It's strange to drive by Midway Mall these days, knowing that the property is going to be redeveloped by its new owner, the Lorain County Port Authority. Possible plans include transitioning it away from retail and towards health and wellness, with Cleveland Clinic as an anchor tenant. We'll have to wait and see.
In the meantime, it's fun to look back at the Mall's heyday of the 1970s when there was always some kind of show or exhibit going on. Below is an ad for just such an event : Midway Mall's Sport Show. It ran in the Journal back on May 17, 1973.
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| Hey, Boo Boo! This drawing is a boo boo! |
It's a fun ad. You have a great French-Canadian lumberjack character, "Paddling Pierre," drawn by none other than Bob Lynch, the Chronicle-Telegram's resident cartoonist and creator of Petey the Pioneer, the Elyria High School sports mascot. On the other hand, you have a lousier-than-the-average drawing of the smarter-than-the-average bear, Yogi Bear, apparently at the Mall to plug his Jellystone Park Resorts.
There's something for everyone: an appearance by former Ohio State Football player and Cleveland Brown Dick Schafrath; square dancing; a fishing rodeo for the kids; a first aid demonstration; a free putting green; a swimming pool exhibit; taxidermy demonstrations; a backpacking demonstration; and a canoe exhibit.
Yup, this show seems to have been designed for a manly, rugged woodsman like myself. I mean, how could I pass up a chance to meet Yogi Bear?
I just hope Yogi's costume was more bearable than the unreasonable facsimile of him in the ad.
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Midway Mall and its special events have been the topics of many posts on this blog.