The Bee Barn
We are incredibly proud that Cuyahoga County Fair is the ONLY Fair registered with the State of Ohio as a working Apiary. In conjunction with the Greater Cleveland Beekeepers Association, we've expanded with a beautiful Bee Yard and native plants and fauna.
It is during Cuyahoga County Fair Week that we can share all that the Bee Barn has to offer as to demonstrations & exhibits to all attending the fair with a variety of presentations each day.
What started years ago as a vendor exhibition hive demonstration grew to a single Observation Hive in building #30 to now several hives added to the Pollinators Garden to what is now the official Honey Extraction Showroom.
Safety first and foremost was the goal in demonstrating the extraction of honey from the hive without posing the threat of attracting bees to members and guests. It has been a "Labor of Love" by the Cuyahoga County Agricultural Society and its many partners along the way.
While in the off-season, CCAS have provided Tours of the Bee Barn to local schools, civic organizations, boy & girl scout troops and more; it is Cuyahoga County Fair Week that we share with the public FREE of CHARGE the art of beekeeping. With scheduled demonstrations, handouts of educational materials, giving out taste samplings and offering honey-made products for purchase, it has assisted us in providing open discussion on the plight of all our native pollinators & the need for honeybees. While a lot of new faces visit our exhibit, we continue to have piqued the interest of many who make the Bee Barn a "Must-Do" visit each year.
Victory Arch Restoration
The Victory Arch located at the Eastland Entrance to the Fairgrounds has finished undergoing a 2 year restoration process.
In 1928 the East Cuyahoga County Fair, located in Chagrin Falls ceased operation. This left the Berea Fair as the only fair in the county. The Cuyahoga County Agricultural Society and Directors of the only Cuyahoga County Fair in Berea commissioned a Victory Arch to celebrate. The erection of an ornamental ironwork archway was on Eastland Road, at the time the main entry to the Fairgrounds (the Bagley Road entrance did not yet exist), by Fred J. Hartman for his low bid of $2,390. 1929 also marked the centennial since the first County Fair on Public Square in downtown.
The Victory Arch was last repainted and sand blasted in the 1970’s. In the past two years it was completely refinished along with major repairs, which were needed on the very ornate curved scroll iron work. The arch’s columns are 25 feet high and span 35 feet across.
The four urns at the top of each column weigh 150 pounds each. These urns will be serving as time capsules. With donations of $10 or more you can be a continued part of the restoration process and place a note in to one of the four time capsules.
The following civic groups and companies contributed to the restoration:
- Berea City Club
- Iron Workers Local 17 Apprentice Program
- Cosmos Industrial Service, Inc.
- AkzoNobel
- eGlobal Construction
- Kottler Metal Products, Inc.
- Ziegler Bolt
- Local 17 President Tim McCarthy
- Retiree Local 17 Doug McJunkins
- Sealcoat
- Horizon Metal, Inc,
- Luna
- American International – Michael Petrasek
FairWinds Wind Turbine & Educational Center Project
The Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds Wind Turbine and Energy Education Center project was financed in part with more than $1.5 million in Federal and State stimulus dollars. The project is a collaborative effort between Cuyahoga County Departments of Development and Public Works, the Cuyahoga County Fair Board and local educational institutions Polaris Career Center and Baldwin Wallace College. It is estimated that the turbine will save the Fair Board $50,000 a year in energy costs.
On April 17th, there was an official ribbon cutting for the FairWinds Turbine, featuring local officials, including County Executive, Ed FitzGerald; Cuyahoga County Council President, C. Ellen Connolly; Berea Mayor, Cyril Kleem; Parma Mayor, Tim DeGeeter; Cuyahoga County Project Manager, Aaron Godwin; Professor and Director of Baldwin Wallace's Sustainability Program, Dr. David Krueger, and others whose support was so instrumental in bringing this project to fruition.
During the fair, we welcome you to tour the Turbine Education Center, where you can learn about how turbines operate, and the importance of low carbon emitting energy sources as a means by which to protect the environment. The mission of the FairWinds Turbine and Education Center is not only to put clean energy to use in powering the fairgrounds, but to promote local industrial growth in the green energy sector, while at once educating a workforce in preparation for the jobs that will result from that growth.
Click here to visit our FairWinds Turbine website for more information about the project.