This reporter has been covering beautiful Newton Falls, Ohio for a few years. In that time, Ethel has come to love the town, the unique businesses, the community people and the lovely way it is nestled between two forks of a river. It is a sentiment that is shared by many! Especially Fieldview Acres Mercantile owner, Tom Colosimo. Tom and Tracy Colosimo have two businesses (the Merc and Split River Social) and have renovated the alley between businesses on Broad St (Emilia’s Sole Alleata) making it a lovely place to sit and enjoy the day or a treat from Broken Leaf!
Tom, along with a core of business owners throughout town, have been working to make Newton Falls a destination town. In that light they have promoted multiple festivals, supported each other’s businesses and are increasing their digital reach. Increasing foot traffic downtown, putting this fine town ‘on the map’ and promoting Newton Falls to the outside world has always been on Tom’s mind. So…
Late one evening, as he was watching a TicToc video by Rachel Stonecraft covering the story of the Fenn Treasure…a treasure placed years ago, inspiration hit. The video was about Forrest Fenn, an antiquities dealer, with terminal cancer who hid about a million dollars in treasure somewhere in the beautiful Western United States. He published a book with a poem containing 10 clues that he stated would take the hunter right to the treasure. This created a flurry of hunters and took over 10 years to find. Fenn, who actually recovered from his cancer, was even asked to call off the hunt, though he refused. The lighter side of this hunt was that people came together, found interest and love in the art and area that this hunt highlighted. The darker side of this was that many people were trespassing, some acted in dangerous manners, and a few people even died in the hunt! He even publicly stated that the treasure wouldn’t be anywhere that he, as a 70+ year old man, couldn’t easily access. The hunt took 10 years, but finally in 2020 it was found, exactly as Fenn placed it years ago. Fenn died shortly after it was found, and the finder won’t reveal where he found it!…