Ohio's first lady dedicates new Findley 'Storybook Trail'

WELLINGTON — Ohio First Lady Fran DeWine made her first-ever trek to Findley State Park on Monday, helping to dedicate its new "Storybook Trail." She held a copy of "Blue Sky, White Stars" by author Sarvinder Naberhaus and illustrator Kadir Nelson. "It's about our beautiful outdoors," DeWine said. "It's about our flag, the Statue of Liberty and it parallels it to our people. If you look at the picture of the people on the cover, it really shows the diversity that we have here in America." The new trail is located near the campground area of the park. It is dotted with panels pulled from the book and placed at a child's height. There now are 15 such trails at state parks all over Ohio. A map to all of them can be found at tinyurl.com/OhioStorybooks. In addition to the one at Findley, another was dedicated Monday at Sycamore State Park in Montgomery County. Gov. Mike DeWine had been expected to help cut the ribbon at both locations, but did not end up making the trip. No explanation was offered for his absence. The Storybook Trail program was launched in 2019 to promote literacy, healthy living and connecting with nature. Mary Mertz, director of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, said DeWine championed a partnership with Dolly Parton's Imagination Library. The nonprofit mails free books to kids up to age 5 in an effort to boost their early reading skills en route to kindergarten. The service came to Lorain County in 2015, starting in Elyria and quickly expanding. Families can register to get books at imaginationlibrary.com. "Two things that I really love are spending time with our family and reading," DeWine said. "And it's so much fun to spend time outdoors, so I thought what could be better than having these trails in our state parks?" Story trails have grown in popularity across the country during the past year as a way to safely get out and about during the pandemic. OberlinKids has organized a 1-mile story "stroll" through the city's downtown, with a book split up in the windows of downtown businesses. Avon and North Ridgeville each launched storywalks before the pandemic began. Contact Jason Hawk at (440) 329-7122 or news@lcnewspapers.com.