- Strolling downtown Sandusky Ohio is a pleasant experience
- The city has old architecture and interesting history
- It has beautiful landscaping and is well kept
- The original Red Popcorn Wagon of 1910 still sits in Washington Park
- The power of localism brings the city to life
Downtown Sandusky Ohio offers many interesting sites. A summer evening stroll through downtown Sandusky Ohio is quite an intriguing adventure.
The city has a very clean and well-kept appearance. Having spent time there as a child, it seems that the city is in better shape now than it was in the ‘60’s.
Sandusky sits on the shore of Lake Erie. Its main street used to run right to the water’s edge, which was a little frightening as a young child. Now a fountain and a park barricade the waterfront.
Visiting old architecture may be a prime motive for a visit to the city, but beautiful landscaping throughout is just as captivating.
There also sits in Washington Park the original Red Popcorn Wagon which has been there since 1910. Only the vaguest memory exists of visiting the wagon as a little girl.
Seeing the wagon sitting in the park has a surreal effect: could this be the original popcorn wagon? Yes, as it turns out, it has been restored and still offers locally grown corn from Schlessman seed, the only popping corn ever to be used in the wagon.
This summer in downtown Sandusky you might have encountered ‘strange’ phenomenon as you wandered about. In select places there were ‘floating’ sculptures. We first encountered Charlie Chaplan straddling a wire with a ladder in the lawn of the courthouse.
Later we stumbled upon acrobats suspended from wires in the park. The suspended art display was called “Over the Horizon of Lake Erie” by Polish artist Jerzy Jotka Kedziora.
Another item of fascination we discovered was a Historical Marker of the Kilbourne Plat. In 1918, Sandusky was laid out in the shape of the Masonic Emblem.
Reflecting on my visit to Sandusky, I thought about what made the visit so special. Many cities exist with fancy architecture or interesting history. It was really the memories, the human connections to the buildings and roads that brought them to life. But it’s a 2-way relationship because they also awakened the life within.
