Cheap marketing is what everyone is looking for today and Chippewa Lake’s Lions Club is no exception. I am holding in my hand their flyer that I found by my mailbox last week. This enterprising group has combined creativity, resourcefulness and good old American ingenuity, to create Chippewa Lake’s 1st Annual Polar Bear Run and Jump (Jan. 29, 2011). This is a fundraising event to benefit two local groups that help feed the needy in our area, and to also raise funds for the Lions Club. Go to the  Chippewa Lakes Lions Club web site, you’ll learn that they help purchase eyeglasses, too. As a nearsighted graphic designer myself, I like that — who knew?

Recently some enterprising young boys have been coming to my door and asking to shovel the snow from the driveway. This is a first in my 12 years of living here. After I paid my most recent cold, red-cheeked laborer, my husband remarked to me that the driveway really didn’t have much snow to shovel this time. My response was that I had paid him for showing drive, initiative and having an entrepreneurial spirit, not for shoveling the snow.

Don’t let the daily news fool you, we’re not a nation of spoiled whiners and blamers who sit back in a paralyzed, apathetic stupor. We’re a nation of think outside the box doers. Chippewa Lake’s Lions Club can’t spend big money on marketing but that hasn’t stopped them. A good idea and a flyer, now a mention in a blog, who knows where it could lead? That’s exciting — that’s cheap marketing!!

As a Chippewa Lake resident and advertising professional, I salute and support my communities efforts in making a difference. I’ll pledge $25 to the first jumper to ask me to sponsor them (e-mail me) and I’ll also be in the crowd cheering them on as they take the plunge. I hope to see you there, too.

Remember the phone call I received telling me that I had the ghosts of two women living in my home and one was there with me at that very moment? If your memory is like mine you may need it refreshed, so quickly reread my October 2009 post “Gadzooks—it must be Halloween!”, I’ll wait here until you return…

It was mid-October when I called Wendy, assistant to Mary Ann Winkowski (consultant to the CBS hit television show “Ghost Whisperer”). Wendy, according to Mary Ann’s web site, does paranormal investigation and earthbound spirit and negative energy removal, up to a forty mile radius from Cleveland. As my good luck would have it, Wendy was scheduled to “ghostbust” a home just a few miles away from mine the following week.

When Wendy arrived at my front door she was greeted by my curious husband, Tim, our niece, Danielle, our many, many cats, our dog, and me. My first impression of Wendy was that she seemed very nice and normal, at least by my standards, so I began to worry about the impression my furry hoard was making on her. We were able to sequester our dog in another room but the cats, oh, the cats — how they  loved her and wanted to climb into her interesting satchel that contained sea salt and other paranormal type goodies. Fortunately Wendy likes cats and has a great tolerance for their curiosity.

We settled into the living room where we spent over an hour seated directly across from Wendy, hanging on to every word that she said. She told us that the ghosts of the two elderly women were there because they liked being around Tim. One lived in my upstairs office and the other in the downstairs family room where I sometimes work also. Apparently they liked to “keep an eye on me” during the day while Tim was at work. While alive, these women had spent a lot of time around the corner at the Chippewa Lake Amusement Park during its glory days and were most likely regulars at the popular Starlight Ballroom. Wendy gave us two names but they were common names and a search on the internet revealed nothing.

At one point Wendy sprinkled sea salt across each doorway into the house and also around the bed. Tim helped her tape Quince seeds above all the entrances, including the attic openings and basement doorways. While they were doing this the house became 2—3 degrees warmer and has remained that way all winter. When I remarked about feeling unusually warm, Wendy said that a house with a ghost will always be cold. As she was gathering her things, preparing to leave, she stopped suddenly, looked at us seriously and asked if we knew a man who had been killed in a hunting accident…she was picking up the tragic death of my brother, Danielle’s father, the previous year. This was very unnerving and we spent some time discussing his death. Later, when Wendy was leaving she assured us that our house was no longer haunted and that our visitors were now outside, free to move on to another house or wherever it is that ghosts go.

Some interesting things began to happen almost immediately. (1) The next morning the two cats that called my upstairs office “home” for five years decided it really was okay to come downstairs and join us in the family room, (2) during the day I felt more relaxed and at night I stopped grinding my teeth, no longer needing to wear a night guard, (3) our black and white cat, Cookie stopped walking into invisible walls and (4) the many odd, unexplainable things stopped happening, well, until just a few weeks ago…

Early one morning Tim called out to me from the family room saying that the brass ships lamp on the desk was rocking for no apparent reason. The lamp is designed to gently rock back and forth with the motion of a ship. The lamp continued to rock sporadically on it’s own for the rest of the day, as we both wondered—are they back?

I’ve lost count of the number of times that I have been out walking my dog and people have stopped me and asked for directions to the old Chippewa Lake Park. The amusement park operated from 1878 through 1978 when it was closed for lack of attendance, so they say. As a local, I have heard rumors of other reasons why it closed but that’s of no consequence now. Chippewa Lake Park has stood forgotten for 31 years, many rides frozen in time exactly as they were on that final day. 

Most of the curious drivers looking for the park are over the age of 50 and have a few quick memories of the park to share with me from their car windows. Having been raised in Medina County and now living and working here at the lake I have my share of these memories too. Dad worked at Ford Motors in Cleveland and they had their yearly company picnic at “Chip”. Mom worked at Medina’s National Disposal and they had theirs here, too. It was THE place to go.

Growing up, Mom was always telling me stories of living here when I was 6-months-old. She worked at the park for 75 cents an hour selling tickets to ride the Caterpillar and about Nickel Day, when admittance was only 5 cents. Now I’ve lived here for 10 years and my husband for almost 30. We’ve hiked the overgrown trails and picked blackberries on the abandoned park land. Like our neighbors, we have a passion for the area.

Recently I’ve been asked how I feel about the old park being sold. In 2008, Chippewa Partners LLC purchased the land and plan on turning it into a massive resort called “Chippewa Landing”. The $100 million proposed development will include a hotel, spa, five-star restaurant, theater and Biltmore-style manor house. I tell friends that I’ve taken a “wait-and-see” attitude especially since I’ve read that as many as 300 full-time jobs could be created. That would be a great thing for this area and our economy. As I get older, I am learning that change comes whether you like it or not and sometimes, looking back, things really are better. I’ll just have to wait and see.

Chippewa Partners deserves kudos for ingenious public relations work for opening the park to visitors on the weekends. Kids have been sneaking in there for years. Adults like myself who knew the danger, now get to go in and safely see everything. Check out my pictures taken in April 2009 on my Facebook fan page and become a fan of Komjati Design, Inc., too.

Last summer a horror movie was filmed in the old park and it is due to be released this year sometime. Check out the movie trailer for “Closed For The Season”. You’ll recognize lots of scenes of areas that are also in my photos.