 We are approaching the end of summer, but there is still plenty of time to check off some of your summer bucket list items! Here are a few ideas on what you can do locally to end your summer with a bang. Gather with friends or family and explore all that Champaign and Logan Counties have to offer. You won’t be disappointed!
Enjoy Live Music Go to a show for a local band and show your support for the arts! There are many local restaurants that offer live music while you dine and some upcoming community events that will be hiring local artists to perform. Paddle Board Yoga Check out Homegrown Yoga and their paddle board yoga lessons being held on Indian Lake. You can check out their upcoming class schedule here to sign up and save a spot! Make a S’more Make one at home or visit the Champaign County Community Calendar to learn more about the West Liberty S’mores Shop Hop upcoming event. Ride a Ferris Wheel Head to the Champaign County Fair and take a ride on the Ferris Wheel. Don’t forget to get your favorite fair food while you are there! Have a Picnic Head to your local grocery store and plan a picnic in the park. Gather up the whole family and enjoy a day eating, playing, and relaxing at the park! Go Wine Tasting We are lucky to have multiple local wineries where you can plan a date night and go wine tasting. Who knows, you might find your new favorite wine? Have a Water Balloon Fight This classic summertime activity is one that the whole family can enjoy. The next few weeks are sure to be some of the hottest of the year, so cool off with some summer fun! Show a Random Act of Kindness Although you can do this year-round, don’t forget that random acts of kindness are even sweeter in the summer! Buy someone an ice cream cone or help a neighbor with yard work to show that you care. Go to a Farmer’s Market Head to the Champaign County Community Calendar to find out when the next Farmer’s Market is! Try to build a whole meal out of food from the market and share your results on Facebook. Make a Sandcastle Heading to the beach? Don’t forget to take supplies to build an epic sandcastle. Have a competition to see who can build the tallest one before it falls over! Go for a Hike There are many great places to hike in Champaign and surrounding counties. Make a day out of it and visit a couple shorter trails to enjoy the beautiful scenery Ohio provides in the summertime. Volunteer If you are out of school for the summer or are just looking for a way to give back, you can volunteer. Many local organizations look for volunteers year-round but always appreciate the summer help! You can find a full list of local events on the Champaign County Community Calendar page. Have a great rest of your summer and enjoy supporting local! By Chelsea Bray- Elle A. Design  Adam “off the clock” and Adam “on the clock” are similar in many ways. When representing Berry Digital Solutions, my main goal is to connect with the local businesses of our community and help them succeed and grow in all they are trying to accomplish so that our communities are sustainable and attractive for many years to come. That’s one thing that is integral to who I am – community. Off the clock you’ll find me looking for any opportunity I can to coach. This year was the first year I took on the challenge of coaching my sons’ t-ball team. Nothing builds character more than having to find ways to motivate 4 and 5-year-olds to abandon the instant gratification of playing in their dirt piles for the long-term gratification of maybe getting to catch a ball hit to them. After all, if we can’t all suffer through enjoy t-ball games together, how would we get perfect photos for high school graduation parties? Take my 4-year-old son Connor and his mid-game nap at 2nd base for example.  All jokes aside, seeing young kids fall in love with team sports for the first time and getting confidence in themselves and what they can do is an amazing thing to be a part of. Aside from the absolute joy of coaching my own sons, I get the pleasure of coaching various sports, at my alma mater, Triad High School. During the fall I get coach the high school football program alongside an amazing coaching team and witness the school pride of our students and fans. Being on the sidelines under the lights on Friday Nights in, what is arguably, one of the main events of these small towns is an experience in and of itself. While I love t-ball and football and everything in between, one of my biggest coaching passions is basketball. I’ve been involved with the Triad Basketball program in various capacities over the past 10 years and there is nothing that compares to the sound of squeaking shoes and nets ripping. Walking into the gym where I once played and where my kids may play someday, preparing to coach the kids in front of me, is a feeling that is hard to capture. At the end of the day the opportunity to coach provides me the privilege of instilling life-long lessons into future members of our community – a responsibility I take great pride in. My wife of 5 years, Macie, and I are also in the process of building a house to raise our four kids, Owen (6), Connor (4), Quinn (2) and Hailey (2 months). Our house is being built into a hillside that overlooks, what seems like, all of Champaign County.  It’s a house that represents a place for our family to grow, a place to unwind with our friends, and a place where we can overlook the vast farmlands that represent the hardworking people that make up our community. We often go there as it’s being constructed to just sit on the porch and appreciate the view, or allow our kids to run on the 5 acres of land where we will someday play catch, have bonfires, cookouts, and so much more. ’d be remiss not to mention one of the top benefits of the location of our house. It’s 2 miles away from Woodland Golf Course. Woodland was one of my first real jobs, I’ve met many wonderful people from this community there and learned many valuable life lessons. It’s so important to me that my wife even threw my surprise 30th birthday there.  So, it goes without saying that it is a place I love to go to relax with my clubs, a friend or two, and the fresh air.
Growing up in a small town comes with its share of stereotypes. “Isn’t everyone related?”, “Everyone knows your business”, “Small towns are boring”. I’ve never prescribed to those perceptions. I think growing up in communities like ours is a true blessing. There is no place I’d rather raise my four kids than here in this small community. There’s no place I’d rather spend my weekends golfing with my friends I’ve known since kindergarten, spend my Friday nights other than under the lights coaching the Triad Cardinal football team, no place I’d rather live, work and play than the place that built me. I look forward to returning the favor and assisting the small businesses who work every day to build this community into a place my kids will raise their families in. |
Archives
October 2024
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed
|
|