on a performing tour of keyboard www.theharmoniumproject.org/first-Fridays. instruments (piano, harpsichord, celesta). Registered AUG. 2–4 – Twins Day Festival, 9825 Ravenna Rd., piano technician Stewart Freedman will be on hand to Twinsburg. The world’s largest annual gathering of twins. address their technical differences. Free, but registration Open to the public! 330-425-7280 or www.twinsdays.org. recommended: 419-853-6016 or www.ormaco.org.

JUL. 19, AUG. 16 – Bluegrass Night, Fibonacci Brewing Company, 1445 Compton Rd., Cincinnati, 7–9 p.m.

Free. Enjoy lively bluegrass music by Vernon McIntyre’s Appalachian Grass, a wide variety of craft beers at the Beer Garden, and food truck eats. 513-832-1422 or http://fibbrew.com.

JUL. 20 – Miami County in Bloom Garden Tour, locations in Troy and Piqua, 10 a.m.–4 p.m. $15 presale, $20 day of tour; under 10 free. Enjoy the day touring six beautiful gardens. See a variety of gardening styles, including a whimsical outdoor gardening “farm,” formal gardens, and fun, casual spaces. Tickets will be available at seven convenient locations throughout Miami County. For more information, visit http://go.osu/ MiamiGardenTour or call 937-440-3945.

JUL. 26–28 – Christmas in July Campout, Hueston Woods State Park, 6301 Park Office Rd., College Corner.

Free. Decorate your campsite, take part in activities, and have fun at our naturalist programs. 513-523-6347 or www.ohiodnr.gov/go-and-do/plan-a-visit/find-a-property/ hueston-woods-state-park. To reserve a campsite, please visit www.reserveohio.com.

JUL. 26–28 – Annie Oakley Festival, Darke Co. Fgds., Gate 5, Greenville. A family-friendly festival honoring Darke County’s most famous daughter. Shooting contests, fast draw competitions, cowboy mounted shooting, kiddie tractor pull, car show, and much more. www.annieoakleyfestival.org.

JUL. 27 – Biergarten Band Night, Liberty Home German Society, 2361 Hamilton Cleves Rd., Hamilton, 5–10 p.m. Vereins Musikanten, 6–10 p.m. https:// libertyhome.net or follow Liberty Home Association on Facebook.

JUL. 27–28 – Gathering at Garst, 205 N. Broadway, Greenville, Sat. 10 a.m.–8 p.m., Sun. 11 a.m.–5 p.m.

Free. Living history encampment set up in a timeline manner dating from 1785 to 1865, with reenactors demonstrating what life was like for our ancestors. Live music and entertainment, arts and crafts, food vendors, and more. www.darkecountyparks.org/gathering.

JUL. 28 – Family Program: The Dulcimer Guy, Garber Nature Center, 9691 OH-503 N., Lewisburg, 4 p.m.

Enjoy a free concert by Matthew Dickerson, National Champion on the hammered dulcimer. Registration required. 937-962-5561, pcpdevents@gmail.com, or www.preblecountyparks.org.

AUG. 1–4 – World’s Longest Yard Sale, locations along U.S. 127 through Greenville. www.127yardsale.com.

AUG. 3 – Biergarten Band Night, Liberty Home German Society, 2361 Hamilton Cleves Rd., Hamilton, 5–10 p.m. M*A*M*B (Middle Aged Man Band), 6–10 p.m. https://libertyhome.net or follow Liberty Home Association on Facebook.

AUG. 3 – Vernon Fest, Famous Old Time Music Co., 1196 Ross Millville Rd., Hamilton, 2–9 p.m. $10. Features music by Vernon McIntyre’s Appalachian Grass plus other fine regional bands. Raffles, “Split the Pot,” and door prizes. Food and drink for sale on-site. No overnight camping facilities. Bring a lawn chair. 419-5681220 or vernon@iglou.com.

AUG. 9–15 – Miami County Fair, Miami Co. Fgds., 650 N. County Rd. 25A, Troy. $6 daily; under 9 free.

Competitions, entertainment, harness racing, tractor pulls, art exhibits, games and rides, and great food. 937335-7492 or www.miamicountyohiofair.com.

JULY 2024 • OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING

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MEMBER INTERACTIVE

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1. The Yetter and Willis families love making memories together at the beach — this is at Myrtle Beach in 2019.

Samantha Willis, Firelands Electric Cooperative member 2. My grandsons, James Pycraft and Ryan Wissel, look like they want sand garages.

Thomas Seman, Lorain-Medina Rural Electric Cooperative member 3. Kendall and Tessa Hall and Steve and Ben Kopp, building sandcastles on the beach at the Outer Banks in North Carolina.

Lisa Kopp, Firelands Electric Cooperative member

Send us

Upload your photos at www.ohiocoopliving.com/memberinteractive.

Your photo may be featured in our magazine or on our website.

picture!

For October, send “Oh my gourd!” by July 15; for November, send “On horseback” by Aug. 15.

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4. My nephew Robbie gave up on his sandcastle and tried to become one instead.

Katie Grubba, South Central Power Company member 5. My grandsons’ mega-sandcastle in Florida.

Kay Jackson, Butler Rural Electric Cooperative member 6. A sandcastle that we built in South Padre Island.

Kurt Martin, North Central Electric Cooperative member 7. Our granddaughter Susie had tons of fun on Galveston Island.

Beth Howard, Mid-Ohio Energy Cooperative member

OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING • JULY 2024

the

Beat Peak

As a member of an Ohio electric cooperative, you can help keep the rates stable and affordable by reducing energy use during peak hours on hot summer days. The hottest times of day — usually between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. — create the highest demand for electricity and when demand is high, so is the price. If we can reduce electric use during peak hours, we can reduce power costs for all the members.

Here are a few simple ways you can help your cooperative “beat the peak” this summer by shifting your energy use to off-peak hours:

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Turn off unnecessary lights and electronics when they aren’t being used

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Run your dishwasher and do laundry early in the morning or later in the evening

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Shut blinds and curtains during the day to keep the sun from warming your home

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Schedule your pool pump to run during off-peak hours

By adjusting the times you use electricity this summer, you can help us keep stable despite the heat! If we all work together, we all will benefit. That’s the power of cooperation and your electric cooperative membership.