By Gary Ogle
gogle@wbcowqel.com
Superheroes once flew across the screen inside Schines Theater on South Sandusky Avenue. Friday morning some superheroes dressed in coats and ties were in the street outside the now crumbling shell ready to save the day.
Led by Ohio Mutual Insurance Group’s donation of $50,000, the local business community has all but met the $88,000 needed to secure state funding to tear down the theater erected in 1936 and convert the space into Schines Art Park.
“Hey, it’s a great day guys. I can’t tell you all how thrilled I am,” Bucyrus Mayor Jeff Reser said. “We reached out to some people who have a record of generosity in this community. We had some people step up in a major way.”
Reser made news earlier this week when he updated City Council on the status of the Schines Art Park project that began under the administration of the late Roger Moore. Reser said the city was significantly short of what it needed to secure the $600,000 in state grants State Senator David Burke attained for the city in the state budget.
Reser made the announcement at a special press conference alongside the deteriorating building that the business community has given $83,000 towards erasing that shortfall.
“This is a huge day. It’s a big step in the culmination of having this Schines Art Park a reality for the city of Bucyrus,” Reser said. “We have an enviable downtown and it’s about to get even more enviable. We’re thrilled.”
Ohio Mutual, with CEO James Kennedy at the helm, has been a major contributor and supporter for projects and programs in recent years like CU Lead, Crawford:20/20 Vision, and the soon-to-be completed Crawford Success Center scheduled to open this fall.
Challenging the crowd to look behind him at the crumbling building and to note what they saw, then close their eyes and imagine what could be, Kennedy applauded the efforts of the Bucyrus Theater Group to save the building he called a part of Bucyrus history.
“It just wasn’t meant to be,” Kennedy said, adding that it was ravaged by time and weather and a lack of resources. Unveiling a check for $50,000, Kennedy proclaimed, “It’s our responsibility to be a good corporate citizen and lead by example.”
Reser soon added the names of other businesses who also came forward and whose contributions, when added to Ohio Mutual’s, now total approximately $83,000. Those businesses are: Bucyrus Road Materials, Crawford County Arts Council, Dan Price and A-1 Printing, Lyn Makkever and Makeever and Associates, Jim Mayes and J&F Construction, The Bucyrus Theater Group, Oberlander’s, Mike Robinette and Trinity Monuments, Ryder-Heil Bronze, the law firm of Kennedy, Purdy, Hoeffel and Gernert, Mizick-Miller and Company, and Lee’s Comfort Shoes.
“What a tremendous gift,” Reser said. “We can’t thank you all enough.”
Kennedy said he and Todd Boyer discussed at length the need and the company’s ability to have an impact, one that would have a positive affect for the employees of OMIG whose headquarters are in Bucyrus.
“Because it’s their home – it’s our home,” Kennedy added.
Reser specifically cited the efforts of Moore, the late mayor. The park and cleaning up of the theater area of South Sandusky Avenue was a special project for Moore who got the ball rolling more than a year ago. The challenge has been picked up by his and Reser’s administrative secretary, Eunice Collene.
Other very happy faces in the crowd included Joe Armbruster who led the effort to restore the theater through The Bucyrus Theater Group, and Doug Godwin, owner of Midwest Furniture. That business shares a wall with the theater and the deteriorating condition of the theater has affected Godwin’s building as well.
Collene said some unknowns still exist, such as the asbestos abatement and the shared wall. But a bid package for demolition is being put together and will go out soon. The goal, Reser said, is to have the old theater razed before this year’s Bratwurst Festival.
“We want people to focus on what will be going up here, not what is coming down,” Boyer said of his conversations with Kennedy.
Dan Price of A-1 Printing is on the Crawford County Arts Council and also spoke at the press conference.
“We were overwhelmed and thankful to Ohio Mutual for stepping in to say they’ll help,” Price said. “Thank you for making Schines Art Park a reality and showing that you care.”
Reser said some changes in design have already been made to the proposed park and that others would be added before the park was built. He also unveiled a current composite of plans for the park at the press conference.
Reser said Project Inc. had come forward and agreed to collect other donations that come in that will be used for the upkeep and maintenance of the park. The vision for the park is that it will provide opportunities for local artists, both young and old, to display their original works in public. Thought has also been given to erecting a permanent area for performance art in the park as well.
Those wishing and willing to donate may make out checks to Project Inc. and write Schines Art Park in the memo.