Steel Town Studios First Night open house

Steel Town Studios
First Night open house

YOUNGSTOWN — Steel Town Studios, 8 10 N. Phelps St., downtown, will host a First Night Youngstown open house from 7-11 p.m. New Year’s Eve. Artist Bob Barko Jr.’s 24-foot-by-6-foot mural “Here In Youngstown” will be on display outside the studio under a lighted tent. Color prints of the mural (12” by 36”), which depicts the history of Youngstown, will be available for $20, and a limited amount of signed and numbered artist proofs are available for $40. The studio collection of Youngstown memorabilia and artifacts will also be on display, and Barko will be on hand to sign prints and talk with guests.

Historical society chief
will be regular radio guest

MERCER, Pa. — Bill Philson, executive director of the Mercer County Historical Society, will be a regular guest on the Ron Errett radio show on News Talk 790, WPIC. Philson, an instructor at Penn State-Shenango Valley, will join Errett for a monthly discussion of local and regional history. A viewer phone-in time will normally be included in each show. Philson’s guest spots will be broadcast at 5 p.m. on the third Tuesday of each month. In the first broadcast, which will be Jan. 15, Philson will talk about how Mercer County’s cities, towns and townships got their names. February’s show will highlight entertainers from Mercer County. The Ron Errett Show has been on WPIC for 19 years.

Free admission day at natural history museum

CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Museum of Natural History will offer free general admission as part of its Winter Discovery Day from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Jan. 21. This special day is held annually to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It is held in conjunction with other museums and cultural institutions in University Circle. Museum visitors will have the opportunity to see the museum’s newest dinosaur, a 21-foot, life-sized skeleton cast of a triceratops dinosaur. Visitors will also be able to see the museum’s current exhibitions, including “Humans: A Field Guide” and “Animal Expressions: Bronzes by Larry Isard.” In addition, they can meet museum curators and scientists from Case Western Reserve University to learn about the animals, fossils, rocks and minerals from their backyards and around the world. They can also meet the animal residents of the museum’s Perkins Wildlife Center and Woods Garden, which is home to Ohio’s native animals and plants. The museum’s Shafran Planetarium will offer planetarium shows for $1. Young children can also explore the Smead Discovery Center where they can make craft projects to take home. The Cleveland Museum of Natural History is located at One Wade Oval Drive in University Circle. For more information, call (216) 231-4600 or go to cmnh.org.