NILES Bicentennial bell to be forged with pupils' help

The tour's first stop in the Mahoning Valley is at Cafaro Field.
By SHERRI L. SHAULIS
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
NILES -- The best description Fred Stratmann's heard so far is that it looks like hot orange pop.
As the bronze ingots are melted at 2,200 degrees, they take on that look as they are poured into the mold, he explained.
"That's what it looks like," he said. "Hot orange pop."
It's a sight that's making its way through each of Ohio's 88 counties: The Ohio Bicentennial Commission and representatives from Verdin Co. of Cincinnati use a mobile foundry to create bronze bells to commemorate the Buckeye State's 200th birthday.
Ohio's 58th Bicentennial bell will be created Tuesday and Wednesday when the tour arrives at Cafaro Field in conjunction with the Mahoning Valley Scrappers baseball team.
Beginning at 3 p.m. Tuesday, bronze ingots will be melted down and poured into a mold to create a bell that sits about 20 inches high and weighs 250 pounds.
"The mold needs to sit a minimum of 12 hours to cool," explained Stratmann, communications director for the Ohio Bicentennial Commission. "After that, the mold will be broken, the bell will be polished and it will be presented during a special ceremony."
The bronze bell -- consisting of 80 percent copper and 20 percent tin -- will feature the county's name, as well as the forging date, the state seal and the Bicentennial logo.
What's scheduled
The tour started in Washington County in September 2001 and will finish in Columbus in Franklin County in October.
Bronze bells also will be created July 30-31 at the Columbiana County Fair and Aug. 27-28 in Mahoning County at the Canfield Fair, Stratmann said.
"The idea came from our executive director [Stephen C. George], who wanted to find a way to have a meaningful celebration in each county," Stratmann said.
The commission had previously sponsored a program in which the Bicentennial logo was painted on barns in each county, which was wildly successful, he said
Since the barns celebrate Ohio's agricultural roots, the commission wanted something to honor the state's manufacturing and industrial history.
The bells fit the bill.
"Bells are such a symbol of freedom and liberty," Stratmann said. "And they have such a neat place in America's conscience."
The Verdin Co., established in 1842 and the world's largest bell company, was contacted to flush out the technical details. Company officials combined old-world processes and modern technology to create the mobile foundry that's already visited more than 55 counties.
Here's the procedure
For each celebration, schoolchildren participate by passing about 500 pounds of bronze ingots to be loaded into the furnace.
Once the bell is created and cooled, a special guest will use a sledgehammer to break the mold. After the bell is ground, polished and sandblasted, it will be dedicated and presented to county commissioners before it is rung for the first time by another special guest.
Stratmann said the special guests for Trumbull County's ceremony have not been chosen.
After the first ringing, Stratmann said, local military veterans will be honored and asked to ring the bell, after which the rest of the community will be invited to ring it.
"It's really something you have to see to appreciate and, even then, it's hard to fully appreciate what you've witnessed," Stratmann said.
After the two-day event ends, county commissioners will decide what to do with the bell.
In other counties, Stratmann said, the bell has made appearances at local parades and community celebrations and been mounted permanently in the county courthouse.
For more about the Ohio Bicentennial Commission and its bell and barn programs, check the Web site www.ohio200.com.
slshaulis@vindy.com