Welcome to the Huron Chamber of Commerce!

Implosion Marks New Beginning In Huron History

By Sheila Ehrhardt, Chamber Director

We began writing a new chapter in the history of our town with the implosion of the ConAgra facility on Sunday, Jan. 8. This was an event that has been on the minds of Huron residents for many years now.

This is but the latest in numerous upgrades to our community that have come to fruition in the recent past. Our schools have undergone a reshuffling of grades to various buildings, resulting in better behavior by happier students. And a wind turbine, donated by Craig and Tim Rathbun, has resulted in tremendous energy savings for the school district.

A new bridge on Cleveland Road West is just a part of the completely new roadway and infrastructure installed this summer from the boat basin out to Rye Beach Road. Many other streets in the Old Plat area have also been resurfaced.

The boat launch ramp on the Huron River has now been open for a full season and it has proven to have a positive impact on local businesses. The ramp lot is filled with trucks and trailers each weekend as fishermen take advantage of the great fishery that lies just offshore.

The gigantic town celebration on Sunday drew 30,000 to 35,000 people to any spot that they could find along the river and on the east and west sides of the Huron River bridge. It was truly a community effort to put the plans in place for so many visitors in less than three weeks.

 I’ve seen this type of grass-roots cooperation during times of crisis, such as the flood of 1989 and the blizzard of 1978. But to see people come together in the good times to put together such a massive part was just an absolute delight.

Doug Studer took on his P.T. Barnum role once again, coordinating the many facets of the event. When we realized the monumental logistics of getting so many people into such a small space, Fred Fox generously allowed us to use the high school parking lot and provided four school buses to shuttle people over to Jim Zima’s front yard at Great Lakes Diesel, where they had front row seats for the big blast..

People offered use of their downtown driveways to friends and dozens of area law enforcement personnel spent several hours on Sunday getting traffic into and out of the city so efficiently. Our hats off to interim Police Chief Nick Zappa for coordinating all this. City Manager Andy White and all of the city employees pitched in to deal with a greatly increased work load as our little beach town became the focus of area and national media.

All of us were captivated by Max Hinton, a very small, unassuming little boy with the courage of a giant. The City and the Chamber put together a basket of Huron mementoes for the Make-A-Wish child and his two siblings. Mike Ryan, a jewelry artisan, donated pieces made with our Lake Erie lucky stones for the entire family and councilman Brad Hartung had two Tiger shirts imprinted with the lad’s name. Max’s name went up in lights thanks to the folks at First Federal Savings.

Even in the afternoon, the fireworks display celebrating the ConAgra implosion, created a spectacular show for the thousands of people waiting for the 3 p.m. blast.   

Mark Wilbern of Advanced Explosives Demolition Co., shows Max Hinton how to push the trigger to set off the blast. Max's wish was to someday "blow up a building." On Sunday, he did just that. Looking on is Eliya Kelly, whose very own business card reads "Future Blaster."

Thar'She Blows!! As the eighth set of blasts goes off, the stately fron wall of the grain warehouse begin to sag and the connecting bridge begins to fall to the ground.

Like so many matchsticks, the walls of the 8-story grain warehouse came tumbling down. But when the dust settled, the north wall of the building, displaying a Harvest States Milling sign, was still in one piece. The silos will come down shortly.

It was truly heartwarming to see so many people work together in less than three weeks time over the Christmas holidays to make this once-in-a-lifetime event so memorable. But more importantly, we now embark on determining the very best use of this invaluable piece of waterfront property. We must all work together to come up with a redevelopment plan that will be a year-round boon to businesses, a delight for shoppers, an attraction for boaters and a place where families can take a leisurely walk along a tree-lined path bordering on the river.

These are exciting times that will write the next page in Huron’s history.  

‘Mr. Domino’s’ Earns Chamber Bright Star

The Chamber of Commerce Bright Stars for 2011 were recognized on Thursday, October 27th   at the semi-annual Chamber Leadership meeting and fourth annual Bright Star Awards presentation of the Northern Ohio Area Chambers of Commerce (NOACC) at the Hyatt Regency Cleveland at the Arcade in Cleveland.  

Mike Wilde, owner of Domino’s Pizza earned the Huron Chamber’s 2011 Bright Star award. Presenters this year were Wayne Lawrence, NOACC Chairman and Lute Harmon, chairman of Inside Business Magazine.

Chamber president Bruce Miller presents the 2011 Bright Star Award to Mike Wilde, owner of Domino’s Pizza.

Almost 50 Chambers of Commerce across northern Ohio nominated a member as a “Bright Star,” to recognize those who have “made a significant impact on the chamber through membership, retention, sponsorship, economic development, operations and/or education.”  Each Bright Star is an active chamber member for no less than two years and is likely to be an unsung hero or a dedicated behind-the-scenes volunteer.

Wilde is a soft touch. The owner of Domino’s Pizza in Huron, he is constantly sought out by every club, sports team and civic organization planning a fundraiser. He’s always willing to donate his pizzas – and lots of them -- for just about any good cause.

Throughout the l3-year history of the Huron Chamber’s annual Lighthouse 10-Mile and 5K races, Mike not only donates more than a dozen pies for the ravenous runners, but is up at the crack of dawn on race day -- after closing the store very late on a Friday night, coming in to bake them himself.

A modest man, Mike himself has never told anyone this anecdote about his longtime friendship with Mike Danilo, a family man in the prime of his life who succumbed to the dreaded Lou Gehrig’s disease earlier this year.  After his death, the family wrote to Domino’s corporate offices thanking them for Mike’s generosity in treating the entire family to pizza every week of their two-year ordeal.

During a Water Safety Day event for several hundred Huron schoolchildren, Christine Crawford, the organizer, realized that there had been a glitch in ordering lunch for the dozens of adult volunteers. She made a frantic call to Mike at 11 a.m. Though not actually open yet, in just 30 minutes he had 16 pizzas out of the ovens and delivered down to the grounds of the city Boat Basin

A former member of the Chamber’s Board of Directors, he continues to be a promoter of the value of Chamber membership. Wilde and his brother, Skip, partners in the Huron and Norwalk locations, operate stores that consistently earn a five-star rating, the highest recognition in the Domino’s chain.

Volunteers such as Wilde represent a wide range of involvement with their respective chambers, some having been a member and or officer or committee chairman for 20-plus years and some being newly involved, but each of whom has given freely of his/her time, working hard for their chambers without any expectations.

“We are pleased to have this opportunity for our Chamber and our community to give Mike the  thanks he deserve for everything he does to help our Chamber succeed,” said director Sheila Ehrhardt.

1^st Huron River Craft Fest

Enjoys Sunshine, Success

            Spectacular fall weather on Saturday, October 8 created the perfect backdrop for a new event tradition here in Huron. More than 300 fishermen turned out for the 3^rd annual FishHuronOhio Walleye Challenge and hundreds of shoppers came to the boat basin grounds in search  of a huge variety of craft items showcased at the Chamber of Commerce’s first annual Huron River Craft Fest.

Chamber volunteers Randy Crawford, (l. to r.) board member Grant Cornell and president Bruce Miller, prepare hot dogs and burgers during the Huron River Craft Fest last weekend. Cornell's Foods donated the gas grill for future Chamber event.

            Chamber members manned a snack bar and small gift shop stocked with Huron memorabilia. Board member Grant Cornell served some of his store’s gourmet coffee, fresh-squeezed cider and doughnuts to the hungry shoppers Vendor Tom Steinmetz carried out the fishing theme, serving hundreds of his famous perch sandwiches.  

            The fishermen went home with prize money and lots of tall stories about the one that got away and the shoppers carried home lots of unique treasures.

Dozens of hopeful fishermen line up to weigh their catches, as the second flight of boats returns to the Huron Harbor during the FishHuronOhio 3rd annual Walleye Challenge on Saturday, October 8. More than 300 anglers from around the Midwest competed for cash and prizes.