The Gift - OneShot!

Written/Photography by
Andrew Livelsberger

Location:  Cleveland Museum of Art - Large Room Just Past The Armor Court

The Gifts.

This was a gift to me, as I was fortunate enough to have walked into the room and saw this scene before me. I had the my camera hanging off my right hip. I immediately pulled the camera to my eye and there it was, almost perfectly framed. I fired off one shot.  I took another, then the scene changed and subsequent shots just didn't have the same feel.  The first image was the one, as is often the case.

The real gift is the fact that 3 generations were together, enjoying the day out of the heat. This was at the Cleveland Museum of Art, in the large room just past the Armor Court.

Always take the shot now, as you are never guaranteed the same scene upon return.
Never take anything for granted.
Always give love, but never expect it in return. The reward for loving one another is not an earthly one, but an eternal one.

Have a great week and I hope this image helps put you in a positive mindset!

Ohio Village Independence Weekend Festivities

Written by

Dani and Andrew Livelsberger

Photography by

Andrew Livelsberger

Background

The Ohio Village is a seasonally open section of the Ohio History Center that recreates life in the era of the 1890's America.

During the weekend of July 6th, the Ohio Village opens its doors to fun games and activities for the family, an opening ceremony, and an 1890's era base ball game with period appropriate rules.

Impression

A step outside the Ohio History Center's doors to the pathway to the Ohio Village is always a treat.  Even during times when there is no special events going on, there is a lot to take in.  When there is an event, much like the Independence Weekend  Festivities, you'll need to pace yourself!  Luckily, the agenda for the day's activities will help you decide which events you'd like to attend and when.

Opening Ceremony

The mayor of the town addressed those in attendance.  Giving a rousing Independence Day speech and a toast.

He also introduced political candidates and gave women's suffrage supporters an opportunity to speak about their cause.

Ohio Village Muffins Base Ball

The Ohio Village Muffins Reds and Whites played a game on this day as well.  The game is similar to modern baseball, but the rules are slightly different.  Pitching is done underhanded, and if a ball is caught after being hit and one bounce, that is considered an out.  The equipment is also different as the ball is much softer and no gloves are used.

Other Images From The Day

Here are some other shots from the day.

Lindsay Jordan At COMFEST 2019 - OneShot!

Written/Photography

Andrew Livelsberger

Location:  Goodale Park, Columbus, OH - COMFEST 2019

Arriving later in the Comfest Weekend, Goodale Park was still alive and buzzing with musical performances.

We were present at the gazebo stage and were able to witness the powerful vocals of Lindsay Jordan and the Stormy Daniels band.

If you get a chance to check out this band do so!

Spring House Gazebo in Eden Park - Cincinnati

Written by Dani and Andrew Livelsberger

Photography by Andrew Livelsberger

Background:

This Moorish styled Gazebo is within eye sight of Mirror Lake, both of which are located within Eden Park.

The gazebo was designed and construction completed in 1904, making it the oldest enduring structure in the Cincinnati park system.

The Spring House Gazebo is also famous for the Remus Incident.
The Remus Incident in a nutshell is that a Cincinnati lawyer and bootlegger, George Remus went to jail and while there he unknowingly told an undercover prohibition agent posing as an inmate that his wife, Imogene controlled all of his money.

The undercover agent named Franklin Dodge resigned his position and started a relationship with Imogene Remus.  Together, they basically took all of George Remus' money, tried to have him deported and also hired a hit man to kill him for $15,000.

When Imogene finally decided to file for divorce, that was the last straw for George Remus.   On his way to the divorce proceedings, Remus had his driver follow and run Imogene's car off the road by Spring House Gazebo.   George Remus exited his car and fatally shot Imogene.

Legend has it that one certain nights, the ghost of Imogene can be seen looking of the gazebo over Mirror Lake.

Impression:

Spring House Gazebo is a beautiful structure and catches your eye as soon as you turn the corner of the road.

If you turn left, there is parking and restrooms just a short walk away.

You have a beautiful view of Mirror Lake and the fountain can be seen off to the left.

This is a popular spot for people to stop and rest while walking between hiking trails.  Eden Park is a great place to visit and stopping by Spring House Gazebo should be a must stop as it is a central hub to other sections of the park.

It also seems to be a popular stop for those who like to play Pokemon Go!

Columbus Pride 2019

Written 

by 

Dani and Andrew Livelsberger

Photography

by

Andrew Livelsberger

Background

Columbus Pride Parade and Festival is an annual event in support of the LGBTQ community.  It is held in downtown Columbus along the Scioto Mile by Genoa and Bicentennial Park.

Grand Marshall Nina West

Impression

We all have our own thoughts in political, religious realms.  We here at VisualOhio are no different.  We strive our best to cover events in Ohio that are of interest to our readership.

So, let's discuss the festival and parade as we would any other event.  We don't think that our readers would want us to write it any other way.

We've never been to the Pride Parade/Festival before so the first thing that we concern ourselves with is parking.  We were not going to get there until right before the parade started, so our plan was to park a little further out from the event location and we used the COGO Bike Stations to ride in from around the Scioto Audubon Metro Park area to Genoa Park.  There was a drop off COGO station there right behind COSI.

From there we walked over to High and Rich Street and found a location along the parade route.  We tucked ourselves a few hundred feet from the corner of High and Rich where the parade walkers were going.  It turned out to be a perfect spot!

From out vantage point, we could see most of the major floats and then were able to concentrate on the people walking right in front of us.

The streets were stacked with people looking on to see the parade line

No matter what you believe, we feel that one universal truth exists.  We should all love one another, and loving your neighbor has never caused anyone any harm.

This parade had many individual, church, corporate supporters.

The importance of events like these is knowing that no matter who you are, where you are from...color, race, religion do not matter.   What matters is the acceptance of people for who they are.   We need to come together more, have open, honest dialog about our perceived differences.  We think that you might find that we all have way more in common than we do differences.

Not only were the people in the parade a pleasure to talk with and watch, but there were plenty of awesome people watching the parade and at the festival.

People in the parade line and in the crowds were giving out "free hugs".  That was a very popular activity, being able to express your love for others freely, even to complete strangers.

Whenever we go to events, we always try and get the pulse of the attendees.  This event succeeded in making every single person feel welcome, included and accepted.   If that is all this event did, then count it as a success.  However, it did not stop there.  The festival section, which runs from Friday to Sunday, included community support with health screenings, and other types of assistance as well as entertainment.

Memorial Day Special - Flight 93 Memorial in Somerset County, PA

Written by Dani and Andrew Livelsberger

Photography by Andrew Livelsberger

Background

September 11, 2001.  Four commercial airliners were hijacked by al Qaeda terrorists and used as weapons.   Two impact the World Trade Center towers in NY, a third strikes the Pentagon building and a fourth crashes into an empty field in Somerset County in rural Pennsylvania.

United Flight 93 leaving from New Jersey got a late start that day and left 25 minutes later than expected for its San Francisco destination.  The hijackers did not get control of the plane until it was over Ohio.  Gaining control of the cockpit, they turn the plane around and have its trajectory pointed toward Washington DC and the suspected target, the Capitol building.

Passengers and crew get word of the other terrorist attacks and decide to make an attempt to take the plane back.  At 10:03am, the plane crashes, short of its target by 18 minutes flight time.

Impression

Coming back from visiting family in Pennsylvania, traveling along Interstate 76, we see a sign, Flight 93 Memorial next exit.   It just so happens that this is Memorial Day weekend.  We must go.  We will go.

I remember exactly where I was, what I was doing on that day.

Nothing will prepare you for visiting this memorial.

Outside you see the large, white monolithic walls of the Visitor's Center.   To the right, there is a black walkway.  This walkway represents the flight path United 93 took.

Walkway to main entrance

markers that show the flight and time of each plane involved

the back path shows the flight path of United 93

You walk the pathway, which has the timeline of all the planes, through the white walls in front of you.  Looking straight ahead is an overlook that has a view of the field and a large rock in the distance that denotes the crash and debris location.

overlook of the field and the tree line in the distance is where the stone marker resides

If you look back to your left from the main path, you'll find the entrance to the Visitor's Center.

Walking in, the lighting is low and items are highlighted with spotlights.

The mood is somber and you can physically feel the sadness.  We did not expect to, nor were we prepared for just how hard this would be.

The memorial is sectioned off, with time lines, news replays and recordings of passengers calling loved ones.

After seeing all this and hearing them again, all the emotions come flooding back.  From that day, for those that saw something wrong and tried to make it right.  We will never know the total number of lives that the 33 passengers and 7 crew members saved that day when they attempted to take the plane back from the terrorists.

I tried to hold my emotions back, but just couldn't.  Many couldn't.

The section above shows a wall of portraits of the passengers and crew from United Flight 93.

Crew
Captain Jason Dahl
First Officer Leroy Homer

Flight Attendants
Lorraine Bay
Sandy Bradshaw
Wanda Green
CeeCee Lyles
Deborah Welsh

Passengers
Christian Adams
Todd Beamer
Alan Beaven
Mark Bingham
Deora Bodley
Marion Britton
Thomas Burnett, Jr.
William Cashman
Georgine Corrigan
Patricia Cushing
Joseph Deluca
PatrickDriscoll
Edward Felt
Jane Folger
Colleen Fraser
Andrew Garcia
Jeremy Glick
Kristin Gould
Lauren Grandcolas + Unborn Child
Donald Greene
Linda Gronlund
Richard Guadagno
Toshiya Kuge
Hilda Marcin
Waleska Martinez
Nicole Miller
Louis Nacke II
Donald Peterson
Jean Peterson
Mark Rothenberg
Christine Snyder
John Talignani
Honor Wainio

Toward the exit of the park, there is the Tower of Voices.

This tower is 93 feet high and when all the chimes are completed, 40 will sing in unison when the wind blows.

Memorial Day is a holiday where we honor those who gave all to protect the freedoms of this country and those that willingly put their lives in harms way to protect others from threats.  Believe me when we say that we honor those brave souls that gave the ultimate sacrifice.   Sometimes, though, ordinary people are thrust into an extraordinary situation.  United Flight 93 had something the other planes didn't have - knowledge of what had preceded them.

With this knowledge, those 40 had a tough decision thrust upon them.  They chose to put themselves in harms way to try and take back control of the plane and save hundreds, if not potentially thousands, of lives.

In my mind, they are all American heroes and will be in our thoughts and prayers along with the brave soldiers on this and every subsequent Memorial Day.

At Visual Ohio, our purpose is to showcase interesting people, places and things in our great state.  However, there are some things that transcend state lines and we think this article is one of those.