The Bucyrus Graffiti Cruise brought hundreds of vintage cars to the streets of this Ohio city. (Photo by Michael E. Grass)
BUCYRUS, Ohio — Last week before I set out on my Lincoln Highway trip, I met up with a friend in Washington, D.C., who used to live and work in this part of Ohio. I asked him what I should check out in Bucyrus. He gave me a strange look. He told me how Bucyrus is the self-declared “Bratwurst Capital of America,” something that I had assumed would be in Wisconsin, not here off the Lincoln Highway in Ohio. But this town has deep German roots, an 84-year-old local bratwurst maker and hosts an annual bratwurst festival.
(Photo by Michael E. Grass)
As for sights to see here, my friend didn’t give me any tips. So I thought I’d just pop into Bucyrus to see what I could discover on my own. As I drove into town on the Lincoln Highway from Mansfield, I found that all the streets around the center of town were closed off. As I turned a corner near the Crawford County Courthouse, a structure dating to the 1854, I caught a glimpse of a bunch of classic cars in the distance.
Bingo! There was something to see here.
I parked and walked to the center of town, which was one sprawling vintage car show primarily along Sandusky Avenue. I couldn’t get a good rough estimate of the number of classic automobiles, but in a preview article, the Bucyrus Telegraph Forum estimated that 600 to 700 cars were expected to turn out for the 22nd annual Graffiti Cruise.
Supposedly, there was bratwurst somewhere to be had at the car show, but I didn’t stumble upon any, which is just as well since I was still pretty filled from the Hungarian pastry I had late morning back in Wooster.