Belly dancers twirled next to farmers market stalls, kids peeked into a mock one-room classroom built from the bones of a demolished middle school, and would-be Mr. Brunswicks competed for biggest belly and hairiest legs — all part of the city's first-ever Community Homecoming, held August 29-30 at the Brunswick Historical Society's Heritage Farm Museum and Park. The inaugural two-day event folded local history, property tours, children's games, musical entertainment, and area safety services into the weekly Sunday at the Farm farmers market at 4613 Laurel Road.
As reported by Cleveland.com, the homecoming gave visitors their first look inside the new schoolhouse building on the farm grounds, a structure whose entrance was built from the entryway salvaged from the former Visintainer Middle School. That original 1949 school was demolished in May 2020 alongside neighboring Edwards Middle School to make way for the consolidated $65 million Brunswick Middle School campus, according to Cleveland.com's earlier local coverage. The historical society later sold salvaged bricks from both demolished buildings to community members to help fund its bell tower project and ongoing museum operations, per the Medina Gazette.
Inside the New Schoolhouse
The rebuilt schoolhouse now houses a mock one-room classroom, school uniforms and letterman jackets, and Brunswick schools memorabilia spanning the past 110 years. It also displays a set of unidentified mystery photographs that historical society members are still hoping to place. Brunswick Historical Society member Sam Boyer said the Community Homecoming returned for its first year because of America250, according to Cleveland.com.
That statewide tie-in traces back to the America250-Ohio Commission, established ahead of the 2026 U.S. Semiquincentennial to distribute grants for researching and documenting Revolutionary War veterans and Underground Railroad history across Medina County, according to America 250-Ohio. The momentum from that statewide push is what organizers credit with prompting the revival of a community homecoming tradition in Brunswick this year.
A Farmhouse With Deep Roots
The 4-acre Heritage Farm Museum site sits on land that was once part of a 325-acre parcel purchased by David Berdan in 1818, and the restored farmstead officially opened to the public as a museum on July 1, 2000, per The Historical Marker Database. The property includes an 1860s-era house that the city of Brunswick purchased in 1994. The grounds also carry a state historical marker commemorating local abolitionist Hiram B. Miller, who operated a prominent Underground Railroad station in the area and reportedly smuggled escaping enslaved people to freedom in Canada inside dry-goods boxes.
Heritage Farm has become something of an active repository for pieces of Brunswick's past rather than a static park. Its grounds also feature an 1852 cast-iron church bell made by the Meneely Foundry for the Brunswick Methodist Episcopal Church, donated to the historical society after the church permanently closed in 2019. In 2023, the society relocated the Parschen Gazebo — originally built in 1999 at Towslee Elementary School in honor of former principal Bill Parschen — to the farm, where fundraising for its Phase 2 restoration continues.
Vendors, Games and a Weekly Market
The homecoming brought 25 vendors to the grounds, joining the regular Sunday at the Farm market that runs June through October and can host up to 63 registered vendors selling produce, artisan crafts, and honey alongside live music inside the property's big red barn, per the Medina Gazette. Geri Jolly, who has sold her jams and jellies at the farmers market since 2012, said the Community Homecoming was a welcome addition to the market, according to Cleveland.com.
Entertainment at the two-day event included belly dancing performed by Third Tent from the Nile, alongside schoolhouse tours, children's games, and area safety service displays. Brunswick, the largest municipality in Medina County with a population of 35,426 recorded in the 2020 U.S. Census, was founded on January 1, 1815, and later incorporated as a village in February 1960 before attaining city status that October. Whether the Community Homecoming becomes an annual tradition beyond this year's semiquincentennial tie-in has not yet been announced.
