The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Travel show highlights local businesses
A number of Ashtabula County businesses are featured in the newest episode of “Road Trip Masters,” a travel series airing on Discovery Channel, Pursuit Channel and Destination America.
The Ashtabula County episode is scheduled for 5 a.m., Jan. 27, on Discovery and 5 a.m., Jan. 28, on Pursuit Channel.
Destination America, an offshoot of Discovery, will begin “Road Trip Masters” at 8 a.m. Sundays beginning April 8.
Those businesses are Bissell Maple Farm in Jefferson, Crosswinds Grille and Lakehouse Inn & Winery in Geneva-on-the Lake, Vineyard Woods in Harpersfield Township, Briquettes Smokehouse in Ashtabula and Harbor Yak in Ashtabula.
“Road Trip Masters’’ bowed last year on Discovery and is the brainchild of Nick Kessler, a middleschool teacher in the Allentown, Pa., area.
When the school year ends and summer vacation begins, Kessler and fellow teacher Brian Fulmer jump into Kessler’s 1968 Cadillac
“This was entirely a grassroots effort,” Siegel said. “Collaboration in this area never ceases to amaze me. We have hard-working entrepreneurs who think big and understand the value of tourism.” — Stephanie Siegel, executive director of the Ashtabula County Convention and Visitors Bureau
drop-top sedan and travel the highways and byways to destinations that fit the 30-minute program’s everyman mentality.
“Brian and I visit places that reflect our vision of this being a show for the people,” Kessler said in a telephone interview.
Previous episodes have been filmed in Vermont, upstate New York, Maryland,
Rhode Island, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
They spent four days in Ashtabula County in July 2017, based at Vineyard Woods, the upscale lodging venue owned by Willoughby Hills residents Scott and Katie Runyan.
“We were really impressed by how hard they worked and how thorough they were in covering many of the things you can see and do in Ashtabula County,” Scott Runyan said.
The “Road Trip Masters” visit to Ashtabula County was initiated by an email sent to Kessler by Nate Bissell, owner of Bissell Maple Farm, after Bissell happened to catch an episode of the show from its first season.
“I really liked the way they were telling stories and suggested they should come here not just to visit my place, but to get a taste of the beauty and entrepreneurial spirit in this county.” Bissell said.
Kissell was so impressed by Bissell’s pitch for Ashtabula County that he immediately added it to the show’s production schedule.
During their stay here, Kessler and Fulmer checked out the large-scale operation at Bissell Maple Farm, met Crosswinds Grille owner Nate Fagnilli and Briquettes Smokehouse owner Nate Rockwell, sampled the food at both restaurants, stayed in the three-suite villa at Vineyard Woods and took a Lake Erie sunset kayak trip out of Harbor Yak, the new kayak rental business in the Harbor area owned by Geneva resident Brandon Hart and his fiance, Alexa Alikic.
They also cruised the Geneva-on-the-Lake strip at the height of the lakefront resort’s summer season and visited several of Ashtabula County’s famed covered bridges.
“We loved Ashtabula County,” Kessler said. “It’s the kind of place that takes you back to yesteryear, when times were a lot more simple.”
Stephanie Siegel, executive director of the Ashtabula County Convention and Visitors Bureau, credited Bissell and the other business owners with pulling together the visit by “Road Trip Masters.”
“This was entirely a grassroots effort,” Siegel said. “Collaboration in this area never ceases to amaze me. We have hard-working entrepreneurs who think big and understand the value of tourism.”