Zelienople ‘hopped up’ on latest fundraiser to renovate historic pond
He might not be celebrated in Calaveras County, and it doesn’t appear any hopeful young ladies have kissed him, but a frog that appeared on a Zelienople lily pad has unknowingly spawned a “punny” fundraiser.
Adel Fatur, of the Zelienople Historical Society board of directors, said, about a month ago, a frog hopped onto a lily pad and began to vocalize while she was volunteering at The Buhl House 1805 on Main Street.
Thanks to that seemingly inconsequential event, a whimsical fundraiser was hatched to repair the leaky pond in which the amphibian appeared.
“It was a bullfrog, so we named him the ‘Buhl Frog,’” said Fatur, Zelienople’s 2020 Volunteer of the Year.
The historical society had a stuffed frog made to represent the Buhl Frog, and the puns kept rolling.
In an effort to gain support for the fundraiser, Fatur will lend the stuffed version of the Buhl Frog to various businesses up and down Main Street to spread the word of his creation.
“He’s going to go to the shoe store because he needs a new pair of ‘open-toad’ shoes, then he’s going to Spring and Main for ‘French flies’ and a ‘croaka cola,’” she said.
Fatur said Harmony EMS wants to put him in one of their ambulances and administer oxygen so he “doesn’t croak,” and the candle store will create a new “frogrance” in honor of the Buhl Frog.
Fatur plans to take him to Zelienople Municipal Airport for a ride in a “puddle jumper,” but not before stopping at the boutique on Main Street for a “jumpsuit.”
She also wants to take the Buhl Frog to the Kaufman Tavern for “fly soup,” and to The Little Green Bookstore on Main Street.
“He needs new books, because when you ask him about any book, he says he’s ‘read it, read it, read it,’” Fatur said.
“I’m trying to incorporate as many businesses as I can,” Fatur said.
A life-size, blowup frog costume will represent the Buhl Frog in the borough’s Fourth of July parade, and stuffed Buhl Frogs, T-shirts and other merchandise are available for purchase at Passavant House in Zelienople.
The owner of the Children’s Boutique on Main Street lent her stuffing machine to the historical society so children can choose a heart and name for an unstuffed frog, and bring him to life by stuffing him themselves.
Randy Hart, a lifelong Zelienople resident and supporter, donated the $1,350 for the historical society to purchase the stuffed and unstuffed frogs and T-shirts to sell.
Hart said many years ago, he worked at the Buhl House when it was the Bessie B. Mollard Antiques Shop.
He and his friends swam in a pond behind the Buhl House, which was the result of damming the stream that ran through the community park, under Main Street, and under the Buhl House before emerging in the house’s backyard.
“People would cool off in that area,” Hart recalled of the now-defunct pond.
He said another pond on the property had a cement bottom and contained large goldfish and frogs when he was a boy.
“I had to feed the goldfish,” Hart said.
That pond is the one that is leaking and in need of repair.
When he heard the Buhl Frog idea, Hart decided to write the check to get the project started, which he handed to Fatur in a bullfrog clip.
“The pond now needs to be redone, so this was kind of a neat way to raise money for that project,” Hart said. “I support it because I worked at the Buhl House, and this is a great way to tie the community together.”
He also commissioned two murals to be hung behind the Buhl House and Dapper Bicycle next door — which was Bloom’s Shoe Store in Hart’s youth — that will depict the backyard of the historic house and the inside of the shoe store in the 1920s.
Hart is thrilled that another project will enhance the thriving scene on Zelienople’s Main Street, where his boyhood memories began.
“Innovation, creativity, pride — there are so many words that go with what’s happening on Main Street,” Hart said.
