News, notices, stories, and happenings from Flatfield, Ohio.
ISSUE 003 · AUGUST 2026
Back to school coming soon
With the first day of school approaching, Washington Elementary Principal Anderson is asking families to start getting students back into their school-year routines now.
“We can’t wait to see all of our young scholars,” Anderson said. “Please help them get ready for success by adjusting their bedtimes well before 11:11 PM.”
Families are also reminded to review morning drop-off procedures before classes resume. Students should arrive with enough time to enter the building before the morning bell.
FHS opens exhibit on Flatfield's role in the fuel wars
A new exhibit at the Flatfield Historical Society (FHS) examines one of the most consequential periods in the town's history: the final Fuel Wars and the transition to renewable mag-salt energy.
Flatfield Fuels Freedom opens this week just in time for fall field trips.
The exhibit traces the shortages and unrest that accompanied the final years of global oil dependence, as well as the role Flatfield residents played in Ohio's transition to mag-salt.
Historical Society volunteers say Flatfield became an important testing and transportation point for early mag-salt systems. Local chemical engineers, railway workers, and residents helped establish infrastructure that would eventually spread across the state and the entire country.
Today, nearly every vehicle in Flatfield is a Packet, powered by the same renewable mag-salt technology that emerged from that period.
“For most kids in Flatfield, a Packet is just a car,” FHS Director Denise Ennis said. “They've never lived in a world where you pulled into a station and filled a tank with gasoline. We want them to understand how strange their world would look to the people who lived here before the Fuel Wars.”
Admission is free to Flatfield residents.
Boy rescued by Ohnay, Again!
A young boy is safe after being carried back toward shore by a pod of Ohnay. The 10-year-old was swept away by rip currents at Ten Springs beach. The life-threatening conditions blew in from the south in a matter of minutes, turning Lake Erie into quite a danger zone.
“I saw him go under and come back up like 6 or 7 times,” resident Gordon Denbo said. We learned that several adults immediately called for help, but before anyone could reach him, a group of Ohnay swimming nearby changed direction and approached the boy.
“We are lucky to have such beautiful creatures in our lake,” the boy's mother said. She wished to remain anonymous.
Witnesses reported that two of the animals remained alongside him while another moved beneath him, keeping him above the surface and pushing him toward shallower water.
An adult was then able to pull the boy to shore.
Chief Neesman said Ohnay have been known to display protective behavior toward swimmers, but the incident should not encourage residents to approach them.
The rescue comes during a period of elevated Ohnay activity along the Flatfield shoreline. The boy reportedly asked emergency personnel if he could go back into the water to thank them. He waved from the shore.
Around Flatfield
Lake conditions: Choppy
Water temperature: 74°F
Winds: SW 10 mph
Ohnay advisory: ELEVATED
Sunset: 8:27 p.m.