The Cicadas Are Coming! The Cicadas Are Coming!

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Almost like something out of a horror movie, they wait beneath trees, underground where we won’t see them, waiting for the perfect spring night to emerge. Furthermore, they arrive by the billions by swarm. Their unique sound can be chilling when they sing in harmony.

The emergence of Cicadas is an essential part of our culture in Ohio, especially the arrival of seventeen-year swarms. Such a swarm is expected to bloom in some Ohio counties this spring. Once the soil eight inches underground comes up to sixty-four degrees Fahrenheit, the cicadas (also known as locusts) will come out of hiding after seventeen years of waiting.

If you never seen them arrive in mass, don’t worry. Despite there size and startling appearance they don’t bite or sting and after waiting seventeen years to say hello, they’ll only be around about six weeks.

The so-called “Brood VII” cicadas (or known to most as seventeen-year cicadas) will arrive by the billions this spring in western Pennsylvania, the northern tip of West Virginia and the eastern edge of Ohio. While it is common to see hundreds or thousands of cicadas any spring in our part of the country, this brood hasn’t emerged since 2002. The last time Ohio saw a swarm of this magnitude was in 2016 when Brood V emerged and took over much of Ohio, as well as parts of New York, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.

Brood VIII is expected in Ohio by the middle of May and the hot spots are thought to be Ashtabula, Columbiana and Mahoning counties.

 

28th Annual Stark County High School Art Exhibition

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The 28th Annual Stark County High School Art Exhibition will be hosted again by the Canton Museum of Art with support from Cleveland State University, the Cleveland Institute of Art, Kent State’s School of Art, the Columbus College of Art and Design, and other local college art programs. The Exhibition will be on view from until April 7th 2019 in the lower galleries of the Museum.

All pieces in the exhibition are original works by students who are a part of local schools’ curriculum and are chosen by the art instructors of each school. Works in the Stark County High School Art Exhibition will be judge on both technical ability and originality of ideas. This is an excellent opportunity for all young, local artists in the school system to show off their abilities and for the community to view them.

Over one hundred pieces will be on display from the exhibition from a long list of local high schools. On April 6th, First Friday, an awards ceremony with light refreshments will be held from 5pm-8pm. College financial awards totaling more than $5,500 will be awarded to the first, second and third place winners as well as ten honorable mention awards. All winners will receive a scholarship for classes at the Canton Museum of Art’s School of Art. Admission will be free to all on this occasion.

Ohio’s Alta Weiss: Baseball’s Woman Wonder

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Weiss was born in 1890. She lived with her father, a doctor, and an older and younger sister in Ragersville, Ohio. She began pitching from early on and Dr. Weiss established a high-school so Weiss could play on its baseball team.

It was 1907 in Vermilion, Ohio when Weiss would first be considered for professional baseball. She played a pick-up game with some men from the town. The Vermilion mayor was impressed enough that he contacted the Vermilion Independents (the local semi-pro team) to suggest they sign her.

Skeptical at first of a female player, the Independents’ manager arranged a game between two local teams and had Weiss pitch. After her fifteenth strike out the manager asked her to join the Independents and she became a sports phenomenon.
Weiss was only 17 years old.

That same year in September she played her first semi-pro game. She pitched five innings. She would go one to play seven more games that season as pitcher. Her pay rivaled that of the male players. The Independents ended their season with a 5-3 record. Weiss became known as the Girl Wonder.

On September 2, 1907, Weiss made her semi-pro debut, pitching five innings. She pitched seven more games that season and became known as the “Girl Wonder,” dressing in a blue skirt and receiving pay that rivaled even the male players. The Independents ended the 1907 season with a 5-3 record.

Weiss continued to practice, and her father purchased a semi-pro team in 1908, renaming it the Weiss All-Stars and of course it featured Weiss, the Girl Wonder, as its pitcher.
In 1910 Weiss followed in her father’s footsteps and began a career at the Starling College of Medicine and eventually attended the Ohio State University Medical College—all paid for by her baseball career. In 1914 she was the only woman in her class to receive a Doctor of Medicine.

During WWI Weiss replaced the doctor in Sugarcreek, Ohio who was enlisted. Though the war and flu pandemic took its toll on Weiss as she claimed her enthusiasm for the profession waned after those events. However, she went on to practice medicine in Norwalk, Ohio and took over her father’s practice in Ragersville after his death.
Weiss maintained her love of baseball and encouraged children to play the game throughout her life, including Lois Youngen who played for the Fort Wayne Daisies in the All-American Girls Baseball League.

Annual Bryn Du Art Show

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The Bryn Du Art show is a yearly exhibition of juried pieces held at the magnificent Bryn Du Mansion. The beautiful grounds and impressive Federal style home is a vocal point of the 52-acre landscape. The buildings have stood on the property since 1905 in the Village of Granville, Ohio. This 15th annual show is held from the 5th to the 24th of March. It features contemporary, current works of both amateur and professional artists. This is a no-charge, public event.

Originally constructed by a local business magnate, Henry D. Wright, John Jones commissioned the 1905 renovation that stands in Granville today and his tenure is its most famous. During the building of Jones’ legacy many famous people of the era visited the estate. Jones’ served dinner to Warren G. Harding, William Howard Taft and Calvin Coolidge. Famous actresses Katherine Cornell and Lillian Gish both visited the estate as well as musicians Paderewski and Rachmaninoff, both of whom played the Steinway that is still on the estate grounds today.

The Village of Granville currently manages the property by a commission of their creation. This commissions goal is preservation of history and to provide use of the property to the benefit of the Village of Granville.

The historic home, Bryn Du Mansion, has by a corner stone of society in Granville since 1905 of continues to be today. Its history, the legacy of the families who occupied it, and the unique grounds add to the character of charming, modern Granville, OH.

Maple Syrup Season at Hocking Hills

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Visitors can meet up at the Naturalist Cabin located behind Old Man’s Cave Visitor Center in Hocking Hills. Visitors will be shown the process of boiling down local maple sap into syrup and will be given a discussion on the methods used throughout time to make the sweet syrup.

The activity takes place between 12pm-4pm on March 9 & 10

In the spring, warm temperatures cause the sugar maple sap to run—this starch stored over winter turns back into sugar in the spring. The water the trees absorb mix with the sugar to create the sap. The sap is only about 2% sugar, approximately 40 gallons is needed to make just on gallon of maple syrup!

The so-called “sugaring season” usually last a month to a little longer. Tapholes are made in the trees during this time and the cycles of freezing and thawing help draw the sap out of the trees. Several processes can be employed to remove as much water as possible before boiling.

The process of boiling sends sweet smelling plums of steam into the air. After the process is complete maple experts grade the syrup for color and taste before bottling and sending it off to market.