Historic village plans for birthday

Big celebration in the works for bicentennial

Wellington is a small town planning a year of big celebration for its 200th birthday.

Since the village sprouted in 1818, it has been home to a slave rescue, cheese makers, an Ohio governor and the artist who created “The Spirit of ’76,” an iconic image of Americana.

Now, Wellington will celebrate its bicentennial with a number of events.

Most of them are free and all are planned to be fun.

“I’m happy with all of it,” said Mayor Hans M. Schneider. “We sat here and started in February over a year ago and threw out a bunch of ideas.

“To see it all come to culmination — this is actually pretty good.”

The planning begins

For the bicentennial, Schneider assembled a crackerjack team of Wellington-thusiasts: Jenny Arntz, director of Main Street Wellington Inc.; Laura Braddock from the Wellington Area Chamber of Commerce; Barbara Grasse Leiby, secretary of the Spirit of ’76 Museum; and her husband, local historian Alan L. Leiby.

“The mayor is actually who brought us together,” Arntz said.

The goal: “Make something really fantastic,” she said.

Schneider credited the committee’s hard work.

The group admitted to having at least a small desire to outshine the numerous bicentennial events of Elyria, Lorain County’s seat of government, which celebrated its 200th birthday in 2017.

“We have a lot of historians, we have a lot of people who just love Wellington, and I think that’s coming through in our planning,” Arntz said.

Events galore

Starting Feb. 1, 2017, the group brainstormed a calendar’s worth of events that will run through the end of 2018.

Then the group published the calendar with photos of the town, historic dates, notations for bicentennial events and other happenings for the village and Wellington Exempted Village Schools.

Once they had a commemorative calendar, then came plans for commemorative everything else.

There are bicentennial shopping bags, charm bracelets, brooches, T-shirts,

sweatshirts and more.

Bicentennial coins were minted in bronze, brass and nickel; one ounce silver coins are on for sale for $50.

“I just thought it would be neat to have something solid that could last 50, or a hundred years, and be around for the next centennial,” Alan Leiby said. “A coin seemed like a good idea.”

• A Bicentennial Ball will is slated for April 21.

• “Cancelled Stamp Day” is set for June 8 when Wellington’s own bicentennial postmark becomes available at the village post office.

• June will bring a new park dedication in the village and Military Appreciation Day at the Lorain County Fairgrounds, also in Wellington.

• July will have an Antique Car and Bicycle Festival, concert, fireworks and community celebration. There will be a raffle for a bicentennial quilt created by volunteers and modeled after the 1976 quilt created for the nation’s 200th birthday.

Later that month, the Ohio Village Muffins vintage base ball team will play the Village of Wellington All Stars.

• In December, Wellington

High School teacher Dave Conklin will screen a bicentennial documentary recapping the year. There will be a Wellington-area church tour.

Love of history

Planning committee members recall historical facts easily, referring to Wellington resident Myron T. Herrick like he was governor of Ohio last year instead of in 1906.

The Spirit of ’76 Museum, named for the famous painting by artist Archibald Willard, is in a former cheese warehouse, which became a boom industry in the late 1800s.

Some of the history is coming to life again in a speaker series that began with historical presentations in January and will continue through the fall.

The monthly talks have drawn up to 70 people.

“That’s been one of my favorite things to work on, and how excited people are,” Arntz said.

“I think it will continue the more word gets out that we’re doing it,” Alan Leiby said.

“I think the best is yet to come,” Braddock said.