Folgers Descendants are Parade Grand Marshals

Making Homecoming weekend in Avon Lake a true “homecoming” are this year’s Homecoming Parade Grand Marshals: Descendants of the Folger family.

The parade starts on Saturday, Sept. 28 at 10:30 a.m. from Bleser Park and will wind from Glenview to Parkview to Redwood to SR 83 and conclude at the high school.

Thomas Folger Cushing, his son Thomas, wife Diana and Josephine will lead this year’s parade in three vintage cars. Josephine was named after Josephine Folger Cushing, the daughter of Thomas Folger. Following the parade the Folger Home will be dedicated as an Avon Lake landmark. 

Click here for a schedule of Homecoming events.

How the Folger descendants came to be this year’s Grand Marshals is a different story.

Pam Hoffmann, president of the Avon Lake Landmark Preservation Society, which has been overseeing renovation of the historic building, said the Thomas Folger Cushing and his wife were in the area and stopped by the house earlier this year.

“Tom and his wife Diana were in town in June and stopped by the house,” Hoffmann said. “Two guys were putting in new floors. I got a call they were there and we visited. I invited them for Homecoming.”

The house, now in Veterans Park along Lake Erie (Lake Road and SR 83), served as a summer home for the Folger family.

Thomas Folger was the mayor of Elyria, Civil War veteran and the head of the Ohio Grape Exchange in 1898/99. The home, now open for public rental, has served in numerous capacities over the years, including as city hall, a dance hall and private home.

The Folgers reportedly have ties to Benjamin Franklin.

“My Father was descended from that Peter Folger who was sent over by the English Governor as interpreter to the Indians and settled in Nantucket,” Josephine’s memoir states. “He was Ben Franklin’s grandfather. Also from this same Peter was descended Henry Clay Folger who gave and endowed the beautiful Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington,D.C.” 

Saturday also marks the dedication of the Folger Home as an Avon Lake landmark. Ceremonies will start at noon at the house in Veterans Park immediately following the parade.