Opening day is coming for an unusual and historic ice cream place in Barberton.
Rhonda and Gary Ziegenhorn will open the Erie Depot ice cream and sandwich shop June 7 at the 19th-century Erie Depot at 361 Fourth St. NW.
The restored wood depot — boasting a steeple and painted green — is now owned by the Ziegenhorns. The couple, previously residents of Medina County who now live in Barberton, bought it in July 2014 from the Barberton Historical Society for $70,000.
“When you see what a stellar job that the Ziegenhorns did on this historic building, you are going to be amazed,” says a posting from the historical society on its Facebook page. “One of the best things we ever did was selling the Depot.”
The society had restored the shell of the depot; the Ziegenhorns oversaw the interior work. The society will reinvest the sale money into its historical properties.
Built in 1890 by town founder O.C. Barber, the depot still has its wrought-iron ticket windows. Slate shingles have been replaced with look-alikes that vary in shade just like the originals.
The depot was built to handle traffic between Barberton and Chicago, historical society President Steve Kelleher has noted. The Liberty Bell passed through town on the track. In 1912, Teddy Roosevelt greeted 5,000 people there.
In 2007, the depot was moved across Fourth Street to make way for the expansion of a business.
The Erie Depot ice cream and sandwich shop will open at 1 p.m. May 29 for the historical society’s annual walking tour of the remaining buildings erected by O.C. Barber.
Hours for the Erie Depot will be 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
Sommers Market
Hartville has an offbeat grocery store — a discount place dealing in closeout products — that has expanded and now includes a deli.
The store at 214 Market Ave. NE recently changed its name from R Grocery to Sommers Market. “The old name wasn’t personal enough,” said the 32-year-old vice president and co-owner, David Sommers.
The store will celebrate the changes this Friday and Saturday with free hot dogs and popcorn, $2 deli sandwiches, food samples and giveaways. Hours are 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday.
So what are grocery closeouts? Sommers explains it this way: “I like to say we are the T.J. Maxx of groceries.”
Customers, he said, “tell us they keep coming back because they never know what might be available on any given day.”
The closeout or salvage items have expiration dates that are fairly close, and in some cases are expired. The deli, for the record, does not contain closeout items, and offers meats and cheeses as well as some prepared items, such as ham salad and cheese balls that are made in-house.
The store has added an area of what Sommers calls “convenience items,” such as milk, sugar, baked goods, condiments, cereals and gluten-free pasta that are not sold at discount prices.
Sommers said the plan is to stock this section with items from Ohio companies, such as Walnut Creek Foods in Holmes County.
Sommers and his brother Roland, 37, the store’s president, opened the grocery a few doors from the current site in October 2007. Dave Sommers said he and his brother had thought about opening a coffee shop, and then, inspired by a visit to a closeout shop in Pennsylvania, they decided to go into groceries. Before the store, Roland Sommers had a roofing venture and Dave Sommers worked at a camp in Pennsylvania for troubled boys.
These days, the brothers have a second location in the Hartville Marketplace. It does not have a deli or non-discount food area. The two stores employ more than 50 full- and part-time employees.
Art and wine in Kent
The 10th annual Art & Wine Festival will run from noon to 10 p.m. June 4 in downtown Kent.
Participating Ohio wineries include Barrel Run Crossing, Gervasi Vineyard, Grape & Granary Winery, Maize Valley Winery, Troutman Vineyards & Winery, and Winery at Wolf Creek. Food vendors will include Brimfield Bread Oven, Kent Cheesemonger, Premiere Crepes and Scratch.
Live music will begin at noon, with the last act beginning at 8:45 p.m. Proceeds benefit Main Street Kent. Go to www.mainstreetkent.org or call 330-677-8000.
Festival sites will be spread over the Hometown Bank Plaza and nearby portions of West Main and North Water Streets.
Tidbits
• Kathy Lehr, who teaches bread-making classes and is an avid gardener, has more than 30 varieties of mostly heirloom tomato plants, several varieties of sweet and hot peppers and eggplants for sale. The sale will go until there are no plants left. Lehr lives in Bath Township. For more information, contact her at taoofdough@neo.rr.com.
• The Hudson Farmers Market opens June 4 for its 10th season. The market will run 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturdays through Oct. 8 on the Village Green at the corner of Main Street and Aurora Road.
Food truck news
• Food Truck Fridays begin this Friday, with the trucks offering their fare from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the parking lot of the nonprofit Child Guidance & Family Solutions at North Forge and East Market streets in Akron.
The lunchtime rally runs through Sept. 2. Check the Food Truck Friday Facebook page for updates on which trucks will be present. Typically, about four or five trucks will set up each Friday.
• On Sunday, Tallmadge hosts one of the area’s biggest single-day rallies, with more than 20 trucks on hand for the 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. event. Trucks will set up in the Tallmadge Recreation Center parking lot at 46 N. Munroe Road, off East Avenue, east of Tallmadge Circle.
This is the third year for the event, with music from the Swizzle Stick Band and activities for kids. See the Tallmadge Food Truck Festival Facebook page for more information.
Wine-tasting events
• Fishers Foods will host its annual Top 16 Spring-Summer White Wines tasting from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. Friday at 8100 Cleveland Ave. NW, Plain Township. Cost is $5 for four 2-ounce wine samples.
• Ken Stewart’s Lodge, 1911 N. Cleveland-Massillon Road, Bath Township, will host a five-course Justin & Landmark wine dinner at 7 p.m. May 25. The event will feature master sommelier Joseph Spellman. Cost is $75. Call 330-666-8881 for reservations.
• Fifty wines, hors d’oeuvres and live music are the lineup at the Spring Wine Fest at 7 p.m. Friday at the Galaxy Restaurant in Wadsworth. Cost is $49 (tax is included). To reserve, go to www.galaxyrestaurant.com or call 330-334-3663.
Katie Byard can be reached at 330-996-3781 or kbyard@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her @KatieByardABJ on Twitter or www.facebook.com/KatieByardABJ.