Last summer I found myself at a late-night pot party amongst some stoners. As I was passed a joint, I was asked, “Bill, are you going to the Toke And Float tomorrow?”
“Toke And Float? What’s that?” I asked. “It’s a pot-friendly event at Kim Tam Park in Uniontown with jam bands and vendors. You can smoke weed and float on the lake while watching live music.”
Even though I had an appointment the next evening, I figured I’d check out the event when the gates opened at noon. It sounded like my kind of gathering. I found out É™koostik hookah was headlining, which is my favorite jam band.
I got to the water park just after 12:00 pm and there were already people lined up waiting to get in. I was led to a parking spot by an employee and I walked to the front gate. On the way there, I randomly saw my friend Kyle, who was an Akron Bloom budtender at the time. These days he does promotional work for UB Good. He told me to meet up with him when I got inside of the park.
After signing a liability waiver, I talked to a few of the staff members and lifeguards about Kim Tam Park and Toke And Float. They were welcoming and invited me to come back on a non-stoner day to enjoy the park when things were a bit calmer.
Since I didn’t have a floatation device, I bought one from the snack shack. It was shaped like an alpaca. There was an electric air pump available to use around the back of the shack, so I took advantage of that to avoid becoming light-headed while blowing up my raft. When I was all set to go, I sat on the beach and packed a bowl of terpinolene-heavy Professor Bluntstache Sunshine #4 x G13 Hash Plant flower.
The alpaca will guide my stoner journey through the water
There were some grey clouds above but the rain was holding up for the time being. It was sunny and muggy outside, even though it was only half past noon. I smoked a bowl under the sun and blew the smoke into the summer sky.
When bands started playing on the stage, I put on my raft and headed into the water holding a packed bowl in one hand and Bic lighter in the other. I had never really smoked in the water like this before. Upon getting into deeper water and jumping on top of my raft, my lighter got wet. It would no longer flick a flame!
I floated in the water for ten to fifteen minutes with a packed bowl and dysfunctional lighter, unable to smoke while I watched others around me puff away. Seeing how I was a Toke And Float rookie you could say that I was paying my dues and that this was a humbling introduction.
I saw one guy floating on the water with a bucket hat on his head. There were loops on the outside of the bucket hat that he was using to hold plastic tubes with joints inside of them. I thought to myself “Next year, I am going to do what that guy did!”
My lighter finally dried out and I was able to smoke my pipe while watching the band play. I had been to a lot of concerts in my life, but this experience was unlike anything I’d ever been a part of. Smoking weed on the water while watching a live band play is something I recommend for any music-loving stoner.
When my bowl was cashed, I went back to the beach and re-packed my pipe. I grabbed two joints, sparked one of them, and headed back into the water with enough weed to get me through to the next band.
It was difficult to hold the bowl, joints and lighter while in the water. There was nowhere to set anything down! I accidently dropped an unlit joint into the lake. So much for smoking that one!
The clouds above began to rain just as I finished the weed I was able to hold onto. The band was still playing despite the new weather conditions. I had to retreat to the beach and take shelter underneath a picnic table umbrella.
Is he…holding a Stiiizy?
Thankfully the rain only lasted a few minutes. When it cleared back up, I sparked up a preroll and walked around to visit some vendors. I saw people selling everything from pipes and papers to seeds and clones. There were tons of merchants selling incense, jewelry, shirts, socks and other swag.
While walking around I met up with Kyle again. He invited me to his camp site but upon looking at the clock I realized I had to leave for the appointment soon. I went back to the beach to gather my gear.
As I sat on the beach, I was tapped on the arm by Michele, who was the person who told me about the Toke And Float the night before. I hung out with her for a few minutes and thanked her for letting me know about this spectacular event!
I had to leave just as the Toke And Float was getting good. People had kept piling into the park the entire time I was there. It was starting to become crowded! There were a ton more people in the water now than when I was in there earlier.
I was going to have to miss É™koostik hookah’s set, so I listened to them on the way to my appointment in order to kind of slightly make up for the fact I wasn’t going to see them play.
I am not sure if there will be a Toke and Float in 2026, but if there is, I highly (pun intended) recommend you experience it for yourself!
Yesterday I set off on a whim for two locations I’ve been meaning to visit: Eagle Mound within the Great Circle at the Newark Earthworks and Alligator Mound. I brought along a few strains to review in the process!
The first major milestone I reached was passing the 7-story Longaberger building. It is the former headquarters of the Longaberger Company who were famous for producing wooden baskets. The now-defunct building is shaped like a gigantic basket.
That’s a damn big basket
My original intention was to visit Alligator Mound before I visited Eagle Mound within the Great Circle. However, when I stopped to get gas, I realized I was only 8 minutes away from Eagle Mound. So off to the Great Circle I went!
As soon as I parked I could see the gigantic, circular 1,200-foot structure of earth. It rendered me awestruck.
The Great Circle is one of the largest circular earthworks in both North and South America. There is a giant moat-like pit contained inside of the walls, not in front of them. Near the middle of the circle lies a giant eagle effigy mound.
An effigy is an image or representation of a person, animal or object. Many pottery vessels were made to represent animals and human heads. Effigy mounds are earthworks deliberately shaped to represent animals, humans, and even in a few cases, specific symbolic artifacts. Mounds have been found that were formed into snakes, birds, panthers, water creatures, shaman and ceremonial axes.
I got out of the car to take in the scenery. There were crows flying above the Great Circle. It was a remarkably beautiful day with no rain and lots of sunshine.
I walked around to the right side of the structure. There was a stone bridge that lead to the Great Circle’s interior, where you were able to walk around. I made my way towards the Eagle Mound, which is located right at the center of the circle.
In front of Eagle Mound was a sign that explained what is known about the earthwork. I walked around Eagle Mound and could see the shape, but from the ground it was kind of hard to tell what it was. You could definitely see the wings and head, but to me it wasn’t exactly clear what the shape of the structure was from the ground. I might not have caught onto the fact it was shaped like an eagle had I not known already.
I noticed that there were lots of other really small mounds or hills in the landscape around the eagle. I walked back across the stone bridge to exit the Great Circle. I then ran a lap around the Great Circle! I became winded and had to stop a few times throughout the jaunt.
It was now time for the first of two strain reviews: the Frozen Bananas 16.4% THC one gram hybrid pre-roll from Pure Ohio Wellness. It was packed in an opaque white tube. I didn’t see any stems or junk in the joint, which was nice.
The flower was wrapped in unbleached hemp paper. The cone’s tip had a Pure Ohio logo on it. It had a light, slightly fruity scent to it, which did remind me of banana a bit. The dry hit tasted like it smelled.
I stood outside of the Great Circle and faced directly towards Eagle Mound. I sparked the Frozen Bananas joint with a Bic lighter while fighting a slight breeze.
There was a bit of a run right off the rip, which may have had to do with the wind. I re-lit as necessary and puffed the piff. The ash was very light colored and the smoke was far from harsh. I liked the clean taste, which did remind me a bit of banana. It wasn’t a sharp fruity taste like citrus or strawberry, it was more of a muted fruit flavor.
The airflow quality diminished about 3/4ths of the way through the joint. I had to roll the joint’s tip and remaining flower to loosen it up. This actually fixed the airflow and the rest of the joint burned slow and even.
There were a few relights throughout the burn to fix slight runs, but overall this was not a bad joint at all. It lasted about 10 minutes. The medical effects were relaxing, but not overwhelming, and lasted about 45 minutes. As I waited for the effects to wear off, I sat within the Great Circle and meditated.
I gave the Frozen Bananas 16.4% THC one gram hybrid pre-roll a 7/10 for taste, 4/10 for harshness, 6/10 for strength, 6/10 for smell strength and 45 minutes for length of medical effects.
Ingredients: cannabis plant material, rolling paper (wood fiber), filter (cardboard).
Total THC 16.4%, Delta-9 THC 0.20%, Delta-9 THCA 18.5%. Total CBD 0.04%.
Harvested by Pure Ohio Wellness on 07/01/2025, tested by North Coast on 08/26/2025, packaged 09/03/2025, consumed 09/29/2025, expires 08/19/2026.
As I was leaving the Great Circle to head to Alligator Mound, I noticed a sign that said “only a few miles to visit Flint Ridge Ancient Quarries!” On a whim, I went off on a tangent to visit the ancient flint quarries. When would I ever be back in this area any time soon? I might as well explore as much as I possibly can.
I quickly found out that “Only a few miles” was eight miles of long, winding, hilly country roads with fast speed limits. Sometimes, cars would fly up and over these hills at an incredible rate of speed. All you could do was pray that they didn’t stray left to center.
I asked myself, how could you possibly drive these roads in the winter, with ice and snow? I determined that the answer to that question is you cannot drive these roads in the winter. It would be impassible and impossible.
After parking and getting settled, I headed into the Flint Ridge Quarries museum. I talked to the attendant and got a small tour of the facility. I learned that flint is a quartz rock. I learned about some of the many uses of flint.
There is a piece of flint in every Bic lighter which helps produce sparks that ignite the butane gas.
I left the museum and began walking the .75 mile Quarry Trail, which is surrounded by flint quarries.
The trail entrance
The Quarry Trail was a hilly hike! I have hiked lots of Ohio trails and this one gave me a particular workout with its uneven terrain. It was fun to run up and down these steep, root-laced hills.
I had a joint of Mixtape, grown by a friend right here in Ohio. I will be making a point to review more homegrown Ohio strains now that it is legal to grow cannabis in this state.
MixtapeMixtapeThe mixtape is loaded up in the cassette deck
Here is what the grower had to say about their Mixtape strain: “With its varied lineage, this happy little accident I stumbled upon has quickly become a fan favorite.”
The Mixtape had a very fresh, myrcene-heavy smell. It was pungent and aromatic. It smelled enticing. The strong smell was on the earthier side but I could detect slight fruitiness, maybe from the myrcene. It smelled really good!
The buds had nice greens and oranges in them with minimal stemmage. The Mixtape bag given to me contained small buds, so the nugs weren’t giant, but they were plenty smokeable and still looked great.
The buds were not overly dry and they stuck to my fingers as I broke them down. Through a grinder they did not turn to dust, which was awesome. The Mixtape nugs ground down to a nice fluffy consistency that was easy to pack and roll.
After enjoying a few tasty dry hits, I sparked the Mixtape joint within a flint quarry pit.
The quarry from afarThe quarry up close – it’s hard to see with all the leaves
The joint burned pretty slow, lasting around 10 minutes total. It produced white ash and tasted just like it smelled: earthy, fruity and gassy. It tasted awesome! I looked forward to each smooth draw.
Bye-bye, buddy!Time to hit rewind on the mixtape! Here was the ash color when smoked in a bowl.
For me, the Mixtape’s medical effects were hybrid-leaning. My body felt relaxed yet my mind was motivated. The aches and pains produced by the the day’s driving and hiking melted from my mind. The effects lasted about an hour or so.
I gave the Ohio Mixtape an 8/10 for taste, 3/10 for harshness, 8/10 for strength, 8/10 for smell strength and over 60 minutes for length of medical effects. I am definitely looking forward to reviewing some more Ohio homegrown cannabis! You can’t beat the freshness and taste.
After walking around and waiting a while it was time to head to Alligator Mound, which is a 25 minute drive from the Flint Ridge Quarries. The effigy mound itself is built atop a gigantic hill. In modern times there is an upscale housing development built all the way up this hill. The only way to reach the effigy is to drive five minutes up a long, winding residential road.
Once I plodded up the hill I reached the day’s ultimate destination: Alligator Mound.
There is no good place to park at Alligator Mound. There is only one small, thin road that circles the effigy. I parked as far to the side of the road as I could near the right side of the effigy.
Unlike Serpent Mound and Eagle Mound, you are allowed to walk on Alligator Mound. There is even one of those “PUP” Pick Up Poop doggie bag stations at the foot of the mound. Somebody is clearly cutting the grass atop the effigy, probably one of the nearby residents. How cool would it be to live right next to Alligator Mound and see it every day out of your window?
I sparked the final Mixtape joint and stood in awe at the incredible view. Crows circled above.
View from the highest point of Alligator MoundI turned around 180 degrees from the last shot and took this photoIn this shot you can see just how high the hill standsIt was a perfect dayYou can kind of see the effigy structure in this shotView from street levelThe final picture before I left
If I didn’t know what I was looking for I might not have noticed the effigy animal’s form while standing atop the structure. I might have just thought it was a hilly area. Maybe long ago it was easier to see the shape in the earth. Who knows what kind of animal it might actually represent? Probably not an alligator.
The view atop Alligator Mound was jaw-dropping, serene and beautiful, despite the painful eyesore of all the huge houses everywhere. It was damn near silent up there. I imagined what the view must have looked like before all of the “progress” and residential development.
I felt a calming energy as the crows quietly circled above. I sat atop Alligator Mound and appreciated the fact I existed and was even able to travel here in the first place.
I felt so high up atop the earth that it seemed like I could touch the clouds. This effigy was definitely built in this spot for a reason. I stayed as long as I could before I had to get in the car and leave the breathtaking area.
After visiting Serpent Mound, Eagle Mound and Alligator Mound, I can say for certain that it is very difficult and near impossible to see the shape of these structures from the ground. You have to be elevated up somehow in order to view them in full.
This past summer I traveled to Coshocton, Ohio with my brother to visit some Native American earthworks. While in the area I visited Coshocton’s two dispensaries: Ascend and Story.
Ascend was located in the same building that used to house an Ohio Cannabis Company dispensary. It was more of a barn than a building. One of the Ascend employees told me they used to work for Ohio Cannabis Company in that same building.
Ascend’s in-house brand of distillate disposable was called Ozone. The disposable device itself was excellent, with wonderful airflow and discreet design. However, the Kushocton distillate within the device was rather vile. It was harsh and only slightly tasted of limonene. I’d never buy that stuff again.
I preferred the vibe within Story’s shop to the feeling I got at Ascend. I also purchased a much better product at Story. I got a tenth of Black Maple from Treehaus, a DCC-licensed grower from Euclid, Ohio. The flower smelled SUPER strong and had an excellent woody and sweet flavor.
After visiting the dispensaries, we headed to the Johnson-Humrickhouse Museum to look at real-life mammoth bones along with ancient pipes of the Ohio Valley and beyond. Thank you to the museum’s staff who allowed me to publish this article!
There is a dog treat bakery next door to the museumMammoth bones found in Holmes County, Ohio
Near the mammoth bones was a large exhibit featuring ancient pipes from many cultures. On the wall was a sign with the following text:
The custom of smoking tobacco began in the Archaic period. Primitive pipes were simple stone tubes with a large cavity at one end for insertion of smoking material and a smaller hole at the other for drawing the smoke. In most cases a small pebble was inserted in the bottom of the bowl cavity to prevent the smoking material from entering the smoker’s mouth. Substances other than tobacco were undoubtedly smoked and the custom was probably limited to ceremonial or ritual occasions.
Early stone steamroller
Above is an ancient steamroller made from stone. Below is a view through the middle of the steamroller along with an effigy pipe standing next to it.
An effigy is an image or representation of a person, animal or object. Many pottery vessels were made to represent animals and human heads. Effigy mounds are earthworks deliberately shaped to represent animals, humans, and even in a few cases, specific symbolic artifacts. Mounds have been found that were formed into snakes, birds, panthers, water creatures, shaman and ceremonial axes.
I saw many effigy pipes at the Johnson-Humrickhouse Museum. Some were shaped like animals, while others had human-like faces.
While staring at these pipes I wondered about the people that puffed on these pieces. Where were they smoking? When were they smoking? What types of substances were they smoking on? Were the contents within the pipes something they grew themselves, or did they acquire it by other means? Could some of these pipes have been used to smoke cannabis or hashish?
Bird effigy pipeMaybe a panther holding something in its mouth?Some fine piecesFor contrast, here is a modern-day elephant effigy pipe made of glassWinnebago pipe made of red catliniteBeaded pipe bagOhio-found pipesOhio-found pipes along with an Iroquois pouchHaida Potlatch pipeHaida Potlatch pipeHaida pipes from Argillite only found on Haida GwaiiHaida tobacco pouchHaida snuff bowlAluet figuresRussian lead pipesJapanese NetsukeJapanese pipes
Check out all the different types of snuff bottles on display! They were probably used for tobacco snuff, but were some of them used for some sort of hallucinogenic snuff?
August 22nd, 2025 was a historic day for the city of Massillon, Ohio. It was the first day of the high school football season, and anybody who knows anything about Massillon knows the city holds a special place in football history. The people of Massillon love football!
More importantly, this was the city’s first day with a legal cannabis store. There is a Story Cannabis location coming to Massillon sometime soon, but Bloom beat them out to be the first dispensary in the city.
The sign looks nice!
Despite having a late night the previous evening, I woke up early and parked in Bloom’s spacious strip mall parking lot right at 7:00 am. The store was set to open at 8:00 am. I was the first one in line. At the front door there was a guy putting up signage on the windows. I asked him, “Do you work for Bloom?”
He responded, “No, I’m just the sign guy.” I said “Well, hello sign guy!” He finished affixing the signage, said goodbye and walked off. After that, a few customers got in line, probably around 7:10 am.
There was a sense of excitement and joy in the air as I spoke with the Massillon locals. One of the customers had some interesting stories about their several years of experience in the Ohio cannabis industry! Another passionate consumer, wearing a Massillon Tigers hoodie, explained to me about how much this day meant to them and the city.
They told me about how sick they were of smoke shops selling harsh, ineffective Delta-8 vapes and low-THC hemp flower. Those stores are everywhere in Massillon, even right next to the new Bloom! The responsible consumer had waited a lifetime for their home town to get a legal cannabis dispensary.
Despite being able to get zips of fire for $175 from their buddy, the Tigers fan loved how Bloom offered so many different choices and options. They told me they were going to try some 92 Cookies from Buckeye and look around at some terpene profiles to find some other flower options.
There were a few overjoyed Massillon residents showing me images on their phone of what they planned to order and asking my opinion. One customer was interested in Airo pods. I explained to them the difference between the live resin and distillate pods. I recommended live resin. We also discussed details about 510 carts and terpenes.
A few of the Massillon Bloom employees stepped outside to greet the crowd. I knew a few of them from the Akron Bloom store! One of the Massillon Bloom employees, Aaron, was someone I worked with a few years ago at Ohio Cannabis Company! It was a nice surprise seeing him. I knew I would see him again at some point, but I didn’t know it would be then!
Finally the doors opened, and I clapped and cheered as I walked into the spacious, well-lit showroom. The employees welcomed me. There was no specific check-in room. You just checked in with your ID right on the showroom floor.
After checking in, my budtender was none other than Aaron, who was also the budtender for my first-ever legal cannabis purchase which took place at Ohio Cannabis Company in 2023.
While I was the first customer through the door and to check in, the customer behind me had an online preorder. Since their order was all ready to go, they were the first one to make a purchase from Bloom Massillon. I was the second purchaser, but the first to place a walk-in order. I selected a Sweetscape Live Resin 510 cart from Buckeye, since I had yet to try Buckeye’s live resin.
After the purchase I thanked everyone, said my goodbyes, and headed home. I had an excellent time this morning at Bloom’s grand opening in Massillon! However, this was not the first dispensary grand opening I recently attended.
A few weeks ago I was in the Solon area and got word that a new Botanist location would be opening the next morning. It was short notice, but I thought to myself, “What if I could be the first one to make a purchase from their store?” It would take determination, dedication and a will to wake with the roosters, but I decided it was worth it.
On the morning of July 28th, 2025, I cracked open a can of coffee, hopped in the car, and got to Botanist a little over an hour before opening time. When I got there, the check-in employee told me it was cool to hang out in my car. They would make sure I was the first customer to walk through the door.
As I sat in my car, a police officer kept driving past the parking lot and looking at me. I thought to myself about how state, national and worldwide weed laws have changed over the last few decades. While Ohio’s legal cannabis laws and marketplaces are far from perfect, we’re lucky to live in these unique times. These are the times Ohioans have been patiently waiting for!
A Botanist regional manager walked past the car and I struck up a conversation with them. After noticing my industry badge, they asked a little bit about me and my experience in the industry. We chatted for a bit, I gave them a Bill’s Bud Blog sticker and they headed inside.
I was the first customer in line with coffee in hand on July 28th, 2025 at Solon Botanist’s grand opening.
A few minutes before 10:00 am, the check-in employee told me it was cool to step outside of the car and form a line. The guy next to me in line recognized that my car air freshener was fashioned in the likeness of the pro wrestler Earthquake. My brother had got me the air freshener for my birthday. I talked about old-school wrestling with the customer until the doors opened!
While checking in at the front desk I once again saw the regional manager from earlier. They told me that they had already read all of the poems on Bill’s Bud Blog! They had even pinned my sticker on the breakroom bulletin board and wrote one of my poems on their company whiteboard! I wish I could remember which poem they said it was.
All of the showroom floor budtenders were friendly and accommodating. There was a sense of exhilaration to the showroom. Everyone was ecstatic. I ended up getting a gram of Farkas Farms Super B hybrid bubble hash and I was indeed the first customer to make a purchase.
The budtender at the checkout counter looked familiar. They told me they used to work at Story in Cleveland. That must have been where I saw them.
A few weeks later when I went back to Solon Botanist, the first thing they said to me when I hit the showroom floor was “You look familiar!” I feel like I’ll always have a connection to that dispensary since I had such a great experience being the first one to exchange money across the counter.
During that second visit I learned about another new dispensary in Solon called Verilife. I had been to Verilife’s Hillsboro location and got an impressive $80 half ounce of Cantucci Cookies from their brand called Matter (spelled matter. with a lowercase m and a period at the end). It’s nice to see more Ohio dispensaries popping up! There are more to come in 2025 and beyond!
If you’d like to feel the feeling of being the first customer through a dispensary door, keep your eyes peeled for announcements about shops opening in your area. Since Ohio dispensaries can’t legally advertise, you’ll have to rely on word-of-mouth or internet sources.
I am not a fan of the winter months. The cold air dries my skin. The slushy ground dampens my shoes. If it wasn’t for weed I would bellow the blues.
One literal bright spot about winter time is the holiday display lights people affix to their homes. Despite their questionable energy demands upon the power grid, it’s comforting to see illuminated decorations during the holidays. Some groups of people go all out and decorate large industrial buildings while others band together and create multi-house displays.
This past season my brother Kenny and I decided to take a Christmas lights tour in order to see the best displays Cleveland had to offer. December 15th, 2024 was the date we embarked upon this quest.
Someone had a giant Ralphie from A Christmas Story blowup figurine in their front yard. It was two stories tall!
Kenny found a Christmas lights map on a Facebook page called Northeast Ohio Family Fun. He also researched information on ClevelandTraveler.com. He loaded up a pro wrestling theme song playlist on his car radio and off we went to our first stop, NELA Park, which is owned by General Electric Lighting. It’s the world’s first industrial park and was the location of many important discoveries in the field of lighting.
If you can’t park in one of the few front visitor spots there is really nowhere to park. Everything else was gated off. Across the street there is a GAS USA location which offers hot corned beef sandwiches. GAS USA should be the name of a weed strain.
We made it to East Cleveland and parked at NELA around 5:45 pm. It had already gotten dark outside. The weather was 42 degrees with some slight rain.
NELA Park featured a lot of pre-made displays with wooden cutouts. There were also some huge arrangements such as the 100 year anniversary candle atop the building. I appreciated the large variety of colors incorporated within the displays.
100 years is a long time.
The setup was somewhat underwhelming but still worth visiting. There were no flashing lights, animation or music incorporated anywhere. Most of the displays were behind fences, so you couldn’t walk through the lighting configurations. You could only stroll in front of them. The Ho Ho Ho Santa-Hat Bungalow was the only interactive element to the display.
KennyBill holding up the Christmas tree
There was a small amount of other people at NELA Park looking at the lights. It wasn’t much of an active scene. I’m sure the rain didn’t help with that. NELA park was a good stop to make in regards to completing the holiday lights tour but I wouldn’t say it was a must-see attraction. Its overall rating was a 6 out of 10, above average but not a required pilgrimage.
Trolley time!This was the most impressive element to the display.
On the way to the next stop I missed a few real good shots of huge downtown Cleveland buildings with cool lighting. I did manage to snap a few shots of Progressive Field. There are several dispensaries near the ballpark: The Landing, RISE, Shangri-La, Therapy, The Botanist, Nectar, Insa and Citizen by Klutch.
There are several dispensaries near the ballpark.Dispensaries near Progressive Field: The Landing, RISE, Shangri-La, Therapy, The Botanist, Nectar, Citizen and Insa.
The second stop on the tour was Strongsville Town Square. Apparently this place called Pleasant Hills Church was on the holiday lights list. They had a small outdoor display, but inside they were supposed to have a full-on light show with interactive Christmas-themed rooms.
As we entered the church this is what we saw.I snapped a shot with the cutout.
My brother and I entered the main worship hall and found an empty pew. The light show began just as we sat down. It turned out to be underwhelming with bad music and low-budget wizardry. I took some video but it is so boring that I didn’t bother to upload it and include it in the article.
I was expecting Christmas-themed rooms to walk through, not quite this. It wasn’t a big deal though. The people at the church were friendly. The second stop on the lights tour got a 2 out of 10 rating. It was a waste of time. You can’t win ’em all.
As I sat in the pew the song High in Church came to mind. Rest in Peace to Trevor Moore.
On the way to Strongsville Town Center I saw a house with Santa aliens in the front yard but sadly didn’t snap the shot in time. As we passed by I got a few shots of these holiday houses.
Next we went to Strongsville Town Center. There were several large displays, a big purple tree and a Grinch up in a high tower. It was an immersive walk through experience. I gave it a 7 out of 10. It lacked of audio and animation but I appreciated the large-scale effort and attention to detail.
The final stop on the 2024 holiday lights tour was Crown Point Parkway in Strongsville. This annual multi-home lighting arrangement has been featured on The Great Christmas Light Fight TV show. On the way there we drove past the highly-regarded restaurant known as Honeygrow. Sadly it was closed at the time.
Crown Point Parkway was holiday overkill. There were dozens of animated displays with synchronized music and flashing lights. During certain hours, live musicians perform and a man dressed as Santa hands out hot cocoa to people walking around the cul-de-sac. I gave Crown Point Parkway a 9 out of 10 for their daunting display of holiday detail.
There were more stops on the list but it was getting late and we were getting hungry. On the way home we had no choice but to stop for food. The only place open was Wal-Mart. In the snack section we saw an old classic, blue raspberry gummy sharks. When we got home we had a close encounter of the 26% kind with the UFOG strain from Old Pal!
It could just be me reminiscing with rose-colored glasses but it seems like a greater number of residents would light up their homes for Christmas in years past. Nonetheless, it’s entertaining to see the efforts people put forth with their holiday decorations. The only time I will truly be impressed is when I see green lights on a home for 420 or golden lights on a house for 710.
I am not a fan of the winter months. The cold air dries my skin. The slushy ground dampens my shoes. If it wasn’t for weed I would bellow the blues.
One literal bright spot about winter time is the holiday display lights people affix to their homes. Despite their questionable energy demands upon the power grid, it’s comforting to see illuminated decorations during the holidays. Some groups of people go all out and decorate large industrial buildings while others band together and create multi-house displays.
This past season my brother Kenny and I decided to take a Christmas lights tour in order to see the best displays Cleveland had to offer. December 15th, 2024 was the date we embarked upon this quest.
Someone had a giant Ralphie from A Christmas Story blowup figurine in their front yard. It was two stories tall!
Kenny found a Christmas lights map on a Facebook page called Northeast Ohio Family Fun. He also researched information on ClevelandTraveler.com. He loaded up a pro wrestling theme song playlist on his car radio and off we went to our first stop, NELA Park, which is owned by General Electric Lighting. It’s the world’s first industrial park and was the location of many important discoveries in the field of lighting.
If you can’t park in one of the few front visitor spots there is really nowhere to park. Everything else was gated off. Across the street there is a GAS USA location which offers hot corned beef sandwiches. GAS USA should be the name of a weed strain.
We made it to East Cleveland and parked at NELA around 5:45 pm. It had already gotten dark outside. The weather was 42 degrees with some slight rain.
NELA Park featured a lot of pre-made displays with wooden cutouts. There were also some huge arrangements such as the 100 year anniversary candle atop the building. I appreciated the large variety of colors incorporated within the displays.
100 years is a long time.
The setup was somewhat underwhelming but still worth visiting. There were no flashing lights, animation or music incorporated anywhere. Most of the displays were behind fences, so you couldn’t walk through the lighting configurations. You could only stroll in front of them. The Ho Ho Ho Santa-Hat Bungalow was the only interactive element to the display.
KennyBill holding up the Christmas tree
There was a small amount of other people at NELA Park looking at the lights. It wasn’t much of an active scene. I’m sure the rain didn’t help with that. NELA park was a good stop to make in regards to completing the holiday lights tour but I wouldn’t say it was a must-see attraction. Its overall rating was a 6 out of 10, above average but not a required pilgrimage.
Trolley time!This was the most impressive element to the display.
On the way to the next stop I missed a few real good shots of huge downtown Cleveland buildings with cool lighting. I did manage to snap a few shots of Progressive Field.
There are several dispensaries near the ballpark.Dispensaries near Progressive Field: The Landing, RISE, Shangri-La, Therapy, The Botanist, Nectar and Insa.
The second stop on the tour was Strongsville Town Square. Apparently this place called Pleasant Hills Church was on the holiday lights list. They had a small outdoor display, but inside they were supposed to have a full-on light show with interactive Christmas-themed rooms.
As we entered the church this is what we saw.I snapped a shot with the cutout.
My brother and I entered the main worship hall and found an empty pew. The light show began just as we sat down. It turned out to be underwhelming with bad music and low-budget wizardry. I took some video but it is so boring that I didn’t bother to upload it and include it in the article.
I was expecting Christmas-themed rooms to walk through, not quite this. It wasn’t a big deal though. The people at the church were friendly. The second stop on the lights tour got a 2 out of 10 rating. It was a waste of time. You can’t win ’em all.
As I sat in the pew the song High in Church came to mind. Rest in Peace to Trevor Moore.
On the way to Strongsville Town Center I saw a house with Santa aliens in the front yard but sadly didn’t snap the shot in time. As we passed by I got a few shots of these holiday houses.
Next we went to Strongsville Town Center. There were several large displays, a big purple tree and a Grinch up in a high tower. It was an immersive walk through experience. I gave it a 7 out of 10. It lacked of audio and animation but I appreciated the large-scale effort and attention to detail.
The final stop on the 2024 holiday lights tour was Crown Point Parkway in Strongsville. This annual multi-home lighting arrangement has been featured on The Great Christmas Light Fight TV show. On the way there we drove past the highly-regarded restaurant known as Honeygrow. Sadly it was closed at the time.
Crown Point Parkway was holiday overkill. There were dozens of animated displays with synchronized music and flashing lights. During certain hours, live musicians perform and a man dressed as Santa hands out hot cocoa to people walking around the cul-de-sac. I gave Crown Point Parkway a 9 out of 10 for their daunting display of holiday detail.
There were more stops on the list but it was getting late and we were getting hungry. On the way home we had no choice but to stop for food. The only place open was Wal-Mart. In the snack section we saw an old classic, blue raspberry gummy sharks. When we got home we had a close encounter of the 26% kind with the UFOG strain from Old Pal!
It could just be me reminiscing with rose-colored glasses but it seems like a greater number of residents would light up their homes for Christmas in years past. Nonetheless, it’s entertaining to see the efforts people put forth with their holiday decorations. The only time I will truly be impressed is when I see green lights on a home for 420 or golden lights on a house for 710.
In Akron you’ll find a bowling alley called Station300, formerly known as Stonehedge. In addition to countless bowling lanes they have an equal number of modern and classic pinball machines available to play.
Station300 Bowling in Akron, Ohio (Image from Google Maps)
My brother Kenny and I have been visiting the place for years to play pinball. Not only do they always have a wide selection of machines but they have deals where you’ll get three games for two dollars. Not many other places do that in an era where the average price of a pinball game is one dollar per player.
There is a huge selection of pinball machines at Station300. (Image from Google Maps)
While grippin’ the flippers at Station300 (I still want to call it Stonehedge) you never know who you’ll meet or what they’ll say. We once met some guy with his wife, I think his name was Adam. He was really good at pinball, I couldn’t believe how easy he made it seem to get a ridiculous score. He told us we needed to check out this place called Vaporosity in Sharon, Pennsylvania near the Ohio border.
Vaporosity sells nicotine vape juice and accessories along with a wide array of used Blu-Ray disks, DVDs and video games. They also house a massive gallery of pinball machines. When we finally found the time to do so, my brother Kenny and I made the trek out to Vaporosity to see what it was all about.
We decided that on the way there we would stop at a record store near Youngstown called Fat Hippy Records.
The shop is owned by music enthusiast Zac Younkins from Brookfield, Ohio. At Fat Hippy you’ll find a huge selection of vinyl records, cassettes, CDs and novelties, the likes of which are rarely seen these days. Available genres include rock, pop, punk, ska, metal, doom, desert, sludge, jazz, funk, soul, hip-hop, rap, R&B, comedy, spoken, reggae, dancehall, world, traditional, folk, country and others.
Walking into Fat Hippy Records and talking to Zac was like linking back up with an old friend. I had never met the guy before, but we seemed to connect on a number of levels. We talked about movies, our music collecting hobbies, Pyle cassette decks and the upcoming Kool Keith concert at the Westside Bowl.
Zac told me about his Bandcamp fundraising project called the Fat Hippy Records Anniversary Compilation. It’s a yearly release featuring all-new tracks from artists like Kool Keith, Illogic, MC Homeless, Jazzy Lion Man and many others. All proceeds generated from the compilation’s sales are donated to the National Endowment for the Arts to keep art education in schools.
I thumbed through records for nearly an hour. I felt like I had made several scratches upon the surface, but there were hours left of digging to do in order to get through it all. I zipped on over to my favorite section, the stoner/doom metal records.
Stoner/doom metal records have the coolest album covers. This one is for Distorted Folklore by the band Orbiter.Heavy Trip’s Liquid Planet is a newly-released Canadian stoner rock record.
I have seen several great shows at Youngstown’s Westside Bowl, including Daikaiju, Miesha and the Spanks, Conan and most recently Bongzilla. On the vinyl rack sat Bongzilla’s newest album, Dab City. I hadn’t heard it yet, so I grabbed it and took it to the register.
On the way to the checkout counter I stopped at the hair metal cassette section. It had been too long since I’d taken a chance on a band that I’ve never heard before. Would the gamble pay off? Standing near the front of the display was the 1990 debut release from Nelson.
The three dollar risk ended up paying off tremendously. The cassette was excellent! Unearthing unique gems like this is the reason why I love the genre of rare hair. I even contacted my buddy Hair Metal Matt to ask if he’d ever heard the album. He was more than familiar with it and expressed his appreciation for the fact I owned the release on cassette!
During the checkout process, Zac was enthusiastic about the fact he uses hand-stamped paper bags when selling vinyl records. He told a story of visiting trendy shops in SoHo neighborhoods and witnessing them hand-stamping their takeout bags. He then told me he’d give out free Bill’s Bud Blog and “Hashlips” Harry Hughes stickers to customers!
Here’s the Fat Hippy Records hand-stamped paper bag.
My brother and I enjoyed our stay at Fat Hippy Records but it was time to drive a few minutes across the PA border to play some pinball.
Vaporosity in Sharon, PA (Image from Google Maps)
We walked into Vaporosity to a laid-back, calm atmosphere. The two employees were off in the corner watching a DVD movie, intensely discussing current plot points and their various storyline implications. I got the vibe that the guys who work here smoke vapes and watch movies all day, pulling from the thousands of used discs sitting on the shelves.
The pinball tables were located in a large room to the left of the vape shop. Most of the machines were turned off until you asked an employee to flip it on for you. All of the tables were operated on coin drop, there were no silly scan cards or loyalty programs to deal with.
Here are several of the machines you’ll get to play at Vaporosity. (Image from Google Maps)
One nice aspect of Vaporosity’s gallery is that they house some hard-to-find releases. We played a few of the lesser-seen tables such as Earthshaker, Houdini and Jim Henson’s Labyrinth featuring David Bowie.
Another thing I found unique about Vaporosity is the fact that vaping is allowed while playing pinball. At most arcades you have to sneak outdoors or into some sort of a broom closet to rip your portable vaporizer, but not at Vaporosity. They also have a bunch of rare vinyl and music memorabilia on display, including a unique collection of every physical release Lana Del Ray has ever produced.
On the way out we expressed our gratitude to the staff for their hospitality. We bought a used copy of Mortal Kombat 11 for Nintendo Switch, hopped in the car and headed home. Later on I ended up buying a Pyle cassette deck like Zac had recommended. I used it to listen to the Nelson tape! All had come full circle.
