If you were to bring someone who had never been to Ohio before and had the opportunity to define the state by taking them to 5 places/events in the state, where would you take them?

 

Rules:

 

-Time and money are not a factor.

 

-Try to avoid just listing an entire city.

Hey, fun thread! Let's see... Naturally speaking....Serpent Mound region, Lake Erie/Islands, Ohio River, Edge of Appalachia, Hocking Region, Big Darby Creek and other gem river/forest systems.

 

Man made things.. Just all the metro areas..and their art, historical and cultural attributes. I have to think more on this as there are so many things to chose from.

Take them out on the boat around the Erie Islands and do Put-in-Bay bar crawl, Cedar Point, and anchor off a beach for a day; probably not in that order ;)

 

OSU-Michigan Football Game @ The Shoe when ideally Michigan has gotten better.

 

Attend an event in the lower level of the Hope Memorial Bridge

 

Cleveland Orchestra show

 

"Amish Country" trip

This is interesting and may be how I determine how I'm going to use any long weekend vacation time.  Would anyone consider a Browns - Steelers game to be defining?

 

I totally agree on the OSU-Michigan game.

 

Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Hall or Blossom?

 

Do the Rock & Roll HOF and Pro Football HOF help define Ohio?

 

A place like the Popcorn Shop in Chagrin Falls helps show the old style charm.

 

Time for a road trip.

We are such a diverse state. When I left Cleveland for college in Gambier, OH, I felt like I was in a different country.

"consider a Browns - Steelers game to be defining?"

 

Sure, but it would be on my Five Sporting Events That Define Ohio List. Cleveland Grand Prix (Edit: Errr, Grand Prix of Cleveland, not the equestrian event) but less for a sports slot but as a Lake Erie and downtown Cleveland showcase; the imagery of the event is really iconic for me. At the moment for baseball I'd probably say a game at Huntington Park in lieu of a competitive Indians team (I don't mean to diss Cincinnati but The Great American Ballpark just doesn't do anything for me; maybe if they turned it around 180 degrees). Also would consider the Massillon-Canton McKinley football game.

 

 

"Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Hall or Blossom?"

 

For me, Severance Hall all the way.

 

 

"Do the Rock & Roll HOF and Pro Football HOF help define Ohio?"

 

I kinda feel they define their subject more than the state if that makes any sense. I don't really like the idea of museums/HOF for this type of list, but if there was one it would be Cleveland Museum of Art but more for a high culture slot which is what the Cleveland Orchestra is there for on my list. I didn't want to just say University Circle because it felt a little too close to just saying a city which is against the guidelines; and yes maybe I do contradict myself by using Amish Country.

 

 

"A place like the Popcorn Shop in Chagrin Falls helps show the old style charm."

 

Agreed and a Western Reserve quaint towns/villages tour almost made my list but I wanted something agriculture related and Amish Country fills that slot. I'd consider some of the Festivals for this slot too just really couldn't say which.

 

 

I'd probably try to divide it into geographic regions. This is a weak list, but...

 

-Chili parlor in Cincinnati (Camp Washington?)

 

-OSU-Michigan game as already suggested

 

-Hocking Hills or somesuch in the SE section of the state

 

-Something in Cleveland. I just don't know the city enough to say what!

 

-Lake Erie diversions. Loretto's itinerary there is a good one.

 

 

We are such a diverse state. When I left Cleveland for college in Gambier, OH, I felt like I was in a different country.

So true.

 

Without repeating anything from above (especially like Put-in-Bay and Amish country ideas), here are some of my most "Ohio" experiences:

 

Dayton Air Show

The Reds Opening Day in Cincinnati

A very snowy night by the lake in Cleveland

An Easter brunch at the Golden Lamb in Lebanon or the Christmas parade in Lebanon (visiting nearby Fort Ancient on the summer solstice is fun too)

Yellow Springs street fair

The Sauerkraut Festival in Waynesville

A misty morning in Hocking Hills (and while you're at it, Halloween at OU)

Comfest - No festival in Ohio compares.

 

Gallery Hop - I know it sounds crazy but Columbus has one hell of a gallery hop in Columbus every week.

 

Cedar Point - We have great amusement parks in Ohio.

 

Hocking Hills

 

Cincinnati's Oktoberfest.

 

I just can't get into Serpent Mound. It only looks impressive from the air,  anyway.

 

We have particularly good museums too; I'd definitely try to squeeze the art museums or R&R HOF in there if possible.

My list would be different if you asked "5 things that make Ohio great", but as far as what "defines" Ohio:

 

1) Diversity (of all kinds)

 

2) Political swing state

 

3) The three C's

 

4) Manufacturing / Rust Belt traits

 

5) Orange construction barrels

 

3) The three C's

 

 

Dayton, Toledo and Akron get no love :(

 

3) The three C's

 

 

Dayton, Toledo and Akron get no love :(

 

I'm sure that if Hts121 decided to list "5 things that make Ohio great", he would have listed Dayton, Toledo, and Akron instead of the Three Cs. ;-)

That's a tough one for me as I don't have great familiarity with the southern half of the state. 

 

1. A "fest" of some kind. Oktoberfest, state fair, feast of the assumption, greek festival, etc.

2. Cleveland's West Side Market

3. Cincinnati Union Terminal (not sure if I'm calling this by the right name)

4. Lola

5. Old Man's Cave in Hocking Hills

^^ Right ;)

I think - and this can be done anywhere in the state - you need to find a piece of sh!t bar and get a PBR or Gennessee and hang out with a bunch of dudes with mustaches who chain smoke.

I think - and this can be done anywhere in the state - you need to find a piece of sh!t bar and get a PBR or Gennessee and hang out with a bunch of dudes with mustaches who chain smoke.

 

Don't we have a smoking ban in effect? :)

^And that has been the best thing to happen to the bar scene in awhile IMO.  To me, its not that people can't smoke anymore that makes me happy.  It is the fact that the bars, in order to compete, have had to construct outdoor patios.  I love me some outdoor patio drinking on a summer night.

The things that define Ohio for me:

 

Ignorant right wing pig-f$&kers.

 

Square

 

Flat (in the various senses of the word)

 

Urban Decay

 

A leaden winter sky and dead fields

 

The things that define Ohio for me:

 

Ignorant right wing pig-f$&kers.

 

Square

 

Flat (in the various senses of the word)

 

Urban Decay

 

A leaden winter sky and dead fields

 

 

It's amazing that you persist in loving it despite its numerous charms.

Miles of suburban sprawl, bad drivers, and asshole cops.

Miles of suburban sprawl, bad drivers, and asshole cops.

 

...who now don't need radar to prove you are speeding. 

It's amazing that you persist in loving it despite its numerous charms.

 

..it's your state.  I just work here.

It's amazing that you persist in loving it despite its numerous charms.

 

..it's your state. I just work here.

That's a good line.  An appropriate state motto might be "Ohio: So much to hate"

well most/all of my experience in OH has been in Cleveland so it will lean heavily Cleve and NE Ohio..as I near near my 8th year in Cleveland, and about to move cross country I have thought wistfully a lot about this...sorry more than 5:

the one and only Browns game I went to in a Blizzard

Picking apples in Amish Country

real Irish music and dance in Irish taverns

the Metropark

Sweeping corn fields (which are as beautiful as they are somehow creepy and stifling)

The Flats-I still think it is beautiful no matter what you all say

Westside Market-the people even more then the food and space.

Summer nights with the spouse on the Superior Viaduct.

Ethnic enclaves.

 

That's a good line.  An appropriate state motto might be "Ohio: So much to hate"

 

Ohio, Misanthrope's Paradise (sort of like Louisiana's liscense plate)

 

...seriously.  We have different Ohios, as peabodies post notes. My Ohio wouldn't be hers.

 

For me some defining Ohio things are:

 

Corn Mazes

 

The Darke County Threshers meet.

 

Clifton Mill

 

Main Streets and Country Villages in the Fall.

 

"Forest Islands" in a sea of corn and soybean (think Garbys Big Woods up in Miami County).

 

The Piatt Castles and the surrounding "Top of Ohio" countryside (Zanesfield, etc).  This is "deep Ohio" and a very special place for me...something about the genus loci there that speaks to me.

 

a sea of corn and bean fields freak me out whether it is OH or not. I feel like Jack Nicholson did after a winter in the creepy hotel after about 20 miles of riding by the fields.

Wow -- I've never seen so much regional bias!! LOL

 

My picks:

 

1) Ohio State University

2) Cedar Point

3) 3 C's

4) Amish country

5) Rock and Roll HOF -- Cleveland

 

*5 months ago I would have said Lebron James...because everyone outside of the state and country I tell I'm from Ohio, immediately brings him up.  I'm talking about times in Spain and France even as recent as last week!

 

Wow -- I've never seen so much regional bias!! LOL

 

My picks:

 

1) Ohio State University

2) Cedar Point

3) 3 C's

4) Amish country

5) Rock and Roll HOF -- Cleveland

 

*5 months ago I would have said Lebron James...because everyone outside of the state and country I tell I'm from Ohio, immediately brings him up. I'm talking about time in Spain and France even as recent as last week!

 

 

Talk about regional bias... ;)

Parmatown, horse manure smell, wide variety of sausages, that Mike Trivissano Cleveland-Italian accent, and Zoar.

Wow -- I've never seen so much regional bias!! LOL

 

My picks:

 

1) Ohio State University

2) Cedar Point

3) 3 C's

4) Amish country

5) Rock and Roll HOF -- Cleveland

 

*5 months ago I would have said Lebron James...because everyone outside of the state and country I tell I'm from Ohio, immediately brings him up.  I'm talking about time in Spain and France even as recent as last week!

 

 

Talk about regional bias... ;)

 

haha...I'm sticking to my first 4 for sure.  The 5th one was a toss up for me....Wright-Patterson AFB, Pro Football HOF, Rock and Roll HOF....

 

After second thought, I take back my number 5.  My updated FAB FIVE:

 

1) Ohio State University

2) Cedar Point

3) Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus

4) Amish country

5) Pro Football HOF -- Canton (especially since football began in Ohio)

1. Put in Bay/Kelly's Island/Cedar Point

2. High Street, Columbus

3. Indie show at the Beachland Ballroom, Cleveland

4. Towpath Trail Peninsula

5. The biggest (and most chaotic) day in DT Cleveland....St. Pats Day

 

 

For me...

 

1. The Big 8 Cities + Midsized Cities + Small Towns

2. The Lake

3. The River

4. The Appalachian Ridges

5. The Northwest Farms

well, gosh darn it, why can't Painesville be a metaphor to "define" the entire state of Ohio? This gives me an excuse to post this somewhat lame-ish (after a few more viewings I've changed my critique from "lame-ish" to somewhat enjoyable--probably just that nostalgia factor kicking in. But I still feel it's required to be ruthlessly cynical about one's hometown :-P) promotional video. My main problem with it is the relatively small representation of people of color (you know how politically correct I am!), in a town in which the public schools are now roughly equally one third black, white and Latino. One would almost think that whoever put this together doesn't want to advertise that fact! :wink:

For me...

 

1. The Big 8 Cities + Midsized Cities + Small Towns

2. The Lake

3. The River

4. The Appalachian Ridges

5. The Northwest Farms

 

Good list!