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Picnic in the Park 9/23
Tour Leaders Bill & Deb Heffern
We had 8 cars come out on a gloomy morning, for our 3rd annual “Picnic in the Park” drive. However, after lunch, the sun came out, all the tops came down and we enjoyed the remainder of our day under glorious sunny skies.
Out trip took us on a leisurely drive through the Metropark to the Brecksville Reservation, where we enjoyed our picnic lunch in the historic Harriet Keeler Pavilion. After lunch we did some more driving through the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, zig-zagging across the many roads that cross Riverview Rd. finally ending up at Country Maid Ice Cream, for dessert.
Thanks to all the members that came out to participate and to Doug and Carol Leavens for running sweep.
Hope to see you at next year’s event.
Bill & Deb Heffern
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Mystery Tour 9/19
Tour Leader: John James
A group of Miatas met up at the Oenslager Nature Center in Wadsworth, Ohio to begin our annual late summer mystery tour. Our group headed out towards Sharon Center, where they had a flea market set up for the local shoppers. We headed west on Route 162 and took backroads to our destination. For the first part of the drive the weather stayed dry with overcast skies. However, during the second part of our drive the cloudy skies began to open and the rain started to fall. We had to put our tops up for the remainder of our drive.
We drove though some scenic roads and finally arrived in Canal Fulton, Ohio where our group stopped at the Canal Grille for an early dinner. The Canal Grille Restaurant located on Locust St. serves a variety of excellent entrees at very reasonable prices and the food is very good. We dined on some delicious food and engaged in interesting conversation. Finally, it was time to depart for home after spending the afternoon driving on some scenic backroads with a great group of people. I want to thank everyone who participated in the tour. I also want to give a big thank you to Mike and Lois Kerklo who served as the sweep for the tour.
John James
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Club Picnic 7/18
The 2026 NMC picnic is now behind us. Mother Nature was on our side once again ignoring the weatherman with sunshine, clean air, and a really nice breeze off the lake. There was plenty of delicious food; I often wonder why we don’t have more fat people. I saw an interesting game of corn hole, I think there is a shark amongst us. There was a good game of trivia where everyone participated. As special treat Bill Titley and myself had an impromptu birthday song.
I hope I’m not forgetting anyone, but special thanks to the LoPiccolos, the Andersons, the Kerklos, Rich Velardo, Nancy Esway, & Missy Wolf
Pictured above are the winners of our trivia contest.
Chuck Wolf
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Buffalo Wright Wing Tour 6/9-12
Tour Leaders: John & Jeanne Embree
On Tuesday, June 9th, most of the Miata Wright Wing Tour group met on the PA/NY border to begin our trek to Buffalo. We proceeded to Westfield, NY on our way to Eden, NY to tour a kazoo factory where our last Miata joined the group. In Eden, we were greeted by friendly police officer Jacob as we all made U-turns to park our Miatas. Fortunately, all he wanted was to check out our Miatas. PHEW!
In the next three days, we viewed a mausoleum designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, toured Darwin Martin’s house designed by FLW, visited a Pierce Arrow Museum which housed a FLW design gas station, locked through double locks on the Erie Canal, and toured Graycliff, a Darwin Martin summer home on Lake Erie designed by FLW.
And, in Miata style, we ate well at memorable restaurants including the Anchor Bar and the Eagle House in Williamsville, a former stagecoach stop, to name a few. We also managed to have ice cream several times.
Our group of eight Miatas did an admirable job of staying together in city traffic. We sincerely thank Dan Cali for his amazing job as sweep.
John Embree
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Tour of Salem, OH with West Penn Miata Club 6/6
Tour Leaders: Bill & Deb Heffern
Following a drive from Hudson to Salem, OH the NorthCoast Miata Club met the West Penn Miata Club. The combined total of 31enjoyed a wonderful lunch at Ricky’s Irish Pub.
After lunch, we drove about 4 blocks to the Salem Historical Society to board a trolley and take a guided tour of Salem. Our guide and driver took us past 9-10 significant homes that played a major role in helping slaves escape their bondage on their way to Canada and true freedom. While Ohio did not support slavery, we also could not protect escaped slaves from their pursuers. Many of the abolitionists in Salem were wealthy merchants and even some Quakers. Many homes had hidden rooms, cellars, or even tunnels to help in hiding those seeking freedom.
After our tour ended, we drove back to the northwest corner of town and completely overwhelmed the young man, who was the only employee there when we arrived, at Craver’s Ice Cream. Help eventually showed up, but his shop went from 0 patrons to 40+ in a matter of moments.
Thank you to Linda and Vicki from the West Penn Club for all of their planning. I also want to thank all the members from both clubs for coming out on a rain threatening day, that thankfully held off, to enjoy a great event. Hope to see you next year at our fourth annual get-together!
Bill Heffern
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Marietta Tour with the Indy Miata Club 5/28-31
Tour Leaders: Rich Velardo & Nancy Esway
It was a wonderful 4-day weekend. We meet at Wendy’s for a backroads drive to our hotel. Nan had arranged games of seek for the passengers to have something to do on our way to the hotel. Rich had coordinated everything with the Indy Club. There were cars from New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and as far as Chicago. At one point there were 25 cars snaking through the windy roads of southern Ohio. We dined in century old Hotels, Bar B Que on the river, picnicked at the Hannibal Locks to see barges go through and visited a Lunatic Asylum. No one was captured. It took an incredible amount of planning and Rich and Nan pulled it off without a hitch. Thank you!
Chuck Wolf
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A Picnic at the Museum 3/28/26,
Hosts: Rich Velardo & Nancy Esway
Other than the final street into the parking lot not having a street sign, this went off very well. We had 22 members attend and 2 Miatas. The weather was Miata weather & a couple of us took advantage of it. The picnic lunch was in a comfortable room by ourselves and a few of the club logo’d gift lunch bags from the Christmas party were in use. After a ride on the carousel we were off to explore the museums, a docent by the name of Bill was all to happy to guide us around. Bill is very knowledgeable but boy, can he talk. Bill took us into the side room that is not accessible to the public to see the first car in the Crawford collection. You’l see pictures in The Rearview Mirror”.
Thanks to all who attended, Rich & Nancy
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Past Presidents Dinner 3/4/26
Host: Terry Walls
The Past Presidents Dinner was held on March 4th at Tinkers Creek Tavern in Walton Hills. We had a great turn out; there were a total of 28 people in attendance including past presidents and their significant other. We had a great dinner, and a good time was had by all. Each past president shared their experiences and challenges during their term as president and hopefully we were all able to impart some wisdom and encouragement to our current president Chuck Wolf and vice president Matt LoPiccolo. Good luck to Chuck and Matt in 2026.
Thanks again to everyone who attended,
Terry Walls
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AWL Hartville Kitchen 3/14/26
Hosts: Mike & Lo Kerklo
On Saturday, March 14 th., Mike and I hosted an AWL at the Hartville Kitchen and Hartville Hardware complex. Everyone dutifully arrived on time and all 25 of us were escorted to our room for lunch. Our food and service was excellent and soon hot plates of roast beef and fried chicken arrived. Everyone seemed eager for conversation and just getting “out.” There was lots to see after lunch – gift shop, bakery and hardware store. It was the consensus of our group to make this AWL an annual event. Sounds good to us! See you all next year!
Thanks for joining us!
Mike & Lo
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AWD Danny Boys 2/5/26
Hosts: Bill & Deb Heffern
We had 24 members come out in 11 degree weather on 2/5 to enjoy some Italian Food at Danny Boys, in Broadview Hts. The rib dinner was also a popular choice for many. I saw the meat just falling of the ribs!
The food must have been good, for as soon as they delivered it, the place got very quiet.
Thank you to all who braved the weather, to join us for a night of fellowship!
Bill & Deb Heffern