5 Reasons to Visit Our 2024-25 Best Hometowns

Spangler Candy World • Bryan
Spangler Candy World in Bryan offers a new way to experience the century-old candy producer, with nostalgic exhibits, interactive games and, of course, plenty of treats.

Two towering light-up Dum Dums, a conveyor belt of candy boxes and a Sweethearts Chapel are just a few of the many eye-catching wonders that await upon stepping through the doors of Spangler Candy World in downtown Bryan.

Opened in 1906, Spangler Candy Co. has long been the city’s sweetest spot, and over the years the company became the producer of beloved treats like Dum Dums lollipops, Sweethearts, Circus Peanuts and a variety of candy canes. 

In late 2023, the family-owned business delighted locals and travelers alike with the opening of its latest venture: Spangler Candy World. The 5,400-square-foot museum and gift shop in downtown Bryan invites visitors to immerse themselves in the sweet world of Spangler by way of company artifacts, hands-on interactive exhibits and a fun, 15-minute movie.  

The company previously had a small, 1,400-square-foot museum at its Spangler Candy Co. factory, located just outside downtown Bryan, which included a short factory tour by trolley, and it saw around 20,000 visitors annually during its 15-year run before both the museum and tours ceased operations in 2021. 

“Then this space became available, and we said, ‘Isn’t it better to have a larger space that has more things that are fun, not just for adults but for kids as well?’” says Spangler CEO Kirk Vashaw.

Those kid-friendly exhibits include interactive touch screens and hands-free video games that provide fun and educational experiences, while the museum packs in enough information for adults interested in learning about this storied Ohio company’s long history. 

Admission to Spangler Candy World is free, although there is a small charge to watch the movie that immerses viewers in the sights (and even scents) of the candy-making process.  131 S. Main St., Bryan 43506, 419/633-6439, spanglercandyworld.com

Big Muskie’s Bucket • McConnelsville
The enormous scoop that belonged to the gargantuan excavator known as Big Muskie is immortalized at this roadside park that shares McConnelsville’s coal heritage. 

The 460,000-pound metal bucket along state Route 78 in McConnelsville serves as much more than a roadside oddity. It is a testament to human engineering and a tribute to the men and women who worked in the region’s coal-mining industry. Naturally, travelers frequently pull over to check out the last remaining piece of Big Muskie, a mammoth piece of machinery that was the largest dragline ever built.    

“[Big Muskie] could pick up its load and drop it two blocks away,” says Ron Mingus, park manager for Jesse Owens State Park, where the attraction is located. “The bucket is basically the size of two Greyhound buses.”

A river town, McConnelsville was known for agriculture and farming in the 1930s and ’40s, but as the land became less conducive to growing food, it was repurposed for strip mining, which took off in the area starting in the 1960s. The Central Ohio Coal Co., which was once a subsidiary of AEP, would use Big Muskie to scrape off the top layer of earthen material to access the sulfur coal underneath. 

Mining in the area went on for decades, concluding in 1999 when Central Ohio Coal Co. ceased operations, and the dragline was dismantled.

People from all over stop at Jesse Owens State Park to snap a photo of themselves in the enormous bucket and imagine Big Muskie’s immensity, but they can also enjoy the park’s 3,000 acres that welcome hiking, fishing, birdwatching and camping. 

“When you drive out state Route 78 from McConnelsville, you start to see the mining history,” Mingus says. “You can stand and visualize Big Muskie on top of the hill doing its work.” 4470 St. Rte. 78, McConnelsville 43756, 740/453-4377, ohiodnr.gov

Early Television Museum • Hilliard
TV history comes to life at the Early Television Museum in Hilliard, where a collection of technology from bygone years tells a story of American culture. 

The Philco Predicta’s small, rounded screen was once what the future looked like. This television appeared in the late 1950s and quickly found its way into households across America. Today, it would look out of place most anywhere, but it fits right in at Hilliard’s quirky Early Television Museum.

Steve McVoy, who opened the museum in 2001, has been interested in television sets and technology ever since working in a TV repair shop in the 1950s. He later owned a cable-television business, Coaxial Communications, on the east side of Columbus until 1999. After selling that business, McVoy bought a rare 1939 television on eBay. As he acquired even more vintage TVs — and with his wife’s insistence to get them out of the basement — he set out to share his collection.

“I started thinking about the fact that all of these very rare sets … were in people’s basements and attics and garages,” McVoy says. “None of them were easy for the public to see.”

The museum takes visitors on a journey through 10 distinct sections housing around 150 television sets and technology ranging from the 1920s to the ’80s. Walking deeper into the museum, visitors witness the evolution of TVs and learn about milestones like the advent of the first color television. In the final room, visitors see a highlight of McVoy’s collection, a 1948 mobile production van. This large, white van is one of only a few that were ever made and was used by WGSF Television in Newark, Ohio, before it was donated to the Ohio History Center, which has permanently loaned it to the museum. 

“There was not a museum in the country that dealt with the hardware of early television,” McVoy says. “And television is such an important part of our culture.” 5396 Franklin St., Hilliard 43026, 614/771-0510, earlytelevision.org

Champaign Aviation Museum • Urbana
Urbana’s Champaign Aviation Museum pays tribute to World War II aviators with a museum and ongoing restoration of its centerpiece aircraft, the Champaign Lady. 

From the moment you step inside the main hangar at the Champaign Aviation Museum, you’ll notice that it’s anything but quiet. The sounds of drilling, hammering and clanging fill the air, indicating the ongoing aircraft restoration work that fuels the museum’s mission of preserving World War II aviation history.

The museum started in January 2006 with the restoration of the Champaign Lady, a B-17 bomber, using parts salvaged from different aircraft. The plane currently serves as the centerpiece of the operation and is its longest ongoing project.

Over time, the museum has added more items to its collection, including World War II artifacts and memorabilia, as well as seven other military and civilian aircraft.

“We’re hands on,” says Jessica Henry, deputy director at the Champaign Aviation Museum. “We fly our airplanes. We invite the public into our restoration area, whereas a lot of other museums, they don’t want the public to be mixed with that.”

Visitors can observe the restoration process and speak with a handful of the more than 100 volunteers who work on the planes. Numbered stations allow visitors to choose their own path while exploring the museum, whether they wish to learn more about the manufacturing side of the war effort or the stories of combat pilots. 

Located on an active airfield, the museum also hosts events that offer flights in the Champaign Gal, a B-25 twin-engine bomber. In 2010, an exhibit was added to honor the 1,048 civilian women of WASP who played a critical role in assisting the military during World War II by ferrying aircraft, testing experimental planes and training pilots.

“They were truly the first of their kind, and they opened the door for all women to enter the aviation world, commercially, in the military and as astronauts,” Henry says. “We really want to share [their story].” 1652 N. Main St., Urbana 43078, 937/652-4710, champaignaviationmuseum.org

Holmes County Trail • Millersburg 
The Holmes County Trail offers visitors to Millersburg a fresh way to experience the region and provides members of the local Amish community a new route for getting around.

Click the helmet strap tight, power up the electric bike, set your speed and take off down the Holmes County Trail. Established in 1996 by the Holmes County Rails-to-Trails Coalition, the 15-mile route lined with trees and farm fields passes through downtown Millersburg. It is part of the 326-mile Ohio to Erie Trail that stretches from Cleveland to Cincinnati, as well as the 3,700-mile Great American Rail-Trail, a route that, when completed, will stretch from Washington D.C. to La Push, Washington.

The Holmes County Trail has its northern terminus in the Wayne County village of Fredericksburg and travels south through Holmesville, Millersburg and Killbuck before a short road route to Glenmont, where the trail picks up again and ends just before the Knox County village of Brinkhaven. Trail users can walk, inline skate or bike the route and should be prepared to share the path with a horse and buggy or two. 

“It was built and designed so it could accommodate all of those different users,” says Jen Halverson, director of the Holmes County Park District, which oversees and maintains the Holmes County Trail. “It’s much wider than the typical trail because of that.” 

To see large swaths of the trail at a time, travelers should consider renting an electric bike from Holmesville’s E-Bikes of Holmes County and begin their travels at the Hipp Station building in downtown Millersburg. Bikes are rented by the hour and can be picked up at the shop or delivered to all lodging facilities in Holmes County for a fee.

“We’ll have locals who will come here and park or walk down the hill and do their daily run or bike ride,” Halverson says. “But then you’re going to see [a] parking lot full of cars with bike racks with out-of-state plates because they’ve driven here specifically to get on this trail and experience it.” Hipp Station: 62 N. Grant St., Millersburg 44654, holmesparkdistrict.org

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