Happy 200 Years, Portage County!

Last night was the Portage County Bicentennial festival in downtown Ravenna. It was a lot of fun with the usual overpriced food booths, entertainment, contests, various vendors, music, a parade, a living timeline, a keynote speech by County Commissioner Chuck Keiper attended by various local dignitaries, including State Senator Tom Sawyer and State Representatives Stephen Dyer and Kathleen Chandler, and a grand finale of a downright impressive fireworks show from atop the County Courthouse. Some of the events had to be moved up in scheduled time owing to an impending thunderstorm, which moved in just minutes after the completion of the fireworks show and presented its own brand of fireworks accompanied by cooling rains that finally broke a scorching heat wave that we'd been suffering under for several days. It was a very well attended event and people were obviously having a great deal of fun. But I have never seen so many morbidly obese people in my life in one place! And the fattening foods that were being offered by the food vendors certainly did not help things any. Seems that Portage County has one heck of an obesity epidemic going on, and with the glut of fast food restaurants that dot the roadsides around the area, it's no wonder. Anyway, getting back to the festival, the fireworks show was extremely impressive and I can't say that I have ever seen anything quite like it. I've always loved fireworks anyway but you tend to get a bit jaded with age over such things. However, last night was the closest that I have felt to being a kid again, wowing over the brilliant display of lights, streamers and other impressive fireworks, all neatly choreographed to music that was being blared from loud speakers. Admittely, the musical selections were blatantly patriotic in theme, but that's OK. Even I found myself singing along with the song, "God Bless the U.S.A.", a favorite among the pro-Bush, pro-war crowd, as the reds, whites and blues burst in the air above me. I normally regard that song as a bit over-the-top patriotic, especially since it has such a strong identification with pro-war Republicans, but what the heck, the fireworks just brought out something in me that wanted to sing along with the songs as the brilliant colors burst in the sky above me. I just felt, and feel, so proud to be a Portage Countian in this bicentennial year of its existence. Sure, I haven't always agreed with a lot of things that have happened in this county in my lifetime, but to think of those hardy souls who carved out this place from a terrifying wilderness 200 years ago amazes me what they must have gone through to tame the wilderness and make it home. What makes this area special is its being part of the old Connecticut Western Reserve, which makes us a unique little slice of New England in Northeast Ohio. Although a sad amount of that New England heritage has disappeared under overdevelopment and neglect, there are still traces of it left if you drive far enough out into the countryside. So Portage County's heritage isn't all lost. May this Bicentennial year reinforce who and what we were and what we need to preserve so that 200 years from now, people can look back and know that it's not all gone for good. Happy Bicentennial, Portage County!