The Mill Creek Golf Course will close to the public the morning of Friday, May 9 due to a scheduled private event. Both North and South Courses will be closed. The Course will reopen to the public at 1:30pm on May 9.
For more information about Mill Creek Golf Course, visit our website at www.millcreekmetroparks.org.
Mill Creek MetroParks’ Lanterman’s Mill will have extended hours beginning Thursday, May 1. The Mill will be open to visitors Tuesdays through Sundays from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Admission is $1 for Mahoning County residents and $2 for non-residents. Students and seniors are $.75 and children 6 and under are free.
The Mill Creek MetroParks Lake Glacier and Lake Newport Boathouses will be open on weekends beginning Saturday, May 3. The Lake Glacier Boathouse, located on Price Road on the northwest side of the lake, will be open on Saturdays and Sundays in May from 11:30 a.m. – 6:30 p.m. Kayaks and pedal boats are available to rent. A passenger boat is available to rent Memorial Day through Labor Day. The Lake Newport Boathouse, located on West Newport Drive on the northwest side of the lake, will be open on Saturdays and Sundays in May from 11:30 a.m. – 6:30 p.m. Kayaks and pedal boats are available to rent.
For more information about Lanterman’s Mill or the Boathouses, visit our website at www.millcreekmetroparks.org.
Mill Creek MetroParks will hold Kite Festival, presented by WFMJ/WBCB on Saturday, May 3 from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. at the Mill Creek MetroParks Farm (7574 Columbiana-Canfield Rd., Canfield, OH 44406). Admission is free.
Members of the Ohio Society for the Elevation of Kites and Fly Pittsburgh will brighten the skies with expert kite flying and ingenious designs. Bring your own kites to share the fun and participate in kite flying activities and contests. A Create-a-Kite workshop will be offered inside McMahon Hall for a small fee. For more information, please call 330.740.7107 or visit our website at www.millcreekmetroparks.org.
Author Amy Stewart will present a lecture on her New York Times bestselling book The Drunken Botanist: The Plants That Create the World’s Great Drinks on Thursday, May 1 at 7 p.m. at Fellows Riverside Gardens. In her lecture, Stewart will explore the dizzying array of plants that humans have, through ingenuity, inspiration, and sheer desperation, contrived to transform into alcohol. Stewart will provide an intoxicating perspective on the leaves, bark, seeds, roots, flowers, and fruit imbibed around the world. It’s the compelling mixture of history, science, literature and humor that she is known for.
Meet Amy Stewart and enjoy appetizers, wine, beer, and botanical cocktail samples at a pre-lecture reception at 6 p.m. Tickets for the reception and lecture together are $38; or for Friends of Fellows Riverside Gardens members, $30. Tickets for lecture only are $25; or for Friends of Fellows Riverside Gardens members, $20. This lecture is presented with support from the John S. and Doris M. Andrews Trust and Friends of Fellows Riverside Gardens.
For more information and tickets, please call Fellows Riverside Gardens at 330.740.7116 or visit our website at www.millcreekmetroparks.org.
Representatives from Mill Creek MetroParks and the Rocky Ridge Neighborhood Association will cut the ribbon on the new Mill Creek Maple Sugar House at the James L. Wick Recreation Area (1861 McCollum Rd., Youngstown, 44509) Wednesday, April 30 at 10 a.m. The Sugar House was constructed this spring by volunteers from the Rocky Ridge Neighborhood Association as a place where the sugaring volunteers could cook down sap from the nearby maples in the Charles S. Robinson Maple Grove to make syrup. Donors to the project include The Youngstown Foundation, Gelbman Foundation, J. Ford Crandall Foundation, Mill Creek MetroParks, The Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley, USDA, 4th Ward funds from Mike Ray, and the Home Savings Foundation.
Along with the ribbon cutting for the Sugar House, sales of this year’s batch of Mill Creek Maple Syrup will begin on Thursday, May 1 at 10 a.m. at Fellows Riverside Gardens. Proceeds from syrup sales will go to the Children’s Play Area at the Wick Recreation Area. Last year’s batch of syrup sold out in less than 24 hours.
Then on Saturday, May 3 at 1 p.m., volunteers from the Mill Creek Maple project and the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County (PLYMC) will host a special “Mmm-mmm Maple Syrup” event at the Sugar House. PLYMC Librarians will host a story time for kids, and Mill Creek Maple volunteers will be on hand with syrup samples to taste.
The collaborative partnership between the Rocky Ridge Neighborhood Association and Mill Creek MetroParks took shape in fall of 2012 when MetroParks staff was approached by several members of the neighborhood group. Their idea was to tap some of the maple trees in the grove, and create maple syrup that could be sold as a fundraiser to benefit both the Rocky Ridge Neighborhood Association and Mill Creek MetroParks.
About the Mill Creek Maple Project:
In 1951, a grove of 125 sugar maple trees was planted in Mill Creek Park at Rock Ridge, now known as the James L. Wick Jr. Recreation Area, on the West Side of Youngstown. The intent was to someday tap these trees when they were old enough and collect their syrup. Named after former park commissioner Charles Snelling Robinson, the Charles S. Robinson Maple Grove has matured, and now, over 60 years later, the sap has been harvested for the second time during an entire “sugaring” season. It takes 40-50 gallons of sap to make one gallon of pure maple syrup and each syrup bottle is individually labeled and hand-numbered. Two members of the Rocky Ridge Neighborhood Association spearheaded this project. Paul Hagman and John Slanina attended classes to learn the maple sugar-making process from the ground up, along with the food handling requirements necessary for public sale of the product.
The third annual Fitness Together 5k Run & Walk will be held in Mill Creek MetroParks on Saturday, May 10 starting at 9 a.m. The race will begin at the James L. Wick, Jr. Recreation Area (1861 McCollum Rd., Youngstown, 44509) and participants will follow a 3.1 mile loop through Mill Creek MetroParks. All ages and ability levels are welcome at this walk/run, and awards will be given to the top 3 finishers in various age groups and the overall male/overall female finisher. Entry fee is $15 on/before May 9 and $20 on race day. All participants will receive a commemorative race t-shirt and gift bag.
Fitness Together has dedicated the proceeds from this event to help support the completion of the Children’s Play Area at the Wick Recreation Area, which will provide local children with a fun, healthy, safe place to play outdoors. Registration forms can be found by visiting www.facebook.com/ftcanfield.
More than 450 Scouts and volunteers are expected to scour Mill Creek MetroParks in recognition of Earth Day to remove winter buildup of litter and debris. This year, 25 locations throughout the MetroParks will be visited by 25 different Cub Scout Packs, Boy Scout Troops, Girl Scout Troops and the Boy Scouts Order of the Arrow. Groups will be coming from Austintown, Boardman, Canfield, Girard, New Middletown, North Jackson, Poland, Struthers, and Youngstown. The Cleanup is co-sponsored by the Whispering Pines District of the Greater Western Reserve Council, B.S.A. and Mill Creek MetroParks.
The Cleanup takes place on Saturday, April 26, 2014, throughout Mill Creek MetroParks. Coordinators will stop by the Ford Nature Education Center (840 Old Furnace Road, Youngstown, OH 44511) to pick up supplies before 9 a.m. and then meet with their groups at various locations and work until noon. This Cleanup takes place rain or shine.
In 31 years, more than 10,250 participants have volunteered more than 32,050 hours to clean various areas of the MetroParks. Just in the past 12 years, more than 1,800 bags of trash and 800 bags of recyclables along with numerous loose items such as tires, toys, furniture, pipes, wood crates, electronic items, and even the proverbial kitchen sink, have been removed. Last year, there were fewer bags of trash but more bags of recyclables.
As in years past, sponsorship of this event is in cooperation with the Recycling Division of the Mahoning County Green Team. They will be providing these hardworking volunteers with garbage and recycling bags, gloves, and grab-its, as well as pencils, certificates, and car litter bags for each participant.
This event is also in conjunction with the Keep America Beautiful Great American Cleanup, and America’s leading companies and brands support the campaign. The Great American Cleanup is proud to have the following national sponsors for the 2014 Great American Cleanup: Dow, The Glad Products Company, Lowe’s, Phillips 66, Troy-Bilt Lawn and Garden Equipment and Waste Management.
The MetroParks hosts the event by facilitating the organization and registration of groups, sites and supplies. Rural Metro Ambulance will be onsite in case of an emergency.
Areas within this Cleanup include Mill Creek Park and Mill Creek MetroParks Regional Facilities Yellow Creek Park, Mill Creek Preserve, Vickers Nature Preserve, MetroParks Farm, and the MetroParks Bikeway.
For more information about this year’s Cleanup or to have your group, organization, church, school, family or individuals come out and lend a hand, call the Ford Nature Education Center at 330.740.7107 or Mike Kupec, Mill Creek MetroParks Earth Day Cleanup Chairman for the Boy Scouts at 330.799.1475.
The 2014 Fellows Riverside Gardens Daffodil Show will take place Saturday, April 19 and Sunday, April 20. The American Daffodil Society Midwest Region Show, presented by Mill Creek MetroParks’ Fellows Riverside Gardens, is one of more than 40 American Daffodil Society shows held this spring throughout the United States. Entries for the general public will be accepted on Saturday morning until 10 a.m. The show will open on Saturday for public viewing at 1 p.m. followed by judging. The show will remain open until 5 p.m. Show hours on Sunday are 1 p.m. – 5 p.m.
This year will mark the sixth year that a special class will feature entries of Narcissus “Fellows Favorite,” a daffodil cultivar named for Fellows Riverside Gardens. Hybridized by Brent and Becky Heath of Gloucester, Virginia, this cultivar was named in honor of the 50th Anniversary of Fellows Riverside Gardens in 2008.
See “Fellows Favorite” among the thousands of daffodils now in bloom at the Gardens. Fellows Riverside Gardens is an American Daffodil Society Display Garden, and with more than 160 varieties, USA Today lists Fellows Riverside Gardens as one of the nation’s top 10 places to see daffodils.
Fellows Riverside Gardens is one of Ohio’s finest botanical display gardens and is open daily from dawn to dusk free of charge. The D. D. and Velma Davis Education & Visitor Center is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. For more information, call Fellows Riverside Gardens at 330.740.7116 or visit www.millcreekmetroparks.org.
More than 450 Scouts and volunteers are expected to scour Mill Creek MetroParks in recognition of Earth Day to remove winter buildup of litter and debris. This year, 25 locations throughout the MetroParks will be visited by 25 different Cub Scout Packs, Boy Scout Troops, Girl Scout Troops and the Boy Scouts Order of the Arrow. Groups will be coming from Austintown, Boardman, Canfield, Girard, New Middletown, North Jackson, Poland, Struthers, and Youngstown. The Cleanup is co-sponsored by the Whispering Pines District of the Greater Western Reserve Council, B.S.A. and Mill Creek MetroParks.
The Cleanup takes place on Saturday, April 26, 2014, throughout Mill Creek MetroParks. Coordinators will stop by the Ford Nature Education Center (840 Old Furnace Road, Youngstown, OH 44511) to pick up supplies before 9 a.m. and then meet with their groups at various locations and work until noon. This Cleanup takes place rain or shine.
In 31 years, more than 10,250 participants have volunteered more than 32,050 hours to clean various areas of the MetroParks. Just in the past 12 years, more than 1,800 bags of trash and 800 bags of recyclables along with numerous loose items such as tires, toys, furniture, pipes, wood crates, electronic items, and even the proverbial kitchen sink, have been removed. Last year, there were fewer bags of trash but more bags of recyclables.
As in years past, sponsorship of this event is in cooperation with the Recycling Division of the Mahoning County Green Team. They will be providing these hardworking volunteers with garbage and recycling bags, gloves, and grab-its, as well as pencils, certificates, and car litter bags for each participant.
This event is also in conjunction with the Keep America Beautiful Great American Cleanup, and America’s leading companies and brands support the campaign. The Great American Cleanup is proud to have the following national sponsors for the 2014 Great American Cleanup: Dow, The Glad Products Company, Lowe’s, Phillips 66, Troy-Bilt Lawn and Garden Equipment and Waste Management.
The MetroParks hosts the event by facilitating the organization and registration of groups, sites and supplies. Rural Metro Ambulance will be onsite in case of an emergency.
Areas within this Cleanup include Mill Creek Park and Mill Creek MetroParks Regional Facilities Yellow Creek Park, Mill Creek Preserve, Vickers Nature Preserve, MetroParks Farm, and the MetroParks Bikeway.
For more information about this year’s Cleanup or to have your group, organization, church, school, family or individuals come out and lend a hand, call the Ford Nature Education Center at 330.740.7107 or Mike Kupec, Mill Creek MetroParks Earth Day Cleanup Chairman for the Boy Scouts at 330.799.1475.
The North Course at the Mill Creek Golf Course is now open for the season. The Donald Ross-designed championship 36-hole Mill Creek Golf Course is located at 1 West Golf Dr., Boardman, OH 44512. The South Course at the Mill Creek Golf Course will open at a later date.
Call 330.740.7112 for the most up-to-date status of the Course in case of inclement weather. For more information about the Mill Creek Golf Course or to make a tee time, visit our website at www.millcreekmetroparks.org.