Vacations Blog

Springfield, Ohio

Like the ignored elephant in a room, Springfield, Ohio has long been neglected as a travel destination in our family. All too often serving as reference for how many more miles to home, a final gas or restroom stop, but never a destination unto itself. It’s kind of sad, really, for not only can Springfield boast itself the childhood home of notables like John Legend and Jonathon Winters, but it is quietly becoming the antiquing mecca of Middle America.

To say that there are 15 antiques shops in Springfield might be a bit misleading for several of the shops are enormous antique malls with hundreds of individual antique dealers from all over the country. Chances are if you are looking for a particular item, you will find it in Springfield.

Of note, the Heart of Ohio Antique Center located at 4785 East National Road is a 116,000 square foot facility, fully carpeted and climate controlled, that is home to over 650 individual dealers. The place is massive! I’ve found them to be an excellent starting point when it comes to replacing the collectible Fiesta plates and bowls my kids are so prone to breaking.

Fiesta Pottery at Heart of Ohio Antique Center

AAA I-70 Antiques at 4700 South Charleston Pike is also fully carpeted, climate controlled and home to over 200 dealers in it’s 30,000 square foot facility.

The Springfield Antique Center located at 1735 Titus Road is another gem in the Springfield antique market. In addition of thousands of antiques in just about every category imaginable, they pride themselves on accessibility and a pet friendly environment. That’s right, if Fido enjoys browsing for relics of yesteryear he’s more than welcome at Springfield Antique Center. Unless of course, Fido is a horse or a longhorn. I’m sure there are limits.

There are many, many more stores for you to check out in and around Springfield. Most are open daily with hours generally 10 am to 6 pm.

And while I’ve found that some of my most enjoyable trips are the totally spontaneous ones, you may want to mark your calendars and plan ahead for your antiquing visit to Springfield. Three times a year, May, June and September, the Springfield Antique Show and Flea Market holds its Antiques Extravaganza at the Clark County Fairgrounds

Clark County Fairgrounds Springfield, Ohio

These three day events host over 2,500 antique dealers from literally all over the world in the dozen or so buildings and across the open grounds of the fairground. Wear your comfortable shoes and clear a spot in the garage or basement for that something that you no doubt just can’t live without.

There is a nominal fee for entering the Fairground Extravaganza (about $3.00) but it’s good for the entire day. The first one scheduled for 2009 is May 15-17. June dates are 26-28 and September is scheduled for the 18th through the 20th.

The Springfield Antique Show and Flea Market also holds monthly sales at the fairgrounds located at 4401 S. Charleston Pike.

So yes, there’s more to Springfield than gas stations and restrooms. If you like antiques, this is where you need to be.

Springfield...Where Antiques Are

Photo credits: Clark County Fairgrounds, Heart of Ohio Antique Center, City of Springfield.

Oh, the places you’ll go!
There is fun to be done!
There are points to be scored.
There are games to be won.

Dr. Seuss (Theodore Seuss Geisel), Oh, The Places You’ll Go! (1990)

The Grinch and Max

It starts earlier every year. The Christmas sales. The Christmas music. The Christmas decorations. By the day after Thanksgiving, we’ve all given in to Black Friday sales, twenty-four hours of Christmas music, and planning nonstop until December twenty-fifth.

One thing that’s usually welcome amid all the holiday chaos (at least for families with kids) is Christmas specials on TV. Santa. Rudolph. Frosty. Even the Grinch is welcome this time of year.

The Grinch of course was created by Dr. Seuss in How the Grinch Stole Christmas, one of the forty-four books Theodore Geisel wrote under the pen name Dr. Seuss. Geisel became such a well-known author that his books (from 1937’s And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street to 1990’s Oh, The Places You’ll Go!) have been translated into over twenty languages. Geisel also won a Pulitzer Prize, three Academy awards, and his works have provided the material and inspiration for television specials, Hollywood films, and a Broadway musical.

The Cat in the Hat watching over his creator, Dr. Seuss

For true fans of Dr. Seuss, a vacation to New England wouldn’t be complete without visiting the Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden in Geisel’s hometown of Springfield, Massachusetts. Located in a quadrangle of museums, the bronze works were sculpted by Geisel’s step-daughter, Lark Grey Dimond-Cates, for the Springfield Library & Museums Association. Among the characters in the quad are Horton the Elephant, Sam-I-Am, Yertle the Turtle, the Grinch with his dog Max, and the Cat in the Hat looking over Dr. Seuss himself.

The Sculpture Garden is accessible year-round. The adjacent Springfield Museums are the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum, the Springfield Science Museum, the Connecticut Valley Historical Museum, and the Museum of Fine Arts. Hours and admission fees for the museums are available at the Springfield Museum website.