Memorial Day weekend in Bucyrus will offer plenty of attractions - all for one noble cause

Several organizations came together to offer residents and guests a unique opportunity to explore the city's famous Hobo Day and a car show along with its first spring fly-in and pancake breakfast.

The activities will take place 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday at several locations throughout Bucyrus. Events aim at raising funds for the Lauretta Schimmoller monument and museum. The monument's estimated cost is $25,000, the museum cost will be determined when the monument fundraising goal is reached.

“We are all coming together toward one goal; that’s a good example of how we are working together,” said Randy Fischer, Bucyrus Historical Society board member. “The second thing this all is about her.”

"Her" is Lauretta Schimmoller – a Bucyrus aviatress, a friend of Amelia Earhart and the first female in the United Sates involved with organizing and supervising an airport.

Alongside that and running a local business, Schimmoller gained national recognition for her successful start of the Aerial Nurse Corps of America, which became the foundation of the United States Air Force Flight Nurses and the concept of medical evacuation, according to Lauretta Schimmoller Museum President and fly-in Chairman Fred Fischer.

“It’s appropriate for her stuff to be on display at the airport, which is the airport that she founded in that she was the first female manager in an airport in the United States,” Fred Fischer said. “So, it’s a pretty historic site.”

The organizers of this first joint event said they were not sure how many visitors the activities Saturday might attract, but Hobo Day and fly-ins when done separately usually drew 300-400 guests.

Pancake breakfast, fly-in, and Lauretta Schimmoler’s display

The Bucyrus Historical Society will be open 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday for people to see the Lauretta Schimmoler display.

Events planned for the day will start earlier with the Kiwanis Pancake Breakfast and Fly-In at Port Bucyrus Crawford County Airport at 8 a.m. Ticket cost to attend the all-you-can-eat breakfast that will include pancakes, sausage, milk, coffee, and juice is $10. Children under 10 eat free.

The breakfast and fly-in fundraiser began in 2021, said Randy Fischer, noting it was organized by the Bicentennial Commission to raise funds for the Bucyrus Bicentennial celebration.

Bucyrus Kiwanis Club agreed to cook for the fundraiser and Hord Family Farms and Avita Health System donated the ingredients. The event continued through the following years to fundraise for Schimmoller’s monument and museum, but was moved from October to September because of the weather.

This year, Big Fourth annual Pancake Breakfast Fly-In, car show, flea market and other activities are still planned for September, but due to the success of the fall fly-ins and their popularity in the area, Fred Fischer said they decided to hold an additional fly-in in May attached to the traditional Bucyrus Hobo Day.

“A fly-in pancake breakfast is just a reason for somebody in the state or surrounding area to come, fly here and have some pancakes, and have some place to fly and talk a little bit, and go back home,” Fischer said. “Keep in mind that fly-ins pilot-wise are totally dependent on weather.”

Hobo Day, train station, and Car Show

The Bucyrus Preservation Society Hobo Day and antique car show, conducted in collaboration with the Eliminators Car Club, starts at 10 a.m. and will continue until 4 p.m. at the Toledo and Ohio Central (T&OC) Train Station, 700 E. Rensselaer St.

Some of the activities are food vendors, such as Center Street Meats Grill, Sweet Thangs Kettle Corn and Crawford Antique Farm Machinery Association Ice Cream, as well as T-shirt sales and more.

Tom Holtshouse from the Bucyrus Preservation Society said they started to have hobo days  in Bucyrus around Memorial Day weekend close to 20 years ago since the times when the actual hobos were still around.

Holtshouse said Hobo Day was introduced to celebrate the local Toledo and Ohio Central (T&OC) train station heritage, noting it originally was intended to help with the restoration of the train station, one of the biggest projects of the Bucyrus Preservation Society.

“The train station, when the project originally started, that building was on the edge of falling down,” Holtshouse said. “In the beginning, there were still hobos to come to the event, but there aren’t any real hobos anymore.”

This article originally appeared on Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum: Bucyrus fly-in, Hobo Day to support Lauretta Schimmoller museum