This year marks the centennial of Route 66, the iconic American highway stretching from Chicago to LA and celebrated in story, song and television.
It’s been over 30 years since the highway was decommissioned, but we will hear from one photographer who’s love of Route 66 has been memorialized in the form of stamps.
A local author is fusing history lessons with ghost stories to create a fun and interesting way to learn Ohio history. Having already written two books in his “Ohio Kids” series and coming out with a third, he is continuing his family tradition of finding new ways of teaching.
Cost should never prevent students from sharing experiences with their peers and having a good time. Fairy Goodmothers is a Worthington boutique that allows high school students to pick out prom dresses for free.
Guests:
- David J. Schwartz, Route 66 Fine Art & Editorial Photographer
- Logan Lyons, author
- Katie Persico, president, Fairy Goodmothers
Transcript
This transcript is generated with AI. To ensure its accuracy, review the audio file.
Amy Juravich: You're listening to All Sides. I'm your host, Amy Juravich.
And you're listening to what's probably the best-known recording of the song "Route 66," also known as the Mother Road or the Main Street of America. It is probably the most famous highway in America.
This is Fascinating Ohio from All Sides, a show where we introduce you to people from the Buckeye State with an interesting story to tell. And this year marks the centennial of Route 66, the iconic American highway stretching from Chicago to L.A. and celebrated in story, song, and television.
It's been over 30 years since the highway was decommissioned. However, it still draws international and domestic travelers looking to get their kicks on Route 66. One of those travelers who has been documenting the Main Street of America is Ohio photographer David J. Schwartz. For more than 20 years and over 40 trips, he's captured the sights along the highway with his camera. He joins us now. Welcome to All Sides, David.
David J. Schwartz: Alright, thanks for welcoming me, Amy.
Juravich: So as I just mentioned in the introduction, Route 66 was decommissioned in 1985. What draws you back to this road and so many others? I mean, it's not just you. What keeps drawing people back and back to the road?
Schwartz: Well, you know what first started off as the sites along the highway, you know, history and that sort of thing quickly led into the people that you meet along the road. There's so many characters out there, so many welcoming souls.
And as you travel the highway you get to know these people and you start making friends and you begin to become drawn back to visit the folks that you maybe met on your last trip.
Juravich: So the people who have become your friends, have they been there for years, like all of your 40 trips? Do you see the same people?
Schwartz: Some of them have been and some of them are new faces the interesting thing about route 66 is it's very much a living Piece of history, you know, it's not contained behind a velvet rope or tucked away in in glass It's something that you can actually step into and become part of if you wish
So what's pretty neat is over especially the last several years. I'm seeing a lot of people that are kind of dreaming up new ideas along Route 66 and opening new unique businesses that pay homage to the road and play along with the idea.
Juravich: Well, I love that idea of new businesses opening up. So your photographs have been selected for the United States Postal Service, Route 66 Centennial Stamp Series. Congratulations, first of all. Yeah, how did that come about? How did you end up with the post office and a stamp?
Schwartz: Well, I kind of feel like I possibly may have manifested this many years ago. One day looking at my thumbnails on my, in my, on my computer in Lightroom. And he, and like, you know, these would present really well as stamps. I was thinking to myself and kind of went about researching. How do I reach out to the postal service and make this sort of thing happen? But I couldn't find a pathway to get there and kind of just tuck that idea away.
In. It's been about three years ago now, one morning the phone rings and the lady on the other end says, I represent the United States Postal Service and we are looking to create a set of stamps to honor each state of Route 66 for the centennial. We found your work and we absolutely love it and feel that it would play well for for our stamps. Is that something you'd be interested in doing? And I picked myself up off the floor after hearing that and said, yes, I would love to work with you.
Juravich: Well, that truly does seem like you manifested it. You were like, I have this idea, and then you just spoke it into happening. That's really cool. Of all the photographs you've taken over so many trips, like how were the photos picked to be on these specific stamps?
Schwartz: They came to me with a set of images that they had kind of screen-shotted off of my site and said, you know, we're feeling these, we'd love to see what else you have. And I went through, I don't recall exactly how many, but I gave them a pretty good selection of images that I thought represented Route 66 well.
Keeping with the idea that, you now, we want to represent Route 66 and we also want to, you, know, have some. Different variation of what you see along the route, and then also represent each state. So in a way, as you start to lay these images out, they come become sort of a sliding puzzle because you want to make sure that you're representing each state, but then you're also representing some different ideas from landscapes to signage to buildings and things like that.
Juravich: Was it eight photos that ended up being selected? Is that right?
Schwartz: Actually a total of nine, so there's eight stamps and then the ninth one is what's called the salvage and that's the image that goes around the outside of the stamps.
Juravich: Oh, when you buy the sheet of stamps to make it look pretty. All right, so you have hundreds upon hundreds of photos. How do you get it? Thousands upon thousands of photos, yeah, let's say that. How do get it down to eight? Is it like picking your favorite child?
Schwartz: Well, you know, the thing is, is, you know, obviously there's there's a process in getting things vetted and then also, you know, working with the art director there and what, you know, they feel works nicely for them. So when I kind of dove into it, I thought, okay, you know, we're the way the image is going to be represented is very small.
So it needs to be graphic and bold and it needs to pop off of that letter that it's going to be attached to one day. So I selected images that I felt told the story of Route 66 and also would, you know, do exactly that, be graphic bold and very noticeable, you know on the envelope.
Juravich: This is Fascinating Ohio From All Sides on 89.7 NPR News. We're talking about the centennial of Route 66 with David J. Schwartz, whose photographs have been selected for the United States Postal Service Route 66 Centennial Stamp Series.
So besides the stamps, which obviously is a huge thing for you, are you celebrating the centennial of Route 66 in any other ways.
Schwartz: So I recently opened an exhibition in Springfield, Illinois that is part of a series called "Route 66, The Road That Takes You." And this is a series that's commissioned or actually a series that is certified by the Route 66 Centennial Commission.
And I worked with visit Springfield Springfield Illinois. That is there's two Springfields on Route 66. And we custom curated a selection of images that represent the people of Route 66 in Springfield, Illinois, as well as the locations of Route 66 in Springfield, Illinois. And we have a dozen various images hanging at the Pharmacy Gallery there. And currently I'm working to pull some other exhibitions together as well to continue that series, you know, throughout the U.S. On 66 and you know. Even further out from there.
Juravich: Whether it's neon signs or the desert landscapes or those landmarks everyone knows, what do you enjoy photographing the most? Do you have a favorite, like you take pictures of it every time you pass it?
Schwartz: You know, I have a lot of locations like that. Actually, there's there's just some places that just really call to me. And I like to explore it in different light, different times of day, different seasons, that sort of thing.
There's a place called the Gay Parita Sinclair gas station, which is it's since it's just west of Springfield, Missouri. And it's in a town called Paris Springs and. A friend of mine rebuilt this gas station that existed up until about the 50s when it had burned down. And it was on his property and in his retirement, he wanted to greet visitors as they traveled Route 66.
And he really created something special there. It's a true homage to the old American gas station. And the scenes there are just incredible. Unfortunately, Gary, he passed away in 2015, but his daughter and her partner, George, so Barb and George took over the station and have carried on his tradition. So it's a really wonderful place and I just love being there.
It's out in the country. Being that they're friends of mine, I'm able to stay there, wake up in the morning at the first light of dawn. Hear the birds chirping and just make photographs. And it's just one of my most favorite places to be and create photographs on the road.
Juravich: You also, you mentioned earlier that you're seeing more businesses kind of popping up and reopening on Route 66. Is that because there's more of an interest? I hear that travelers are coming, even like international travelers want to come and drive the road. Besides what you just mentioned, like what's another business that has opened up?
Schwartz: Well, an excellent example is Buck Atom's Cosmic Curios, and that's in Tulsa, Oklahoma. And Marybeth Babcock is the driving force behind that. She's really an incredible human. She was Tulsa person of the year, I think last year or two years ago. And not only has she purchased this old gas station and she turned it into a gift shop.
Buck Adams, which is a modified muffler man that wears a space helmet and actually pays homage to her father. And then came up with Stella Adam, which pays homage to her mother and put that one on the other side, which is a space cowgirl. And that really started pulling people into the east side of Tulsa to stop and check out that business shop there.
And she just really inspired that whole side of also to start stepping up and celebrating route 66 and she's actually been involved in a place called medical Mac, which has its own giant muffler man. And it's kind of a, um, like, uh, artists sort of, um. Oh, what do I want to call it? Uh, basically like, a artists mall where they have, you know, different arts and some antique sort of stuff available and then, um
She's also resurrected a Rosie the Riveter there, and then she has Bucks Vintage, which has another giant, which is holding a guitar. And she's just created this whole vibe on the East side of Tulsa, and it's led to so many other businesses opening up in that area. And Tulsa from 10 years ago to today on the east side is just totally different than it was.
Juravich: And that sounds like a photographer's dream come true, or at least someone with a selfie stick would have a lot of fun there.
Schwartz: Yes, for sure.
Juravich: Well, since everyone has a camera on their phone these days, do you have any tips for amateur photographers who are traveling Route 66? What kind of like photography tips would you give people?
Schwartz: Well, you know, what I would say, first of all, is light is everything. You're photographing in the middle of the day. The lights coming from overhead. The contrast isn't very good. The things tend to be more washed out.
So if you shoot in the morning golden hour after the sun's come up till maybe about 10 AM or in the evening, 5 PM on, and I'm kind of talking about summer hours now. To get much better looking photographs because the quality of light is a better event. So that would be one of my biggest tips.
Another one would be, you know, take time to explore the subject matter that you're interested in. Wow. The first thing that you see might be really cool. If you take time, to explore it more, you may find that you come up with an even better shot.
Juravich: And golden hour is a real thing, right? You gotta pay attention to the light, yeah. Based on all your travels along Route 66, do you have any tips for someone who maybe this summer is planning a trip? Like, I don't know, maybe to start with, how many days do you recommend? Are you a take it slow kind of guy?
Schwartz: Uh, most definitely being a photographer, you really need to take it slow and it becomes hard for me to exactly suggest how long it takes to travel because I, I do take it quite slow, not always, but a lot of times. And then when I, when I am taking it fast, I have a lot of photo assignments for, for a magazine that I shoot for. So, you know, I may be jumping around between different locations and things.
So. You know, my traveling route 66 is a lot different from, you know, the casual traveler. I would suggest at minimum though, from, from what I know from my earlier days, that if you really want to start in Chicago and end in LA and take all of 66 at the extreme bare minimum, if you're really want to enjoy it, you got to give it at least three weeks, but I would suggest more like a month to a month. If you want to dive into it, if you have the time to.
Juravich: All right, so three weeks at bare minimum, I got it.
Schwartz: If you don't have that time, what's really great is, you know, pick a section and just enjoy that little area. And actually, it's much more enjoyable not to try to go all the way across the country, you know, get your feet wet, explore a couple of cities or maybe, you know, do one state. And I think you'll actually find it more enjoyable that way and then come back from there.
Juravich: That's probably good tips there. Before we end, I just wanted to highlight a couple of the stamps that are featured. "Grant's Cafe" is one of them. Where is Grant's cafe?
Schwartz: Grants Cafe is in Grants, New Mexico, believe it or not. Okay. And well, at least it was. That sign has been missing from that location now for, I'm going to say about three or four years. It was recently restored and it now hangs in Albuquerque at a place called Gloria at a station, which is a... It's like an event center and they have a lot of old vintage signage.
Some that is have come from route 66, some from other locations. I haven't physically been there yet to check it out. Um, but it looks pretty interesting from the photos that I've seen. Um, so it doesn't exist there anymore. Grants New Mexico is actually famous for the first uranium mine in the U S which is called Haystack. So that whole area was big-time boom area for uranium mining back in the mid-20th century.
Juravich: And then one more, where is, you have a photo highlighted of "Munger Moss Motel," where's that?
Schwartz: Yes, that seems to be the biggest favorite from what I'm seeing so far of all of the stamps. That's in Lebanon, Missouri, which is about 45 minutes east of Springfield, Missouri.
And the owner that recently passed maybe about two or three years ago now there, Ramona and her husband, Bob, they had been there since 1971 welcoming guests. And it- The day that I took that photo, it was actually the 70th anniversary party of the motel.
Juravich: Well, I encourage our listeners to check out the stamps so you can see all nine images that are on there. Our guest has been David J. Schwartz, Route 66 Fine Art and Editorial Photographer. His photographs have been selected for the United States Postal Service Route 66 Centennial Stamp Series. David, thank you so much for joining us on All Sides.
Schwartz: Thank you, Amy.
Juravich: This is All Sides on 89.7 NPR News, and this is Fascinating Ohio. Thanks for joining us.
Speaker 6: You know, every day on "Up First," NPR's Golden Globe-nominated morning news podcast, we bring you three essential stories. At the heart of each story are questions. What really happened? What really mattered? What happens next? At NPR, we stand for your right to be curious and to follow the facts. Follow "Up First" wherever you get your podcasts and start your day knowing what matters and why.
Juravich: You're listening. I'm your host Amy Juravich.
This is Fascinating Ohio, a show from All Sides and WOSU where we introduce you to people from the Buckeye State with an interesting story to tell. This local author fuses history lessons with ghost stories to create a fun and interesting way to learn Ohio history. Having written two books already in the "Ohio Kids" series and coming out soon with a third, Logan Lyon is continuing his family tradition of finding new and unique ways of teaching. Welcome to All Sides, Logan.
Logan Lyons: Hey, thank you for having me.
Juravich: When did you first discover or think like, you know, I like writing, I want to write a book.
Lyons: Well, this book, the first book, "The Chillicothe Ghosts," that started when I was in eighth grade. When I was eighth grade, every kid in Ross County had to write a ghost writing contest. Everybody had to do it, no choice.
Juravich: I'm thinking you didn't want to at the time.
Lyons: Well, 8th grader would.
Juravich: So you wrote, so the heart of this story, did you write in eighth grade? Mm-hmm. And you saved it?
Lyons: I did. I gotta tell you this story really quick. I was sick that day, they announced the winners. So I got in the school late. I walked into the classroom, they're like, hey, you won the county ghost writing contest. My mouth dropped, I'm like, what? Like yeah, you want it, I was like, are you sure? Like yeah you honestly did.
Juravich: Wow, so that winning in the eighth grade, did you tuck that away and save it for the future? I did.
Lyons: Computer back then yeah fast forward to about 20 years later I'm cleaning out my old computer I found the story and I'm like you know what maybe I should try to make this into a book one thing led to another and that's all we got
Juravich: and now you have a book. Okay, so the characters in it are based off of you and your friends. Did you make that choice because of relatability to readers or just because it's good to write about what you know?
Lyons: A little both, a little both. I based on what me and my friends would do if we saw these people. Also, I knew a little bit about it, so I figured, hey, maybe kids can relate to this.
Juravich: What inspired you though to decide to do children's books specifically?
Lyons: I come from a family of teachers. I was a teacher for a little bit. My mom was a history teacher for years. She's actually my biggest inspiration for this book. My grandmother was a teach. We just like finding new and interesting ways to teach history to kids.
Juravich: Yeah, yeah. So your way you've decided to teach history to kids is through having some teenagers meet some ghosts, right? So are ghosts a good medium? I guess do kids like ghosts?
Lyons: Yeah, like ghosts like every Halloween you see ghost stuff all over television. So yeah, they love ghosts
Juravich: So your first book focuses on several ghosts who are related to Ohio history, specifically related to they have a tie to Chillicothe, right, which is where you're from. What, how did you decide which historical figures to choose?
Lyons: Well, Thomas Worthington, he had a big, big presence, not only in Chillicothe history, but also in Ohio history too. I didn't know if you know this, but he was also our sixth governor and our first senator of Ohio.
Juravich: I think I learned that in your book.
Lyons: A lot of people don't realize that. I didn't realize that either until I visited his home, the Adena Mansion, one day and I learned that. Like, this is really cool. So I figured that would be a good place to start.
Juravich: Yeah, so the kids in your book get to meet Thomas Worthington and his wife, and basically they learn the history, they learn about him, but he's a ghost, right?
Lyons: It could go either way. Is he a ghost? Isn't he? Was it just some reenactor? Or was it the real thing?
Juravich: That's true, I know. Logan leaves a little mystery in the story for the kids. What ages are you hoping, like do you have an age in mind of who should be reading this book?
Lyons: Like upper elementary, lower middle school, like third, fourth, fifth, sixth grade in that era. It's enough to get their attention, but sure enough where they don't lose interest.
Juravich: They can finish the book, yeah, and has enough information that they'll learn something.
Lyons: It has enough to learn a little bit about Chillicothe, not only Thomas Ortham, but Chillicothe as well. I believe it mentions Tecumseh. If you don't know who Tecumseh is, he was a famous Shawnee Native American who was believed to be born in the area. I think it goes a little into the Majestic, which some believe is the oldest theater in America. Talks about the history of that too.
Juravich: Yeah, you have a lot of Chillicothe history in there.
You're listening to All Sides on 89.7 NPR News, and we're talking with local author Logan Lyon. So tell me about how you came up with this idea that you were gonna make it a series, because I'm thinking you started with one book, or did you start with the idea where you knew you wanted more than one book?
Lyons: Actually, I just started out with one book and the publisher I talked to he's like, can you read another story? This one's really good. I'm like you want another story Okay, I'm, like, okay. I guess I can come up with one really quick. I think okay. Who do I want to write about first? Mm-hmm. I've been a big Elvis Presley fan since I was in high school. Not high school, middle school. Yeah I've read a thousand books about Elvis Presley. So I figured let's start with him. So that's how
Juravich: So the second book is "The Ohio Kids Meet Elvis Presley."
Lyons: That's correct.
Juravich: All right. And you picked Elvis Presley purely because you like him.
Lyons: All that, and he has a big importance on pop culture, whether you like him or not. It's rare for an artist to infect several generations, all the way from Bob Dylan to U2 to Taylor Swift. So that's.
Juravich: Yeah. Okay. So I only got to read the first book and in the first book, "The Ohio Kids Meet the Chillicothe Ghosts." And it involves a cemetery. It involves deciding whether there are reenactors on Halloween or if they're actually ghosts, you know, that is all in there. Where are the Ohio kids meeting Elvis?
Lyons: Or else, it's home, Graceland.
Juravich: Okay, so the Ohio kids travel to Graceland.
Lyons: They travel to Graceland, they... I don't want to give away too many details in the book.
Juravich: That's okay, yeah.
Lyons: Somehow they ended up in the Graceland. They're following their girls, because teenage guys follow.
Juravich: That's what teenage guys do. Yeah, of course.
Lyons: And they see this character who looks like Elvis Presley and they get a little jealous because this guy's good looking. He looks just like Elvis. They're like, hey, wait a minute. Where's the book?
Juravich: We're supposed to be with these girls.
Lyons: Yeah, not this dude.
Juravich: All right, so I'm also told that there's a third one.
Lyons: There is a third one coming up.
Juravich: All right, who's the ghost in that?
Lyons: Well, I don't want to give away too many details, but...
Juravich: Oh, I'm going to make you a little bit here.
Lyons: Alright, I won't give away too many-
Juravich: I don't think third graders through sixth graders are listening right now. They should be in school. So it's okay It's okay.
Lyons: Yeah, it should be. While giving away too many details, it's going to be about the actor Jimmy Stewart.
Juravich: Okay, what made you pick him?
Lyons: Because I love his story. I love Elvis Presley's story too, but I really love his story. If you all know who Jimmy Stewart was, he was a famous actor. During World War Two, when everybody had to be drafted to go in the war, he didn't wait to be drafted. He was one of the first actors to go sign up.
They told him, no, you're too skinny. So he had to build muscle and wait till he finally made the cut. A lot of people don't know this, but he is the highest ranking military actor in military history. I didn't. After the war, he continued to serve in the Air Force Reserves, made all the way to Big Red Deer General. Highest actor in military history.
Juravich: Okay, so the Ohio kids are gonna meet him.
Lyons: They're gonna meet him.
Juravich: Where do they have to travel to meet him?
Lyons: They had to travel to his hometown of Indiana, Pennsylvania.
Juravich: Oh, Indiana, Pennsylvania. Okay, I had forgotten he was from there. I grew up in Pittsburgh, but my grandmother is from Indiana, Pennsylvania. Oh, really? Yes, I completely forgot Jimmy Stewart was from there. See, you're teaching history left and right.
So tell me about the, so the idea of publishing a book. I mean, that is not an easy thing to do. Definitely not. So tell how did you end up publishing? How did you find a publisher? How did how did go from A to B?
Lyons: That's the honest answer Google that I send them the publisher after publisher after Publisher send them story and I've gotten like we like the story. We just don't feel like it's for us or No, we don't want to do it.
So I finally found a publisher a new one relatively new Huntsville, Alabama Josh Adams. He just started up. He's a wonderful guy. He was like, I like this story. Let's publish it. Wow, that's how we got it
Juravich: Congratulations. Thank you. So you weren't afraid of hearing a few no's. How many no's did you hear before the yes?
Lyons: About fifty.
Juravich: I can believe it. I thought you were going to say 100, yeah. Publishing is hard.
Lyons: Yes it is.
Juravich: So you have this third one coming out. So we have the Ohio kids meeting the Chillicothe Ghosts, meeting Elvis, and then meeting Jimmy Stewart. Are there more to come?
Lyons: There will be more to come. It'll not only be about Ohio history, because there's plenty of Ohio history. It's gonna be about US history as well.
Juravich: Okay. How many do you have in your back pocket here?
Lyons: Right now three. Yeah. But I guarantee you there'll be more in the future.
Juravich: So this three have been published and you have three more in the works.
Lyons: Movies all to publish a third one that will be yes but i got more than more in the future
Juravich: Okay, and has your publisher talked to you about continuing the series?
Lyons: We have talked about continuing the series, yes.
Juravich: I wanted to talk more about how your mother inspired you, because you mentioned that briefly a few moments ago. So your mother is actually included as a character in the first book, right? That's right. How did she inspire you to become a writer?
Lyons: Well, like I said, she was a history teacher. She's no longer with us. I'm afraid she passed away a few years ago.
Juravich: I'm sorry.
Lyons: But she believed in me when not many people didn't. I had learning disabilities in school. A lot of people thought I wouldn't make it anything of myself. She was one of the few that encouraged me. Yes, you can.
She also drug me to every battlefield, every history museum she could growing up. She wanted to make sure I learned this. She was a wonderful woman. She had a heart for kids. She went out of her way to teach kids about history, English, wherever you can think of. She was my biggest inspiration.
Juravich: What do you think she would think about you, not just being a writer, but writing about history?
Lyons: She would have loved it. She would've been shocked that I was a writer. But I believe she would've loved it and would've been proud.
Juravich: And tell me about needing different ways to teach kids history. Because you mentioned that. I don't know if it was in another interview you did, or maybe it's on the back of the book, where you said that this is a different way to expose kids to history. Why do they need a different one?
Lyons: Because kids learn different ways. Not every kid learns from reading the books. Some people learn visually. Like, I believe out in the lobby, you had clips about TV shows. Some kids learn that way by watching television.
Like, I've known kids that they may not like reading a book, but if you show them the PBS documentary, "Baseball," they love that. And I've met kids who hate documentaries, but love books. So, I believe every kid learns differently.
Juravich: Yeah. So tell me a little, you mentioned that you had a learning disability growing up. Um, it, what, what was that like of trying to, you know, you had a mom who's a teacher, but maybe you didn't like school that much.
Lyons: I loved learning, but I hated school. What I mean by that is I loved learning about different things. I just didn't like being in a classroom for eight, nine hours at a time. I had cerebral, I have cerebral, a very mild form of cerebral palsy. So it takes me a long time to convert short term memory into long term memory. So that was murder growing up. Teachers love that.
Juravich: Okay. Well, how, what, what would your, your little kid self think about you now? You know, you're a published author. You're teaching, you were trying to teach kids history a different way. What would you say to yourself back then?
Lyons: It's gonna get better. It's gotta take hard work, but you're gonna make it, bud. I guarantee it.
Juravich: And would that kid who didn't really like sitting in school eight hours a day believe that he was publishing history books?
Lyons: Not at all. He probably would have laughed at you or looked at you like you were crazy.
Juravich: Where did you get, I'm looking at the cover and there's an illustration on the cover. Where did get the artwork for the covers?
Lyons: That was the publisher. Oh really? I just told him what I wanted, my ideas, and he took care of the rest.
Juravich: Are you happy with how they've turned out? Um, okay. So tell me, so tell me what's next. When does the third book come out?
Lyons: Oh, the third book is planned to come out in March. I don't have a date in particular, but the plan is about mid-March, late-March.
Juravich: Okay, and where can people if someone's listening right now and they want to get one of your books the "Ohio Kids" for their own kid, where can they find them?
Lyons: You can find them on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Walmart website, my publisher's website, huntsvilleindependentpress.com, and I believe Wheatberry in Chillicothe, the independent bookstore, they still have a few copies left.
Juravich: All right. Well, I love the idea of supporting the independent bookstore. So what's the name of that store?
Lyons: Wheatberry Books, Chillicothe.
Juravich: Well, we have been talking with local author Logan Lyon about his new book series called "The Ohio Kids." Thank you so much for joining us today, Logan. Thanks very much.
Lyons: Thanks for having me, I appreciate it.
Juravich: You're listening to All Sides. I'm your host, Amy Juravich.
This is Fascinating Ohio, a show from All Sides and WOSU where we introduce you to people from the Buckeye state with an interesting story to tell. Prom season typically runs in the spring and this time of year can be fun for high school students to get together with their friends, dress up and make memories they will be able to look back on.
But some of the costs associated with prom season and other end of school year activities can be tough for students and their families. But costs should never prevent students from sharing experiences with their peers and having a good time.
Fairy Good Mothers is a Worthington boutique that allows high school students to pick out a prom dress for free. The boutique relies on volunteers and donations to give high schoolers either new or lightly worn dresses to wear on prom night. And joining us now to tell us about the business, the mission and prom season is Katie Persico, president of Fairy Good Mothers. Welcome to All Sides Katie.
Katie Persico: Thank you for having me, Amy.
Juravich: So I love the name, Fairy Good Mothers, and your tagline is "A gift for now, magic forever." So tell me, do you know the history of how the name started and tell me a little bit about that mission statement.
Persico: Oh, absolutely. So in 2005, a group of five friends went on a girls' trip to Chicago. And while they were there, walking around sightseeing, they saw a building with a line wrapped around the corner. And they're trying to figure out what's going on here. So they stopped and asked. And they were told that it was the "Glass Slipper Project," which was a nonprofit and a prom pop-up shop.
Benefiting high school students in the Chicago area. So they make appointment, they come in, they get fitted for the dresses and they get accessory shoes and they were able to take all that home for free, free of charge. They went on their way, had a good rest of their trip and they kind of were brainstorming and thought to themselves, we could do that here in Columbus.
So within the span of, let's say a year, they rallied their friends, either volunteered or voluntold them, and organized, started their non-profit, got organized, and within the span of a year, they held their first Cinderella's Closet Boutique pop-up shop. So they took that Glass Slipper name, and they thought, okay, well, that's Cinderella. And then how did the name turn into Fairy Good Mothers from there?
Persico: Yeah, so it was the idea of one of their friends. They're kind of like scrapping around different ideas of like what to call themselves because you don't want to necessarily call yourself like the "Glass Slipper Project."
Juravich: Do you want to copy?
Persico: Yeah, you want to be unique. So it was just a kind of happenstance. They've landed on Fairy Good Mothers, and it's stuck. So, you know, we've been Fairy Good Mothers ever since.
Juravich: So your founders called themselves fairies. Are these five founders still involved?
Persico: Has since passed, but many of them are well over retirement age. So they long since passed the baton on, but many them do show support still wishing us well and chiming in and sharing our social media posts. So we still do have involvement from the founding fairies.
Juravich: Okay, so yes, the founding fairies, I love that. Okay, the Fairy Good Mothers, I called you a boutique in Worthington. So you basically, since 2006-ish, have been helping students get prom dresses. I mean, tell me more about your mission, your goal, what you do.
Persico: So we're an all-volunteer organization based out of Columbus. In years past, the model has been like a pop-up shop. So we'd pop up in various areas, like where we can get building space. It takes some space to hold all the dresses, make sure we have enough space for students to comfortably shop. And, you know, try them on, especially.
So you know since 2023 we've been at the shops at Worthington Place, which is great because you know when we aren't doing the pop-up shop we can kind of store our stuff and you know gear up for the next year. But what we do is you know we make sure that we have enough dresses in sizes triple zero all the way through 42. Uh, we source, uh, jewelry and accessory donations.
So every student is able to choose a jewelry piece and either a shawl or wrap or a clutch purse to kind of round out their outfit. We also work hard at sourcing goodie bag donations. So we wanna make sure that it's not just the dress. Students are able to come in and they make an appointment and they're paired with one of us as a personal shopper.
So it's a one-on-one experience for every student that comes in. They're able to kind of, from head to toe, get a pretty lovely outfit to fit and flatter them for their prom.
Juravich: So the whole organization is called Fairy Good Mothers, but then the actual event you do whenever you're putting the prom dresses in the girls' hands is called Cinderella's Closet Boutique?
Persico: Correct.
Juravich: Okay. So I know that you recently closed Cinderella's Closet Boutique because, you know, we're past prom season, but you'll open again in 2027. Tell me about this past season. How did you serve? How many did you service?
Persico: Oh, this past season was great. We were able to serve, and we just kind of figured out final numbers yesterday, 1,302 students, which is amazing. It's one of the highest totals we've had over the years. We typically hit around or over 1,000. So seeing over 1,300 students come in was great.
We were open this year for three weekends. What we try to do, because prom season is varied. So it's not just like the May and June that we were used to years ago. Prom sometimes starts for schools in March. So yeah. Oh no, why did they do that? You know, it might be, you know.
Juravich: Calendars are hard, yes. Calendars are hard. Calendars are hard.
Persico: So we take a look at the schedules as soon as we get them and try to plan for a wide range. This is why we hold the dates, like February, March, and April, just to make sure all students, we're trying to provide as much coverage as possible.
Juravich: So how do you say they have to make an appointment because you have to know that they're coming? Who qualifies? Is it just kids from central Ohio? Tell me about your clientele.
Persico: Our clientele is varied. The majority of students that we do see are from the central Ohio area. The only qualifier is that they're a high school student. So whether they are homeschooled, they go to a traditional public or private school, we're happy to serve.
We don't have anybody prove need. That can be a barrier to participation for some. And we don't want to turn anybody away with need-based requirements. But through the boutique over the years, we see students from central Ohio and beyond. We've seen students from Michigan, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and Indiana, and all over the state. So there are some that are willing and happy to travel to us to go through the boutique.
Juravich: So the students register in advance so that you know that they're coming and then they're allowed to come in, look at the dresses, try them on and they have like a shopper helper assigned to them. Is that right?
Persico: Yes. Appointments are preferred because it helps us plan the amount of volunteers that we need to have on hand, but we do take walk-ins. But every student is paired with a personal shopper who's a volunteer that works with them to figure out their fit, what style they're looking for, if their school has any dress code requirements. We try to work within that, but the personal shopper escorts them through the whole boutique experience and is their one-on-one helper for the day.
Juravich: And it sounds a lot like the TV shows "Say Yes to the Dress." Like, does it have that vibe?
Persico: Oh, totally. It's hard to describe the vibe, but I always say it's very energetic and very electric. And you can tell when students are, they found the dress or they found that one or two that they love, because you'll see people hyping them up.
In the waiting room, the waiting room is also a great place to be, because parents, guardians, loved ones usually are in there for waiting on their students. And they'll start cheering and encouraging the students as they come out in their dresses. It's very positive. And yeah, I would say it is close to that "Say Yes to the Dress," but with more cheering.
Juravich: Oh, good. Yeah. Yeah, well, that's a TV show. It could be a little drama. Yes. OK. So does that mean so if you needed if you gave away one thousand three hundred and two dresses, you need more than that because they try on more than one. And it's not like you have the exact number of dress. So like how and how many dresses would you say this season you had total and then one thousand, three hundred walked out door.
Persico: So this year we had over 3,000 dresses. And it's no small feat. We source dresses from all over. The majority of our donations these days are from the community. We collect anybody's welcome to donate dresses to us. We collect typically once a month through a donation day. We'll open up our doors in Worthington and welcome people in to drop stuff off.
But when you have over 1,300 students come in, you wanna make sure you have a well-stocked selection, which is why we take great pains to make sure we have dresses in a vast array of sizes and styles, because you never know what a student might want. We've got a lot of students that will come in and choose maybe that first dress they try on.
Those are, I love those students because they're so decisive, they know exactly what they're looking for. But we've got students that will come and they'll try on like, you know, five, ten dresses, sometimes more. You know, just trying to like narrow down like what they might like. But yeah, we want to make sure that there's enough supply for the demand.
Juravich: This is Fascinating Ohio from All Sides on 89.7 NPR news. We're talking about prom season and making sure everyone has a dress with Katie Persico, president of the Fairy Good Mothers. I wanted to know how you got involved. So right now you're in charge. I just called you the president of Fairy Good Mothers. How did you get started with it? And tell me a little bit about your journey with the program.
Persico: Yeah, I got involved around 2014. I had a friend in my book club mention it offhandedly. Oh, I am going to volunteer at the Cinderella's Closet Boutique. And I asked, I was like, what's that? She gave me details. She's like, oh, it's like a prom pop-up shop. And students can come and sign up.
And one of my other friends, she's like yeah, I volunteered with it before, but high schoolers are scary. Oh, no. I was, like, OK. You know, and. I was like, okay, and obviously that didn't dissuade me. So I signed up for like the next available weekend as a runner, which is a role where we take all the dresses that students don't want, zip them up and get them back on the racks.
And I fell in love. It was such a fun experience, just merely running around like grabbing dresses, zipping them up, hanging them on the hangers, just seeing how excited all the students were like when they found their dresses and like you know how happy the parents were like that their student was you know was finding something awesome for them. The feeling was like kind of like I was obsessed I was like I have to do this again I want to do this again.
So I obviously kept coming back for you know several years and then before COVID I joined the board as a volunteer co-chair and unfortunately with COVID we had to shut down operations for a bit. But. Around 2023, we're like, well, I think, you know, we were a little bit out of the woods with not, 100%, but proms are happening again. You know, what can we do? Can we like restart?
So a small group of us got together, decided like, okay, I think we could do this and then run it like a six week turnaround, which is, you know, a very tight, I must say.
Juravich: You like in January decided we should do this and oh gosh oh yeah in a matter of weeks like okay
Persico: Where do we go? Can we get our stuff out of storage? What do we have to do? So about eight of us scrapped it together, pulled it off. And then our past president was like, hey, I need to hand off the baton. Who wants to take over? And it was crickets, I have to say. We're like, are we ready? And along with my vice president, Maureen, I was like well, I'll do it if you do it. And I stepped into the role.
Juravich: I was going to ask if you were voluntold, but you were just you felt you felt the need. Yes. Yeah.
Persico: Yes, yeah. Oh, yeah, like we all wanted to continue on and because we were you know, we had it like without a president, it would just fall apart, right? Exactly. And we saw a great success and need in that 2023 year. I think 1,276 students came through.
And this is after a several year pause. And with this tight turnaround and quick getting the word out there, we were able to organize ourselves and see that many students come through. So we were like, okay, there is still a need here in central Ohio. Let's keep this going.
Juravich: And I want our listeners to be aware that this is not your job. This is, I mean, this is a job, but it's, you're a volunteer. You are running this organization on a volunteer basis. So everything is volunteer and donation, right? So tell me how, how do you, how did you get money? You've volunteered, ever heard donations? Yeah.
Persico: So we accept donations of all kinds, whether somebody donates their time, donates a dress. We accept monetary donations through our website. We also hold tag sales throughout the spring and summer. What those do is they help earn money for operations for dresses and sizes and styles that we don't typically get, and helps us, you know... Plug in any holes we get in our inventory.
Tag sales are a lot of fun because we get a lot of donations from the community and many of them are perfect for prom, they're perfect for the boutique floor, but many of the, you know, they are more homecoming forward or maybe a little bit more vintage or mother of the bride style.
So we take those and we put them up for sale for like 10 bucks, 20 bucks at the most. And it's an easy fundraiser. And it's fun to kind of shop the racks and see if there's something you might need for an event. We also hold a fundraiser each year called "Party for Prom." It's an adult prom-themed fundraiser, dinner drinks dancing. We usually do silent auction, 50-50 raffle, and every single dollar that we raise goes towards the Cinderella's Closet Boutique and keeping Fairy Good Mothers going.
Juravich: And so you just mainly want prom dresses, though. I mean, you don't do the pop-up for homecoming or anything. This is a prom situation. Yeah.
Persico: Yeah, at this time, we aren't set up to do homecoming pop-up, which is why the tag sales are perfect for those students because we have a ton of shorter style dresses or more homecoming style, but our mission these days is prom.
Juravich: Okay, and prom dresses, mainly. Like, do you have any formal wear for men or for a girl who maybe wants to wear a suit? Like, you have a variety like that?
Persico: Yeah, so right now, we do not do formal wear for males. So unfortunately, we don't have that capacity to source that broadly. And the way the boutique is set up, it's more for those seeking dresses. But what we try to do is, if we're able to get jumpsuits, if we are able to more female-cut outfits, Like whether it's like suiting or run out, we try to keep those on hand as well.
Because we do see a variety of students that they might not want to dress. They might want something a little bit different. We try to, you know. Dress up.
Juravich: Dress it up with a fun jacket. Absolutely.
Persico: Absolutely, yeah. Dress up with a fun jacket. We don't want to dissuade anybody from coming to experience the boutique. Right now, the majority of items we have are dresses, but when we're able to support with a fun jumpsuit or a less dressy option, we try to do so.
Juravich: Okay, so we're down to about a minute left. If someone's listening right now and they have a closet full of prom dresses, what do they do with them to help you out?
Persico: So right now, I would sit tight. So we are going to be rolling out our community donation days at the shops at Worthington Place. They'll be once a month on Saturdays. I believe the next one we're thinking of doing, like that's on the books, is the end of the month. So I believe it's May 30. Check the website. Check that date, yeah. Please check the website we will be putting on our website soon. But we are happy to take any and all donations of that you may have.
Juravich: And how many volunteers do you have as a part of your organization?
Persico: We have, right now our board is made up of about 14 volunteers with committees, you know, it puts us in the 20s, but volunteers for the boutique and beyond. We have I would say 200 core volunteers that we see every year, and this year we had I think 400 signed up that were brand new to volunteering with us, which is amazing.
Juravich: Because there's always room for more.
Persico: Always. We have a wide variety of roles, especially with the Cinderella's Closet Boutique, but we do have volunteer opportunities throughout the year.
Juravich: We've been talking about prom season and making sure everyone has a dress with Katie Persico, president of Fairy Good Mothers. Thank you so much for your time today. Thank you so much. And you've been listening to Fascinating Ohio from All Sides on 89.7 NPR news. Thanks for joining us.