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The American Flag flies at half staff on Memorial Day in 2022.
CELINA - From themed trails to hand-painted murals and educational programming, the Grand Lake region is laying the groundwork for local celebrations honoring the U.S. semiquincentennial alongside a coordinated statewide effort.
As part of a nationwide effort, the state of Ohio's America 250 Commission has helped organize events, experiences and initiatives throughout 2026 to celebrate the country's 250th anniversary in all 88 counties, including numerous programs in Mercer and Auglaize counties.
Ohio's commission, known as America 250-Ohio, was formed and announced in 2022 on Ohio's Statehood Day by Gov. Mike DeWine. The 29-member group is comprised of historians, politicians, entrepreneurs and business leaders from all over the state.
"For the last few years, we've been trying to sort of build a statewide infrastructure, to not just show up for the nation's 250th, but to really make the very most of it (and) be one of the more active states in the country," commission executive director Todd Kleismit told The Daily Standard. "And I think we have done that and we're really doing that most effectively because Ohioans and communities all over the state are really embracing this opportunity."
The commission has established a theme for every month of 2026 as a way to explore all of the ways Ohio has contributed to the U.S., Kleismit said.
The themes touch on Ohio's contributions to transportation, arts and culture, the outdoors, music and entertainment, innovation and industry, county fairs, sports and wellness, and more.
"The monthly themes were chosen because we think that these are mostly ways that Ohio and Ohioans have contributed to the United States of America these past 250 years," he said. "Those are the things that we think Ohio can really showcase. Now, a couple of these months, July and December, those are really - July is really about bringing people together, and homecomings and picnics. It's not because we're the best state for homecomings and picnics, but we really wanted that to be a way to not just point to the Declaration of Independence or fireworks, but to really use it as a mechanism to bring people together."
In addition, Ohio's commission has organized several significant programs. Those include a trails series that further highlights the state's contributions to things like the outdoors, air and space, and creativity.
The Lake Erie to Ohio River Trail makes stops nearby at the Grand Lake St. Marys State Park and Canal, Lake Loramie State Park and the Belle of St. Marys Canal Boat.
Also local, a top highlight of the commission's Air and Space Trail is its stop at the Armstrong Air and Space Museum in Wapakoneta.
A favorite program of Kleismit's is the Revolutionary War Veteran Graves Project. Led by the state's America 250 Commission and the Ohio History Connection, with some help from the Ohio State Historic Preservation Office, Terracon Consultants Inc., and local chapters of the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution, the initiative aims to identify, document and map the graves of an estimated 7,000 Revolutionary War veterans buried in Ohio.
Of the 3,110 documented as of Friday, there are seven documented in Auglaize County and nine in Mercer County.
The project started in early 2025 and, in addition to help from partnering organizations, enlisted help from countless volunteer public researchers all over the state.
"If you're going to have a commission for the nation's 250th anniversary, this is right in our sweet spot," Kleismit said. "This is core to what kind of work we should be doing. We're going to try to pull a few people out of obscurity and showcase what they have contributed - those Revolutionary War veterans who ended up in Ohio."
Many murals like the Harvest Jubilee mural in Fort Recovery are featured in the Murals Across Ohio online map.
Another initiative that touches on every region of the state is the commission's Murals Across Ohio. As a part of the program, the commission maintains an online, interactive map of murals all over the state.
Local murals featured include the Harvest Jubilee mural in Fort Recovery, the Endless Pint mural in Versailles and the Memory Garden mural in St. Marys.
"There are so many different ways to showcase Ohio's contributions to art. Murals Across Ohio is an effort to encourage communities that have murals that have already been painted, and they somehow tell a story either of something that is nationally significant, or shows Ohio pride, or local civic pride," he said. "We're working closely with the Ohio Arts Council on that."
The list of statewide events is expansive. Additional events include educational history passes for youth, a variety of Ohio-centered webinars and speaker events, and even a festival centered around the state's transportation contributions.
As a part of Mercer County's America 250 programming, banners dedicated to Native Americans' perspective of St. Clair's Defeat were made thanks to a collaboration between the Mercer County Historical Society and Fort Recovery Historical Society.
The battle, which occurred on Nov. 4, 1791, in what is now Fort Recovery, remains the largest relative loss ever suffered by the U.S. Army in a single engagement. Out of approximately 1,400 soldiers, more than 900 were killed or wounded.
"That's kind of like their thing over in their corner of Mercer County," Riley Museum director Cait Clark said.
The historical society is also working on recognizing some of the veterans of the American Revolution who don't already have markers or recognition, she said.
"We're still kind of doing some research on that, (and) trying to hunt them all down, which is hard," Clark said.
The historical society is also taking part in a statewide initiative called Planting History, in which they will plant a white oak tree in front of the Mercer County Courthouse in April.
"Every county in the state of Ohio has been offered one of these trees," Clark said. "It symbolizes all of us coming together and growing together (moving) into the next few years. It's a celebration of America 250 in a way that is a living reminder that we all came together."
The Grand Lake Region Visitors Center is set to launch its own mural program this year to celebrate the semiquincentennial, executive director Matt Staugler said.
"We've got one (mural) in the works right now. Obviously, with the weather, we've got to wait until the weather breaks," he said. "But once that happens we'll get started on that and then hopefully do two more this summer to kind of coincide with the 4th of July."
Staugler wouldn't share much about the program's first mural, though he did say it will be located at Grand Lake St. Marys State Park.
Upcoming, the Mercer County Historical Society is slated to host a year-long lecture series called Washington's Generals which will highlight a different leader that was significant to George Washington during the Revolutionary War every month.
The series kicks off at 2 p.m. Feb. 12 at the Richardson & Bretz Building. The first lecture will be centered around Washington's favorite general, Nathanael Greene.
Veteran Reed Shaffer kneels down to smile at his grandkids Mason and Mabel Shaffer after a 21-gun salute at Riverside Cemetery in Rockford on Memorial Day in 2023.
The Auglaize County Historical Society is also heading up an expansive list of local America250 programming.
The organization's Barns Alive program celebrates the county's farming history by collecting and sharing historic images of barns throughout the county.
Auglaize County's white oak tree was planted before the state's official festivities kicked off in October at the county fairgrounds.
The historical society has also put together a number of America 250-focused traveling exhibits, which include "Alexander Hamilton: Immigrant, Patriot, Visionary," "Journey Stories: The Mask of Lincoln" and "Women of Auglaize County."
Meanwhile, Auglaize County's Armstrong Air and Space Museum has a host of special events and programming set for the year aimed at highlighting the state's contributions in science, technology and exploration.
"I know a lot of people are thinking about 1776, but we're looking at more of America's full 250 years of history, (with) an emphasis on America as an innovator and a nation of exploration," museum curator Logan Rex said. "Progress in the sciences, in space exploration, in aviation, and really showing that side of American history. It's not all red coats and people in wigs and things."
The museum's events include a free outdoor movie on its front lawn in May as a part of the state commission's Ohio Goes to the Movies series; the "Explore! Series," held the first Saturday of each month for area youth; special America 250 tours for groups of 15 or more; and a fall photography exhibit featuring newly remastered space photography.
"We just really wanted to show that this is a celebration of all of America and all of (the) history that's happened," Rex added. "We're trying to have a lot of events that reach different audiences."
A full list of the year's state and local events, along with more general information about the celebration, can be found at america250-ohio.org.
