Layer Up For Winter Boating

Vermilion, Ohio is sometimes gifted with unseasonably warm days throughout the traditional winter months, and paddlers take advantage of warmer weather to rescue their boat from storage and take it for a float down the river. If you’re that avid paddler, it is extremely important to dress appropriately in order to have fun and stay safe out on the water.

In the excitement to get out and paddle, don’t forget to be prepared for all sorts of weather—no matter what the thermometer is reading. Temperatures and weather can change quickly and drastically throughout the day, so it is essential to be prepared for worst-case conditions. Remember: Air temperature is NOT an indication of water temperature. The 120-degree Rule is an easy way to determine what type of clothing is appropriate to wear while boating. The rule is this: If the air and water temperatures add up to less than 120 degrees Fahrenheit, you need thermal protection.

So what is thermal protection? Thermal protection refers to a way of dressing yourself that always includes at least one insulated (base) layer and one protective (outer) layer. The qualities of these layers combine to keep you warm in the event of a mishap such as a cold-water immersion. Insulated layers should consist of fabrics such as synthetic fleece. Avoid 100 percent cotton materials, as they tend to draw heat away from the body and take a long time to dry.

Protective layers include clothing such as parkas, rain suits and nylon jackets; these outer “shell” garments guard against wind and also help to hold heat in, preventing cold air and/or water from cooling the insulating layer(s). As a final, topmost layer, a life jacket should always be worn for maximum protection in the event you would fall in the water. Not only does it serve to keep you afloat while your body is adjusting to the cold-water shock, but a life jacket provides excellent insulation.

Advance preparation for inclement weather and cold-water immersion will give you the chance for survival should the worst occur. By following the 120-degree Rule and dressing properly for the weather, you’ll be keeping yourself safe while enjoying a break from winter on the water.

Cold Water Boating Safety

While most Vermilion, Ohio boaters prefer to enjoy the summer months, winter boating is just as enjoyable but does have its own challenges. Water temperatures are dropping, and the threat of hypothermia is rising. Hypothermia is a potentially dangerous drop in body temperature that is caused by prolonged exposure to cold temperatures. Should a cold-water accident occur, make sure you’re prepared to survive an incident. It is important to remember that cold water will cool a body 25 times faster than cold air of the same temperature.

Falling into cold water is downright dangerous and should be avoided at all costs. If this event is to occur, there are distinct stages of reaction that the body will show. Failure to recognize these stages will lead to hypothermia. In the first 3-5 minutes of immersion, the body will go into cold shock. This means that the body will have an immediate gasp reflex. It is important to focus on keeping your head above water. In 3-30 minutes, the body will begin to experience swimming failure. It is after about 30 minutes that true hypothermia will set in. Something to remember during this traumatic event is to not remove any clothing or shoes. The air trapped between the layers of clothing will keep a person afloat and protect from direct exposure to cold water.

Be sure to inspect your boat often to make sure it is ready for the cold waters and wind. Freezing temperatures can make equipment on or inside the boat not function properly. This is also a concern for boat ramps. During freezing temperatures, be cautious that the ramps can develop a layer of ice, making it dangerous to launch or retrieve your boat.

When embarking upon a winter boating adventure, remember to dress to get wet. If you find yourself wet during the winter climate, you run the risk of hypothermia. It is strongly recommended that you always wear your personal floatation device (PFD), no matter the weather. Take the time to explore alternative options to your PFD such as a float coat, which has extra stuffing to keep you warm.

No matter what season you’re hitting the water, always be aware of the threats that are present and follow safe boating practices. If you prefer the warm season of boating, use this off-season time to take an Ohio Boating Education Course. It is also a great time to visit boat, sports, and travel shows to find new places to explore with your boat.

Winter Storm Tips

Mother Nature is always keeping us on our toes. With winter weather soon on its way, FirstEnergy wants you to be prepared for the cold months ahead. These tips will help ensure you’re ready when the wind whips and ice and snow accumulate.

Winter Storm Preparation Tips

• Prepare in advance of severe weather by having emergency supplies on hand:
• Fully charged cell phones, laptops and tablets.
• Car charger to charge devices if your power is out.
• Flashlight, portable radio and extra batteries.
• Hard-wired phone to report an outage or emergency. A plain, hard-wired phone can operate on power delivered through the phone line.
• Extra blankets or a sleeping bag for each person.
• First-aid kit.
• Medications and other personal health items for each person.
• Emergency supply of bottled water and/or fill your bathtub with fresh water.
• Supply of convenience foods that do not require cooking. Don’t forget the can opener!

If you should lose power, manage through safely by following these tips:

• If you’re using a backup generator for emergency power, follow the manufacturer’s instructions and use it safely.
• Keep refrigerator and freezer doors closed. These appliances are well insulated, so food will keep for several hours if doors are closed as much as possible.
• Use a flashlight or battery-powered lantern for light. Use care when burning candles; open flames are a dangerous fire hazard.
• To safeguard your equipment and appliances – and to ease the initial load when power is restored – turn off or unplug televisions, VCRs, DVD players, stereos, computers and appliances that use electric motors, such as refrigerators, freezers or air conditioners, until power is restored. Leave an incandescent light on so you know when the power comes back on.
• DO NOT use gas stoves, charcoal grills or other open-flame heat sources for warmth. Deadly carbon monoxide gas – which is odorless and invisible – may build up in your home without you realizing it.

Grace Community Kitchen Offers Free Meals

Meals are served on Tuesday and Thursday evenings throughout the month and are prepared by the churches on a rotating basis. Thanks to these great volunteers and donations, Grace’s Community Kitchen is able to provide a full nutritional meal free of charge for an average of $1.50 per person, making your donations count.

To donate to Grace's Community Kitchen, send donations to: Grace’s Community Kitchen, 5055 Liberty Ave, Vermilion.

Meals are carryout only via a drive up care line at Trinity Lutheran Church, 3747 Liberty Avenue, Vermilion.

Where: Trinity Lutheran Church

When: Tuesdays & Thursdays

Time: 5:00-6:00 pm (or until meals are gone)

All are welcomed.

Grace Community Kitchen is a 501 (c) 3 charity, locally, state and federally recognized and approved. Grace Community Kitchen has a board of community volunteers with hearts for the hungry, lonely and poor living in its extended community. Grace Community Kitchen offers a free service and is open to all who walk through its doors. Its mission is to provide food that has nutritional value. It provides balanced meals for in-house guests and offers much needed take-home meals for the weekend.

The Kitchen is also an agency of Second Harvest, part of the federal program of Feeding America. This standing has provided access to free or very low cost meats, produce, and staples. The Kitchen is dependent on Second Harvest to be able to provide evening dinners. Currently, Grace Kitchen serves an average of over 1,100 meals monthly, and the need is ever growing.

The following churches and groups provide support: Bill Mills Bible Study Group; Grace Methodist; Hands On Volunteer Group; Lakeview Baptist; St. Mary Catholic Parish; Trinity Lutheran; United Church of Christ, Congregational; and Vermilion E&R.

For more information or if you wish to donate, please contact the kitchen at 440-595-2005.

Essentials Pantry Offers Free Essentials

The Essentials Pantry is a monthly pantry of essentials items - soap, shampoo, toilet paper, feminine hygiene items and more. Essentials Pantry is open every 3rd Tuesday of the month from 11 am to 1 pm and 5 pm to 7 pm at First Baptist Church in Vermilion. 

Come get what you need, volunteer, or make a donation!

First Baptist Church is located at 6716 West River Road in Vermilion, Ohio.

Little Free Fridge At Ritter

Ritter Public Library has a Little Free Fridge. A "Freedge" is a free fridge and cupboard. It is a decentralized, community-based solution to food insecurity. Anyone can donate to or take items from the Freedge area on a "take what you need, give what you can" basis. Stop by to take items, make a donation, or just see what it's all about - the Little Free Fridge is accessible during all of the library's open hours.

Want to get involved? Ritter perpetually accepts donations. Please adhere to the donation guidelines below. Items that do not meet donation guidelines will be disposed.

Ritter welcomes new, unopened, and unexpired:

• Refrigerated dairy, eggs, cured or cooked meat, and meat/dairy alternatives
• Fresh produce, including home-grown fruits and vegetables
• Shelf stable and canned goods
• Snack foods
• Spices
• Pet food and supplies
• Bread and bakery items
• Personal care and hygiene items such as toothpaste, shampoo, body wash, lotion, toilet paper, deodorant, diapers and baby wipes, and menstrual products
• Household items such as cleaning supplies, laundry detergent, and paper products

Most needed items:

• Individually packaged snack foods
• Peanut butter
• Crackers
• Canned soup
• Ready to eat and microwavable foods
• Individual fresh fruit such as apples and oranges
• Fresh vegetables
• Cheese
• Juice boxes, bottled water, and other individual beverages
• Spices

Please no:

• Raw meat, poultry, fish, or dairy
• Frozen foods
• Leftovers or other food prepared at home
• Opened, partially consumed, damaged, expired, moldy, or otherwise unsafe foods– don’t donate anything you wouldn’t personally be willing to eat!
• Medications of any kind, including over-the-counter medications and vitamins
• Alcoholic beverages

The History Of New Year’s

Around the globe people have celebrated the beginning of the new year for millennia. 4,000 years ago Babylonians celebrated the the new year during the first new moon in late March after the vernal equinox — the day with an equal amount of darkness and sunlight. c. 2000 B.C. the new year was celebrated around the time of the vernal equinox, in mid-March, in Mesopotamia. Today, most New Year’s celebrations start on New Year’s Eve, December 31, the final day of the year on the Gregorian calendar, and continue through New Year’s Day on January first.

The Babylonia Akitu festival included different rituals for 11 days. The victory of the mythical Marduk, a sky god, over the sea goddess Tiamat, was celebrated during the event. A new king was also crowned, or the current king's divine mandate was renewed. Ancient Persians gave New Year's gifts of eggs that symbolized productiveness. Romans offered sacrifices to Janus, the god of beginnings with two faces that could see the past and the future. They held raucous parties, exchanged gifts and decorated with laurel branches.

Civilizations throughout the world have continuously developed more sophisticated calendars, usually making the first day of each year fall on an astronomical or agriculturally important event. In Egypt, the first day of the year coincided with the annual flooding of the Nile and the rising of the Sirius star. In China, the first day of the year coincided with the second new moon following the winter solstice. In 46 B.C. Julius Caesar chose to realign the Roman calendar with the sun, adding an extra 90 days to the year to create the Julian calendar. The Julian calendar closely resembles the current Gregorian calendar observed by most countries today.

Medieval Christian authorities temporarily changed the beginning of the year to more religiously significant dates such as December 25 (Christmas) and March 25 (the Feast of the Annunciation). In 1582 Pope Gregory XIII changed New Year’s Day back to January 1. It took some time for Protestant countries to adopt the Gregorian calendar. Britain did not follow the reformed calendar until 1752. Until then, the British Empire, and their American colonies, continued to celebrate the new year in March.

Around the world, people incorporate a variety of New Year’s traditions into their celebrations. In the United States, people begin celebrating the new year on December 31, New Year’s Eve. Many people have parties, and sometimes masquerade balls, where guests dress up in costume and cover their faces with masks to hide their identity. According to an old tradition, guests unmask, or remove their masks, at midnight.

The New Year’s kiss is a German and English tradition. It is believed the first person you encounter in a new year will set that year’s tone.

Many people enjoy the tradition of watching the New Year’s festivities in Times Square in the heart of New York City. This celebration is telecast live on news channels across the nation. The first New Year’s Eve party in Times Square took place in 1904 to celebrate The New York Times’s new headquarters.

Traditionally, at one minute before midnight, a lighted ball begins to drop slowly from the top of a pole that is attached to a building. As the ball drops, all the people in Times Square — and many television viewers as well — count down the final minute of the year. At the stroke of midnight, the ball reaches the bottom of the pole, and a huge “Happy New Year” sign lights up. Then Times Square is filled with cheers and noisemakers. Confetti is dropped from windows above, and revelers hug, kiss, and wish each other a “Happy New Year!”

The tradition of counting down the last minute or final seconds of the year is a highlight of New Year’s Eve, not only in Times Square, but at parties and get-togethers throughout the nation. The excitement grows as partygoers watch the clock and count 10! 9! 8! 7! 6!…and shout “Happy New Year!” at exactly midnight, heralding in the new year. Some towns and cities host a “First Night” celebration, a large community street party featuring food, music, and other entertainment. First Night parties provide a safe and, often, alcohol-free environment for people of all ages to socialize, celebrate, and “ring in the New Year” together.

At New Year’s Eve parties, people often sing a traditional Scottish song, “Auld Lang Syne,” just after the clock strikes midnight and the cheers of “Happy New Year” subside. Auld Lang Syne was written in the 18th century by the Scottish poet Robert Burns, and may be based on an earlier poem by another Scottish poet. The expression “auld lang syne” means “the old days gone by.”

On January first, Americans may relax at home or visit friends, relatives, and neighbors. New Year’s Day get-togethers are often informal, but generally there is plenty to eat and drink as loved ones and friends wish each other the best for the year ahead.

The holidays are often a time for family, fun, and food. New Year’s is no exception. One thing many nations around the world have in common is the belief that eating certain foods on New Year’s will bring good luck and prosperity in the 12 months to follow.

One New Year’s tradition the South is especially known for is eating black-eyed peas and collard greens. It is believed that a meal with black-eyed peas and collards symbolizes humility and a new year full of coins and “green” (money). Lentils are another popular legume on New Year’s for the same reason.

Eating Sauerkraut on New Year's Eve is a German tradition to bring wealth and blessings for the new year. Before eating, everyone wishes each other as much goodness and money as the number of shreds of cabbage in the pot.

A fun New Year’s tradition is trying to eat 12 grapes at midnight. Some believe that each chime of the clock represents a month of the year and that the reveler must eat one grape with each chime for 12 months of good luck. Some even say you should make a wish with each grape.

Eating noodles is said to symbolize a long life. Eating ring-shaped cakes represents the year coming full circle.

Many families and friends watch television together enjoying the Tournament of Roses Parade, which precedes the Rose Bowl football game — both held in Pasadena, California. The parade was started in 1890, when Professor Charles F. Holder suggested to the Pasadena Valley Hunt Club that they sponsor a parade to showcase the winter beauty and sunshine of the area. The parade was to be “an artistic celebration of the ripening of the oranges” at the beginning of the year. The event grew, and in 1895 the Tournament of Roses Association was formed to oversee the festivities. Soon, athletic competitions became part of the day’s events. To enhance the event and increase public interest, a collegiate football game was added in 1902, with Stanford University playing against the University of Michigan. Today, the New Year’s Day Rose Bowl game, featuring the two top college football teams in the nation is, for many Americans, the highlight of New Year’s Day.

From year to year the parade of floats grew longer, and now the procession takes over 2 1/2 hours to travel the 5 1/2-mile parade route through the streets of Pasadena, California. The flower decorations also grew more elaborate. Today the floats include hightech animation, and every inch of the float must be covered with flowers or other natural plant material. The theme of the Tournament of Roses varies from year to year, and the parade now includes thousands of participants in marching bands and on the floats. City officials and celebrities ride in the cars pulling the floats, and a celebrity is chosen to be the grand marshal. The queen of the tournament, along with her court, rides on a special float, which is always the most elaborate, being made from more than 250,000 flowers. Prizes are still given for the best, most beautiful floats.

Thousands of spectators line the parade route, arriving early in the morning or camping out overnight in order to secure the best spot for viewing the parade, which begins at 8 am. Spectators and participants alike enjoy the pageantry associated with the occasion. Preparation for next year’s Tournament of Roses begins on January 2.

Watching football games and parades is not the only tradition on New Year’s Day. Americans, like people in many countries, also promise to better themselves in the new year. Some Americans even write down their New Year’s resolutions — promises to themselves for improvement in the coming year.

The History Of Christmas

On December 25, people around the world celebrate Christmas. Some people celebrate by giving gifts. Children may be thanking Santa Claus for new toys. They may also be going to church with their families. Christmas has so many traditions and symbols associated with it that it's hard to determine exactly how it came to be the celebration it is today.

Christmas has been celebrated around the globe for millennia with practices and traditions both religious and secular. Christians celebrate it as the anniversary of the birth of Jesus. Winter solstice festivals were very popular in many European pagan cultures, marking the day when the worst of winter was over and the beginning of longer days and extended hours of sunlight. The Norse celebrated Yule. In Germany the pagan god Oden was honored.

By 336 A.D., the Christian church in Rome celebrated the festival of Christmas on December 25. The same day, Romans celebrated Saturnalia, the winter solstice (the shortest day of the year). In observance of the “birthday of the unconquered sun”, they exchanged gifts and made merry with a festival. On the Roman New Year (January 1), people decorated houses with greenery and gave gifts to children and the poor. Evergreens were a symbol of survival.

Pope Julius I chose December 25 to celebrate the “Feast of the Nativity” (later renamed “Christmas”) in an effort to absorb the traditions of the Saturnalia pagan celebration. By the Middle Ages Christianity had successfully replaced many pagan religions, but pagan traditions continued. Christmas activities included going to church followed by carnival-like celebrations similar to modern day Mardi Gras. It was a time when the rich would repay their debts to society. Poor people would visit wealthy homes to demand food and alcohol. Families failing to comply were subjected to mischief. Students and beggars were given the title “lord of misrule”, while others acted as their subjects.

Christmas was not celebrated in early America as the pilgrims were opposed to the holiday's decadence. From 1659 to 1681 it was outlawed in Boston. Following the American Revolution, all English customs were unpopular.

Christmas did not become a federal holiday in the United States until 1870. It was transformed from a raucous celebration into a day of peaceful nostalgia, inspired by “The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, gent.” written by Washington Irving, and “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens. While these writings incorporated many pagan traditions, they were re-imagined into more peaceful, tamer activities. Victorian society was also becoming more sensitive to the needs of children, and the reinvented holiday allowed them a time to give attention and presents to children.

Modern-day Christmas borrows many ancient traditions. St. Nicholas became a popular figure by the 11th century, known for his great generosity and healing powers. With the rise of the Protestant Church, he was nearly forgotten, except in the Netherlands where they called him Sinterklaas. Dutch colonists settling in New Amsterdam (now New York City) brought the story of St. Nicholas with them. In English, he became known as Santa Claus. Added to the legend of this kind old man were old Nordic folk tales of a magician who punished naughty children and rewarded good children with presents. The Santa Claus we recognize in the U.S. today, with his red suit, jolly laugh, and long white beard, began to appear in story and song in the 19th century.

Santa Claus delivering gifts originated from Holland’s St. Nicholas’ feast day on December 6 when children would leave shoes out the night before and find gifts in them from St. Nicholas the next morning. Santa's flying sleigh was created by Washington Irving in 1819. Originally dressed in green, purple or blue, Coca Cola changed Santa's colors to match their brand.

Montgomery Ward department store created Rudolph the Reindeer to encourage children to purchase Christmas coloring books. Eight additional reindeer were create in a poem by Clement Moore: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Duner and Blixem (later evolving into Donner and Blitzen).

Christmas trees may date back to pagan traditions. Bringing cuttings of evergreens indoors during the winter was an ancient tradition to combat seasonal affected disorder. “Yule trees” were first used in 16th century Germany, decorated with fruits and nuts.

Eggnog was created in the Jamestown settlement in 1607. Tinsel was created in 1610 in Germany, originally made of real silver.

The hanging of stockings is a Dutch tradition created from a legend of a poor man with three daughters that he could not afford a dowry for. St. Nicholas dropped a bag of gold down his chimney. Gold coins fell out of the bag and into stockings hanging by the fireplace to dry. The gold coins provided the daughters with dowries so they could be married and avoid a life on the streets. 12th century nuns also left socks full of fruits and nuts at the doors of the poor.

Carolling is taken from an English custom of wassailing to toast someone’s good health and fortune. St. Francis of Assisi adapted the tradition to create carolling. Many Christmas songs have been written by Jews.

Before electric Christmas lights, families would use candles to light up their Christmas trees. This practice was often dangerous and led to many home fires. Edward H. Johnson put the very first string of electric Christmas tree lights together in 1882. Johnson, Thomas Edison’s friend and partner in the Edison’s Illumination Company, hand-wired 80 red, white and blue light bulbs and wound them around his Christmas tree. Not only was the tree illuminated with electricity, it also revolved. However, the world was not quite ready for electrical illumination. There was a great mistrust of electricity and it would take many more years for society to decorate its Christmas trees and homes with electric lights.

Some credit President Grover Cleveland with spurring the acceptance of indoor electric Christmas lights. In 1895, President Cleveland requested that the White House family Christmas tree be illuminated by hundreds of multi-colored electric light bulbs. On Christmas Eve 1923, President Calvin Coolidge began the country’s celebration of Christmas by lighting the National Christmas Tree with 3,000 electric lights on the Ellipse located south of the White House.

Until 1903, when General Electric began to offer pre-assembled kits of Christmas lights, stringed lights were reserved for the wealthy and electrically savvy. The wiring of electric lights was very expensive and required the hiring of the services of a wireman, our modern-day electrician. According to some, to light an average Christmas tree with electric lights before 1903 would have cost $2000.00 in today’s dollars.

The History Of The Christmas Tree Ship

The History Of Brownhelm Community Christmas

Brownhelm Community Christmas takes place December 24th, annually. Santas visit homes in Old Brownhelm delivering gifts, candy and fruit.

In 1931 a young child, 8 years old, was told there wouldn’t be any Christmas presents for her. The Great Depression had taken its tole on Northern Ohio and her father was out of work. The little girl confided the heartbreaking news to her pastor of the Brownhelm Congregational Church.

When Reverend Ralph Albright learned that children in his parish would not have a Christmas, he assembled members of three churches in Brownhelm Township. Together they created a plan for Santa to visit families in need, bringing food and gifts.

No family was untouched by the hard times of the Great Depression, so they did what they could. Old and broken toys were donated from the attics of local families. They were repaired, painted and polished by volunteers. The church basement was transformed into a toy shop. Local women repaired old dolls and crafted new ones. Old clothes were mended. Farmers donated apples, ciders, squash and potatoes. Monetary donations were collected in a cigar box at the Brownhelm Store, a total of $16.90, allowing for the purchase of oranges and candy. Santa suits were made from red and white flannel.

Volunteers wrapped, packed and labeled the gifts. At dusk on the morning of December 24th, six Santas affixed their beards with spirit gum and began delivering the packages around the township.

“There was not one lonely, disappointed or hungry child in our community this Christmas.” - Reverend Albright

The following year the volunteer committee reassembled and decided to continue the project. The volunteers agreed that every home would be included so that no family would be singled out as “poor”. The Community Christmas with Santa Claus had been established, and continues each year to this day.

There were only 12 homes in the township when the tradition began, now there are 900. 20 Santas visit homes in Old Brownhelm, the area originally served by the Brownhelm School before it was consolidated with Firelands Schools. Children under 10 receive a gift; those up to age 14 receive candy and fruit. Seniors citizens are gifted with a half-peck basket of fruit. Cards are sent out to everyone serving in the military. Anyone who might go without Christmas dinner discreetly receives food packages.

Letters are sent to Brownhelm Township families in November explaining the Community Christmas tradition with instructions on how to receive a Santa visit. The area is divided into routes; each route with a chairman to compile a list of each recipient’s name and age.

The Brownhelm Community Christmas Santa visits have become an integral part of the season for Brownhelm residents. Organizers rely solely on donations; they do not solicit businesses but local businesses donate fruit and solicit donations. Volunteers drive Santa from house to house, wrap gifts, assemble fruit baskets, pack candy into bags, and help the Santas get dressed on Christmas Eve.

The legacy of a little girl, whose heartbreaking plea touched an entire community, has far outlived her.

The Brownhelm Historical Association works to preserve the rich history of Brownhelm, Ohio. The mission of the Brownhelm Historical Association is to honor Brownhelm’s rich heritage by collecting, preserving, and interpreting the history of its people and the area. The Brownhelm Historical Association currently maintains three historic sites and organizes a variety of community events throughout the year.

The Brownhelm Historical Association holds meetings the first Wednesday of each month beginning in February, March, April, May and June; off July and August; resume September, October, November, and December. Meetings are held either at the Carriage Barn in Mill Hollow or at the Historic Brownhelm School and Museum on North Ridge Road. Note: the December Christmas Meeting is held at the Brownhelm Heritage Museum (formerly the German Evangelical and Reformed Church) at 1355 Claus Road, Vermilion. Doors open at 6:15 pm for those who wish to attend the business meeting from 6:30-7 pm. Those wishing to only attend the program should arrive between 7-7:15 pm for refreshments and socializing. Programs start at 7:30 pm.

For more information, visit www.brownhelm.org.

The History Of Kwanzaa

Kwanzaa, a Swahili word that means “first fruits,” is a seven-day festival that honors African heritage in African-American culture. Kwanzaa takes place each year in the United States from December 26 to January 1 and celebrates family and community through music, dance, poetry, storytelling and art.

Maulana Karenga, an African-American civil rights activist, first established Kwanzaa in 1966 as a way for African Americans to reconnect with their African cultural and historical heritage. Kwanzaa is a cultural holiday, not a religious one, and thus available to Africans and African Americans of all religious faiths.

Karenga chose to communicate the new holiday through the most widely spoken African language, Swahili. According to Karenga, the colors of Kwanzaa are black for the people, red for their struggle, and green for the future and hope that comes from their struggle.

Each night during Kwanzaa, celebrants light one of seven candles in a special candle holder called a kinara. The seven days and candles of Kwanzaa represent seven principles rooted in African tradition that celebrants reflect upon during the week:

• Unity (Umoja in Swahili) — To join together families, communities and the nation.
• Self-Determination (Kujichagulia) — To ensure people define themselves and are responsible for their own behavior.
• Collective work and responsibility (Ujima) — To help each other and to work toward building and maintaining communities.
• Cooperative economics (Ujamaa) — To build and support businesses owned by African Americans.
• Purpose (Nia) — To commemorate African and African-American cultures, customs and history.
• Creativity (Kuumba) — To use imagination to improve and beautify communities.
• Faith (Imani) — To believe in and support families, leaders, teachers and community leaders.

The History Of Hanukkah

Once a year, Jewish children all over the world play a game of chance called “dreidel” that uses four-sided spinning tops inscribed with Hebrew letters. The game is played during Hanukkah and commemorates a miraculous event that took place over 2,000 years ago in Jerusalem.

The game, like Hanukkah itself, recalls the victory of a small band of determined Jewish fighters, led by Judah Maccabee, over an army of invaders. After driving their enemies from the city of Jerusalem, the Jews were then able to rededicate their holy temple by lighting its menorah — a branched candelabrum.

According to tradition, the Jewish faithful could find only a one-day supply of ceremonial oil to light the menorah, yet the flames lasted for eight days until they could produce more. This was viewed as a miracle, and to this day Jews memorialize the event by lighting the menorah in their homes, saying special prayers, singing songs and preparing traditional meals.

Celebrants often prepare fried foods as a symbol of the legend of the oil that lasted eight days — especially latkes (potato pancakes) and sufganya, a jelly-filled doughnut.

Children playing the game dreidel in Israel sing the Hebrew words “Nes gadol haya po,” meaning “a great miracle occurred here.” In the United States and in Jewish homes outside of Israel, the children say, “Nes gadol haya sham,” meaning “a great miracle occurred there.”

Across the United States, synagogues hold latke dinners and retell the story of Hanukkah. For example, at the Washington Hebrew Congregation in Washington, the synagogue will host a ‘Who wants to be a Maccabee?’ celebration for families and will retell the story of the Maccabees and the miracle of the light through song. And on the grounds of the White House in Washington each year, the National Menorah Lighting Ceremony includes musical performances, hot latkes and doughnuts.

Hanukkah is a time for Jewish families around the world to celebrate the miracles of the past and promises of the future. Worldwide, Hanukkah is a joyful custom that calls on the faithful to remember and celebrate a miraculous occurrence in Jewish history.

The holiday is not one of the High Holy Days in the Jewish calendar marked by self-reflection and atonement: Rosh Hashana (Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement). The dates of Hanukkah vary based on the Jewish calendar.

Operation Christmas Joy

Names are provided to the organization from the Salvation Army, food pantries, family members and school groups. Operation Christmas Joy verifies the names and needs for accuracy. Volunteers determine the number of children in each family, their ages, and their gender. Contact your child's school counselor if your family is in need.

Deliveries to the selected families will take place on Saturday, December 21st. Deliveries include food and gifts for each child in the household. Packing night takes place Thursday, December 19th.

Help spread a little holiday joy. Gift barrels are located throughout Vermilion at numerous businesses for you to donate to the cause.

Operation Christmas Joy is chaired by Brad Schwab. Donations can be sent to Operation Christmas Joy, c/o Brad Schwab, 4546 Liberty Avenue, Vermilion, Ohio 44089.

Volunteers are also needed for food sorting and packing on December 14 from 7 pm to 9 pm at the Vermilion Schools Athletic Fieldhouse, and to deliver packages on December 16 from 9 am to noon. 

For additional information, call (440) 967-3186.

Christmas Tree Lighting In Brownhelm

Join in a festive evening to begin the holiday season. Bring your family and enjoy gathering with others as we get in the holiday spirit! Everyone is invited!

Sponsored by the Brownhelm Historical Association. Parking is available behind the school building.

This year at the Christmas Tree Lighting donations will be taken for Let’s Get Real, Inc. Let's Get Real, Inc. is a 501(c)3 non profit Recovery Community Organization based in Lorain. They opened their doors in August of 2013 in Vermilion. They have grown exponentially since they opened, providing recovery support services in several surrounding counties. They opened their doors in Norwalk in 2020 duplicating the services they are providing in Lorain County. Proudly, Let's Get Real, Inc. has received numerous awards and recognition for their services. Their mission is to provide information, education, and resource assistance to families and loved ones in their journey from addiction to recovery. They assist in finding detox and treatment, providing a family group and group for children impacted by substance abuse, as well as other sober support groups. In the field, their State of Ohio Certified Peer Recovery Supporters meet those in need where they are. This includes hospitals, jails, police stations and the Harm Reduction Clinic. Their goal is to assist the entire family in their journey. Their task is to help those in need, remove obstacles, and increase the chance of full recovery for everyone concerned.

Items being collected for donation: hats, gloves, scarfs, socks, hot hands, hot feet warmers, hair ties: scrunchies, chapstick, any toiletries and personal hygiene kits. Let’s share the Christmas spirit this year with Let’s get Real!

The Brownhelm Historical Association (aka BHA) was formed in March 1993 as an organization dedicated to preserving the rich history of the people, places and events of the area. Over the past 30+ years the BHA has managed to reclaim the Lost Cemetery on Lake Rd. in Vermilion, restore the German Reformed Church on Claus Road, and preserve the Historic Brownhelm School and Museum on North Ridge Rd. The group regularly puts on community events and historical programs. The BHA meets on the first Wednesday of each month except for January, July, and August.

Send A Letter To Santa

It’s time to let Santa know your Christmas wishes this year. Stop at Main Street Vermilion from Thanksgiving until Christmas Eve and add your letter to the special mailbox on Main Street’s porch. Throughout the season, Main Street Vermilion will share a letter or two on Facebook (no names). All the letters received get packaged up on Christmas Eve, delivered to the Vermilion Post Office and sent straight to the North Pole. Promise!

Main Street Vermilion is located at 685 Main Street in downtown Vermilion, Ohio. Call (440) 963-0772 or visit www.mainstreetvermilion.org for more information.

Donate To Vermilion Salvation Army

Have things to donate? The Vermilion Salvation Army accepts donations every Tuesday from 9 am to 1 pm.

Serving Vermilion community members in need, the Vermilion Salvation Army operates a food pantry, provides coats and other clothing, sends young grade schoolers home with food backpacks, and offers UCAN direct assistance.

Items accepted include, but are not limited to:

• household goods
• clothing
• furniture

The Vermilion Salvation Army is located at 4560 Liberty Avenue in Vermilion, Ohio. Contact the Vermilion Salvation Army office for more information at (440) 967-5446.

Food Pantry Offers Groceries

Bags of groceries are distributed the 3rd Friday of the month from 10 am to 11:30 am (except in December, when the distribution date is the 2nd Friday). Food is also available on an emergency basis Monday - Thursday from 9 am to 2 pm.

More than 20 volunteers are needed every month to keep the Pantry in operation. The project is funded almost entirely through donations.

You can help by volunteering, making a cash donation or making a food donation.

For more information, call the church office (440-967-5212) or Rich Tarrant (440-967-0988 or 440-967-4555).

Join Main Street Vermilion!

 - Ed McMahon, Main Street America Chair Emeritus.

Main Street Vermilion (MSV) takes its mission of downtown stewardship seriously. Since 2001 MSV has worked to maintain our downtown’s character and vitality. It does this through mission focused work over many projects and initiatives including community collaboration, design and preservation, small town promotions and economic development.

Special events like Ice A Fair, Market in the Park, Historic Walking Tours, Chalk It Up, Hot Diggity Dog, and All Washed Up bring both residents and visitors downtown to shop, eat and play at our shops, restaurants, and parks.

Collaboration with other Vermilion organizations have yielded National Small Business Week celebrations, solar eclipse preparation and the new flagpole at Main Street Beach and Park among others.

Partner Programs are vital to Main Street Vermilion. Vermilion in Bloom plants and maintains show stopping flowers, attractive streetscapes, and seasonal decorations. Vermilion Arts Guild provides a venue for artists to connect, skill-build and share their work. Public Art Vermilion, through their postcard, buoy tree and sculpture projects, helps to create a sense of local identity and interest in Vermilion's culture and heritage through the arts.

As a 501(c)3, Main Street Vermilion relies on the generosity of our community. Becoming a Partner or renewing your Partnership helps to sustain and grow this organization so generations to come will enjoy the unique experience our Small Town on a Great Lake provides.

Join Main Street Vermilion!

Donate To The Food Pantry

Donate to the Vermilion Food Pantry. The Pantry collects and distributes food and clothing for people in need within the Vermilion school district. To donate to the cause, call (440) 967‐5212.

The Vermilion Food Pantry is a community-wide project, sponsored by the Vermilion Ministerial Association and operated out of United Church Of Christ, Congregational at 990 State Street in Vermilion, Ohio.

Bags of groceries are distributed the third Friday of the month from 10 to 11:30 am (except in December, when the distribution date is the second Friday). Food is also available on an emergency basis weekdays from 9 am to 1 pm.

More than 20 volunteers are needed every month to keep the Pantry in operation. The project is funded almost entirely through donations.

For more information, call the office (440) 967-5212.

The History Of Thanksgiving

Today’s Thanksgiving holiday has roots in a number of celebrations that occurred centuries ago in different regions of North America. Native communities had regularly given thanks for nature’s gifts for centuries before the arrival of Europeans on the continent.

In May 1541, Spanish explorer Francisco Vasquez de Coronado led 1,500 men in a thanksgiving celebration in what is today the Texas Panhandle. Two decades later, French Huguenot colonists gave solemn praise and thanksgiving at a settlement near what is now Jacksonville, Florida. In August 1607, English colonists joined Abnaki people along Maine’s Kennebec River for a harvest feast and prayer meeting. In the spring of 1610, in what some consider the “first American Thanksgiving,” colonists in Jamestown, Virginia, held a thanksgiving prayer service after English supply ships arrived with much needed food.

Eleven years later, Pilgrims at Plymouth Colony celebrated the autumn harvest with a three-day feast. Governor William Bradford and the colonists joined the Wampanoag leader they knew as Massasoit and 90 other Wampanoag to feast. The celebration included athletic contests and military exercises. This 1621 harvest celebration is given the distinction of shaping many of the United States’ Thanksgiving traditions and fueling many of the popular stories surrounding Thanksgiving’s history.

There are few firsthand accounts of this feast and no eyewitness images, but it has been depicted in many different ways in the centuries since, in paintings, drawings, statues, stories, and performances. These depictions can provide helpful insights into the eras in which they were created, and into the ways in which perceptions of the holiday’s - and the nation’s - origins have shifted throughout U.S. history.

In his first presidential proclamation, George Washington designated November 26, 1789 as a Day of National Thanksgiving. The next president to issue a Thanksgiving Proclamation was Abraham Lincoln, who in 1863, also designated November 26. In October of his third year in office, Lincoln invited Americans to “set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise.”

Most early Thanksgiving days were spontaneous celebrations. However, by the mid-nineteenth century, an annual fall Thanksgiving meal was customary throughout much of the United States and its Territories. During the gold rush, miners far from home observed a day of thanks.

For more than a decade, writer and editor Sarah Josepha Hale pushed for an annual day of national Thanksgiving. From the helm of several prominent women’s magazines, Hale editorialized about the importance of a national Thanksgiving celebration. She also wrote to President Lincoln directly. On October 3, 1863, in the wake of Union victory at the Civil War battle at Gettysburg, President Abraham Lincoln decided to issue his first Thanksgiving Proclamation; his second followed in 1864. The President’s Hymn, composed in honor of the new holiday, rang out across the nation.

Since Lincoln in 1863, every President of the United States has issued an annual Thanksgiving Proclamation, each citing a specific date. While most proclaimed Thanksgiving for the fourth or last Thursday of November, Franklin D. Roosevelt chose the third Thursdays of November 1939 through 1941, for economic reasons. Late in 1941, Congress passed Thanksgiving legislation that Roosevelt signed into law on December 26, 1941. Public Law 77-379 set Thanksgiving Days from 1942 onward to the fourth Thursday in November. The Law also made Thanksgiving Day an annual Federal Holiday.

Thanksgiving traditions have come and gone through the years, but one tradition that has long played a central role in Thanksgiving celebrations is the enjoyment of a hearty meal, as can be seen in articles, recipes, and advertisements in magazines and newspapers throughout the 1800s and 1900s. Masking was another tradition that was popular for several decades in cities such as New York, where on Thanksgiving Day would be seen costumed “processions of lads and children blowing on tin horns, beating tin drums and whooping as recklessly as so many young savages” and squads of “apparently well to do men marching in irregular order and conducting themselves like tramps,” according to one newspaper of the time. Football, shopping, and parades have come into prominence in recent years, and it is likely that new Thanksgiving traditions are being developed even now.