Heritage Trails Park District - 2025 Stahr Award Winner!
Heritage Trails Park District - 2025 Stahr Award Winner!
Earlier this month, Heritage Trails Park District was presented with the STAHR AWARD from Ohio's Grand Lake Region Visitors Center! We are so grateful to receive such an honor! Thank you!
Each year, the Stahr Award is given to one group, organization or business for its outstanding contributions to the development and promotion of tourism in the Auglaize & Mercer County area. The granting of this award began in 1998, named for former Visitors Center Trustee, the late Bill Stahr.
Pictured here:
Heritage Trails Park District Executive Director PJ Fought along with Ambassador Award winner Matt Tuttle and Past President Award winner Jared Ebbing.
Be sure to stop in at the Fruit Hall during this year's Auglaize County Fair, July 27th-August 2nd. Heritage Trails Park District will have an informational booth space with park district brochures, stickers for kids, program information and a fun display!
Stay tuned for scheduling information for our annual Swift Night Out!
In late summer of 2025, Heritage Trails Park District will host a ‘Swift Night Out’, where we will observe an impressive colony of Chimney Swift birds return after sunset to roost within a local building's chimney. All ages are invited to attend! Bring your own lawn chair or blanket to sit on, as well as binoculars or cameras if you choose. Heritage Trails Park District will give a brief presentation about the Chimney Swift and share some interesting facts about this remarkable bird. Then at dusk, we hope to observe and count the number of swifts that enter the chimney to roost for the night. ‘Swift Night Out’ is a continent-wide effort to raise awareness about & encourage interest in Chimney Swift birds. Chimney Swifts play an important role in pest control, each family of them eating up to 12,000 mosquitoes & other bugs everyday! This seasonal migration event has become a favorite for biologists and amateur birdwatchers alike.
Dates & lo
56th Annual Walk With Nature Fall Festival
Sunday, October 19, 2025
Noon to 5:00 p.m.
Located in Memorial Park & Mill Park in St. Marys, Ohio along the Miami and Erie Canal Trail.
Fall family fun & something for everyone!
Bring the whole family and experience a relaxing autumn stroll along the beautiful Miami Erie Canal…(shuttle bus service included!)
Then return to Memorial & Mill Parks to enjoy live music, crafts, reenactors, and a wide variety of vendor booths and farmers’ market items for browsing, as well as food trucks for snacking!
Progress Report for Heritage Trails Park District
(By: Administrative Assistant Terry McDonald)
Heritage Trails Park District has been moving forward in leaps & bounds during the past year, fueling our mission to create and preserve park lands in Auglaize County for conservation, leisure and educational purposes for everyone to enjoy. Our park district is currently comprised of six areas of park lands in Auglaize County, Ohio, including Lock 14 Park, Deep Cut Historical Park, Bloody Bridge Trail Head, Dr. Elizabeth Yahl-Kuffner Nature Preserve, eight miles of Towpath Trail along the Miami Erie Canal, and the future site of the E.J. Mackenbach Preserve.
In 2024, Heritage Trails Park District acquired the E.J. Mackenbach Preserve, approximately 70 acres of historic property just north of St. Marys, Ohio. This preserve features 34 acres of woodland, 36 acres of fields and amazing views of the Miami Erie Canal. Plans are in place to restore the agricultural fields to wetland and meadow habitats, with plantings
A tale of a lovers quarrel, and murder. Visitors say they can see the ghostly images of a headless man walking along the bridge at sundown, and drowned woman in the canal below. Making the Bloody Bridge a notorious attraction for those who seek the paranormal.