News Briefs

Rug Hooking Week
Recognized as the largest rug hooking event in North America, Sauder Village is pulling out all the stops again this year for their annual Rug Hooking Week, set for Aug. 16-19.
With displays of hooked rugs, workshops, lectures, vendors and many special exhibits, Rug Hooking Week is expected to draw thousands of rug hookers to Sauder Village, Ohio’s largest living history destination, located in Archbold.
“Our 27th annual Rug Hooking Week celebrates the rich tradition of rug hooking while showcasing the fine craftsmanship of rug hookers from around the world,” said Jeanette Smith, director of marketing. “Each year, thousands of attendees and exhibitors come from more than 30 U.S. states and many countries. Some spend a day or two viewing the exhibit and shopping the vendors, while others spend the entire week taking advantage of all aspects of the event, including taking classes, networking with other artists, as well as enjoying the Historic Village.”
Throughout the event, contemporary and historic fiber art works will be displayed gallery style in Founder’s Hall. The exhibit will offer a new display of colors, patterns, sizes and designs featuring hundreds of rugs in a number of categories. In addition to hooked and punched work, the exhibit will include a variety of other fiber arts.
This year’s featured exhibit, “The Golden Age of Illustrated Fairy Tales,” by Melissa Pattacini and Robin Rennie, will showcase more than 100 fascinating fairy tale works created between 1880’s and 1920s.
Several special exhibits highlighting a number of artists and rug hookers in the industry will be on display. There will also be a virtual exhibit featuring rugs by 17 rug artists from Tokyo, Japan.
Both contemporary and historic artists and authorities will be represented with hooked, punched, and other fiber arts. Visitors will also have the opportunity to purchase supplies, kits, and tools from vendors specializing in rug hooking materials.
There will also be demonstrations and a variety of rug hooking classes offered throughout the week including gallery talks about the exhibit and many other hands-on workshops. For more details, visit saudervillage.org or call 800-590-9755 to check class availability.
Sauder Village is located at 22611 SR 2 State Route 2 in Archbold.

Farmers market,
Things that GO event
Downtown Fremont Inc. will host the Croghan Colonial Bank Farmers Market and Total Distribution Things that GO Event Aug. 19 from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. on Front Street, rain or shine.
Attendance to the market will be free to the public.
The Things that GO Event will offer the opportunity for young and old to get up-close and personal with all of their favorite things that go. The event will feature bikes, a dump truck, kayaks, a tow truck, a boat, an excavator, a garbage truck and much more.
Attendees are invited to stop by the Downtown Fremont Inc. tent at the Front and Garrison intersection to pick up a Things that GO Measure Activity and measuring tape to measure different objects on the vehicles/machines within the market and be entered for a chance to win a $100 Think Fremont Community Card.
For more information, call 419-332-8696, visit the Downtown Fremont Inc. office at 315 Garrison St., or visit downtownfremontohio.org.

St. John’s to host
community party
St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church, 122. W. Ottawa St., Oak Harbor, will present a special outdoor Summer/Start of School Year Community Party on Saturday, Aug. 19 from 1-4 p.m.
The event, which is free and open to the public, will feature several inflatables, carnival-type table games, food, Kona Ice, giveaways and more.
All are welcome and encouraged to bring friends and family for an afternoon of fun and fellowship.

2022 a good year
for Port of Toledo
The Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority has released the Economic Impacts of Maritime Shipping in the Port of Toledo report, which documents the effect the Port of Toledo and Great Lakes Seaway shipping has on the City of Toledo, Lucas County, State of Ohio, and the Great Lakes region.
The study reports that in 2022, the Port of Toledo and maritime commerce supported:
-7,971 jobs
-$906.2 million in economic activity
-$708.6 million in personal income and local consumption expenditures
-$183.2 million in federal and state/local tax revenue
“The Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority had an excellent year in 2022,” says Thomas J. Winston, President and CEO of the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority. “The results from this year’s study indicate an increase of 888 new jobs and more than $237 million in additional economic activity compared to data reported in the 2018 study. This increase can be mostly contributed to the addition of the Cleveland-Cliffs Toledo Direct Reduction Plant at Ironville in East Toledo.”
Last month, the Economic Impacts of Maritime Shipping in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Region, a year-long study of the economic impacts of the entire Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway navigation system was released. The Study revealed that Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway shipping is a key driver of the economy, supporting $36 billion in economic activity and more than 240,000 jobs. In 2022, 135.7 million metric tons of raw materials and finished goods were delivered by commercial vessels serving critical industries such as agriculture, construction, energy, and steelmaking.
Both studies, compiled from 2022 data, were conducted by economic consultants Martin Associates of Lancaster, Pa.

In search of
hornet venom
A local entomologist is once again offering to collect hornet nests for free if they haven’t been sprayed or tampered with.
Russell Lamp, of Curtice, said he’s looking for active nests that are the size of a basketball or larger of the bald-faced hornet. Nests are often found on trees or houses and in bushes.
Venom from the hornets is used in immunology programs as a desensitizing agent for people before being stung,” he said.
“There are less than 100 people in the world doing this,” Lamp said.
The species gets its name from the black and white coloring on the front of its head and the tip of its abdomen. Its head is primarily white with black eyes. They range in size from 1/2 to 5/8 of an inch long, with the queen reaching 3/4 of an inch in length.
Bald-faced hornets live in social colonies that can contain up to 400 workers by the end of summer, although the queen is the only member of the colony that survives the winter.
An active hornet nest will have 60 to 70 hornets flying in and out in the space of a few minutes.
By mid to late August, Lamp, who’s been working with venom since 1980, expects to shift his efforts more to collecting the nests of yellow jackets.
To contact him call 419-836-3710