Granite marker bridges past, future of Bay Village
Residents young and old joined the Bay Village Historical Society on Oct. 9 at Cahoon Memorial Park for the dedication of the newest addition to the city’s proud history. A 4,500-pound black granite marker commemorating the 2011 Bay Village Bicentennial celebration was unveiled on the lawn across from Rose Hill Museum.
The marker is placed at the site of a time capsule containing Bay Village memorabilia collected throughout the 2010 Bicentennial year, including copies of the Observer dated Oct. 5 and Oct. 16, 2010, which featured a 200-year timeline and coverage of events of the Oct. 9-10 celebration that took place at Cahoon Memorial Park.
The lawn was decorated for the ceremony with flags from the personal collection of Bay resident Jim Goodwin. Known as the “Flag Man” for his past displays of American flags along Bradley Road, a tradition he renewed upon moving to Clague Road, Goodwin was contacted by Dave Tadych to provide flags for the ceremony.
Goodwin, with his seven-year-old daughter, Tristiana, rose early on the morning of the event to install 14 flags representing all major branches of the U.S. military, several versions of the U.S. flag, the Ohio state flag, the Ohio Bicentennial flag and the Bay Bicentennial flag. They also fashioned an archway out of balloons.
The unveiling ceremony brought to a close the 2010 Bicentennial celebration, which Bay’s Bicentennial Committee first began planning in March 2009.
Aside from marking the location of the buried time capsule, the granite slab also commemorates the site of the city’s two-day Bicentennial celebration. It bears an inscription that pays tribute to the generosity and dedication of the citizens of Bay Village, who came together as a community to honor Bay’s past.
“A year ago we gathered here and celebrated our 200th birthday,” said Dave Tadych, chairman of the Bicentennial Committee. “We became a real part of it: We volunteered, we laughed, we paraded and we partied. We lit candles and we offered thanks and we offered prayers for continued blessings.”
With the city’s 200th birthday now officially sealed, sights turned to the hope and promise of the future. “Today we connect with tomorrow,” Tadych said.
County Councilman Dave Greenspan commended Bay Village for being “one of the stellar communities” in Cuyahoga County.
“We celebrate not necessarily so much the past 200 years of Bay Village, but the future and what’s been built over the past two centuries,” Greenspan said. “I wish Bay Village a prosperous next 200 years.”