Petting farm, education animals, crafts, games, more at annual GroveFest
See and learn about live animals, play nature-related games and make crafts with regional nature organizations during the Hayes Presidential Library & Museums annual GroveFest on Saturday, June 21.
GroveFest celebrates nature and wildlife and takes place on the grounds of Spiegel Grove, an accredited arboretum and the estate of 19th U.S. President Rutherford and First Lady Lucy Hayes.
The event is from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and attendees can stop by any time throughout the event to join in the festivities. Admission is free.
Participating organizations are:
- Birchard Public Library
- Nature's Nursery
- Old Woman Creek National Estuarine Research Facility
- Girl Scouts of Northeast Ohio
- Great Lakes Fishery Commission bringing live sea lampreys
- Sandusky County Help Me Grow/Home Visiting
- Ottawa-Sandusky-Seneca Solid Waste (recycling) District
- ProMedica Total Rehab
- Sandusky County Public Health - Bicycle Helmets
- Toledo Zoo & Aquarium
- Shooting Star Farms petting farm
- Wood County Park District
- Back to the Wild Wildlife Rehabilitation
- Great Lakes Community Action Partnership
- Erie County Public Health Department
- Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge
- Ohio Environmental Protection Agency Northwest District Office
- Whispering Meadows Garden Club
- Ohio Division of Wildlife
- Stone Laboratory
- Scouting America - Erie Shores Council
- YMCA of Sandusky County
- Sandco Industries
- The Sun's Flower
- Sandusky River Valley Beekeepers Association
South Creek Clydesdales will offer horse-drawn trolley rides through Spiegel Grove for $5 for ages 13 and older, $3 for ages 6-12 and free for ages 5 and younger. Hayes Presidential volunteers will share some highlights of Spiegel Grove for those aboard the trolley.
Hot dogs and ice cream will be available. Donations for food are accepted but are not required.
Visitor parking is off-site only with the exception of those who have handicapped tags for their car. Parking will be available on the street and in ProMedica Memorial Hospital’s parking lots at Buildings A and B, located at 605. Third Ave. Spiegel Grove is a short walk to the east of the hospital parking lots. A golf cart will be available to shuttle people from the front to the back of Spiegel Grove.
GroveFest is an opportunity to enjoy nature at Spiegel Grove and to learn about Rutherford and Lucy Hayes’ love of the outdoors. The couple raised cows and chickens and planted trees on their beloved estate.
Lucy Hayes enjoyed fishing, and she loved nature so much that her official White House china had images of the flora and fauna of the United States, from deer and raccoons to fish and lobsters.
The title sponsor for GroveFest is the Randolph J. & Estelle M. Dorn Foundation. Partial funding by The City of Fremont and ProMedica Memorial Hospital. Activity sponsors: Impact Credit Union and Technique Roofing. 
Hayes Presidential is America’s first presidential library and the forerunner of the federal presidential library system. It is partially funded by the state of Ohio and affiliated with the Ohio History Connection. Hayes Presidential is located at Spiegel Grove on Buckland Avenue.
For information, call 419-332-2081, or visit rbhayes.org. Like Hayes Presidential on Facebook and follow on Instagram and X at rbhayespres and on Bluesky at rbhayespres.bsky.social.