Champaign County Historical Museum - Urbana, OH

10/14/2026

With nearly 50 years in agribusiness, agricultural consultant David Case will provide an engaging look at the history of Champaign County agriculture in a free presentation at 2 p.m. Saturday, October 17, at the Champaign County Historical Society Museum, 809 East Lawn Ave., Urbana.

He’ll take us through 100 years of change in Champaign County agriculture—from the days when horsepower was literally horse power, to today, when farmers use GPS, million-dollar combines, drones, and equipment that can practically drive themselves. And he’ll explore how Champaign County farms, crops and livestock have changed while also highlighting some of the county’s lesser-known agriculture—including trout, pawpaws and maple syrup.

David earned a B.S. in agriculture at the University of Kentucky, with emphasis in agronomy/weed science and agricultural economics. His nearly 50-year career in agribusiness has included Champaign Landmark, Crow’s Hybrid Corn Company, 30 years with Bayer CropScience (including sales, key account management and leadership roles), and his own consulting business, Case Ag Consulting.

He has been involved many years with the Ohio AgriBusiness Association, including his current role as Ohio Agribusiness Educational Trust Chair. Locally he serves on the Urbana Rotary Club Board of Directors, as a Champaign County Farm Bureau trustee, the chair of the Urbana United Methodist Church Servant Leadership Board, the Champaign County YMCA Board, the Champaign County Local Ag Council, Urbana High School FFA Advisory Committee and the Urbana FFA Alumni Board.

He and his wife, Dorothy, operate Case Critters and Blooms Farm. They match all profits from the business with donations to The James Cancer Hospital for pancreatic cancer research.

Dorothy, by the way, is a former CCHS Board member!

10/03/2026

This year's Oktoberfest booth assignments. Setup starts at 6:30am tomorrow. If you'd like to get a jump on setup you can start after 3pm today.

10/02/2026

When you come to the Champaign County Historical Society’s Oktoberfest Sunday, October 4, plan to step inside the museum to explore our exhibits and gift shop, as well as shop at the 70 arts and crafts tents and enjoy food and beverages from 10 vendors.

At the CCHS gift shop you’ll find books autographed by local authors, like S. Allesandro Martinez of Urbana, a Bram Stoker Award®-nominated author who writes horror and fantasy for middle graders to adults, and Michael Kent, who grew up in Urbana, and wrote a book based on his popular podcast “The Internet Says It’s True.”

Among other items you’ll find in our gift shop is the new “Champaign County Historical Society’s Commemorative Recipe Book: Celebrating 250 Years of the American Family,” which we’re selling to support our mission. We’re offering a special price for the recipe book during Oktoberfest: $15 for CCHS members and $20 for non-yet members. After Oktoberfest the price goes up to $20 and $25.

Oktoberfest Hours: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Save money on admission by buying pre-sale tickets online for $3 at https://pci.jotform.com/form/262036366472155

Admission at the gate is $5 (10 and under free).

09/30/2026

PARKING AT OKTOBERFEST, OCTOBER 4

Free parking is available:

• In the grass lot adjacent to the south side of the Historical Society grounds at 809 East Lawn Ave. (former lot of Botkin’s Flowers). Includes handicap parking spaces.
• The Melvin Miller Park parking lot by the Wendell B. Stokes Municipal Pool, accessible from Park Lane, north of the Historical Society

Please note: parking prohibited on and along the bike trail behind the Historical Society Museum

Oktoberfest hours: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, October 4

Two entrances: 1) East Lawn in front of the Historical Society, and 2) at the back of the property by the bike trail, easily accessible from the Melvin Miller Park parking lot

Vendors: 70 arts and craft vendors and 10 food and beverage vendors. Also craft beers from the Urbana Brewing Company

Museum open: explore our exhibits, visit our gift shop, which includes cookbooks, books by local authors, and gifts, and offer your input on reestablishing the Champaign County Genealogical Society

To save on admittance: Buy presale tickets online for $3 at https://pci.jotform.com/form/262036366472155

Regular admission at the gate is $5. (Age 10 and under free.)

See you Sunday at Oktoberfest

09/25/2026

We’re excited to report that more art and craft vendors have recently reserved booth space at the 54th annual Oktoberfest, to be held Sunday, October 4, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the Champaign County Historical Society grounds. You’ll have 70 art and craft booths to explore and shop at!

And one more food vendor recently signed on for Oktoberfest, Troy King’s Kettle Corn, joining these nine other food/beverage vendors, to give you an excellent selection of good eats and drinks during the festival:

· Brew Brothers Coffee

· Coffee Expressions

· Farmer’s Daughter

· New Orleans Grill

· Schmidt’s Sausage Truck

· Tasty Sips (Triple C Concessions)

· Uncle Frank's Bar-B-Que

· Urbana Fish ‘n Chicks

· Wilson’s Rollin’ Shmoke

Save on admission to Oktoberfest by buying pre-sale tickets online for $3 at https://pci.jotform.com/form/262036366472155. (Admission free for children 10 and under with adult.) At the gate, admission will be $5. Discounted pre-sale tickets may also be purchased at the museum during operating hours, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

09/22/2026

Make plans to celebrate with us on October 4. To save on admission, order pre-sale tickets now for $3, compared to $5 gate admission, at https://pci.jotform.com/form/262036366472155

(Age 10 and under free.)

09/17/2026

Arts/crafts and food vendors: There’s still time – through September 25 – to register as a vendor at the 2026 Oktoberfest, which will be held Sunday, October 4, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Champaign County Historical Society, 809 East Lawn Ave., Urbana.

Click this link for the vendor registration form: https://www.jotform.com/form/252904335565157

Sixty arts and craft vendors and nine food and beverage vendors are currently registered to be at the Oktoberfest, the largest fundraiser that supports the mission of the Historical Society and an excellent way to celebrate fall with your family and friends.

Click this link, https://pci.jotform.com/form/262036366472155, to buy pre-sale admission tickets for $3.00. The day of the Oktoberfest, admission will be $5.00.

09/16/2026

Get ready for a local rite of fall … Oktoberfest … and buy advance admission tickets now, for $3.00 – compared to the $5.00 gate admission the day of the event, Sunday, October 4, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the Champaign County Historical Society Museum, 809 E. Lawn Ave., Urbana.

To buy discounted tickets, click below, or stop by the museum before closing time, 2 p.m. on Saturday, October 3.

Celebrating our 54th year, the Oktoberfest promises a day of fun for the entire family! The museum will be open to explore, and the grounds will be full of crafters and artists selling hand-thrown pottery, candles, wreaths, holiday décor, pumpkins, woodcrafts, handcrafted soaps, handmade quilts, jewelry and lots more!

Also, delicious food from several vendors and craft beers from the Urbana Brewing Company.

Oktoberfest is the largest fundraiser to support the mission of the Historical Society and an excellent way to celebrate fall with your family and friends.

Please click the link to complete this form.

09/14/2026

We encourage you to attend this upcoming program by Mark Evans, organized by the St. Paul Historic District, to celebrate National Underground Railroad Month, at 11 a.m. Saturday, September 26 at St. Paul AME Church in Urbana.

The CCHS Museum was honored to host an engaging presentation last year by Evans, who shared his research about his ancestors’ role in the Underground Railroad in Champaign and Hancock counties. At that presentation he presented the CCHS Museum a copy of the Network to Freedom symbol (now on display at the museum) that’s been placed on a historical marker at Freedom Grove, honoring Evans’ fourth great-grandfather, Lewis Adams, and other Champaign County Underground Railroad conductors who helped former enslaved people escape to freedom. As a result of Evans’ research, the National Park Service added the historical marker to the NPS Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program as a national Underground Railroad Memorial.

Here is another opportunity to learn more of the fascinating stories of our historic city. Historic Urbana is pleased to team up with the St. Paul Historic neighborhood to highlight National Underground Railroad Month. Urbana was an active hub for the network along with the communities of Mechanicsburg, Woodstock and North Lewisburg.

The St. Paul neighborhood in Urbana was associated with many fascinating people over the past two centuries. Among them were African American "conductors" along the Underground Railroad in the city and beyond. Join us for an informative presentation by Mark Evans who is an Urbana native, Historian and direct descendant of those brave individuals who were guiding individuals to freedom in the years leading up to the Civil War.