 This Thanksgiving may look different for many families in the area but sharing memories and special moments can still happen. We reached out to some local leaders to ask them a few questions about their Thanksgiving traditions and more! We hope that no matter what you do this year you can continue to enjoy the things that make the holidays special to you.
What is your favorite Thanksgiving tradition and how did it start? My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is time with my family. We always have a meal, spend time together and then typically go shopping that whole next day. What is your favorite and least favorite Thanksgiving dish? To be honest, I am not a huge fan of Thanksgiving food. Mashed potatoes might be my least favorite food ever. LOL I love any dessert though. What are you most thankful for this Thanksgiving? I am most thankful for good health and each and every minute that I get to see my family, even if virtual. I am thankful that my family has remained healthy through this pandemic and I never take one moment for granted that I get to spend with them.
What is your favorite Thanksgiving tradition and how did it start? Favorite Tradition is waking up early and preparing the turkey for the family dinner and then watching the Macy’s day Parade. What is your favorite and least favorite Thanksgiving dish? Favorite dish is the Cornbread Stuffing. Least Favorite is the cranberry relish and Candied Yams. What are you most thankful for this Thanksgiving? Most Thankful is having the family together but that’s in a normal non-pandemic year. So, this year it will have to be the leftovers.
What is your favorite Thanksgiving tradition and how did it start? If the weather was good we would go on a walk. As cars passed by we would get into a line and wave at them. It was something we started as kids with our crazy Michigan cousins. What is your favorite and least favorite Thanksgiving dish? One of my favorites are the home-made dinner rolls that my mother used to make. My wife tries, but they just are not the same. A couple of my sisters have made some "unique" salads in the past that I could have done without. What are you most thankful for this Thanksgiving? This year in particular I am thankful that everyone in my family is healthy and we can spend some time together even though it will be at a distance through Zoom.
What is your favorite Thanksgiving tradition and how did it start? Being the next to youngest of a family of nine, my favorite “tradition” was having all of my older siblings and children coming home for Thanksgiving. The house was FULL and so was our stomachs. What a fun time for my family – cherished memories for a lifetime. What is your favorite and least favorite Thanksgiving dish? Favorite: Homemade noodles over mash potatoes. Least Favorite: Sweet potatoes of any kind What are you most thankful for this Thanksgiving? My family and my faith in Jesus Christ!
What is your favorite Thanksgiving tradition and how did it start? I like having a turkey to carve, just seems like this is a little history. What is your favorite and least favorite Thanksgiving dish? Cranberry Salad What are you most thankful for this Thanksgiving? Knowing there are so many people that are willing to help and support others in the hardest of times.
What is your favorite Thanksgiving tradition and how did it start? Our family was always together for Thanksgiving so we put the Christmas Tree up Thanksgiving Evening, so everyone could participate. What is your favorite and least favorite Thanksgiving dish? Least favorite item Scalloped Oysters. What are you most thankful for this Thanksgiving? So grateful for my dear family, and for their health. I wish the rest of the Country was as fortunate.
What is your favorite Thanksgiving tradition and how did it start? Watching Planes, Trains & Automobiles Movie – that started when the movie came out in the 80’s. What is your favorite and least favorite Thanksgiving dish? Scalloped oysters is my favorite – my least favorite is dry turkey! What are you most thankful for this Thanksgiving? All that we have experienced in 2020 – this journey has changed us.
What is your favorite Thanksgiving tradition and how did it start? Having a great Thanksgiving meal with family and then trying to watch football the rest of the day in between naps. What is your favorite and least favorite Thanksgiving dish? Favorite: mixing dark meat turkey with the mashed potatoes and noodles; least favorite: stuffing - I still don't get it... What are you most thankful for this Thanksgiving? Each year, I reflect on the blessings that my family and friends share. For me, Thanksgiving is a day to slow down, to enjoy great conversation, and to express gratitude for a multitude of blessings. This is my first year as a grandparent and it adds a wonderful element to holiday celebrations.
What is your favorite Thanksgiving tradition and how did it start? Favorite Thanksgiving tradition is cooking dinner with my mom and sister. What is your favorite and least favorite Thanksgiving dish? Favorite dish is macaroni and cheese. Least favorite dish might be an unpopular opinion but... turkey. Favorite dessert is pecan pie bars that I make from scratch. What are you most thankful for this Thanksgiving? I am most thankful for my family's good health this year. Have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving! CEP’s website, CEPOhio.com, and ChampaignWorks.com, a website supported by the CEP to post local jobs and share positive local news, continue drawing more visitors. Champaign Works newsfeeds runs on screens throughout all county schools and communities sponsored by the CEP as well as We Spend Local screens located in local businesses.
“Our growth for both CEP & Champaign Works is amazing,” says Staci Wisma of Berry Digital Solutions, which developed both of the sites. Champaign Works is averaging 1,000 unique visitors each month, with new users up 413% and return users up 304%. “Users are also spending double the time on the site,” Wisma adds. The jobs page is the most visited of Champaign Works. “Job postings have increased significantly throughout COVID,” she reported. Job seekers can find Champaign County jobs at champaignworks.com/jobs. Local employers can submit jobs here: champaignworks.com/hire.htmlwww.champaignworks.com/hire.html She encourages more businesses, organizations and individuals to share good news – awards, business expansions and other accomplishments – on Champaign Works. Visit champaignworks.com/share.html to upload your news with a photo. Visitors to CEPOhio.com are up 21% over 2019. Top pages visited are Available Properties and the CEP Business Playbook, a guide to starting a business in Champaign County. “This speaks to the interest in growth and development in our county,” Wisma said. She added that nearly 90% of the traffic comes from finding the CEP through Google searches. Funds aimed to help small business hit by pandemic
“Our local economy has been negatively impacted with the Coronavirus and our small businesses are some of the hardest hit,” said Marcia Bailey CEP Economic Development Director. “These funds are an expense reimbursement grant and will help get the businesses through this difficult time”.
To qualify for the grant program, businesses must:
Some examples of eligible reimbursable expenses include:
Businesses that have received funding for expenses arising from the pandemic cannot submit the same expenses for reimbursement under the CARES Grant for Champaign County Small Businesses. “We are so appreciative of our small businesses and although there is great uncertainty, Champaign County is hopeful that businesses receiving these grant funds will successfully persevere through the COVID-19 pandemic.” Bailey said. Applications and grant guidelines are available on the CEP website www.cepohio.com or www.champaignworks.com/CARESGrantChampaignCounty beginning November 24, 2020. Application deadline is December 1, 2020 at 5:00 pm. Due to the short application period, we recommend you apply as soon as possible. In order to assist you, please send your questions to info@cepohio.com. Businesses are also encouraged to visit https://businesshelp.ohio.gov for additional assistance. Governor DeWine announced CARES Act funding through the State of Ohio for small business and others that have been impacted financially by the pandemic
To further help support local businesses and organizations during the holiday season the Champaign County Chamber of Commerce is launching a “Keep the Cheer Here” fundraiser. Purchase an item from the Champaign County Visitors Bureau Online Gift Store and when checking out, simply fill in the name of the Champaign County business you would like to support. $10 for every item purchased will be sent to that organization or business and you get a nice, soft tee or item of your choice to represent Champaign County!
Several new designs have been added including “Home for the Holidays” that will only be available for a limited time. Access the store by going to https://ccvisitorsbureau.itemorder.com/sale For more information contact the Champaign County Chamber of Commerce at 937-653-5764 or email info@champaignohio.com.
The Douglas Hotel and the former North and South Elementary Schools are part of a collective renovation project to save the historic buildings and transform them into affordable senior living options.
It all started with some local leaders reaching out to Duane Miller, the president of F&C Legacy Place - a branch of Flaherty & Collins Properties - and a developer who has dedicated much of his career to saving and renovating historical buildings across the country. “I look for these kinds of historic projects,” says Indiana-based Miller. “It all started from a lead that there were some historic buildings that needed saving in Ohio.” Conversations led to many meetings between Miller, Flaherty & Collins, the City of Urbana, the Champaign Economic Partnership (CEP), Urbana City Schools' administration and board of education, and Resident Supports and Services, Inc. (RSSI), which is a local non-profit that provides housing for seniors and adults with developmental disabilities. The 17 units that are being built within the Douglas Hotel weren’t enough to secure the funding Miller wanted for the project. So he began looking to include the former North and South Elementary buildings as well. With another 24 housing units to be available between the two schools, Miller says the total of 51 units was more of the scale of what he was hoping for to get the project off the ground. Though shutdowns because of the COVID-19 pandemic caused some delays in processing paperwork and funding early this year, Miller says the community-focused group of supporters pushed forward. The project was able to secure $13 million in financing, including federal and state Historic Tax credits, low income housing credits, an Ohio Housing Finance Agency loan, and a construction loan. “That’s really how this got pulled off,” Miller says. “This is totally a community effort – kudos to all those who were involved in helping.” CEP Executive Director Marcia Bailey says she almost had to pinch herself when work officially started on the buildings because it was like a dream come true after so many years of collaboration and work to get the project started. “Today, it looks like ‘ants’ in every building,” Bailey says. “There are construction crews in there, and you can see where they’re working from outside by building by the different lights on in different windows every day.” Bailey says that though people driving through downtown Urbana won’t see much of a difference outside the building’s front, that behind the building is full of crews working hard to make all the updates to the interior. “The Douglas Hotel was the anchor of the Southwest corner of downtown,” she says. “Some thought it should be torn down and others wanted to save it because of it’s history. This is the perfect mix of both; it will be revitalized into something new. “The building finally is going to be use. It’s going to be a beautiful building again and not an eyesore with boarded up windows. Just that ambiance of what it’s going to look like, let alone the income that’s going to be generated in the downtown by the merchants – it’s going to be huge.” With more updates to be done to the Douglas Hotel than to either school building, Miller says the plan is for renovations to the school to wrap up in May and for the Douglas living spaces to be ready by the end of 2021. He says lease options will open about 90 days before each project’s completion. One of the things both Bailey and Miller say is most exciting about the projects is the uniqueness that will be offered in each unit. Because the buildings are pre-existing and historic, there won’t be any “cookie cutter” designs. Units will be different sizes with different layouts and designs. And, some special historic features will be left in the buildings so the flavor of what makes them historic won’t be lost. For example, many of the chalkboards in the school buildings will stay in place and be built into the new living units. Also in the school buildings, the stages and gyms will remain as open community spaces where residents can dance, play bingo, or possibly even watch youth performances. Miller says he’s working with the Champaign Family YMCA to find possible programming and education opportunities. “We want to build that community environment,” he says. “You want to create that family and that community feeling.” Though Miller himself isn’t from Urbana, he wanted to ensure that the buildings stay meaningful and useful for people locally. He wants them to be a part of the community, and he says the investment from local individuals has been key to the entire project. “To their credit, to their teams’ credit – not every community gets in and do what they do,” Miller says. “You need those ‘boots on the ground’ people who care and really get it. You can’t just pull this off just being a developer. You need to be a developer who plugs into the community and gets support – and that’s just what happened here.”
In addition, the Chamber will be releasing local gift guides to promote local businesses this holiday season. Follow along on the Chamber’s Facebook page or online at champaignohio.com for local gift ideas.
Shopping local is crucial to the economic success of our community and this year is even more important. Avoid large crowds and ensure your money stays in your community this season by shopping local
On November 14, 1935, 500 people, mostly rural residents, gathered in Piqua to celebrate the groundbreaking and erection of the first electric cooperative pole in the nation. That pole would go on to support 193 miles of power line and bring electricity to 700 rural farms with the help of Miami Rural Electric Cooperative, Inc. The newly constructed lines served the three county cooperatives — Miami, Shelby and Champaign — which would merge six months later to become Pioneer Rural Electric Cooperative, Inc., a utility company owned by the people it served. It would be another six months after the initial pole setting that the first home, electrified by Pioneer, would see the lights come on. “We are thankful to be celebrating 85 years of providing electric service to our area,” said Pioneer President and CEO Ron Salyer. “We have a deep appreciation for our membership and the strong trustees, leadership, and employees who have helped shaped Pioneer along the way.” The formation of the electric cooperative ultimately made the rural way of life easier, from making daily tasks more efficient to simply having light when it would otherwise be dark. That innovative spirit is not only a part of the co-op’s past but continues to play a role in the way Pioneer operates today. Pioneer was an early tester and adopter of the radio-controlled load management program as well as the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system. The SCADA system, which monitors and controls field devices remotely, was implemented in 1987 and continues to be a valuable tool today. Consistently being on the progressive edge of technology, compared to other cooperatives, has provided Pioneer the opportunity to have input on software distributed to other cooperatives throughout the country. Throughout the past 85 years, Pioneer has built a tradition of providing safe, high quality, and responsive service to nearly 17,000 members in its primary territory of Champaign, Miami, and Shelby counties, as well as portions of the eight surrounding counties. The cooperative is headquartered in Piqua and has a district facility in Urbana. “Our mission has always been to provide safe, high quality, reliable electric service to our member-consumers,” said Salyer. “We continue to hold Pioneer to a high standard, which is what our members expect and deserve.”
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