Starting this coming Monday...Be a part of history on May 25, 2009! Join us after the Memorial Day parade and Courthouse ceremony, at the Village of Ottawa Municipal Building on Oak St. The parade starts at 10:30 AM on the west side of Ottawa near Rite-Aid and ends at the Putnam County Courthouse. After the Veteran’s ceremony you are welcome to walk over to the Village Municipal building and join the celebration there.

After a crowd gathers, a ceremony will be held to kick off the 175 Years Celebration of Progress of the Village of Ottawa. Come and see the Hall of History within the Municipal Building, witness the burial of a time capsule that will commemorate this day.

Afterward, enjoy home-made pies & cookies, ice cream and refreshments in the Presbyterian community room.

The O-G Community Band will be playing for the program and entertaining during the event.

Bring your children and/or grandchildren. Give them something to remember about their hometown’s history!

A pictorial stamp cancellation will be held on Thursday, May 28th. A special table will be set up in the post office, and only items taken to the special table will have the pictorial stamp cancellation. If the appropriate amount of postage is on the item, it can then be mailed from the post office. However, if someone wants to have a souvenir cancellation, they can cancel any stamp, even if is a 1 cent stamp, but it cannot be mailed. The post office is open 8:30 – 4:30.

The Blanchard River Art Guild festival starts at 10am, Saturday, downtown
Ottawa, with lots of musical entertainment and art-related activities for
children and adults! Go to the Area Events link on the Chamber's Website, www.ottawachamber.org
for event times and placement. The BRAG festival vendors and artists will be located
on Walnut St. and in the Schroeder building on the corner of Main and
Walnut. Walnut St. will be closed to through traffic on Saturday from Main
St. to the alley north of Main Street.

During the event there will be wine tasting with Hillside Winery wines at
the Schnipke Inn back room, Ginthers old fashioned ice cream and root beer
floats, Pizza Hut pizza, and JT BBQ Express chicken from 4 to 6pm.

Ottawa's 175 Anniversary events include walking history tours at 11 am and 2
pm (participants should meet at the Court House Assembly Room) and the
dedication of the historic mural on the side of Heringhaus Furniture bldg.
at 1:30 pm. (There will be a short question/answer period for the artists,
Bruce Stowe and Oscar Velasquez at the dedication.)

Stroll down Main Street and visit the downtown retailers. Their special
window displays will bring you back in time.

We hope you and your families will enjoy these memorable events on Saturday,
June 20th, 2009.

You are more than welcome to come and join us!

HISTORIC DOWNTOWN MURAL

A dedication ceremony of Ottawa's Historic Downtown Mural will be held on
June 20, 2009 at 1:30 p.m.
Mayor Ken Maag will officiate a ribbon cutting ceremony and proclamation
dedicating the mural. Artists Bruce Stowe and Oscar Velasquez will be
present to explain the mural and answer any questions people might have
about it.

If you are interested in donating toward this wonderful and memorable
project, please send your donation to the Village of Ottawa, % Mural Fund.
Donors of $500 or more will be named on a plaque on the "Row House door" of
the mural.

There will also be two History Walks that day at 11am and 2pm. These will
start from the Assembly Room in the Putnam County Courthouse - please use
the east side entrance. Five sites will be visited within a 2 block
area...the Putnam County Courthouse, old Putnam County Jail, the train
depot, the Presbyterian Church and the Oddfellows hall. Narrated DVD's
recording a pictorial history of Ottawa will be available for a donation of
$15.

The Hall of History within the Ottawa Municipal Building will be open that
day for public viewing at your own leisure.

Look ahead to the September 26th Main Event for the Celebration of
Progress/Ottawa's 175th Year!

A second pictorial stamp cancellation will be held on Friday, September 25th. A special table will be set up in the post office, and only items taken to the special table will have the pictorial stamp cancellation. If the appropriate amount of postage is on the item, it can then be mailed from the post office. However, if someone wants to have a souvenir cancellation, they can cancel any stamp, even if is a 1 cent stamp, but it cannot be mailed. The post office is open 8:30 – 4:30.

The Main Event!! There will be merchant Indian Summer Sales, a Motorcycle Show/Poker Run, Softball/Baseball Tournaments, a Dog Show, YMCA 5-K Run, Boy Scout Jamboree, Disc Golf Tournament, Tree Planting, Re-enactment displays, Ohio Wall display and entertainment by the Community Band and Exploit.

More information to come...

The Ohio Village Muffins will visit Ottawa’s Memorial Field on Sunday, October 11 and play a squad of local celebrity ‘gentlemen’ in a base ball match using the rules of 1862, the same year that the local village officially adopted the name of Ottawa.

A fundraiser for the local Food Pantry has begun. Many members of the Ottawa Area Chamber of Commerce have donated a nice variety of great prizes to be drawn for on Oct. 11th. Tickets may be purchased from Dave Kersh and the American Legion, and the Ottawa Area Chamber of Commerce at $5 each. All proceeds go to the Food Pantry.

Mary Jo Bockrath

Executive Director

Ottawa Area Chamber of Commerce

129 Court St.

P.O. Box 68

Ottawa, OH 45875

Ph.-419-523-3141

Fax-419-523-5860

www.ottawachamber.org