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Miami County Home Grown Stories: Corie Schweser

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Corie Schweser has made Troy her home for the past thirty years with her husband and sons. For the past three years, she has worked as the business manager of the Troy Strawberry Festival. This year the Strawberry Festival celebrates its 41st year in Miami County. The festival celebrates strawberries, community and supports local nonprofit organizations.

On living in Miami County:
I have lived in Troy since 1987. My husband’s employer transferred him here. We moved from the East Coast with our three sons. I fell in love with Troy and the area. We decided we didn’t want to move!

On the Troy Strawberry Festival:
In 1977 local leaders organized the Troy Strawberry Festival to support nonprofit organizations. The festival created a way for nonprofit groups to earn revenue. This money went to support their services and programs. The festival is a collaborative effort. Instead of each nonprofit trying to earn revenue on their own, they work together. The leaders wanted to work with Fulton Farms for the festival. They first thought of a sweet corn festival. They went with strawberries instead because it’s the first available fruit. That way we are one of the first large festivals in our region. We kick off the summer season for the county. At the beginning of summer you have Memorial Day and then right away is the Strawberry Festival. If we had been the Sweet Corn Festival we’d be in August near the end of the summer, almost forgotten. And who doesn’t love a strawberry?

In the beginning, the festival had forty-five nonprofits and a variety of activities. Now we have about 60 to 70 nonprofits that have food booths at the festival. We also have arts and craft booths as well as two stages of entertainment all throughout the weekend. For the past 41 years, we still hold true to our vision and mission of supporting the nonprofits in Miami County.

There are so many things to do at the festival! We have a 10K race, a bike tour and a shortcake race for the kids. We have a Little Miss and Mr. Strawberry Pageant, a big wheel race, and a diaper derby. There’s a pie-eating contest and the alumni football game between Troy and Piqua. There’s a lot going on! Whatever day you decide to come — or if you come for both days — you’ll find something to enjoy. We will have picnic tables around each stage so you can relax and enjoy the strawberries and music! We have the schedule and more information on our website at gostrawberries.com.

How she became involved with the Troy Strawberry Festival:
I started out as a volunteer for the festival fifteen years ago. I have been the business manager for the past three years. It’s seemed like the natural transition for me. Through my involvement with volunteering, I developed an understanding of the festival. In 2012 I was the General Chairman. This is my third year as the business manager.

It’s so much fun working with the volunteers. They truly have passion, drive and the desire to keep the mission of the festival going. It’s a great group of about 45 to 50 event chairmen and their volunteers underneath them. We could not do the festival without the City of Troy. We work with the city and they are the best partners. We have help from organizations throughout Miami County too. It’s a lot of fun and people enjoy it. Their energy drives my energy. We never stop planning the festival. Once one festival ends we start working on the next one. It’s a lot of fun!

On the community response to the Troy Strawberry Festival:
Last year we had some rainy weather but we estimated we had about 135,000 people during the entire weekend. On a good year when it’s sunny and beautiful with temperatures in the mid-70s to 80s we can have 150,000 to 200,000 people. It’s awesome – especially for a city of 26,000 people!

Even though it’s the “Troy” Strawberry Festival, it’s actually about Miami County. There are nonprofits that provide services and support throughout the county. We’re embracing and supporting the entire regional area. We want people to know that yes, it is the Troy Strawberry Festival, but that’s because it takes place in Troy. We support the entire Miami County community.

New and exciting changes for the 2017 Strawberry Festival:
This year students at the Upper Valley Career Center built a cell phone charging station for us. The students got aluminum from the welding department. They went to the auto body department and painted it red. The graphics department created the graphics. Apple and Android users will be able to use the station. It has at least 18 different places to charge your phone — it’s amazing! I love it when we can get kids involved in creating a project.

This year you can bike to the festival! The Miami County Park District is putting up bike racks near the ball fields. They partnered with a nonprofit. For a small donation, you can park your bike and volunteers will keep watch while you enjoy the festival.

Something else that is new this year is the 3¢ stamp. This year the 3¢ stamp created by the United States Postal Service is a strawberry stamp. We were able to have a special cancellation stamp made through the Troy Post Office. If you come and get a strawberry stamp, you can put the strawberry cancellation stamp on it. We will also have special Strawberry Festival postcards. They will have the 3¢ strawberry stamp and the cancellation stamp. They will be at the souvenir booth — but we only have 200!

We have a great national recording artist, Morgan Alexander, for Friday night. Saturday night’s big concert will be with Exploit. They are a 70s and 80s group out of Celina. They are a lot of fun and have a lot of energy. There will be entertainment from Rum River Blend, blues and jazz groups, and dance groups.

We also have new food and new food trucks this year! There will be spinach salads and roasted Brussels sprouts with strawberry dressings. There will be sweets like strawberry donuts and strawberries with lemon cream. You name it – we probably have it! We will have favorites that we have every year, like chocolate covered strawberries! Our food trucks and food vendors all partner with a nonprofit. They share their net profits from the weekend. The food vendors have signage for the nonprofit group they have partnered with. It’s a great way for small nonprofits to earn revenue to support their programs.

We could not do this festival without the volunteers, the City of Troy and our wonderful sponsors. It’s great to have business partners from the community supporting this festival. They believe in it and they help bring visibility to our community.

What do you love most about Miami County?
I love that Miami County has so many opportunities for outdoor activities. Piqua and Troy have great outdoor concert series. There’s the Miami County Riverway — you can go to Treasure Island and rent a kayak for a river adventure. We’re very blessed to have a strong parks system — in the county and cities. I like to take my grandson bike riding, we usually stop and get ice cream and then get back on the bike path. There are so many interesting things within this county. It’s beautiful! I love Fulton Farms and the farmer’s markets. I embrace every bit of it! Once the festival is over, I’ll have time to get out there and enjoy it. That’s another great thing about the festival being in June, I have the rest of the summer to enjoy the county! I love it!

How Miami County is different from other places she has lived:
I’ve lived in the city and city suburbs which have a different feeling. There are a lot more people — you feel like you can’t move around without bumping into someone. I don’t want to say Miami County is more laid back because there are a lot of things to do here. But you have the space to find a park bench, kick back and relax a little bit and enjoy the view. There’s more of a relaxed, laid-back attitude here. It’s also very family friendly. It’s the perfect place to be.

Her Miami County recommendations for out-of-town visitors (besides the Troy Strawberry Festival):
I’m a very outdoorsy person so I recommend all the different parks. Visitors should definitely take advantage of our museums like the WACO Air Museum. I recommend visiting each community within Miami County. Every Main Street has its own unique flavor! Enjoy each area, visit the individual shops and restaurants downtown. Definitely check out the unique coffee shops, like Winans Chocolates + Coffees. Keep investigating and check out the activities like concert series or outdoor activities. Support the local restaurants and check out the different unique features. There’s so much to do. I love every single thing about it!

Troy Strawberry Festival
First weekend in June
gostrawberries.com

 

This story first appeared on the Miami County Convention and Visitors Bureau website.  Follow author,  storyteller and interviewer, Courtney Denning, at ThisOhioLife.com.

Miami County HomeGrownStories – Margaret Begg

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Margaret Begg loves the science and beauty of artisan bread baking, especially sourdough bread. For the past twenty years, her bakery, Bakehouse Bread & Cookie Company, has provided delicious bread, baguettes, challahs, ciabattas, focaccias, cookies and pastries of every flavor in their downtown Troy bakery. Margaret focuses on high quality and nutritious ingredients as well as taste. In addition to baking a variety of bread and pastries, the Bakehouse also has an extensive menu of soups, salads, and sandwiches. Margaret is one-third of the local cooperative, The Farmer, The Miller, The Baker that grows, mills and bakes spelt in the southwestern region of Ohio. Margaret was recently interviewed for our #HomeGrownStories campaign.

On living in Miami County:
I have lived in Miami County for 34 years. I’m originally from California. My mother met my father when she was on a trip to San Diego; he was in the Navy then. We moved back to Ohio because my mother was from Lima and still had family in the area.

 

On working with sourdough and starting the Bakehouse Bread & Cookie Company:
My sister lived in Sacramento, California and she introduced me to sourdough bread. I fell in love with it! I knew I had to try and make it at home. I tried baking sourdough at home, but with babies and everyday life, it was difficult. I had little success for a long time. My husband and I opened Taggart’s On The Square in Troy in 1984 and I continued my pursuit of sourdough in the restaurant kitchen. In 1988 I took a two-week intensive artisan bread course at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. I also apprenticed under a French Master Baker at the National Baking Institute in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I was able to come home and bake better bread. I started selling it to the restaurant and eventually, I was loading up my car and driving around to farm stands and selling it. About 20 years ago we opened a bakery next to Taggart’s. I think it’s the location for Raise Your Brush today. In three years we were bursting out of the seams so we moved to our current location here on the Square.

On her part in the local collaboration: The Farmer, The Miller, The Baker:
About ten years or so ago, Troy started up a food cooperative. We hosted a night of potential farm vendors, which is how I met Dan Kremer from E.A.T. Food For Life Farm. He grows spelt grain, which he was selling to a company that sold them in grocery stores nationally, but he wanted to sell it locally. That’s when I got some of his spelt flour and starting testing it in bread and cookies. I was personally surprised they turned out so well, just because of the nature of spelt flour. It’s naturally a little sweet so you need very little honey to offset the bitterness. Then we contacted Bear’s Mill to grind the flour for us. They buy the grain from Dan and grind it into flour. Then we buy the flour and make the bread and cookies. We sell the bread and cookies back to Dan and Bear’s Mill and we sell them here.

 


 

What she loves about Miami County:
I love the sense of community. It’s very important to most residents of the county, which you can see by the folks that come downtown to support small businesses. We have wonderful events at the Troy-Hayner Cultural Center and we always come downtown for the concerts and symphonies in Troy. In downtown, you can move about so freely, anywhere you need to go you can get there. The bike path has always been one of my personal favorites. Watching the bike path grow has been amazing, especially for a town of this size. We go to Hobart Urban Nature Preserve at least three times a week for a walk. Garbry Big Woods Reserve is one of our other favorites, but we tend to pick a different park to walk at on the weekends.

The best selling item at Bakehouse and her personal favorite:
The Bakehouse Seven Grain Bread is our most popular bread. It’s very healthy with all the grains [whole wheat flour, millet, cracked wheat, cracked rye, flaxseeds, sunflower seeds, oats, buckwheat and cracked corn] and very nutritious. We don’t use emulsifiers, preservatives or other “shortcut” additives in our bread. My favorite, of course, is our sourdough bread.

Bakehouse Bread & Cookie Company
317 Public Square Troy, OH
Facebook: @bakehousebread
Twitter: @bakehousebread

This story first appeared on the Miami County Convention and Visitors Bureau website.  Follow author,  storyteller and interviewer, Courtney Denning, at ThisOhioLife.com.

 

DCDC’s Sheri “Sparkle” Williams Recognized For Life in Dance

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Sheri “Sparkle” Williams performs Sky Garden in 2001. Photo Credit: Andy Snow

Longtime Dayton Contemporary Dance Company dancer Sheri “Sparkle” Williams is the 2017 recipient of the OhioDance Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Advancement of the Dance Art Form.

The award recognizes choreographers and dance artists dedicated to both the creation of new work and the preservation of dance history. Williams will receive the award on stage Saturday, April 29 at the BalletMet Performance Space in Columbus during the 2017 OhioDance Festival.

Williams has been dancing with the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company for 43 years. The award is well-earned, DCDC Artistic Director Debbie Blunden-Diggs said.

“Anybody who has been able to sustain a career like Sheri — it’s amazing and long overdue,” Blunden-Diggs said.


A Dayton native, Williams began dancing at age nine when she followed her best friend, Thelma, to a ballet class taught by DCDC founder Jeraldyne Blunden. Within two weeks, Williams was taking all the classes Jeraldyne offered.

“I liked moving, the flow, learning to use the body differently,” Williams recalled. “In little old Dayton, Jeraldyne made it happen, and we ate it up.”

The dance performances that most impacted her were Ulysses Dove’s Vespers, now a modern classic, and Dwight Rhoden’s Growth, a solo work that was originally choreographed for a man but has since been performed internationally by Williams.

In 2012, Williams was the subject of the documentary film “Sparkle,” which followed her recovery from an onstage hip injury that nearly ended her dance career. The documentary won the Audience Award at the AFI SilverDocs Film Festival.

Throughout her career, Williams has picked up numerous other accolades, including a coveted New York Dance & Performance Award (the Bessie) in 2002 and the Ohio Arts Council’s Individual Artist Award in 2014.

“I’ve been lucky to nurture audiences through the years, right here at home,” Williams said. “Anytime someone even thinks I should be the recipient of an award — I’m honored.”

This article originally appeared on the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company website.

AIDS Walk Greater Dayton: Continuing to Make Progress Together

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We’ve made a lot of progress since those darks days at the beginning the AIDS epidemic. We’ve helped people come out of the shadows and seek treatment. We’ve developed a better understanding of the disease and treatment options. We’ve raised awareness about the importance of getting tested. And most recently, we’ve empowered people by creating a once daily pill, known as PrEP, that prevents the transmission of HIV. But our fight is far from over. In Ohio, approximately 24,000 people are currently living with HIV. 1 in 8 HIV-positive people don’t know their status, don’t receive HIV medical care, and can pass the virus on to others. If current trends continue, 1 in 6 gay or bi-sexual men will contract HIV in their lifetime. If that’s unacceptable to you, help continue the progress by signing up to participate in AIDS Walk Greater Dayton on April 22.

AIDS Walk Greater Dayton draws people from all walks of life with different connections to the cause. Teddy Thomas, a Daytonian who’s been a part of Equitas Health’s mpowerment program, Mu Crew since 2014, is looking forward to this year’s walk. “I walk because Mu Crew has helped me teach others about HIV awareness and safety. I want to be a part of creating a world where people aren’t afraid to talk about being HIV-positive. Participating in AIDS Walk Ohio helps me do that,” said Teddy. He also receives care at their Dayton Medical Center and Pharmacy and is thankful for the social services they provide. “Their housing assistance program allowed me to stay in Ohio and avoid homelessness. I would have a very different life if it weren’t for Equitas Health,” said Teddy. Teddy has achieved “Grand Walker” status by raising at least $1,000 to support HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment. This is his second year achieving that milestone and he hopes to defend his title as the top fundraiser in Dayton again this year.

Whether you walk in memory of someone who’s passed, in celebration of someone who’s survived, or in solidarity with those affected or at-risk of HIV, your participation is necessary to continue making progress until one day when we have a cure.

AIDS Walk Greater Dayton takes place Saturday, April 22 at its new location at Fifth Third Field Plaza. Registration starts at 10am. Sign up at aidswalkohio.com to participate in the 1-mile stroll, 5K walk or run, or 20-mile bike ride. Come out and cheer people on as they return and enjoy music by DJ Dayna, food by the Drunken Waffle and the Wicked ‘Wich of Dayton, and craft beer from Warped Wing Brewery.

 

This post contributed by Alyssa Chenault, Communications Manager for Equitas Health.

Miami County Home Grown Stories:Terri Bessler & Shelby Anderson

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Terri Bessler and Shelby Anderson work together in two unique antique shops in historic downtown Tipp City. Terri, an Ohio native who has lived in Miami County for the past twenty years, owns Midwest Memories Antiques. Shelby, a Tipp City native, is the manager of Midwest Memories’ sister store, The Iron Dog Salvage & Antiques. Terri has owned Midwest Memories for the past 8 years, though the business has been in downtown Tipp City for the past 18 years. Iron Dog is a new shop, named after an iron replica of a dog who grieved his young owner’s passing early in Tippecanoe’s history. Terri and Shelby were recently interviewed for our #HomeGrownStories campaign.

On living in Miami County:
Terri – I am not from Miami County, but I have lived here for about 20 years. I grew up not far from here, over in New Carlisle. After college, I moved to Columbus for a while. We have family in this area and when our kids were younger we looked at Miami County and Montgomery County to move. Tipp City was just everything you ever wanted in a place to raise your children so that’s exactly what we did.
Shelby – I’ve pretty much been in Tipp City my entire life. Graduated from Tipp, did all of my extracurriculars here in Tipp, just very involved in the city. Caused a lot of trouble here growing up [laughs].

On Midwest Memories Antiques + The Iron Dog Salvage & Antiques
Terri – Iron Dog kind of grew out of Midwest Memories. I own Midwest Memories and have for the past eight years; it’s been in Tipp City for eighteen years. We were shifting to wood products and lots of salvage and we had no space for it. We knew we wanted to do something hip and cool and emulate Shelby’s personality a little bit. We also needed to have room for the bigger, larger, kind of chunkier stuff. We looked for a warehouse for a long time and couldn’t find anything that fit. We decided to do a storefront. The Iron Dog Salvage & Antiques opened two years ago on April 1st. We will have a Friday evening birthday celebration on March 31st to celebrate.

How they ended up working together:
Terri – Shelby is my daughter’s best friend from high school. So we have a long history and a wonderful connection. She’s mine.
Shelby – Right. Just another daughter, basically [laughs].

On the community response to Midwest Memories Antiques + The Iron Dog Salvage & Antiques:
Shelby – It’s been overwhelmingly positive. People just have a real passion for the repurposed and the industrial salvage kind of style that’s really come to fruition in the last couple of years and become really popular. I think it’s kind of cool that people are trying to take something old and make it new. People are really getting a grasp on the whole DIY thing, you know. We just provide the tools and the means to do it. We like to give them ideas on what to do and how to do it and show them cool pieces.
Terri – Having access to this much raw material just makes it so much easier. People can take that step. They don’t just see it and figure, “Well if I could find some cool stuff I could do something myself,” they can come in here and find the pieces they need and we can sit down and can help them with their projects and any kind of creative ideas that they want to do.
Shelby – We do custom pieces for customers. That’s one of our biggest draws. It’s keeping us crazy busy.
Terri – We have a lot of artists and fabricators that work with us, a lot of it’s produced off site. Shelby does design work with the customers.

What they love about Miami County:
Terri – I love the events, the community spirit and the cohesiveness of these wonderful small towns that have such unique things to offer.
Shelby – Yeah, there’s definitely a sense of community that you really don’t see anywhere else. Terri’s been all over Ohio, she’s seen it. There’s just a sense of home here. I think that’s what draws people here, especially when they come to Tipp City. This feels like an area where you can really grow your roots, just kind of settle in and live a good life.

Their favorite Miami County spots and events:
Shelby – I grew up in Tipp Park, collecting buckeyes behind the roundhouse and going on the bike trail. The Tipp City Park has a little place in my heart [laughs]. I also really like Duke Park in Troy, I think that’s a really nice open space with the soccer fields.
Terri – Restaurants, I’d have to say everything in downtown Tipp City.
Both – Coldwater! Coldwater is number one!
Terri – Basil’s in Troy is definitely a huge favorite. When people ask, “where’s a good place to eat,” I always tell them to stay in downtown. Everything in downtown is phenomenal.
Shelby – From coffee shops to Coldwater Cafe… you can’t send anybody anywhere without good recommendations. We have a lot of good small events down here too.
Terri – We love being open during events and having people mill in and out of the store. Seeing old friends as well as having the opportunity to make new acquaintances and make those new connections. In Miami County, you can go to an event and see people you’ve known forever and you can go to an event and meet tons of people that you’ve never met before. So many people are coming from outside of Miami County for events at parks and festivals, there’s the opportunity to meet some wonderful people.
Shelby – We’re seeing a huge draw in from all over, in surrounding counties and even from out of state. People are coming here that really see opportunity in Miami County.

Their most popular items at Midwest Memories Antiques + The Iron Dog Salvage & Antiques:
Shelby – Barn wood, slabs, barn siding and beams for mantles. A lot of people have really taken the reign and are being creative and doing something with the wood. Being able to come in here and see all of that and see the things that we’ve done really draw people towards the wood.
Terri – Upstairs we have over 25 vendors to shop from, a lot of people don’t realize at first, so they get to experience those as well. We have vendors that are local and I’ve had out-of-state vendors before. We have 25 vendors here and we have 100 vendors down at Midwest Memories. We have a large family of vendors. They’re the people you sit and talk to. You sit down, have a glass on a Friday night, you get to know them and become involved in their lives. It really becomes a family.

Midwest Memories Antiques
24 W Main Street Tipp City OH 45371
Facebook: @midwest.memories
Instagram: @midwestredesigned

The Iron Dog Salvage & Antiques
14 E Main Street Tipp City OH 45371
Facebook: @irondogsalvage
Instagram: @irondogsalvage

This story first appeared on the Miami County Convention and Visitors Bureau website.  Follow author,  storyteller and interviewer, Courtney Denning, at ThisOhioLife.com.

 

“Toruk” Flies into Nutter and Amazes

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After attending last evening’s premier of Toruk The First Flight, as told by world-renowned Cirque Du Soleil and inspired by James Cameron’s magical Avatar, I realize I learned two important lessons while being entertained more than I have been in ages: there is life outside our own planet, and the inhabitants of at least one of those worlds are in MUCH better shape than me! The nonstop performance and acrobatic displays made me truly appreciate the passion of the players and their ability to display that passion nonstop for the duration of the show. And flawlessly, I might add. Films are great but shot over long periods of time, and edited for the big screen. “Toruk” plays out “live” before our eyes.

I’ve been reviewing for nearly four decades and the one thing most reviewers face is to tell what we witnessed without revealing too much for those who will be attending. As with all Cirque performances the real entertainment is the majesty and breath-taking acrobatics, and “Toruk” lives up to that promise from the opening scene to the curtain call.

A Storyteller walks us through a story that took place on Pandora long ago, as the people of Pandora were facing a great time of struggle. Toruk is a giant, magnificent winged “monster” feared by most. The story takes us on a journey of two childhood friends, as close as brothers, in their coming-of-age training to become great hunters. The ultimate of their hunting adventures is to face Toruk and save their people. That salvation takes an ironic, yet visually spectacular, turn as the story winds down.

I have heard some suggest that “Avatar” (the inspiration) may be too old for some to remember and that the story and its magnificent set are too “busy” for some to follow the story. I suggest neither is the case. “Avatar” introduced us to a magical new world and the “busyness“ of what should be an award-winning set kept us on the edge of our seats all-performance long! If I have one suggestion, although I have no solution for it, some form of subtitling would benefit at times since most in the audience don’t speak or understand Pandorese.

The journey of the two friends takes us through earthquakes, floods and fires that you truly buy into as actually happening before your eyes. Peppered in amongst those elements are the signature death-defying performances that have made Cirque a household name by a team of global actors and technicians. From the moment we took our seats until our exit, we escaped totally to another blue world and lived the sadness, struggles, battles and joys. And after all, isn’t that what an evening away from reality is supposed to do?

TORUK – The First Flight is performing at the Wright State Nutter Center in Dayton, OH from March 22-26th 2017.  For more information and full schedule visit www.cirquedusoleil.com/toruk.

I’m told great seats are still available. Box Office 937-775-4789

 

This guest post is written by Mike Scinto, a veteran radio/TV talk show host, award-winning columnist and a USAF disabled veteran

Vote For Dayton’s Cutest Pet

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Do you think you have Dayton’s cutest pet? Well 64 of Dayton’s finest are currently competing in Pet Wants Dayton’s “Bark Madness” bracket challenge, with the winner receiving a month of Pet Want’s all-natural pet food delivered for free right to their door.

Bark Madness sought out contestants in the days leading up to the NCAA Tournament, and began the voting for the bracket on Thursday the 16th. Currently, “Bark Madness” is in the Round of 32 with voting running through 10pm on March 22nd. Each remaining round will last for three days, with the winner being crowned on Monday, April 3rd.

Facebook users are eligible to vote once per round for their favorite furry neighbor. To leave your paw-print on the outcome, visit the voting page at the link below:

http://woobox.com/pbx9sa

Be sure to submit a name at completion to make sure that the form is fully submitted!

You can also stay up to date with the competition and learn more about Pet Wants Dayton’s all-natural pet food by clicking “Like” on their Facebook page (www.facebook.com/petwants.dayton/).

Pet Wants Dayton is a local, all-natural pet food company that has been delivering their products throughout the Miami Valley for the last 18 months. They offer a range of all-natural dog and cat foods produced locally in right here in Ohio, as well as a variety of pet treats and pet wellness products.

Miami County Home Grown Stories: Tomfoolery Outdoors

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HomeGrownStories – Tomfoolery Outdoors has a mission to encourage people to live an active outdoor lifestyle while making a difference in the world. The company’s founder, Tom Helbig, an outdoor adventure enthusiast, has just returned to Ohio from a 5-week adventure in the Great Exumas region of the Bahamas. This tropical excursion was spent on stand up paddleboards and had Tom and his group camping outside for 34 of the 35 nights spent on the most crystal clear water Tom has ever seen. Tom was interviewed for Miami County Visitors Bureau’s new series  #HomeGrownStories campaign before he sets off on his next adventure following the blue blazes of the The Buckeye Trail Association, Buckeye Trail in Ohio.

On living in Miami County:
I live in a camper full-time at Adventures on the Great Miami in Tipp City. I have lived in Miami County on and off since 1998. I’m originally from the Cleveland area. My post-college career is what brought me to Miami County where I worked as the Special Olympics Coordinator at Riverside in Troy. After working at Riverside I worked at Five Rivers MetroParks for seven years as the special events and development coordinator. I’ve lived north of Dayton, primarily in Miami County since moving to Tipp City in 1998.

On starting his own business, Tomfoolery Outdoors:
I loved all of my previous jobs, they were very rewarding and had a great impact on the community, but I was spending a lot of hours working especially in the evenings and weekends. My work life balance was not in balance. I did not get to spend much time outdoors. I was approaching 40; I’m not going to call it a mid-life crisis, but I started to reflect on my life. I realized I didn’t want to spend my life behind a desk. I had always kind of had an entrepreneurial spirit and I had a lot of ideas for teaching people some of the skills I knew. I left my job at Five Rivers MetroParks and started Tomfoolery Outdoors in May 2014. May 3rd this year is my 3-year anniversary.

On the community response to Tomfoolery Outdoors:
It’s been really positive in the first 3 years now. I’ve promoted a really playful, fun, whimsical lifestyle, a lot of my events have a quirky nature to them and I think people are drawn to that. A lot of people crave that quirkiness. I am who I am and I’m an adventurous spirit. That energy lives within my company and people have embraced it.

Why he loves Miami County:
I love the people number one. There are a lot of just down to earth, kind and very supportive people in the area. From an outdoor and natural standpoint, I enjoy that we have bikeways and rivers to paddle and hiking trails in the Miami County Park District. It’s a very good area for someone that likes the outdoors like myself.

Hobart Urban Nature Preserve in Troy

There’s a big community focus in Miami County. When I worked for the Special Olympics the community really supported the program. I got to know the athlete’s families. I saw members of the program graduate from high school and go on their first dates and ski down a mountain for the first time. There’s this amazing community-family feel of Miami County. Now, as a small business owner in Miami County, I take a lot of pride in my foundation of my business that it started in Miami County.

How is Miami County different from places he has visited:
The outdoor recreation opportunities are really strong which is very unique. I think sometimes we take for granted what we have in our community: the bike path, the recreational trails, and the parks. I really like the small towns in Miami County; Troy, Piqua, Tipp City. I enjoy that corridor in Miami County. It’s fun to go somewhere where you know people. It’s a like a family, we’re-all-in-it together type of attitude.

His favorite Miami County event and spots:
Canoegrass is my favorite event. I think it’s the best event, even though I might be biased. We put a stage on the Great Miami River and everyone hangs out in the water. We have bluegrass and Americana bands on stage and it feels like you’re hanging out with 400 of your best friends on the river.

I love 311 Drafthouse in Piqua and I love Leaf AndVine in Troy. My favorite private park is Adventures on the Great Miami and my favorite public park is Charleston Falls Preserve.

This story first appeared on the Miami County Convention and Visitors Bureau website.  Follow author,  storyteller and interviewer, Courtney Denning, at ThisOhioLife.com.

 

 

Next up for Tomfoolery:

Tomfoolery Outdoors and the Massie Creek Paddlers have partnered to bring the Reel Paddling Film Festival to Dayton, Ohio and the historicThe NEON on Thursday, March 23rd at 7pm. Tickets are $11 in advance and $15 at the door.
Purchase tickets:
https://events.ticketprinting.com/event/22459

Festival will be 2 hours and 30 minutes with an intermission. Social begins at 7:00 pm and films begin promptly at 7:30 pm.

Rapid Media’s 12th annual Reel Paddling Film Festival showcases the world’s best paddling films to audiences in Canada, United States and around the world. The festival inspires more people to explore rivers, lakes and oceans, push physical and emotional extremes, embrace the lifestyle and appreciate the heritage of the wild places we paddle.

The Reel Paddling Film Festival is a film contest awarding winning films in 10 categories. The winners and other shortlisted films are then toured to more than 100 cities around the world, screening for an audience of more than 30,000 outdoor adventure enthusiasts, their friends and families. The Reel Paddling Film Festival is produced by Rapid Media. Rapid Media also publishes four leading paddlesports magazines: Rapid, Adventure Kayak, Canoeroots and Kayak Anglermagazines. Your ticket to a Reel Paddling Film Festival World Tour stop includes a free one-year digital edition subscription to all of the above magazines. Special offer details are available in your evening program

ST. Patrick’s Day – Dublin Pub Style

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ST. PATRICK’S DAY FOR PROFESSIONALS
This is what it’s like to be the first person to order a drink at 5:30am.
(a users guide to frequent questions)


1. The #1 question is “How Much?” Well it is only $10 to get in on both March 16 and March 17. An even better deal is if you come in on March 16 and pay $10, your wristband is good for St. Patrick’s Day as well – two for the price of one – what a bargain! March 16 THE MENUS will be playing The Dublin Pub for the first time kicking of St. Patrick’s Day. Also available ONLY ON MARCH 16 is the “MENUS VIP EXPERIENCE”. It is $50.00, and you will get admission to both March 16 & 17, eight tickets to use for beer, cocktails, or food under the tent only, and a St. Patrick’s Day souvenir cup which turns green when yor are happy – this is a $75 value for $50, plus your beer and food ticktes are good for both days. If you decide to come just on St. Patrick’s Day it is still just $10 to get in Ohio’s largest St. Patrick’s Day party.

 

2. Make sure you have a safe ride home, use the free cab service provided by Montgomery County Prosecutor Matt Heck, ARRIVE SAFE PROGRAM, 937-449-9999. OR USE UBER!!!! If you have not tried UBER, get with the rest of the world, it’s about the coolest way to get around town while partaking in Irish Revelry safely. Designated Drivers are another good choice.

 

3. PARKING, we recommend you park in the Holy Trinity lot just across Fifth St from the pub. DO NOT PARK in the Oregon District neighborhood, but there are many public lots, on street parking and free parking all around the pub, as well as some pay lots.

4. We open at 5:30am, and due to the crowd size, we have streamlined our opening to ensure we can get in as many people in at 5:30am. We will have security at a table at 4:30am and they will be doing ID’s, wristbands, taking $10 cover charge, and the 1st 100 people will get a ticket to redeem for a free St. Patrick’s Day T-shirt provided by Absolute. Those that get here by 4:30am, will be able to get their wristbands, and get back in line so there will be no wait at 5:30am when we open the doors. The line will form at the entrance in our BIG TENT – and will wrap around the corner of 5th St and Wayne Ave towards Francos.

 

5. If you don’t want to fight crowds inside the pub, the tent will be fully functional at 5:30am. There will be beer and liquor, as well as food and merchandise available at 5:30am in the heated tent.

6. The Big tent will have two draft beer trucks, a Jameson bar stocked with Jameson and Absolute Vodka Bombs and cocktails, a small bar upstairs on the deck as well as one in the covered patio, jello shots, a food area selling hamburgers, hot dogs, Guinness Brats, Pub Fries, Fried Pickles, and Fish. There will also be a merchandise area and an ATM, as all sales under the tents are cash except the Jameson Bar and Merchandise which will accept credit cards.

 

7. FREE SHUTTLE: There is a Free Shuttle that starts at 10am in front of The Dublin Pub on the corner of 5th St and Wayne Ave. It will run every 30 min to Flanagans Pub by UD. It is free and runs till midnight.

 

8. Our Facebook page and website has our full itinerary.WWW.DUBPUB.COM.

 

9. Inside the pub you will find our full service restaurant serving our limited menu, but with all the Irish favorites. There will be live music inside starting at 11am, but Celtic Rock will be playing all day long inside. We have an ATM as well inside, so for those keeping score at home, we have two ATM’s overall on site.

10. There is no GREEN BEER on site, so please don’t ask – we are an authentic Irish Pub and we pride ourselves in the Guinness perfect pint. If you want Green Beer, we suggest you enroll in Miami University – today. Here is a link for enrollment:  http://www.miami.muohio.edu/admission/admission/index.html

 

11. If you don’t like crowds, basically, St. Patrick’s Day may not be for you, but if you look for the best time to come and participate in the revelry, we recommend either when we open, late morning or early afternoon. You will still have Guinness & Jameson, you will still see Irish Step Dancing, and you will hear amazing Irish music. The 5:30am spot is a sight to see, and only for the TRUE PROFESSIONALS. Late night will be busy, and the show is amazing, and the people are the best St. Patrick’s Day revelers in the world!!!

12. The tent will do last call at 12:30 and completely closed by 1am. The Pub will be open till 2am and the kitchen open until 1am.
13. NO BAGS or BACKPACKS please, we will not let them in.

Wright State Honors Institute to feature Dan Rather, New York Times journalist

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Dan Rather, the award-winning veteran news anchor, will give a lecture at Wright State University on Tuesday, Jan. 31.

Part of both the university’s Honors Institute and the Presidential Lecture Series, Rather’s lecture begins at 7 p.m. in the Wright State Nutter Center Arena.

It will be preceded by a public reception at 5:30 p.m. in the Nutter Center Arena. Both events are free and open to the public. Tickets are not required.

The annual Honors Institute luncheon will feature an address by New York Times reporter John Herrman on Wednesday, Feb. 1, at 11:15 a.m. in the Student Union Apollo Room.

The luncheon is free and open to the public, but registration is required. Register on the Honors Institute website.

The theme of this year’s Presidential Lecture Series and the Honors Institute is “Democracy, Politics and You.”

Rather has worked as a broadcast journalist for more than 50 years, most notably as anchor for “CBS Evening News” and a correspondent for “60 Minutes.”

Rather has covered every presidential campaign since 1952. He was White House correspondent for “CBS News” during the administrations of Presidents Johnson and Nixon. During the 1960s, as chief of the CBS southwest bureau, he reported on the civil rights struggle in the South. He served as the “CBS News” anchor from 1981 to 2005.

His international datelines have been as far ranging as Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, China, Russia and Cuba.

He received the 2012 Edward R. Murrow Award for Lifetime Achievement. He also received the Peabody and Sigma Delta Chi awards in 2005 for his reporting on the Abu Ghraib prison abuses, and in 2011, the CPJ Burton Benjamin Memorial Award for his support of independent reporting.

After leaving “CBS News,” Rather founded a cable news magazine program that produced more than 300 hours of award-winning programming. His production company has developed projects that include an interview program, documentaries and digital video content.

His memoir, “Rather Outspoken: My Life in the News,” was published in 2012.

New York Times reporter John Herrman will give the annual Honors Institute luncheon address on Feb. 1.

Herrman is a David Carr Fellow at The New York Times, where he writes for the media and business sections. He has written about the changing media landscape, including producing a magazine story about Facebook’s promotion of partisan politics.

Previously, Herrman served as co-editor of The Awl. He has also covered the Internet and technology at Gizmodo, Popular Mechanics and BuzzFeed.

The 2017 Honors Institute is supported by Wright State’s Office of the President with additional support from The New York Times inEducation program, University College’s First-Year Programs and the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi.

Now in its 12th year, the Honors Institute regularly brings to campus well-known speakers with important stories to share. In recent years, the institute has sponsored talks by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak; Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History; physicist and author Michio Kaku; and deep-sea explorer Robert Ballard, who discovered the sunken Titanic.

More information on the Honors Institute is available at wright.edu/honors/honors-institute.

This post originally appeared on the Wright State University Newroom and was written by

Guest Post: Ego, Power & Greed

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How Dayton History coopted the GermanFest Picnic

Enjoying the beer, food, music and fun at the German Picnic in 2004. Photo by Theresa Gasper No clue who the people are!

How else do you describe the actions of the President & CEO of a venue that has been home to a festival for more than 30 years.

With no phone call, no advance notice, no hint as to the park’s intent to host its own 10 day event on the dates the GermanFest has used every year (the second weekend of August) for 33 years, the Dayton Liederkranz Turner’s picnic chair literally received a “Dear John” letter.

Full disclosure: My mother, Wanda Wiedman, started the German Picnic 34 years ago. It has grown into one of the area’s premier festivals and is typically thought of as the kick off to festival season. With the exception of a couple of years at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds, it has always been at Carillon Park. The first year there were 400 people, recent years have probably been closer to 50–75,000. The crowds are always huge when the Clydesdales are in town.

The crowd checking out the Clydesdales at the 2011 GermanFest Picnic in Carillon Park.
Volunteers frying up Trudy’s Schnizel.

I cannot begin to count how many schnitzel I fried, volunteers I recruited, beers I drank, tables I broke down (not because of the beer, but as part of the clean up), etc over the years, but it doesn’t begin to compare to all the work done by people like my mother, John, the Sagassers, Trudy and countless others. Many of the volunteers have worked every one of the 33 years and are now in their 80s or beyond.

Three generations of my family enjoying the picnic in 2011.

And Carillon Park benefited nicely from the arrangement with electrical upgrades, as well as a lot of foot traffic and exposure. For as long as I can remember, the German Picnic attendance numbers were included in the park’s attendance numbers and helped them receive many grants over the years.

The festival is going to be bigger and better than what they ever did here before,” Kress said. “It is no longer financially beneficial to us to continue to partner with them.”

The park has changed with recent growth under Brady’s tenure, but the picnic has adapted. But what changed more than anything were the rules of the game. One of the first things that changed was a park fee — $5000 back in the day, which I know because my husband and I covered it for a few years as a gift to the Club. When they tried to jack it to $10,000 the picnic moved to the fairgrounds for a few years. It wasn’t the same to be honest. Then Dayton History was trying to get the beer & food revenue. I’ve been out of the loop for the past 10 years, so I don’t have details of the current extortion rates, but I have a hard time believing that the arrangement was not financially beneficial to Dayton History.

Read Brady’s quote above and tell me that doesn’t smack of ego, power and greed. We’re not talking about rival businesses here, we’re talking about non profits putting on a community festival. This isn’t an idea Brady Kress or the Dayton History Board of Trustees just came up with. You don’t come up with a 10 day festival within 24 hours of notifying your “partner” that you no longer find it financially beneficial to work with them.

So here we are…the Club is now scrambling to find a venue with 8 months to go; Dayton History will do its own thing; and a lot of people in the community are upset with not just the decision but the way it was handled.

What can you do? You can start by sending Brady Kress an email and letting him know how you feel about the picnic and the handling of this matter.

You can also support the Dayton Liederkranz Turner by attending their events in St Anne’s Hill Historic District. There is a Schnitzel Dinner on Saturday January 14th — and trust me, the one thing you will NOT get at the ten day festival replacing the GermanFest is Trudy’s Schnitzel.

I won’t presume to tell you not to attend the Dayton History event in August, but assuming the GermanFest Picnic can find a suitable venue, I hope you will indeed support it. For 33 years it’s been the 2nd weekend in August. Who knows where or when it will be this year, if at all.

Peace,

tg

Editors Note:  tg is Theresa Gasper, longtime community volunteer

Zombie Dogz Sets Opening Date

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zombie_dogzSo………, with much excitement, we’d finally like to announce that we are finally opening Sunday, NOVEMBER 13th 2016 @ 1200 Brown St. Suite 150. We will be open from 10am-9pm.

We are offering 12 core Dogz out of the long list of dogs that we have and will always have another 3 to seasonally rotate around throughout the seasonal changes. We are implementing side items other than chips, and also salads, and a new protein, chicken sausages, and also, finally by popular demand, a gluten free bun option????

Something I’d also like to mention is all of the local community we’ve pulled in to help build our location. The artists, marketing people, tech peeps, contractors, design group, realtor company ect……. are all a part of helping our restaurant come together and wouldn’t be what it is now without the help of everyone who’s rode this ride with us. We’d just like to give a special thanks to those mentioned that have really made our new location what it is now❤️

It has been a long journey and we are so proud to finally be at this point of

zombiedogzart

Art by Matty McTatty

finally showing everyone what we’ve spent 3 years working so hard for, and what we’ve been working on the last 6 months. We’ve really put a lot of our blood, sweat, and tears into our brick and mortar location, and we are just so stoked to finally introduce Zombie Dogz Dayton to the community. We couldn’t have made it this far without everyone’s support over the years. That’s why we are just so full of emotions to finally give Zombie Dogz a permanent place here in Dayton, but most importantly to finally give our employees a permanent job. We are so lucky to have the crew that has stuck by us since the beginning and has believed in us this much to have stuck it out this long with us for this day to finally come. We’ve hired a new crew that we feel is just as rad and are so lucky to have wonderful people working for us.

With all of that being said…….. We super look forward to opening and seeing your lovely faces ?❤️
Now there’s no excuse that you couldn’t find us?

Again, thank you for helping us get to this point. It will never be forgotten❤️

Zombie Dogz

Dia de Muertos Dayton — A Movable Celebration of Life

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parade-lineupThe fifth annual Dia de Muertos celebration and parade kicks off Sunday, Oct. 23, at 2 pm with pre-parade family activities at K-12/Tejas Gallery. Participants are encouraged to arrive early to make colorful parade accessories, learn traditional Mexican folk dance moves and transform your face into a sugar skull with the help of professional artists and students from Decoy Art Studio. An exciting element of Dia de Muertos is being a part of the action, so plan ahead and bring strollers and wagons for young children. An El Meson food truck will be on hand for tasty choices until the parade lines up.

The parade will take off from K-12/Tejas Gallery toward Fifth Street at 4 pm, travel through tgabriela-and-joyhe Oregon District and stop at Missing Peace Art Space, located across from Stivers School for the Arts at Fifth and Dutoit streets. St. Mary’s will be there serving up traditional Mexican food and Pa’s Pork will offer other eclectic choices.

Entertainment will begin as soon as the parade arrives, with the legendary Rev. Cool Carter as master of ceremonies spinning records between acts until 9 pm. Ballet Folklorico Orgullo Mexicano will be back to delight the crowd with traditional dancing, and returning storyteller Alicia Pagan will capture the imaginations of both young and old. This year, guitarist Ramon Perez El Alacran de Durango will perform with his daughter, and the Lucha Libre rock band Team Void will bring a new sound to the celebration.skeleton-puppet

The Missing Peace Art Space will display personal ofrendas, traditional altars recalling the lives of loved ones who have passed. Artist Tiffany Clark will offer a community ofrenda for families and friends of heroin loss, and the Tree of Life congregation will honor the lives of those lost at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Fla. A general outdoor altar will offer the opportunity to leave memorial notes and light candles for loved ones.

Be sure to put us on your calendar for a day of celebration and healing as we honor the traditional Mexican memorial holiday of Dia de Muertos, recalling the beauty of lives gone before us, and including all cultures in a celebration that is uniquely Dayton.

Dia de Muertos Dayton — A Movable Celebration of Life – Sunday, Oct. 23,

2 to 4 pm: Pre-parade activities at K-12/Tejas Gallery, 314 S. Jefferson St., Dayton

4 pm: Parade leaves K-12/Tejas Gallery and travels toward Fifth Street

4:30 pm: Celebration at Missing Peace Art Space, 234 S. Dutoit St.

Story contributed by Joy Levett

Dave Chappelle’s Throws A “Juke Joint” Party

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chappellejukeThis Saturday and Sunday, October 8th and 9th, Dave Chappelle will host a juke joint performance, consisting of selections from the mighty DJ D-Nice, as well as a musical performance from Frederic Yonnet & The Band With No Name. 

Some of you will remember late last year when Chappelle treated the city of Chicago to a similar line up. This time around his current city of residence, Yellow Springs, OH will be getting the Juke Joint treatment in a barn on a working farm. Tickets go on-sale this Wednesday, October 5th (via BrownPaperTickets) and are extremely limited in quantity, so be sure to jump on it as soon as you can. Attendees are only advised to wear comfortable (read: no heels) footwear to save their kicks from imminent doom. Oh, and don’t be that guy or girl. Leave the phone at home.

 

Midday Open Mic Coming to Third Perk

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third_perk9OFP Productions caught up with Juanita Michelle Darden, Owner of  Third Perk Coffeehouse & Wine Bar, 46 W 5th St, Dayton, Ohio. Located in the heart of downtown and primed to serve the greater community six days a week.

Q:  What is your favorite movie, why?

A:  My favorite movie is The Wiz.  I love it because it really gives me hope in going for things even though nothing is familiar and if you are in a strange place. It makes me know how important friends are and how different friends fulfill different needs in our lives.  I love this movie because it forces you to  understand that you are equipped with all you need to get where you want to go.

Q: One mistake that you made and what did you learn?

A:  I learned from my first business not to rush.  I proved that I could open a business but I also showed just how easy it is for a business to close (six months).  I learned so much from that experience that help me mold what has become Third Perk.

Q:  As a coffee shop owner, what do you do to recharge?

A:  I find a quiet place where I can be alone and enjoy the silence.  I take time to read, write and reflect.  I also recharge by having conversations with my children.  I have an opportunity to catch up with what is going on with their lives.  I miss so much operating my business.

Q:  What is a typical day like for you?

A:   I wake up about 5:30am even if I am not opening the café.  I give thanks for another day and another day to be better than I was the day before. Many days I start by a trip the market to collect needed supplies for the day.  I make a list of things that I want to accomplish for the day.  My days are always full, they often include teaching mathematics at our community college.  They often end with me closing Third Perk.

Q:   What are two joys and two challenges about being a hybrid-entrepreneur?

A:   The biggest joy I have experienced is a total surprised, it is the joy of hearing others tell me how I have inspired them and the pursuit of their own dream in business ownership.  It is a great feeling to know that you are empowering others to move into their destiny.

My number one challenge has been the access to capital.  The second challenge has been finding the right talent to play the keys roles in my business.

Q:  Who are your mentors?

A:   My mentor is my best friend Tiffany Bozeman, Bernice Brown a former chair of my department and Peter Simmons the owner of Evans Café

J.Darden-JonesQ:  Is Mathematics your first love?

A:   Mathematics is not my first love.  Entrepreneurship has always been my first love.  Mathematics has been a catalyst to provide a wonderful lifestyle for my family.  It has paved a road that has allowed me to live out my dreams.  Being in mathematics has also given students of color and women the opportunity to have a instructor who they can relate to and to understand that a life of a college professor is a possibility for them as well.

Q:   Who is supporting local arts and up and coming artist a huge part of owning a Coffee House?

A:    There is certain expectations when someone makes a visit to coffeehouse.  They want to feel a freedom to talk, share and to create.  The walls of a coffeehouse should talk.  At Third Perk we have filled our walls with local art work from home grown artist.  We feature one artists’ work every quarter.  The artist has the opportunity to use Third Perk as their own gallery.  It is a total win win for everyone involved.  Third Perk is filled with wonderful pieces, customers enjoy beauty works of art and the artist many times have the opportunity to sell their works.

Q:  Why are you starting a Midday Open Mic?

A:  Another important aspect of having a coffeehouse is having the ability for artist to perform.  At Third Perk we have made an opportunity for artist to take the mic and to speak freely!  Our doors have been open to musicians, songstress and poets.  Friday night has become a favorite night to catch live talent.  The third Thursday of each month a local poet host an open mic night.  This night is open to both poets and other performing artist.  We are expanding our third Thursday open mic night to an afternoon which we have named Mid Day Poetry.  I am looking to draw students from our local community college and workers from adjacent businesses to enjoy local poets share their works.  I am so excited about this.  Dayton is so full of talent and Third Perk has so many opportunities for our local talents to shine bright.

This post originally appeared on Tripple Croxx Entertainment‘s webpage and is reprinted with permission.

How to Participate in #IPAday

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IPADAYWidgetOn the first Thursday of August join beer enthusiasts, breweries and bars across the globe and celebrate IPA Day, a collective toast to one of craft beer’s most iconic styles: the India pale ale.

Founded in 2011, IPA Day is a global celebration of craft beer. It is a universal movement that was created to unite the voices of craft beer enthusiasts, bloggers and brewers worldwide. IPA Day was originally developed as a social media-based holiday, but has since expanded into a worldwide party, boasting hundreds of IPA-themed events and celebrations all over the globe.

IPA Day is not the brainchild of a corporate marketing machine, nor is it meant to serve any particular beer brand. IPA Day is an opportunity for all breweries, bloggers, businesses and beer lovers to connect and share their love of craft beer. It is an opportunity for the entire craft beer culture to combine forces and advocate craft beer through increased education and global awareness.

Why Celebrate the IPA?

This illustrious style represents the pinnacle of brewing innovation with its broad spectrum of diverse brands, subcategories and regional flavor variations, making it the perfect style to galvanize craft beer’s social voice.

At the 2015 Great American Beer Festival, the most-entered style category was the American-Style India Pale Ale with 336 entries; the Imperial India Pale Ale had the second highest amount of entries at 208. Its popularity and accessibility makes the IPA the most inclusive style for brewers, retailers and consumers to collectively celebrate.

The goal is to make this year’s IPA Day even more viral. Getting involved is easy! The only requirements are an appreciation for great craft beer and the willingness to spread the word. Anyone can participate by enjoying an IPA with friends, making some noise online with the #IPAday hashtag and showing the world that craft beer is more than a trend.

IPA Day

How to Participate in IPA Day

Organize an IPA Day event at your brewery, brewpub, restaurant, bar, bottle shop, home or office.

On August 4, share your photos, videos, blog posts, tasting notes, recipes and thoughts on IPA with the world. Be sure to tag your posts on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Google+ and other social media platforms with the #IPAday hashtag. Please note that this year we are using a lower case “d” in the hashtag to reduce confusion.

See what other people are saying on Twitter by searching #IPAday. Follow the conversation closely by adding an #IPAday search column on your Tweetdeck.

Become a craft beer steward in your community. Encourage non-craft beer drinkers to take a break from their normal beverage routine and join the collective toast on IPA Day. Set the goal of converting at least one person, if not the whole world of drinkers to IPA lovers.

This Article orginally appeared on CraftBeer.com on July 28, 2016
By Ashley Routson  For more information follow @TheBeerWench