News, notices, stories, and happenings from Flatfield, Ohio.
ISSUE 009 · OCTOBER 2026
Harvest Festival opens next week
We are officially counting down to next Friday here at the Gazette.
Flatfield’s annual Harvest Festival opens next Friday. Public Works crews and volunteers will spend most of next week putting the final pieces in place around the town square.
Road closures around the square will begin Thursday evening as crews finish vendor setup, install barricades, and prepare the route for Friday’s opening Harvest Parade.
Residents planning to watch the parade should follow posted parking restrictions and expect alternate traffic routes around downtown beginning Thursday night.
Festival organizers say residents may begin placing lawn chairs and blankets on the grassy lawn around the square and on the fireworks hill Friday morning. Chairs should face north toward the fireworks launch area. Residents are asked not to block sidewalks, emergency lanes, or marked festival routes.
The tall white security arches introduced this year will be in operation at the main festival entrances.
Golden Hour Bakery owner Kiera Elmwood also confirmed that the elephant ear operation is prepared.
The festival will officially begin Friday at 6 PM with a parade. Cleveland Bang Thang will close the festival with a 9 PM fireworks finale on Saturday evening.
Old map sends stone investigation toward rail line
The mystery surrounding the Flatfield Historical Society’s unidentified stone has moved a few blocks closer to the railroad.
Chaney Teedham made the discovery this week while participating in a history camp at the Historical Society. Teedham was helping sort old maps when he noticed a small hand-drawn symbol near one of the railway lines.
“When Chaney brought it over, we all knew why,” FHS Director Denise Ennis said. “The symbol looks remarkably similar to the marking on the stone.”
The tan-and-orange stone currently on display at the Historical Society has raised markings extending outward from its center. The symbol drawn on the map appears to have the same basic shape.
The map depicts an older version of downtown Flatfield, including railway lines that once passed behind the town square near where the gazebo now stands.
Historical Society volunteers have not determined who drew the map. They also do not know whether the map and the stone were originally connected.
“We have a symbol on a stone and what appears to be the same symbol on an old railway map,” Ennis said. “That gives us somewhere new to look. It does not give us an answer. We follow the science.”
For now, the stone remains exactly what it was last week. Unidentified.
Ferrets flourish in the divisional playoffs
By Jack Ridge
Four games down. Flatfielders, you know what happened next. One win and we move on!
Former Fighting Ferrets Kenton Bagger and Cory Clubanau have helped drag Cleveland right back into the American League Division Series after the team down by the lake dropped its first two games.
Bagger did what Bagger does.
He attacked hitters, worked deep into the game and shut the door when Cleveland desperately needed somebody to stop the bleeding.
Then Clubanau started swinging. And swinging. And swinging.
The former Ferret has been pounding the ball throughout the series, including another late-game blast that helped turn what looked like a quiet Cleveland loss into a very loud Cleveland win.
Suddenly the team everybody thought was in trouble has life.
Around Flatfield, old Ferrets shirts, hats and jackets have started appearing again.
Ten-year-old Ferrets superfan Allison Mackie said her family has watched every game.
“I like Cory because he hits dingers,” Mackie said. “But Bagger! Well, he is pretty good too.”
Pretty good?
Allison, he threw a perfect game a week ago!
Ferrets manager Darryl Gervin said watching former Flatfield players perform on baseball’s biggest stage has been special for the organization.
Flatfield watched these guys before the rest of the country knew their names.
Now everybody knows.
And the series is far from over.
I’m Jack Ridge. Be ready, Flatfield. More to come...
New Columbus Mag-Salt line opens next week
Central Ohio is about to get much closer to everywhere else.
The newest Columbus exchange on the national Mag-Salt Railway will open next week, expanding high-speed Packet service through the center of the state.
The new connection will let travelers arriving from the Columbus area transfer onto major east-west Mag-Salt routes without first going to another regional exchange.
Rail officials say the added capacity should shorten trips from Central Ohio to destinations across the Midwest and farther east and west to only a few hours.
The expansion is another step in a transportation system with deep Flatfield roots.
Work pioneered here by Dr. Betsy Thomas during the final Fuel Wars helped make reliable Mag-Salt transportation possible. Today, the technology powers both the Packets on Flatfield streets and the national railway carrying them hundreds of miles from home.
The Columbus exchange begins full service next week.
Around Flatfield
Lake conditions: Choppy, small craft advisory (3 to 5-foot waves)
Water temperature: 59°F
Winds: NW 15-20 mph
Ohnay advisory: LOW
Sunset: 6:56 PM