(gentle music) (keyboard keys tapping) (gentle music) (click) (bright music) (keyboard keys tapping) - What's in this library is just a tip of the iceberg.

(bright music) - This library and multicultural center was founded in 1982 by Nina Parker and her mother.

It started in the basement of the Mason Chapel AME Church here in Findlay, Ohio, and it started with one book that her mother gave her, and it's grown into volumes of books and tapes that number in the thousands.

The original focus was on educating Black youth so that they had an appreciation and an understanding of their cultural heritage.

And for the non-minority students to have an understanding and appreciation of the heritage and the contributions of Black people to American history.

(bright music) Nina grew up here from a child and she experienced the Black students would be looked upon to ask the questions that were being discussed whenever they would discuss Black history.

And that was a burden that she saw that she didn't handle well.

So she decided to start the library.

Rather than moving her children out to where they would be in a more diverse environment, she decided to change the environment that she grew up in and that was why they started the library.

- I think the thing that's impacted me the most is I become more educated.

You think that you know things about your culture until you come to a place like this and you start reading and you find out that there's a lot you don't know.

You find out the truths.

You grow up and you've been told things down through the years and it's been etched in stone because it's never been challenged.

When you come into a place like this, all of those truths and half truths become challenged.

This is educational to the youth at the lowest level.

As we educate the youth, they in turn educate their family members and their friends.

- How I've grown with the Black Heritage Library and Multicultural Center is through community development.

It's important for humans at any age to be exposed to any type of culture so we can understand people and have a different perspective.

(gentle music) - We are here to promote growth in the area of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

And we have art artifacts from over 50 countries from around the world.

You can start in that corner here and you see pictures and art from the African diaspora.

We deal with the Underground Railroad which is Findlay had a very instrumental part in the underground railroad.

So we teach on that during the year.

Then you go through the Civil War period when you look at the back of the room, local piece of art there of the portrait of Abraham Lincoln, that was done by a local artist.

And then we deal with the Harlem Renaissance and all these pieces were either purchased over the years by the library staff or donated.

One of my favorites sits up here in the back corner is a young lady, a local young lady, and she's looking through a mask which with a picture of the world behind her.

And what that symbolizes is she's looking at her ancestors the world through that mask that she has in front of her.

This museum, this library functions at that mask that people come in and you're able to see things that you haven't been exposed to before.

- It's a place that people can learn about Black history.

We don't have a lot of that around here and I want people to see that that they can learn and see what happened.

Like what happened like Rosa Park, happened to Martin Luther King, all the other stuff that happened during history.

We can't teach about this.

- I've been to programs here where there was round table discussions and that's where you really get educated on what's out there, what's available, what you didn't know.

The dialogue is it's raw and when you come into those discussions, you have to have thick skin but you also have to have an open heart and open mind and with that open heart and open mind, you blossom, you grow.

I always say that we learn every day.

When you stop learning, you die.

(gentle music) - [Lauren] Sareka's artwork, as you can see, is extremely colorful.

It's joyful, it's positive.

That's no mistake because she is also an extremely positive, uplifting person.

(bright music) (keyboard keys tapping) - My name is Sareka Unique and I am an artist illustrator, surface pattern designer.

Sareka Unique.

Unique is my middle name.

So my mom thought my first name was so creative that she was like, "Oh that's unique so I'm gonna name her Sareka Unique."

So I thought it would be perfect and fitting for my brand as well.

(chuckles) (bright music) I've always had a passion for painting.

When I would see them, I just light up and you can just feel it inside of you.

Like when I'm on Instagram or if I'm at a museum and I see certain paintings and the way they use color and everything, I'm like, "Man, I wish I could do that.'

But in my mind I was just like, "Oh, I'm a designer.

I don't like to do that."

But I mean, who's to say that you can't try or you can't change your path on what you wanna do?

I used to doodle all the time.

So I think a lot of it came from there 'cause my play with doodle when I'm in class, I would go to conferences and I would just sit and doodle the whole time.

And I think that translates to my paintings as well.

Just being free and flowing and just doing whatever feeling comes out for me, just putting that on the canvas.

I still didn't consider myself an artist.

I was like, "Yeah, I'm a designer, I'm an illustrator I don't do paint and all that stuff."

So, but then I kept getting this calling in my mind that just was like, "Just paint, just paint, just paint."

So eventually I gave in, I was like, "Okay, I'm just gonna paint a little bit here and there.

And once I started painting I just couldn't stop.

(bright music) - I feel that Sareka's artwork is spiritual.

We both are believers in a greater presence and we both channel that into our artwork but in different ways.

And I think that's the beauty of art that you can both be inspired by something very similar and yet come full circle with something that is so different.

- My friend, Lauren Magda, oh my gosh.

So we met on clubhouse when everything was shut down and I think I was on stage one day and I said something about Ypsilanti and she's like, "Ypsilanti?

I'm in Ypsilanti."

And so then she messaged me and then we started talking and we met up.

We bonded over bright colors and the the common ground of Ypsilanti and graphic design 'cause she also has a graphic design background as well.

She went to CCS here in Michigan.

(gentle music) - [Lauren] I would describe Sareka's artwork as like a color explosion of joy and optimism and peace at the same time all rolled up into one.

- [Sareka] Well my favorite color that you'll probably see appear in most of my paintings is pink and turquoise.

I try to do a painting without pink sometimes and it's just like, "Eh it needs a little pink."

(laughs) Or even turquoise.

Turquoise is my top favorite color and I think the two compliment each other pretty well.

You probably see turquoise with around my house everywhere.

(laughs) I like definitely turquoise.

(gentle music) I have my artwork printed on pillows, there's some blankets on my couches that have my artwork on there.

There's pouches on my desk that has my artwork.

I currently have a collaboration going on with Geometry which is a eco-friendly based towel company.

They're made out of recycled plastic bottles.

So I think that's really cool and I have a collaboration with them now, so you can see my patterns there as well.

With surface pattern design, I just love to see my artwork on things that tangible things that people can have in their everyday lives where it's a little accessory like a little pouch you can carry with you or your phone case.

You can have like a little bit of happy with you in your pocket.

- Sareka's artwork, as you can see, is extremely colorful, it's joyful, it's positive and that's no mistake because she is also an extremely positive, uplifting person.

- So I started the hashtag and then I started the Instagram account and then the community just built from there.

And less than a year, I was up to about 30,000 followers and I was like, whoa.

It just started as a passion project.

- [Narrator] Want to see your favorite local story featured on our show?

Head to our website at wbgu.org/scenicstops Find the blue button and let us know where we should go next.

(upbeat music) - So Black Girls Illustrated, I started a couple years ago, I say about 2019.

(upbeat music) When I was in illustration and surface pattern design, I didn't really see anybody that looked like me.

There was maybe like maybe one or two other people that I would come across and when we'd see each other like, "Oh my God you're doing the same thing.

You like what I like."

So it was very exciting but I knew there were a lot of other people and a lot of other talented illustrators and artists out there and I wanted to connect with them.

And because I'm on Instagram all the time, I searched the hashtag #blackgirlsillustrate and I didn't really find anything so I was like, why is this not a thing?

There's a lot of Black girls illustrators.

(laughs) So I started the hashtag and then I started the Instagram account and then the community just built from there.

And less than a year, I was up to about 30,000 followers and I was like, "Whoa."

This just started as a passion project.

(upbeat music) I think it's really important to have the Black Girl Illustrate platform just because there's lots of people who wanna support Black artists.

They don't know where to find them.

And then there's a lot of artists who don't know how to get their artwork seen or they're somewhere where they don't have support or don't have people around them or they don't see anyone that looks like them that are doing the same thing so they're not sure if it's possible.

- It's not an easy life path to be an artist and especially a full-time artist.

There's a lot of sacrifices involved and there's a lot of unknowns.

And so I think being genuinely supportive and in a supportive environment of other creatives is extremely helpful.

- And the future is something I wanna work on to offer resources for artists to help them build their careers and connect with each other.

I would love to have like community meetups or retreats where they can come to and just gather together.

Trade ideas, it's really important I think to have other artists and illustrators around you.

(bright music) When people see my artwork, I want them to feel happy, excited, joy.

I love when I do shows and a kid will walk by and they're just standing there looking at everything and they're like, "This makes me so happy."

That's the main thing I get from people in public when I do shows.

They're like, "This just makes me so happy."

And I love that I can translate that in my work to help uplift other spirits.

- I think that her personality translates so well into her artwork and it really does uplift others.

I have a print of hers in my house and it just brings me such joy when I look at it and I know that that's what it does for other people too.

- It's crazy to think that I'm someone's favorite artist.

(laughs) But I think that's pretty cool.

I think if I can inspire other people or spark some sense of joy or bring something to their lives that add to them in some way, I think that's amazing and it actually inspires me to keep going 'cause I have days where I'm just like, "Ugh, what am I doing?

I don't wanna do this."

But the fact that it does inspire others or that I see a kid that's like, "Wow, I could do this too," that definitely gives me a little kick in the butt that goes to help me to keep going.

- [Narrator] We're at the Dairy Learning Center, which is open to the public located on a real working dairy farm.

- Our family has been grain farming here in Mercer County for over 100 years.

So this is where our base of farm ground is at in our community (bright music) (keyboard keys tapping) (bright music) - We're at the Dairy Learning Center, which is open to the public located on a real working dairy farm.

(bright music) - MVP Dairy is two fourth generation farmers that created a partnership here to create MVP Dairy.

Our family has been grain farming here in Mercer County for over 100 years.

So this is where our base of farm ground is at in our community.

We started the learning center in 2019, we're gonna average probably about 20,000 people a year coming through our learning center.

(bright music) - [Allison] We wanted to create a space that can walk you through those steps from soil to yogurt cup.

- [Kyle] We felt the need to help educate our community about how farming is these days.

- [Allison] People can come in and watch actually a soil simulation wall that shows you what's going on in our fields depending on the time of year.

- [Kyle] So as the grain farmer side, we grow all the crops or pretty much all the crops that feed the cows.

And then we use regenerative farming practices to turn around and reutilize those nutrients to grow the next year's crop.

(bright music) - We ship about 45 to 47,000 gallons of milk to our customer every day.

- [Allison] We milk about 3,900 dairy cows here on a carousel style milking parlor that anyone can come in and check out from our viewing deck.

- [Brock] But it's just a giant merry-go-round essentially for cows that takes about eight minutes from the time they step on to the time they get off.

(bright music) - [Allison] We do have interactive displays that walk you through the day in the life of a cow.

But if you're part of a scheduled group, you do get to go through our barns with the help of a shuttle - [Brock] We create an open house here for people to come from the public end to view our cows.

- [Allison] So on the second floor, you're gonna get a closer look at how we care for our cows and calves.

- [Kyle] We take care of them in the Animal Welfare and Health Department.

Making sure that if they have a sore foot or anything like that, just need a pedicure, a nail trimming.

we can handle that in the back on our trim chute.

Once they're back in their pen, they're free to roam about that pen and do just as they would choose to.

(bright music) - [Allison] So also on the second floor, you're gonna learn a little bit more about how we identify our cows.

So each cow has a special earring or a number that will be in her ear, but then we also use activity trackers or monitors around their collars.

- [Brock] We can track each individual cow and how much milk she gives on a daily basis.

We also use our milk meter for conductivity so that we can sense any abnormalities in that milk and take care of that cow.

- [Allison] One of the most common questions that we get here at the dairy are the colors on the backs of the cows.

We use pink, green, blue, or orange to organize the cows by what they eat.

(bright music) - [Kyle] Our cows are in different groups according to age and lactation.

And then we can feed those cows accordingly for each one of their needs.

(bright music) - [Brock] And it's great for kids to hear, come through here, understand what it takes to actually get a cup of yogurt.

Everything from soil health all the way through a cup.

- We're proud to be fourth generation farmers here in Mercer County that have opened our doors here with our learning center to invite in our community or anybody that's willing to learn.

- We've made a commitment to allow our community members as well as travelers passing down the road to come in and see what we're doing.

- The importance of having mascots at these games, they're really there to create that experience that, fun environment.

And I think without them there, there wouldn't be that same energy and same excitement at each and every game.

(rock music) (keyboard keys tapping) (rock music) The mascots that represent our brand.

On the Walleye side, we have Spike and Cattrick, his feline friend.

On the Mud Hens side, we have Muddy the Mud Hen and his female friend, Muddonna.

The plan was always to have two mascots on the Walleye side.

We did introduce Muddonna in the early 2000s on the Mud Hens side and that success of having multiple mascots on the baseball side just transferred over really nicely into the hockey side.

Spike is our Walleye mascot.

He came about with our inaugural season.

We did debut that we would be having some sort of fish to pay homage to our Lake Erie and Maumee River in the Toledo area.

A Spike Walleye is a really rough and rowdy young walleye and it just seemed to fit with our hockey background.

Spike is a yellow walleye.

He wears a little blue hockey helmet.

We keep him in a Walleye jersey at all times and he can alternate between boots and skates.

For Spike, he skates through the giant spike tunnel of himself out into the ice.

He waves a big flag.

He also holds the American flag during the national anthem.

Cattrick is Spike's feline friend.

He's a extra large cat, blue in color.

He wears a fishing vest, I guess you can call it, with lures and everything to play on Spike being his friend.

He does wear big yellow rain boots so he can walk through the water to hang out with Spike.

Cattrick has his very own mayhem on Madison that we do every single game where Cattrick gets a spotlight with a large drum and gets the crowd really excited.

(rock music) So Toledo chose the Mud Hen.

It's a long-legged American coop bird that frequents marshes and swamp areas.

Back when the team used to play at Bayview Park, they were right around all these marshes and swamp lands where these birds frequented.

So we took on the mud hen as our mascot.

(rock music) Muddonna came in always with the cute little pinstripe baseball dress and I don't think hers has changed much over the years.

Muddy has always worn a Mud Hens jersey for the most part in just different variations.

What makes Muddy unique is he's one of the very few, if only mascot that has his very own shoe deal.

Muddy's game day routine, he catches our first pitches for us and he does sign every single ball that is thrown to him.

He's got a really large glove that fits his hand.

It's funny to look at.

Each mascot does have a very unique personality that they own and make them who they are.

Spike can be a little more rough, I would say.

With the fans in a fun way rousing them up.

Where Cattrick's more of the big loving cat that just wants to give the hugs and big waves all around.

Muddy's a lot more of the fun, let's go see what trouble we can get into.

Similar to Spike, where Muddonna's his really sweet friend that just wants to have a good time.

She loves to dance with fans she loves to give the hugs and everyone seems to love her beautiful hair that she loves to show off as well.

Our mascots always have sharpies around and they're very happy to sign autographs.

In the game as well, they also do have a designated autograph session.

Fans can come on up too.

If you miss them walking around the concourse during the game, they're able to come and see them at a specific point within each game.

The way that somebody becomes a mascot is we go through an intensive interview process.

We just see what their background is and then we dive into, can you pick up on the mannerisms that we need?

And we ask our mascots to be for the fans and the community.

And can you create that fun, fanatical experience each and every day when you come in?

For certain skills for each of these mascots, Spike we do ask that he can skate.

It's really important and a really crucial part of our game to have him skate through that spike tunnel and wave that flag on the ice.

And our other mascots, we just ask that they can be flexible.

They can go up and down on the ground with kids.

You're up taking pictures, you're moving all around.

Those that are actually in the suit.

They just carry the energy.

They understand that our mascots are there to entertain the crowd, bring those fanatical moments to each and every fan as if it was their first game.

So they know that they do carry a little bit more responsibility when they put the suit on each and every day.

(rock music) The community has taken on these mascots as if they are their own.

Everybody loves them just as much as we do.

They're more of an ambassador of our brand and ambassador of the Toledo community.

They are always present on the concourse, on the field, up in the seating bowl with the fans.

Being visible is just a really huge part of their popularity.

The kids will run up, they will give them the biggest hugs.

Some are very hesitant at first, but our mascots love to get down to their level and just let them know that it's okay, that we are nice and we wanna be your friend.

And then right after that, it's an instant change.

These kids wanna come back and all they wanna see is the mascots (rock music) The importance of having mascots at these games, they're really there to create that experience, that fun environment for all fans of all ages.

They're there to rouse the fans, get them out of their seats, cheering on the team.

They bring the excitement, they bring, "Oh look, there's a mascot on the ice.

Like let's cheer, bang on the glass for them.

Get their attention."

I think without them there, there wouldn't be that same energy and same excitement at each and every game.

We encourage fans of all ages, come on down to a hockey game, come on down to a baseball game.

Come meet Spike and Cattrick.

Come meet Muddy and Muddonna.

Get a high five, get a hug, get your picture taken.

Those memories last a lifetime.

(rock music) (bright music) (bright music) (soft music fades)