WEEKENDER | AROUND TOWN

Plenty of treats for Halloween

David Edward and Jamie Thompson at the Halloween party for Heart & Soul at Hensville.

HALLOWEEN, All Saints’ Day, and All Souls Day were cause for celebration.

PUMPKINS, witch hats, bats, and rats set the scene for the Halloween Party to benefit Heart and Soul: Caring for our Community on Saturday. About 300 costumed guests attended.

Co-founders Tony Rasczyk and Sally Binard said they started the fund-raiser 14 years ago to raise awareness for mental illness and help erase the stigma associated with it, especially because one in four people have some form of mental illness. They also wanted to bring people downtown because they both live in the area. The first event, at Grumpy’s with 100 people, raised $5,300. This year the event raised nearly $27,000. Since its inception, it has raised over $330,000 for the Northwest Ohio Psychiatric Hospital programs and the Thomas M. Wernert Center for those living with mental illness that offers peer driven programs.

David Edward and Jamie Thompson at the Halloween party for Heart & Soul at Hensville.

Greeting everyone was emcee Shaun Hegarty of WTVG-TV, Channel 13. Honorary chairman Dr. Mary Gombash thanked all for their support.

A harvest buffet dinner sated appetites as guests perused the silent auction and shopped a live auction by Karen Rose. The Dave Carpenter Trio, Ramona Collins with Josh Silver, and the Distant Cousinz band entertained.

Ms. Binard won a 55-inch flat-screen RCA TV in the heads-and-tails game, but she donated it to the Wernert Center for its upcoming $2.7 million expansion.

CURIOUS souls bravely strolled Toledo’s historic Woodlawn Cemetery on Saturday while the sun was still up. The Behind the Scenes History Tour presented by the Toledo History Museum included graves of local industrialists, politicians, social activists, and countless others. Well-known names were Ludwig, Lloyd, Collins, Gunckel, Waite, Sherwood, Harbeck, Wood, Ford, and Huebner. Tour guide, Renee Jayne, shared information about the historic figures based on her book, Toledo’s Woodlawn Cemetery. Patty Toneff, cemetery director, discussed funerary customs of some distinct groups.

The next tour is the Unholy Toledo Tour about gangsters in the Prohibiiton era. November is sold out, but openings are available for the Dec 16 tour from 10:00 a.m. to noon. For information go to toledohistorymuseum.org, visit the museum’s Facebook page, or call 419-215-2437.

The Toledo History Museum is at 2001 Collingwood Boulevard and is open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays and by appointment.

Barbara Hendel

THE BIG Cheese holiday tradition is back again thanks to Walt Churchill’s Market, which is celebrating 100 years in the Toledo community. A sneak peek of the 2,000-pound hunk was given during a reception at the Perrysburg location Monday. Walt Churchill said he was glad the market could pick up the “cheese” ball. The Andersons, with The Blade, revived the tradition in the last few years, but then The Andersons closed its retail stores. The tradition has come full circle. After Tiedtke’s Department Store, which started the tradition, closed, Mr. Churchill’s father, Gen. Walter A. Churchill, picked up the pieces to keep it going back then.

Wines and apple cider were served along with cheeses, fruits, and a cheese wheel-shaped cake decorated with mice.

The mice were also there in giant form from the Toledo Ballet’s Nutcracker and will appear again Saturday for the official Big Cheese Holiday Cheddar Cutting at 3 p.m. at the Perrysburg store. The cheese, made in Henning’s Wisconsin Cheese, will also be sold at the Maumee location for $5.99 per pound.

Barbara Hendel is The Blade's Society Editor. Contact her at: bhendel@theblade.com or call 419-724-6124.