America 250 and the best April ever

Now that the warmer months are here, America 250 activities are ramping up, and I’ve enjoyed three outdoor events so far in only one month.

First, I went to Trumpet in the Land’s recreation of the Midnight Ride of Paul Revere. It was great. It was in the daytime too, which is when I’m at my best.

Big thanks to area Revolutionary War reenactor Darrell Markjohn, his horse, Maddie, and all the actors who put together such an interesting and informative program.

The program was geared towards school kids and they loved the presentation. At the end there was a question-and-answer period and the kid’s questioning ability was endless. Everyone left on a historic and happy note.

Then the very next night at MIDNIGHT on April 18, I went to Midvale where the village and the Midvale Methodist Church joined forces to put on an actual Midnight Ride of Paul Revere at midnight. It was a little past my bedtime, but I didn’t want to miss it. Prior to the ride, the village gave out candles so residents could participate by putting two candles in their window.

Again, Markjohn portrayed Paul Revere and rode Maddie down the main street warning everyone to get to their arms and be ready to fight the British because they were coming by sea. You know – One if by land, two if by sea.

This was made even better by the delicious refreshments served at the church.

Afterward the church, which had transformed itself into the North Church for the event, held a church service in the wee hours of the morning where much patriotic music was sung. It was great although I slept in later the next morning.

I’m just happy to be here in 2026. As you may or may not recall, I wrote before that in 1976, I was 19 and working at my ice cream treat engineering job. We worked a lot of afternoon and evening hours.

I was also young and stupid and had crazy ideas like wouldn’t it be fun to ride around the country on a motorcycle visiting all the America 200 events. Nevermind that all these events would have been on the same day – July 4, and I have no coordination and will never be able to ride a motorcycle. It’s for the best.

Anyway, in 1976 our city decided to have a three-day festival to celebrate the bicentennial. And I needed my job, so I ended up working the afternoon shift all three days and missed the entire thing even though I was only working about a block away. So disappointing.

If you missed the 250 Buckeye Train and Transportation Celebration in Dennison and Uhrichsville last weekend, you had better hope to live 50 more years and maybe they’ll have something as great as that again.

I spent the better part of the weekend there, although Joe and I volunteered some of that time, and I still didn’t see everything I wanted to see. Another big thank you to everyone involved in putting on the event!

There’s still more America 250 stuff coming up so make sure you don’t miss it. The best place to find local activities is the Tuscarawas County Convention and Visitor’s Bureau website at tusctravel.com.

Then click on the Tuscarawas County Celebrates America 250 – Ohio tab. There are a ton of activities going on like picnics, concerts, train rides and more. Don’t forget to look at the events calendar on the webpage for more fun stuff.

It shouldn’t be that just visitors to Tuscarawas County are having fun. It’s our county, let’s have fun. Happy America 250!