Last month the Owen’s Community College Walter E. Terhune Art Gallery had an opening for nationally acclaimed artist Arturo Rodriguez. Arturo was born in Cuba and as a young child came to the U.S. during the 1980 Mariel boatlift.

Rodriguez’s paintings, prints and mixed media are a mix of Cuban and American cultural imagery. While the underlying story could be considered pretty heavy, I might use the word “whimsey” when describing the show… a testament to his keen childhood memory?

Arturo and I met a couple years ago at a BBQ and shortly realized we both attended the same same school in Miami, although at different times and in very different programs (he was in the art high school and I was enrolled in the art college). SMALL WORLD!

The “Marielito” exhibit is currently being showcased in the Library Gallery on the Findlay-area Campus, Oct. 27 – Nov. 19.

“In 1913 the Toledo Commerce Club held a contest to create a new slogan for the city of Toledo. The winning entry, “You Will Do Better In Toledo”, was submitted by four people. It was determined that C.W. Lammers was the first to send in the slogan and he was declared the winner. The slogan was illuminated on a large electrical sign in downtown Toledo along with two other sections featuring a locomotive and a lake freighter.”

The sign remained up until City Manager, Russell Rink, had it removed because it was beyond repair. At least, that’s according to a Sep. 7th, 1959 article from TIME Magazine.

A replica of the sign remains in Wesley’s Bar on Adams Street in uptown. Get your very own replica from local tee-shirt design co. JUPMODE.

This is a guest post from our neighbors, T. & A., who also enjoy Toledo. Sorry for the delay in getting this up!

Goaded on by the uncommonly warm weather and a Columbus Day off, we headed up to Michigan in search of pick-your-own apples at Spicer Orchards. We managed to just miss the time frame for PYO apples, but what we found was arguably better: free tastings of Spicer wine, a delicious panini, and pick-your-own fall raspberries.

Before heading out to the berry patch, we sampled some of the wines at Spicer Carriage House Cellars. Served by a knowledgeable hostess, Kristina Marks, we tried some zingy fruit wines like Cranberry &Red Currant and a Cabernet Franc that was surprisingly bold and dry. Of the whites, we liked the Pinot Grigio and the Traminette, which is similar to a Gewurtztraminer. We had to talk ourselves out of leaving with a case. Nice job, Michigan grapes!

While in the winery, we split a savory-sweet panini, which was filled with gooey white cheddar, tart green apples from the orchard and sautéed onions.

Fortified by many little “tastes” of wine and glasses of house-made hard cider, we tottered out to the berry patch.

The bounty:

Spicer Orchard | 10411 Clyde Rd Fenton, MI 48430 | 810-632-7682

Last month was the 75th anniversary of the Zeroll Ice Cream scoop — the world’s most popular scoop which happens to be in The Museum of Modern Art’s permanent collection for excellence in design. And the birthplace of this artifact of industrial design happens to be smack in the middle of the Old West End!

So we celebrated with an Ice Cream Social! Free Tofts ice cream for everyone!

Zeroll ice cream scoops were also given away. One every 5 minutes!

There were old-timey cars…

and old-timey suits!

And M. brought out his fantastic rickshaw, for the delight of everyone. Thanks to Jeff Nelson, Zeroll Co., and Tofts Ice Cream for putting together such a great event!