Time capsule to be opened during Red, White and Boom! festival

CONNEAUT – Steve Brandy made a promise to his grandfather, William Brandy, 50 years ago when he and his family visited Conneaut for the United States’ bicentennial celebration.
Five decades later, Brandy will return to the shores of Lake Erie to make good on that promise as the Red, White and Boom! Over Lake Erie Festival Committee opens a time capsule buried by his grandfather and the Bicentennial Celebration Committee.
“I don’t remember the burial of it,” Brandy said. “I don’t know if it was done on July 4 or before or after. I do remember my grandpa saying it was a big deal and it would be great if (my brother, Matt, and I) could be there (when it was opened). He told us to remember the date, 2026. It got here quick, that’s for sure.”
The time capsule, buried in cement in Conneaut Marina, was removed years ago during a project and will be opened during the Red, White and Boom! Over Lake Festival in Lakeview Park following the annual Fourth of July parade on Friday, July 3.
“I always had it in the back of my head that I was going to go (to the time capsule opening),” Brandy said. “My grandparents left Conneaut in September 1979. (My grandpa) loved the railroad museum. They moved (to Conneaut) in 1964. He worked for Norton and started to volunteer at the railroad museum in 1969. I called it my grandpa’s train house. They left in 1979. They wanted to slow down a bit and moved to Platteville, Wisc. Our last trip to Conneaut as a family was Labor Day weekend in 1979. I was sentimental. We went to the museum and beach for the last time. I was 12 at the time and it was like part of my childhood was ending.”
“It never left my mind to be there,” Brandy continued. “I plan to be there, myself and my wife, Kim. We hope to get there on July 2.”
The 2026 parade will leave the Astatic parking lot at 2 p.m. and proceed down Broad Street to Lakeview Park. The festival will begin on Thursday, July 2, at 3 p.m. and will conclude on Saturday, July 4, with the annual fireworks display at 10 p.m.
Brandy, his brother, Matt, and their parents, Bill and Mary Ann, traveled from Carmel, Ind., to visit William and Kathryn Brandy in Conneaut in 1976.
“We arrived in Conneaut on Friday, July 2,” Brandy said. “My grandma said my grandpa had to be in the parade. We sat on a grassy hill. When my grandpa went by, he waved at us and said, ‘How are the Hoosiers doing?’ It was an awesome parade.”
“I was about 8 or 9 and my brother was almost 4,” Brandy continued. “We came to Conneaut every summer. (My grandparents) lived along Lake Erie. Their yard went all the way down to the lake.”
Brandy and his family enjoyed the annual Fourth of July Celebration while in town.
“Saturday, July 3, was the parade and they had a carnival,” Brandy said. “On Sunday, July 4, they did a recreation of the landing with canoes. The committee spoke and there was a small high school choir. I thought it would be boring and boy, was I mistaken. I was proud of my grandpa.”
“The fireworks were out over Lake Erie,” Brandy continued. “It was just great. The fireworks were too late on Saturday, so we went to see them on Sunday. They did them on both nights, but that might have been special for the bicentennial.”
William Brandy joined the Bicentennial Celebration committee after arriving in Ohio as
“He was an immigrant,” Brandy said. “In 1909, he was born in Scotland and was raised by his maternal grandparents for his first nine years. His parents settled in Akron he came over on a boat when he was 9. It was an awful, awful trip. He was sick. A man he never met meets him when he gets off the ship and says, ‘I’m your daddy.’ My great-grandma hosed him down before she let him in the house. He became a great athlete.”
William Brandy was inducted into the Heidelberg College Athletics Hall of Fame in 1986. He excelled in golf, football and basketball before starting his career.
“It’s often said that immigrants appreciate the country more than natives,” Brandy said. “What this country did for my grandpa was give him a new start in life and it gave him a good life. He wrote the forward for the program for the (bicentennial) celebration. You could tell he loved this country.”
The time capsule buried in the marina was damaged over time, whether in its removal or by time. It’s not currently known if its contents are intact.
“I’m not worried (if it’s damaged), but I am curious,” Brandy said. “It might turn out that it’s not in good shape. I’ve seen it before. Just being there is important to me. We’ll see what happens. We’ll visit and we’ll stop at the museum. I’d love to stop by the docks and see what it looks like now.”
Steve Brandy grew to have a career as a news reporter for a radio station in Danville, Ill., where they also opened a damaged time capsule, though he isn’t concerned.
“They opened a time capsule at Cannon Elementary,” Brandy said. “It was all damaged, but they were still excited about opening it. As far as this one, who knows? All I know is my grandpa mentioned to me and my brother that he wrote something. He never told us the contents, all he told us is that we were mentioned.”
Brandy believes a new capsule should be buried for the country’s tricentennial celebration.
“I think it should be done,” Brandy said. “It’s an old school thing, but so many times when they turn up, it’s like the little block box of history. You can’t get that kind of feeling from saving something on a computer disk.”