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Community News from Middlefield, Parkman, Huntsburg and Surrounding Areas
Wednesday, October 1, 2025 • Vol. 18 No. 10 • FREE
Hartville Hardware CEO Shares Their Story By Ann Wishart
ANN WISHART/KMG
Matt Smith, left, Middlefield Chamber of Commerce president, introduces the speakers Sept. 16 at the chamber’s dinner at Swine Creek Park Lodge. Speakers were Andrew Mizak, Jim Dvorak, Gary Sommers and Pattie Fulop.
emphasized. “Hartville Hardware is new (in Middlefield), but we are not shortterm in nature. It’s a long-term investment,” Sommers said. “We’re excited to be here.” The Middlefield store’s grand opening was Sept. 12. HRM Enterprises, named for his grandfather, Howard R. Miller, exists to honor God and provide for others, Sommers said. “Grandfather said always put
God first and treat our customers and suppliers the way you’d want to be treated,” he said, adding those goals include hard work and giving more than is expected. The five-point HRM retail strategy includes team members serving the people, dominating the market so that customers drive by big box stores to buy at Hartville, partnering with vendors who supply good brands, using ultimate signage and displays so the store feels differ-
ent from competitors and offering goods at the best price. “Nobody wants to pay more,” Sommers said. Many construction crews from this area travel into Cleveland and its suburbs early every day so the Hartville lumber yard off Tare Creek Parkway opens at 6 a.m. “They can drive up, pull through, load up and pay and not have to come into the store,” he said. See Hartville • Page 6
Pumpkins Will Roll … Huntsburg Gears up for 55th Annual Festival By Brandon Lichtinger editor@karlovecmedia.com Soon, pumpkins will be rolling down the hill, pancakes will be piled high and Jerry Rose will be unveiling this year’s crop of monstrous produce at the 55th annual Huntsburg Pumpkin Festival. “I just want to have a great festival with great weather,” said festival committee President Andy Supinski, who has been at the helm of the organization for the past six years. Both days of the festival, held from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Oct. 4 and Oct. 5., will begin with a pre-festival all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast from 8:30-11:30 a.m. in the basement of the town hall, where buttermilk and pumpkin pancakes with sausage will be served alongside locally-made maple syrup.
Community Meetings Listed are upcoming public meetings and executive sessions in Huntsburg, Middlefield and Parkman townships, the Village of Middlefield and Cardinal Schools. (Please note: These meeting notices are NOT legal notices.)
ann@karlovecmedia.com
Members of the Middlefield Chamber of Commerce listened intently Sept. 16 as Gary Sommers, CEO of HRM Enterprises Inc., talked about the challenges his family faced to bring Hartville Hardware to the village. Sommers recalled the company, built and nurtured by four generations of his family, bought Centerra LLC in Middlefield Village in 2020 and rebranded it as part of a plan to build a store similar to HRM’s Hartville Hardware store in Hartville. As the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, their restaurant in Hartville, attached to the huge hardware store, was shut down. “We wondered, ‘What in the world happens now?’” he told the audience of about 50 diners at the Swine Creek Park Lodge. But the market shifted and the business prospered. “Building materials really exploded and gave us confidence to expand here,” Sommers said. “We weren’t ready for expansion, but here we are.” And here they plan to stay, he
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“The pumpkin pancakes are always a good way to start a morning,” said Supinski. After breakfast, attendees can enjoy multiple activities around the Huntsburg Community Center, Town Hall and Park Pavilion, including checking out one of the over 50 craft vendors onsite, enjoying fair-like food from vendors — all of which appeared at this year’s Great Geauga County Fair — or scoping out classic cars behind the community center, Supinski said. The Huntsburg Township Historical Society will also be open all day, offering attendees a stroll down the town’s memory lane. And of course, pumpkins will roll. “Saturday is traditionally a kids’ day,” Supinski said. “The kids roll pumpkins down the hill at the See Festival • Page 3
BRANDON LICHTINGER/KMG
Jerry Rose poses with one of this year’s giant pumpkins. His pumpkingrowing career began at the Huntsburg Pumpkin Festival in 1980.
Huntsburg Township: Oct. 7, 7 p.m., Board of Trustees; Oct. 21, 7 p.m., Board of Trustees; Oct. 22, 7 p.m., Board of Zoning Appeals, approve minutes of Sept. 23 area variance hearing. All meetings held at the Town Hall, 16534 Mayfield Road. Middlefield Township: Oct. 12, 7 p.m., Board of Trustees. All meetings are held at Township Office, 15228 Madison Road, unless otherwise noted. Middlefield Village: Oct. 9, 5:30 p.m. – Recreation, 6 p.m. – Finance & Ordinance, 6:30 p.m. – Safety, 7 p.m. – Village Council; Oct. 14, 5:15 p.m. – Streets, Sidewalks & Utilities Committee, 6 p.m. – Planning Commission. All meetings are at the Municipal Center, 14860 N. State Ave. Parkman Township: Oct. 7, 7 p.m., Board of Trustees; Oct. 21, 7 p.m., Board of Trustees. All meetings are held at the Parkman Community House, 16295 Main Market Road, unless otherwise noted. Cardinal BOE: Oct. 8, 6:30 p.m., regular meeting; Oct. 22, 6:30 p.m., meeting/work session. All meetings held at BOE Office, 15982 E. High St., Middlefield, unless otherwise indicated.
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