Month-by-month in 2017: Around The Town

As the old year draws to a close, it's hard to resist musing over the people, places and events that have appeared in this space in 2017, so let's take a quick trip down memory lane.

JANUARY:

Berea's 19th Century railroad station dating to 1876 was rated a top northeast Ohio attraction.

The Website Only in Your State, included exterior and interior photos of the depot, now the home of a popular restaurant, along with a legible snapshot of the inscription on the Ohio Historical marker adjacent to the station's Depot Street entrance.

FEBRUARY:

Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, meaning six more weeks of winter and that didn't bode well for an early spring.

Despite Phil's prediction, Brook Park's Redeemer Lutheran Church moved forward on plans for a community garden spring planting.

t'll be a few weeks until the folks in Punxsutawney bring Phil out for his annual winter or spring prediction for the new year.

MARCH:

Elena Firman and Maria Grygorchuk teamed up to bring the sweet and savory flavors of their home country's crepes to Berea and the Southwest area at their LaCrepe Bakery & Cafe, 2 Berea Commons.

Both hail from Ukraine, where, they say, "crepes are as ubiquitous as they are in the towns and cities of France."

She and Grygorchuck said they chose to put their crepe shop in Berea because it reminds them of a European town.

APRIL:

July was set as the target date to begin demolition of a 1950s vintage structure housing U.S. Bank and an adjacent commercial building, to make way for new four-story structure that will house Baldwin Wallace University students on the upper three floors.

Construction of the new edifice, to be known as University Market, is now well underway.

The building's ground floor will house the BW Bookstore, Dave's Cosmic Subs, U.S. Bank, Starbucks, Papa John's Pizza and more.

MAY:

Berea native Ricky Vac, whose early 1950s rock and roll band, Ricky Vac and the Rock-A-Ways, was in town for a scheduled visit to Cleveland's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for a meeting with its CEO, Greg Harris.

Vac, who was recently inducted into the Berea High School Hall of Fame, has had a space at the Rock Hall since 2004.

Prior to his departure, Vac squeezed in a guest appearance on Commander Greg's Suday evening "Golden Age of Rock 'n Roll" show at the WBWC radio studios on the Baldwin Wallace university campus.

JUNE:

Berea and Midpark high school football teams had long been rivals prior to the merger of the two schools in 2013.

In a tradition that began in the mid 1960s, each season's winning team was honored by receiving the Grindstone Trophy to take back to their home school for display during the next school year.

Seniors on the competing teams played their final Grdindstone game in the autumn of 2012.

The Midpark Meteors took the trophy that year.

The two high schools merged the following year, the trophy vanished and is still missing.

JULY:

Construction of a sandstone amphitheater seating approximately 350 spectators on the hillside just below the Coe Lake picnic pavilion got underway in earnest.

City Engineer Tony Armagno said the project should be completed "toward the end of the year."

Well, here we are and there it is, a sandstone amphitheater that even the ancient Greeks would find to their liking.

August:

Kohler Hall has occupied the northwest quadrant of historic Lyceum Square on the Baldwin Wallace University campus for more than a century.

The April 17, 2014 edition of the campus newspaper, The Exponent, said the hall is named after former Cleveland Mayor Frederick Kohler and that it is said to have been everything from a Civil War hospital to a mental institution.

And, yes, there are Kohler Hall ghost stories:

The building is listed on a number of haunted, must-see locations in Ohio.

BW spokeswoman Shawn Smith Salamone said that although the university cherishes its oldest building and works to maintain the architectural character of its campus the results of inspections reveal that "Kohler Hall is not a good candidate for renovation, nor a responsible use of BW's resources."

Despite its history and lore, Kohler will likely be demolished in 2018, and the site converted to green space

SEPTEMBER:

Panera Bread in Middleburg Heights is among the popular places locals go to grab a cup of morning joe and a quick breakfast.

And now, if so inclined, PB patrons are invited to sit down from 10 a.m. to noon Wednesdays for conversation with Christy Krnac.

Krnac, who serves as vicar at Bethel Lutheran Church, 7171 Pearl Road in Middleburg Heights, says her weekly visits are simply "a new way to do office hours."

"I go into the community and make myself available for anyone who wants to come for pastor care or discussion," Kane said, adding, "We can talk about anything, religious or not."

OCTOBER:

In the end, the slogan "Discover more@Sears.com couldn't save the Sears Department store in Middleburg Heights from Death by Internet.

The store, at 6950 West 130th, with the "Discover more" sign posted at its main entryway, joined the ever-growing list of shuttered brick-and-mortar stores after serving as a major anchor and as a mercantile mecca for many for more than a half century.

NOVEMBER:

Berea Kiwanis, in coordination with Kiwanis-led national and international relief projects, kicked off "A Season of Giving."

The event was a fund-raiser aimed at bringing relief to victims of natural disasters in Texas, the Caribbean, Sierra Leone, the Philippines, Ecuador and North Carolina.

The Eliminate Project, sponsored by Kiwanis International and UNICEF have joined forces to eliminate maternal and neonatal tetanus, a disease that kills an estimated 34,000 babies and a significant number of women each year.

There's still time to donate to this worthwhile project online or by mail.

Make your gift before Dec. 31 and help the Kiwanis family reach more children and change more lives in 2018.

DECEMBER:

Frederick 'Fred' Szabo decided to call it 'a wrap' after serving for 12 years as a member of the Berea School Board.

Szabo served as a Brook Park police officer from 1972 until his retirement in 2004.

He has volunteered at the school district's Camp Mi-Bro-Be for 28 years, held various posts in the DARE Association of Ohio and served as treasurer at VFW Post 6676, 590 Rocky River Drive, for 33 years.

Szabo, who declined to seek a 4th three-year term on the Berea Board, will continue as a member of the Polaris Career Center Board through 2019.

With that, let's call it a wrap for the first-ever, year-end review of items pulled from the weekly Around The Town column.

Thanks to the many clubs, schools, churches, etc. and to the residents of Berea, Brook Park and Middleburg Heights who continue to send information about their events and activities for inclusion in Around The Town, and please, keep them coming!

Email information (people photos, too, including ID's) regarding events, activities and other items you'd like to see included in this column to richatsun@gmail.com.

Now, the only thing left to say is, Here's wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a happy and  prosperous New Year!

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