2 more ex-Dayton school sites selling, others up for auction
Grace A. Greene school site, Fairport School site to be sold.
Staff Writer
— One thing WAYNESVILLE that hasn’t changed in the past 50 years is the cotton candy and fresh-cut french fries vendor at the Ohio Sauerkraut Festival.
Once again, Bailey’s Concessions will set up this weekend on Main Street, along with about 400 other vendors from 26 states, according to festival organizers.
“I am always at the cotton candy there on the street right in front of Braden’s candy shop,” owner Betty Bailey said Wednesday.
The 50th annual Ohio Sauerkraut Festival runs Saturday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m., and Sunday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m., in downtown Waynesville.
The festival is considered — along with Kings Island Amusement Park and the Great Wolf Lodge — as a major attraction to Warren County, self-proclaimed as “Ohio’s Largest Playground.”
Festival organizers are prepared for 100,000 visitors or more.
Festival rules now call for local vendors to be nonprofit.
“She’s the only one that’s not a nonprofit that’s local,” said Kelly Miller, director of the Waynesville Area Chamber of Commerce and pub- lic relations coordinator for Wayne Local Schools.
Bailey’s business is an exception in recognition of its role in starting the sauerkraut balls rolling in 1970.
Betty’s husband, Jim, and Albert “Captain” Stubbs are credited with coming up with and organizing the first one.
Bailey said her husband and Stubbs came up with the idea after the Baileys handled food sales at an auction behind the local funeral home.
They were among five vendors set up along Main Street for the first festival dinner.
“They were just setting up card tables on the street,” she recalled.
The local police chief confronted county officials con- cerned about health safety, according to Bailey.
The police chief said, “I suggest you get out of town. Don’t come back,” she recalled.
Ever since, Bailey said, festival vendors have followed health codes as the event grew to a full-blown festival, held over two days.
About 60 vendors serve a wide variety of food, includ- ing more than 500 pounds of sauerkraut.
“They’ve got everything down to a science,” Bailey said.
Jim Bailey died in 2012. Betty and her daughter Pat, a retired Springfield-area schoolteacher, continue to operate the company.
“Bailey Concessions has always been our livelihood,” she said. “It’s been a family affair.”
Clay Chester, son of one of Pat Bailey’s students, man- ages the business, according to Betty Bailey.
For the Baileys, the local festival ends a year of selling concessions around the region, including the Coshocton County Fair, which ended last week.
This year, Bailey said she planned to leave the food service to employees and “visit” with old friends.
“I turned 90 years old in February. Still going strong,” she said. “”I enjoy seeing everyone. I hope my health holds out and I can enjoy many more.”
Dayton’s school board is expected to sell two more former school sites at next week’s board meeting, and another group of properties is up for auction again.
The fo r mer Grace A. Greene school site — at 503 Edison Street, just around the corner from the Paul Dunbar House — will be sold to the Power House of Faith church for $6,600, according to school documents. The church sits across the street at 500 Edison.
The former Fairport School site — at 1952 Fair- port Ave., just north of Kings Highway — will be sold for $27,500 to William C. Roberts II, according to DPS documents.
Both school buildings were closed and demolished as part of Dayton Public Schools’ new construction program that ran from 2005 to 2012.
Twelve other DPS-owned pieces of land are also up for online auction through 11 a.m. Oct. 16 at OhioRealEstateAuctions.com. The properties range from 2 to 16 acres and include parcels on North Main Street, Philadelphia Drive, North Gettysburg Avenue, Homewood Avenue and the intersection of Burkhardt and Wright.
In recent years, DPS has tried to decrease the amount of vacant property it has to maintain.
The former Carlson School site at 807 S. Gettysburg Ave., and the former Colonel White High School site at 501 Niagara Ave. were sold in May. In June, the board approved upcoming demolition of the former Valerie Elementary at 4020 Bradwood Drive and the former U.S. Grant Elementary at 4309 Arcadia Boulevard. ■ 325 Homewood Ave, 45405 (12.78 acres)
■ 45 Wampler Ave, 45404 (11.20 acres)
■ 5670 Philadelphia Dr, 45415 (2.22 acres)
■ 6900 N. Main St, 45415 (15.93 acres)
■ 35 Victory Dr, 45417 (5.85 acres)
■ 1231 N. Euclid Ave, 45402 (8.36 acres)
■ 2400 Hoover Ave, 45402 (4.73 acres)
■ 2201 N. Gettysburg Ave, 45406 (12.48 acres) ■ 2101 Hickorydale Dr, 45406 (13.75 acres)
■ 200 S. Wright Ave, 45403 (8.74 acres)
■ 101 S. Mathison St, 45417 (3.27 acres)
■ 2101 McArthur Ave, 45417 (8.42 acres)