Kicking of summer with Hometown Hero dedication

NORWALK — The city of Norwalk's Hometown Hero dedication community celebration will be held at 6 p.m. Friday at Suhr Family Park. The entire community is invited and are asked to bring their own lawn chairs. There will be food trucks and live music by Townline 26. Norwalk Mayor Dave Light said this is a great event to kick off the summer season in town. "It sure is," he said. "Everything is coming together nicely for the whole thing. Terry Trumpower has been a tremendous help and people from the different service organizations will speak." Light said the city has nearly doubled out the Hometown Hero banners. "Hat's off to Rich Brutche, Brandon Kluding and Wade Nickoli," Light siad. "The three are like a well-oiled machine. He (Brutche) is trying to put families together. In front of the old fire station, you can see five members of the Trumpower family on the same pole." Light said the city is waiting for eight more brackets to come in to finish the job. The project was the brainchild of Norwalk resident Wende Mersereau, Light said. "She came down here with this idea," Light said. "We have Kelly Lippus at the visitors' bureau, Lisa Hivnor from city hall and Lori Wagner all working together on this project. "When Wende brought this idea to us it took about an hour to decide on this then things took off. Those four have made things happen." Light said everyone has pitched in, and it's not just for Norwalk residents. "Everybody has pitched in," he said. "You have to be a good listener down here. People come in with great ideas ... this thing just took off. "We have a lady coming from 3 1/2 hours away (Union, Ohio)," he added. "She sent in a picture of a family member and is coming for Friday's event. Something like this is much needed in today's world." The pilot program started with 24 banners, then 67 were added for 91 total in 2021. Twenty-three families repaid for their banners to be put up again and 127 new ones were added for 150 total this year.