The Colonial Hills Civic Association

Growing up in Ohio, the heart of the Midwest, it is easy to take for granted a certain community spirit. Perhaps you were lucky enough to be in Colonial Hills all your life. Then maybe you take for granted how truly special this community is. Perhaps the crowning jewel of that community spirit is found on the legendary fields of Selby Park on the 4th of July. Lest you have doubts, show up and experience it for yourself.

There will be something for everyone: Bounce houses (one kid & one “adult/big kid”), a giant inflatable Slip ‘n Slide with TWO aisles so you can race your friends, a Dunk Tank featuring local celebrities (aka teachers), midway games, lawn games, a 50/50 raffle, Face Painting, mouthwatering barbeque & Kona Ice (thanks, CyMack!), and more. If you have never experienced the fun of the Fourth in the neighborhood, be sure to come on down and participate! And please consider volunteering via our SignUpGenius to help make all of this happen again this year!

The day will begin with a 5K run through the Hills at 8:30am. The annual kiddie parade (10:00am) is available for children of all ages. We encourage decorating bikes, trikes, wagons, children, pets, scooters and anything else with wheels in patriotic décor. Those participating will circle the park while the judges and community enjoy their “parade” around the park. At 10:30, following the kiddie parade, the midway games, bounce houses, face painters and food trucks will open for all to enjoy. Because of our good relationship with the City of Worthington Parks and Recreation Department, they are generously granting us permission to keep cool on a hot day by allowing us access to running water. Thank you to those who have worked hard over the years to develop this relationship with the city. Dunk Tank Ready, aim, toss! Get ready for a splash! See you there!

Here is a recap of the schedule:

• 8:30 AM Sharp! – Start of the 45th Annual 5K “Run Through the Hills.” Please see the blogpost 5k Race Registration is Now Open for 2024! for details and to register.
• 10:00 AM – Kiddie Parade
• 10:30 AM – The midway games, bounce houses, face painters, food trucks and more will open for all to enjoy.
• Around Noon to Maybe 1:00 PM – Depends on how hot it is! – End of activities – But don’t be late!

$5.00 wristbands for anyone over age three will be sold, to allow for unlimited access to the water slide, bounce houses, dunk tank, midway games and face painters, with all funds generated going for the CHCA scholarship awards and for support of all the other CHCA activities and services throughout the year. Note that children age three and younger are free for all activities.

Again, remember all these wonderful events will require wonderful volunteers, to sign up via our SignUpGenius — and soon-to-be high school seniors, we’re also talking to you, to get an event credit for your 2025 scholarship application!

All Colonial Hills residents are invited to host their own garage sales on Saturday, June 15th, 9am-3pm, and communicate their participation to the event coordinator RachaelRDorothy@gmail.com, 614-406-6391.

Or, you can sign up online here, but please e-mail Rachael or sign up online by the deadline of June 8, in order to have your place listed on the neighborhood map of garage sale locations, which again this year is being paid for by The CyMack Group.

This list of homes hosting a garage sale will then be communicated online the week before the sale, and also, hard copies will be available to be picked up at the Selby Park shelter house the morning of June 15.

Please note: Sellers will be responsible for obtaining their own free Garage Sale permit online from the city of Worthington: Garage Sale Permits.

New for 2024: A Volunteers of America (VOA) truck, with two volunteers to help you unload your vehicle, will be parked at Colonial Hills Elementary School (CHES) June 15th, 2pm-4:30pm. So, you could head over to CHES at that time to make a charitable donation of any items left over from your garage sale — and anyone else can conveniently donate anything else they have at this time, rather than making a separate trip to their regular donation point. The VOA volunteer will give you a donation receipt for your items, plus a VOA coupon, just to say Thanks!

You might know Sharyn Talbert. The 40-year resident of Kenbrook Drive has promenaded with a variety of canine companions over the decades; a rescued Beagle is her current baby. Or maybe you’ve noticed Sharyn’s landscaping—she’s replaced the turf in her front yard with drought-tolerant native shrubs and plants, gravel pathways, and rock gardens. But the xeriscape, as it’s known, is also a subject for another time.

The topic at hand is Sharyn Talbert’s memoir, SCHOLAR MINE: AN OHIO STATE LOVE STORY. Set variously in Colonial Hills, Ohio State University, and points around the globe, the story traces the journey of kindred spirits who meet in Ohio State’s History Department. The twists and turns that define their relationship are threaded with comedy, romance, suspense, betrayal, and tragedy. Ultimately, it’s a tale of triumph over adversity.

The CHCA is proud to host Sharyn Talbert in a brief reading and discussion of SCHOLAR MINE. The memoir may be purchased in advance for signing at the event, but due to Worthington Park & Recreation regulations, absolutely NO sales of actual books can occur at the talk.

SCHOLAR MINE can be ordered in the following ways:

1. Amazon ($8.43 for paperback edition, $1.99 for Kindle version)
2. Get an author copy directly from Sharyn at 453 Kenbrook Drive for the discounted price of $6.00.

Please join our resident author at the Shelter House on Saturday, June 8th, 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. Refreshments and good cheer await. Mark your calendars!

Colonial Hills Runners, Walkers, and Joggers, it’s almost time for the event you’ve been waiting for all year, the 4th of July 5k Run Through the Hills! We can definitively say it is the finest 5k on the Fourth of July that goes through our neighborhood.

Registration is open at https://runsignup.com/Race/OH/Worthington/RunthroughtheHills, and if you register by 11:59 pm May 31st, you’ll get our special early bird pricing of $25 (plus sign-up fee of $2.50). Starting June 1st, the price will go up to $30 (plus the sign-up fee of $2.50).

Online registration will cut off at midnight on July 2nd. You can register race day in person. You can pick up your race number bib the night before, July 3rd, at the Selby Park shelter house between 5:30 and 7:30 pm. Please note that t-shirts are “first registered, first served”; we order a limited quantity.

This race is open to everyone, so bring your friends, co-workers, and random people you see running on the street :-)! Speed doesn’t matter; it’s all about challenging yourself and having fun. Race day registration starts at 7:30 am on July 4th, and the race will begin at 8:30 am. Hope to see you there; it will be a great day for a 5k!!

All profit goes to the Colonial Hills Civic Association to subsidize Fourth of July festivities and the Colonial Hills Civic Association scholarships for continuing education.

The Colonial Hills Civic Association (CHCA) has always felt lucky to have full boards of dedicated, quality, community-oriented officers, and it is now time for us to request a replacement for our current (and fabulous) Treasurer, Adam Baas, who will be moving out of the neighborhood this year.

Replacing this position at this time would allow the current treasurer to train, and transfer all the CHCA accounts efficiently to, the new treasurer. And in particular, our treasurer previous to Adam, an equally fabulous CHCA Treasurer named Dave Nadolny, is in the process of stepping in to serve as the interim treasurer, and Dave would provide support to the new treasurer after Adam moves.

So, if you are reasonably professional in finance and willing to spend a couple hours a month volunteering to help your neighborhood in this very important position, please contact the CHCA by e-mailing, to either Dave dnadolny@columbus.rr.com, or Adam adam.a.baas@gmail.com, or our CHCA President Leslie Caruso lesliewcaruso@gmail.com.

We really need to fill this position sooner than later — so to recap: just a few hours a month, professional in a financial area, complete training and support will be provided for your CHCA Treasurer responsibilities — please volunteer now!

Please plan to drop by the shelter house any time between 5 PM and 7 PM, Monday, April 15, to provide your feedback regarding the city’s sketches and plans for the future of the Selby Park Shelter House and surrounding park area, per the flyer below from Worthington Parks & Rec.

Please sign up to help pack Buddy Boxes and join your Colonial Hills neighbors at the Worthington warehouse of the Family Mentor Foundation, 6250 Singletree Dr, Columbus, OH 43229 — on Sunday, March 17, from 1:00-3:00 PM.

Buddy Boxes are weekend food boxes containing kid-friendly, nutritious, nonperishable, individual sized-food items that are easy for children to eat or prepare on their own. provided to hungry children at schools in Worthington, Columbus and South-Western City School Districts.

Please visit Family Mentor Foundation for more information about additional opportunities to volunteer or donate.

Inflation is everywhere. You see it in the prices at the grocery store, the gas pump (ok, that one is a bit more of a roller coaster), property taxes, cost of construction, tuition… We feel it in our pocket books. But you know what has outpaced inflation? The amount of money your Colonial Hills Civic Association has increased their scholarship! 83%!!! The CHCA has awarded over $5,000 dollars the last two years and looks to continue that streak with our 2024 Scholarship award.

What do you need to do to get in on the action? Just apply, dear neighbors, apply. The completed application MUST be received by April 4 and you can download the application in MS Word format here or find the PDF format here (or use the links at the right). You can deliver your application either in person, or to be received via the CHCA e-mail address CHCA.worthington@gmail.com.

For the volunteer requirement, there are MANY opportunities coming up during this spring season, as shown in our calendar of events. DON’T MISS OUT! If you cannot make a volunteer date already set up, see a CHCA officer to talk about how you can fulfill via a neighborhood project! Make sure you enjoy the JOY of being part of this neighborhood community… and get a little something extra if you are headed into a continuing education program!

The Colonial Hills Civic Association (CHCA), Worthington, wishes to express their great appreciation for the generous gift of a box of 2000 plastic grocery bags donated on November 17, 2023, by the Kroger Charitable Donations Organization, Mr. Mark Bruce, Corporate Affairs Manager, the Kroger Company. This box of 2000 bags are 200 more than what we need every two years, and completed the other necessary supplies which the CHCA purchased for our luminary kit assembly event Saturday, December 2, in which we assembled 901 luminary kits for the 838 homes in our neighborhood – each kit containing 5 pounds of pea gravel, 5 tealight candles and 5 white lunch sacks.

I also want to heartily thank each of the 32 volunteers, including 12 youth, who assembled all these kits in record time this year, by around 10:45 AM! Please see the photos below which show the seasonably comfortable weather for our volunteers that day, which miraculously (knock on wood) was the only day in the previous 7 days when it wasn’t raining!

And I cannot thank enough our CHCA Trustees, who delivered the luminary kits to each home in their district (plus their year-round work in delivering our Courier newsletters and CHCA membership packets, and some of whom have additional roles within the CHCA). Many of our trustees have served for quite a number of years, and provide a backbone of institutional knowledge and advice for the CHCA officers and their new neighbors. And as always, I must thank Al Smyth, who has continued since 2014 to backstop our event, by delivering to eight trustees who were not able this year to pick up their bundles of kits by 1:00 PM on Saturday.

For our neighborhood Luminary Display night, Sunday, December 10, again another string of heavy-raining days miraculously ceased, and the weather that evening permitted residents to comfortably walk the luminary-lined streets, admiring the outstanding holiday decorations their neighbors had put up, in celebrating the season and in hopes of bragging rights with a winner’s sign in their yard, for the upcoming Holiday Decorating Contest, Tuesday, December 19.

As I very slowly drove every street, I observed high luminary participation on all streets, with long expanses of continuous luminaries on the Selbys and Indianola, and again, as in previous years, some streets had virtually 100% participation, such as Meadoway and Park Overlook.

And thus, finally, I must thank every neighbor who set out their luminaries, to complete our wonderful Colonial Hills holiday decorations!

Will Pearce
Luminary Event Chair

(And now for the photos (Photo Credit: CHCA Webmaster) – please click the “Continue reading” link below to see these pics which have the following descriptions)

_01 Inside Kit Assembly #1
_02 Inside Kit Assembly #2
_03 Outside Kit Assembly #1
_04 Outside Kit Assembly #2

There will be a meeting on Wednesday, January 10, 2024, at the Worthington Schools Board of Education (BOE), 200 E. Wilson Bridge Rd, where Superintendent Trent Bowers will discuss the Worthington Schools proposal to buy part of the Boundless property.

Such a transaction, and its possible use for constructing a new (replacement) Colonial Hills Elementary School, could very well have a significant impact to Colonial Hills, for instance for different traffic patterns. Thus, the Colonial Hills Civic Association (CHCA) is requesting that each resident consider attending this meeting to listen to the proposal, and to participate in discussion at the meeting.

Prior to the meeting, residents may wish to review information from the following sources:

• The Worthington Schools website post regarding this meeting on their calendar of events: Community Meeting – “I Am Boundless Site” Property Discussion.
  Note: there is a link at the bottom of this Worthington Schools post to read more information.

• The December, 2023 Worthington Spotlight article Boundless to market large portion of its property.
  Note: The Worthington Spotlight is a free, community-focused newspaper, available in print at a large number of distribution sites in Worthington, and the newspaper can be read also in E-Edition format on their website, by clicking the New Title link above the e-edition graphic in the right-hand pane on their home page.

• Previous blogposts for this topic can be found here on our website by entering the search term Boundless into the search field in the top right-hand corner of any web page, and pressing the enter key.