Meet the Author – Sharyn Talbert – June 8, Shelter House, 4 PM

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!

5k Race Registration is Now Open for 2024!

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.

CHCA Seeking New Treasurer

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!

Public Open House for the Selby Park Shelter, Monday, 4/15, 5 – 7 PM

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.

Volunteer for Buddy Box Packing, Sunday, 3/17

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.

CHCA Scholarship Application Deadline April 4!

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!

Luminaries 2023

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

Continue reading ‘Luminaries 2023’ »

January 10, 2024, 6:30 PM, Meeting at Board of Education re: Boundless

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 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.

2023 Colonial Hills Holiday Decorating Contest and Photos

/drumroll please…

The judges’ results are in. The judges switched up some categories this year. The winners are:

  • Best Overall – First Place: 212 Colonial – Wow, just wow, driving north on Foster, the view of this house on the hill is beautiful! But the little-known street on Hardy Way shows they didn’t neglect the back (alternate front) of the house (no pic of the back here).
  • Best Overall – Second Place: 5622 Indianola
  • Best Overall – Third Place: 291 E Selby

  • Most Artistic – First Place: 215 E Selby
  • Most Artistic – Second Place: 385 Park – The pics don’t do this justice.
  • Most Artistic – Third Place: 500 Loveman

  • Kid Friendly – First Place: 265 Kenbrook
  • Kid Friendly – Second Place: 5718 Indianola – Minion Attack!
  • Kid Friendly – Third Place: 547 Park Overlook –DINOSAURS!

  • Most Imaginative: 559 Colonial – Santa Dragon Sleigh.
  • Most Magical: 435 Park – That droopy tree is just awesome.
  • Best Retro: 287 Loveman
  • Most Charming: 302 Loveman – Martha Stewart, move aside.
  • Best Real Life-Sized Snowglobe: 575 Meadoway
  • Best Block: Loveman, from Foster to Greenwich –Almost every house is lit up.

(And here are the pics, with photo credits to the Secret Judges – please click the “Continue reading” link below to see these photos)

_01 Best Overall – 1st Place
_02 Best Overall – 2nd
_03 Best Overall – 3rd
_04 Most Artistic – 1st Place
_05 Most Artistic – 2nd
_06 Most Artistic – 3rd
_07 Kid Friendly – 1st Place
_08 Kid Friendly – 2nd
_09 Kid Friendly – 3rd
_10 Most Imaginative
_11 Most Magical
_12 Best Retro
_13 Most Charming
_14 Best Real Life-Sized Snowglobe
_15 Best Block

Continue reading ‘2023 Colonial Hills Holiday Decorating Contest and Photos’ »

Please Sign Up for Luminary Kits Assembly, Saturday, December 2

Please sign up, using our SignUpGenius, for Luminary Kits Assembly, Saturday, December 2, starting at 10:00 AM.

The number of volunteers we are requesting is the same as last year, with only one shift, from approximately 10 AM to 11:30 AM (but hopefully we will again be done by around 11:00 AM). Volunteers for any task can include any youth middle-school age or older, and this event is an excellent opportunity for high school seniors to add one missing CHCA event credit for their scholarship application in 2024 before their schedule gets even more crazy!

You’ve probably heard the Public Service Announcement which says “We may be done with COVID, but COVID’s not done with us.” Therefore, we recommend that masks be worn for the tasks inside the-shelter house,where we will again have eight separate workstations, so as to try to maintain some social distancing.

Please sign up for one of these positions:

  • Inside the shelter house component assembly (up to 2 volunteers per each of the 8 workstations)
  • Outside the shelter house component assembly (up to 9 volunteers, plus the Event Chair)
  • Bundling supervisor (1 volunteer)
  • Pea gravel shovelers (up to 8 volunteers), who are requested to bring their own standard-size, pointed-tip garden shovel. There will be teams of two people at each of the 4 shoveling station chairs. Each shoveling team can decide how long each member will shovel, while the other team member holds open the grocery bags (team members could switch roles halfway through)
  • Bundles concierge (1 volunteer)
  • Take down / clean up (1 volunteer)

Pease note that even if you didn’t sign up beforehand on our SignUpGenius, but do show up to volunteer at 10:00 AM on Saturday morning, there may still be an open position for you to volunteer. However, we request that you do sign up ahead of time, and arrive a few minutes before 10:00 AM to reserve the volunteer position of your choice.

Dunkin’ donuts, coffee and hot chocolate will be served, and plenty of hand sanitizer will be provided inside the shelter house.

Regarding the Trustees picking up their bundles of kits for their Districts: We are asking the Trustees to start coming over no earlier than 11:30 AM on Saturday morning to pick up their bundles, so as not to increase the number of people present in the shelter house area during the kit assembly timeframe, which is expected to be 10:00 AM to about 11:30 AM, especially if it is not raining too hard that day.

Light Your Luminaries! Our luminary display evening will be Sunday, December 10, starting at 7:00 PM per the instructions which will be enclosed in each resident’s luminary kit.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions, or if you encounter any difficulty using our event’s SignUpGenius.

Thank you,
Will Pearce, Luminaries Event Chair
365 S. Selby Blvd
614-888-8236
willpearce@columbus.rr.com