- When you move here, when you move here, one of the first things that people quickly tell you, that it isn't Wooster, it's Wooster.

(upbeat pop music) (upbeat pop music continues) My name is Dawn Blattel.

- My name is Jeff Musselman.

- My name is Beverly Theil.

- My name is Shannon Waller.

- My name is Adam Schwieterman.

- I am Samira Zimmerly and I am "City Centric."

- And I am "City Centric."

- And I am "City Centric."

- And I'm "City Centric."

- And I'm "City Centric."

- And I'm "City Centric."

- Welcome to PBS Western Reserve's signature series, "City Centric," today we're in Wooster, where innovation, business, and entertainment are at the forefront of this community.

(upbeat pop music continues) (slow music) If you've never been to Wooster, you have been missing out on all the wonderful local restaurants and downtown festivals that take place.

One of their most popular festivals, Wooster Fest, attracts thousands of visitors throughout northeast Ohio and even has a wiener dog race.

I'm your host, Sthephanie Marie, and this is "City Centric," the show where we explore our region through the eyes of six passionate individuals who are shaping the fabric of our cities.

Their stories will inspire us with the ways they show up for their communities, making every one of us a little more "City Centric."

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (traffic rumbles) (traffic continues rumbling) (slow guitar music) - I always tell people about this, kind of tongue in cheek, is I was not excited to move to Wooster.

Am I gonna, as a young person, am I gonna be able to, like, find a cohort of friends here or a community here?

I'm pleasantly surprised, you know, 12 years later, this is my home.

Yeah, my name is Adam Schwieterman.

I'm the executive director at Local Roots Market & Cafe.

Local Roots is a year-round indoor cooperatively owned and managed market.

So we sell a full array of things from 100% local producers, basically like an indoor farmer's market, cafe, coffee shop all bundled into one.

How I got involved with Local Roots was because I had an idea to start my own business, knew I kind of wanted a life change, and I was sitting at this music festival and I saw the food vendors that were working, and I started putting my, you know, business background to work a little bit.

And my, you know, the gears were running in my brain and I realized that I could probably start a similar business to that.

So I went home and started working on the business plan, but I didn't have a commercial kitchen to be able to use.

Food trucks a lot of times need a commercial kitchen to be able to operate out of.

Somebody said, "You should go down and check out Local Roots."

And so that's always my joke, is I got into local food through the back door 'cause the commercial kitchen is in the back of Local Roots.

And so I went in through the commercial kitchen, found a bunch of people all working on their small businesses, you know, somebody was making hot sauce and somebody was making bagels.

Through that, I found this kind of community of entrepreneurs that were all working on getting these businesses up and running and then selling them through the market at Local Roots.

And that was infectious.

And, you know, that started, I'd say 11 years ago, and now, you know, that has developed into a full-time job.

We have almost 300 producers that sell here in a given year, and I get to be a part of each and every one of their stories, which is really great.

- Having a community that supports small businesses is essential to a thriving city.

Our visionary, Samira Zimmerly, takes pride in keeping those businesses growing through her work as the first female president of the Chamber of Commerce.

- The local businesses are what help make a community thrive, and without them, our community wouldn't be what it is today.

They support our local sports teams, they support our local nonprofits.

They are supporting the local government paying taxes.

I mean, they're the ones that really make our community what it is.

I'm Samira Zimmerly, president of the Wooster Area Chamber of Commerce.

The Chamber's here to connect business and community, and to offer resources to the business.

When I came to Wooster, I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

I wasn't even sure what a Chamber of Commerce truly was, and I quickly realized the impact that the organization could have on the community.

My passion for the organization continued to grow, and I quickly realized the impact that I could have, along with all of the other amazing people, and so it was very easy for me to continue to want to get involved and make an impact.

And so when my predecessor announced that he was leaving, I found myself asking, "Who is going to be the next president, and who's going to care about our members the way that they need to be cared about?"

And it kept coming back to, what are you going to do?

And I found myself (laughs) sitting there really doing some soul searching.

And at that time there had never been a female president, and I wasn't sure if they would truly consider a female.

I had been here for 10 years at that time, and that's when I realized, you know what?

You've gotta go for it.

At that moment, that's when I decided it's time to update that resume.

I had not updated my resume in 10 years.

(laughs) So, and went through the interview process just like everyone else, and then I was selected as the first female president.

And, yes, that next year we were selected as National Chamber of the Year.

(slow music) (slow music continues) (slow music continues) - My name is Shannon Waller.

I grew up in Doylestown, Ohio, which is in Wayne County, and Wooster is the county seat of Wayne County.

So I was familiar with it growing up, though I went to college in Santa Barbara, UC Santa Barbara, had a wonderful time there.

Went to law school in San Francisco, and after I was in California about 10 years, I started realizing that family was really important.

My family was all still back in Ohio, so I moved back and joined a family business that my parents started.

And that was a really great experience to work with my parents and with other people in the community.

They eventually decided to sell the business, and I decided I wanted to do something different.

So that's when I got into the nonprofit world, and this opportunity opened up in Wooster for the executive director of Main Street Wooster.

And I was really excited about it because it brought in the benefit of the community, and also to help businesses thrive.

And my predecessor had been the very first executive director of Main Street Wooster, Chandra Hall.

So she started in 1987, and I was able to have a chance to speak with her and see what she had accomplished, and talk to the people who were involved in the organization.

And there was a real passion for the community that came through in those conversations.

(slow music) (slow music continues) We are in Grigio Wine & Cocktail Bar, which was founded by a lady named Natalie Gray.

And during the time that I've been with Main Street Wooster, she made it into this wonderful wine and cocktail bar that is also an art gallery.

So she is showcasing a lot of local artists, and it's just a wonderful space that is one of my favorite third spaces in the community.

So we've worked on trying to develop an arts district.

That seems to really be moving forward, and the way that I can contribute personally to that is by convincing people to help invest funds in things like the decorative wraps that go on utility boxes.

So that's something I'm really excited about.

I was able to launch an art contest that allowed public input to see which design they liked the best, and that's going to be installed in the spring in downtown Wooster, and there are 15 utility boxes that I can play with over the course of the next few years, and the city has worked very closely with us on allowing us to do that.

(slow music) - Allowing a space for art to be explored is one of the many ways Wooster is giving back to its community.

Shannon and our artists, Dawn Blattel, see the opportunities that are possible through providing a space to explore the arts.

(slow piano music) - Hi, my name's Dawn Blattel.

I'm a blessed Wooster art teacher, but I didn't start out here, and I've got a great story how I landed.

I was a graduate of Kent State in art education and I worked there as a TA for two years, and I went on the quest to find a classroom of my own.

200 applications later, I had a principal call and ask me if I wanted to be a Wooster General, and that was just supposed to be a maternity leave for a year.

15 years later, I'm still in the same classroom and excited to show up every day.

I love creating a safe space for my students at the middle school level, well, 'cause developmentally it's the stage where you want perfectionism, and that's so hard to obtain for any human that it makes a lot of people get to that "I can't draw a stick figure" stage, but to show kids that there are bunches of art supplies to explore, bunches of ways to approach things.

I tell them often I thought about being a math teacher, but I realize for me, two plus two would be four for the rest of my life, and here I give them a problem and they're all supposed to give me different answers.

And it's okay that even if they pick the same topic, there're gonna be different artworks because they're different artists with different opinions and different talents.

And so I think that's one of the ways that we can show them that their individuality is okay.

I frequently tell them that weird is wonderful.

I refused to not teach clay during Covid, amongst all the protocols, I still set it up so it was possible.

And they're supposed to create a creature that's never been seen before that is also a piggy bank that guards their money.

A student wanted to make their creature their bowling ball come to life.

Not knowing how to do bowling ball swirls with a brush, I told them I'd experiment.

Turns out I invented a whole new way to decorate clay in the process.

So not only did I show my students that I was willing to be brave and try things and see what would happen and that you can make new things, I was also able to share that with my community, that a young mind can be the inspiration for a professional to try something new.

And I've also then been able to share that with other businesses and companies like Mayco, who's the major distributor of the glazes I use.

So they've even chose to, like, film me doing my method so other artists can learn, and they've supported me teaching my method across Ohio, in San Antonio, Texas, and all the way to San Diego also.

So our education is so important.

They've scientifically found that not only do brain neurons develop differently and make better synapses, they've also found that they tend to have better social emotional skills.

It's resiliency, a big part of it, as well as creativity.

(slow music) (slow music continues) - Okay, what do I do, why do I do it?

Two friends and I incorporated a nonprofit.

Well, you're sitting with me now in the living room of one of the group homes of Outreach Community Living services.

This is important to me personally.

My mother's best friend had a girl who was Down syndrome.

Her parents had the resources, not all parents do.

The other issue is parents age and their children age with them, but sooner or later the parents will not be here.

They will have not outlived their child.

Where does that child live that they're safe?

And we provide a safe home for people whose parents are no longer with us, or whose parents are no longer able to care for their child.

This year we will be in operation 48 years.

We currently have four group homes, and around 40 people living independently in small apartments, one bedrooms, efficiencies that we help.

(gently chiming music) And there's another Indian saying from Chief Sitting Bull, "Let us come together and see what life we can make for our children."

We have to teach them how to love themselves and others and the world around them.

This has been a passion of mine, otherwise I wouldn't be here 48 years later.

(laughs) I didn't think I was gonna cry on this.

(laughs) - Our historian, Jeff Musselman, has seen Wooster from the inside out and continues to pour his time and efforts into growing this community.

- Name's Jeff Musselman.

I'm an attorney in Wooster, and historian, history buff of local history.

So as you dig into local history, it's a fascinating depth of personalities and events.

There's a lot to share, I think that is exciting and gets kids excited about where they live.

And I always say you have to know where you've been in order to formulate where you're gonna go in life.

And so this gives you your foundation to understand your local history.

To me, history is storytelling, and I was that kid that I always thought history was boring because it's names, dates, and places, you know, who cares?

But it's really a story of people, and people to me are fascinating, and let's start with the stories of those people and what they did, and then we can fill in the blanks later as to, well, what was his name or what was her name and when was this so I can understand how it fits in the sequence with other things.

You know, that's how I think history is best approached.

The history of Wooster, it was originally settled by a white population in 1808.

Before that, there had been, you know, thousands of years of habitation here in this community.

We try to preserve that history as best we can, and to educate people who they were before us.

Immediately before us were the Delaware or Lenape Nation, and then in 1805 there was a thing called the Treaty of Fort Industry, which opened up for settlement the northern half of Ohio.

And so quickly thereafter, you know, survey contracts went out.

You know, in order to buy land, it had to be surveyed first.

And so there was three industrious young men, the Larwill brothers.

There was Joseph, William, and John who got the survey contract to come here.

And so in 1807, they set out, surveyed this area, platted out Wooster.

They were industrious but not independently wealthy, and so they had financiers for that.

And this Beall House right here, General Beall was one of those people who financed that.

(slow music) To understand, you know, local history, you have to understand it all from beginning to present, and it has to include warts and all.

There are ugly parts of history, and we need to acknowledge those, not pretend they didn't happen, okay?

And that happened in every community, so there's no shame to that, but it also is a part of you, and in order to, I think, be a better community, we need to acknowledge that there are elements that we are not so proud of, and that we need to constantly be aware of that and combat that.

You know, in the '20s there was a massive Ku Klux Klan parade through downtown Wooster.

Not a proud moment, but it's one we don't hide from.

You can't hide from them.

And people would love to say, "Oh, they were all outsiders."

No, they weren't.

It's something you have to acknowledge, and say that that's not what we want to define us or who we're going to be going forward.

(slow orchestral music) - A student in our community created their own chapter of the NAACP because they saw that their high school needed it.

There are those kind of students all over the place, and why teachers stay in one classroom for 15 years is 'cause we're excited by them as much as we hope that we excite them.

- Yeah, I think there has been a lot of progress.

We have a very active NAACP, great leadership with it.

- I think a "City Centric" person is somebody that has to ultimately put other people ahead of themselves a little bit, you know, people that are just as focused on other people as they are themselves.

And we have a lot of that here.

- In not being from here originally, I can say that there's not anywhere else that I can imagine calling home now.

- People fall in love with Wooster.

You can kind of see it when people start talking about the community.

So that energy comes off very quickly and it's sustained.

It's not people just saying it for the sake of the conversation.

It’s really heartfelt and that comes through.

- Everyone here truly works together, and there is a sense of community and partnerships.

Over the years, you have seen things continue to thrive and our community be recognized for so many things for that reason alone.

And we've won awards and we've been recognized in a lot of different ways, Best Hometown, our hospitals winning awards.

(slow music) - Speaking from personal experience, I could tell you I think there's a misconception about Wooster, that it's just agricultural.

And I think that's one of the parts that I love about it, is that there are small farms in this area and you can get really good quality food, but if you go around our downtown, you also have art galleries and yoga studios and coffee shops and really good restaurants.

And so you have this awesome mix of, you know, small rolling farms just five minutes outside of town, but then a bustling city center in the middle.

- The city of Wooster has influenced me by just exposing me to things I'd never experienced before.

And coming from, you know, a major metropolitan area to here, when we moved here, Wooster only had 18,000 people.

I went to a college that had more people than that, okay?

So that was a bit of a jolt.

And then (sighs) it has made me realize that small town life isn't what I thought it was.

So it's made me grow in that way.

(slow music continues) - Go Woo isn't just a concept, it's a heartfelt feeling around here.

We want to see each other succeed.

We do things to lift each other up.

I'm a member of the United Way here.

There's also a Boys and Girls Club that's strongly supported.

We have an OHuddle mentorship people, where people from the community pour into our students.

We recognize and value that they are our future, that they are interesting, that they have voices, that they have opinions, and that they are gonna be where this community goes.

And so not only myself, but I see the community pour into our students all the time.

(slow guitar music) - You know, we do an amazing job, I think, with our local charities and nonprofits, supporting them, and if there's a cause to be had or supported, it's there.

And I just went off Boys and Girls Club for seven year on the board there, and that was just created, like, eight years ago.

So, you know, things like that that we saw a need in the community for young people, and a group of gentlemen created the club, and, you know, we've tried to take it to the next level for the kids.

So, you know, there's always somebody doing something in the community, for the community.

I think that's an important part of what defines Wooster, and just good people, they are.

If they weren't, I wouldn't be here.

(laughs) There's other places in the world, but I'm happy here.

I love it as a home.

- If people want to make change in their community, they should start by talking to their City Council members, finding out what efforts are involved in that direction already, figuring out what people could be their allies, what organizations could be their allies, volunteering on those committees.

There are a lot of ways that people can engage the community to make a change that they want to see happen.

(slow guitar music) - Spend a weekend here, spend a week here.

You know, if you've got time, like, I think it's worth seeing, and maybe, you know, you could teach us something about what it is that you're doing in your town.

But there's a decent chance you're gonna walk away and find something that maybe you could take home too.

- I want to show up to lift the whole community, and I wanna show up for the one person that needs it that day, and I see that over and over.

- The leadership and the majority of people are looking to the future, and how can we make Wooster better five years from now, 10 years from now?

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) - The passion these six guests have for their city can be mirrored throughout the community.

No matter what your drive is, the people of Wooster will make sure you have what you need to call this place home.

(upbeat music continues) What steps can you take to be "City Centric"?

When you find a way to inspire, innovate, and energize within your community, you invest in a future that is better for all of us.

Are you "City Centric"?

(upbeat music continues) - My name is Shannon Waller.

- My name is Beverly Theil.

- My name is Jeff Mussleman.

- My name's Dawn Blattel.

- My name is Adam Schwieterman.

- I'm Samira Zimmerly and I am Wooster centric.

- And I'm Wooster centric.

- And I'm Wooster centric.

- I am Wooster centric.

- And I'm Wooster centric.

- And I am Wooster centric.

(slow music) (upbeat music) - They either said you would love or hate Coccia House and I fall into the love category.

- My favorite pizza, there's only one.

It's Coccia House.

- Do you have bloopers because thats funny - Not yet, not yet.

(group applauds) Are we done?

- [Speaker] No.

- No?

Okay.

- Local Roots, yeah.

My favorite restaurant in Wooster, I have to say Local Roots.

a little self-fulfilling, but great food.