A weekend event in the Village of Dennison celebrated transportation, with a special guest appearance by Ohio Governor Mike DeWine.
The America 250-Ohio Commission, the Dennison Railroad Depot Museum, railway officials, and others partnered to bring the Buckeye Train signature event to celebrate Ohio’s contributions to transportation.
Riding in on Sunday’s excursion was the governor and First Lady Fran DeWine.
“Train trip was a lot of fun. This is a great opportunity to remember that period in our history. For us to remember railroads and particularly War World II. Dennison has a special role. This was a main line over a million soldiers came through here and people in the community came together and fed them. It’s something to remember and celebrate.”
Depot Director Wendy Zucal was overall pleased with the turnout and said they had a lot of help.
“Everybody should be very proud. This is a huge joint effort between the America-250 commission, the railroad, the depot, the Village of Dennison, definitely Newark, Coshocton, Uhrichsville, Newcomerstown. There’s no way we could have done it by ourselves.”
Village Mayor Greg DiDonato said the two-day event brought vitality to the area.
“Turned out to be a beautiful event. A lot of pride and very proud of the depot, rail commission, railroad, citizen, and everyone stepped up to the plate to make this a wonderful experience.”
Zucal added that anyone wanting to ride a train have the opportunity this year as tickets are on sale for several events, like a layover for the Newark strawberry festival, Victory on the Homefront, a train film fest, and others. More details are at dennisondepot.org.
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