We at Root Candles are really excited about our newest candle line American Experiences.  To celebrate we threw a little party, a pancake breakfast, yesterday morning and invited a few good friends. 

Along with Ohio's Secretary of State, Jon Husted, the guest list included Root employees, retailers who proudly shelve Root Candles, and vendors who too are American-made companies.  

Secretary Husted took time to address our guests and was very complimentary of our people and our products. 

“How do you make a country great? You look at a company like this one that’s been around for 143 years,” Husted said during his brief keynote address. 

All of the Root team worked hard to pull together a splendid event that all enjoyed and everyone left with full-bellies and a new understanding of what makes a Root Candle so special. 

Here are a few photo highlights of the morning.

Tables all set for the guests to arrive

A special touch that you can do to your potted plants. A burlap wrap and a personalized tag.

Watercolors from Michelle Mospens who illustrated each of our labels on American Experiences. These were given away to 4 lucky winners during the breakfast.

Pancake were made fresh on the spot by our local Buehler's catering service. They were excellent!

Root Candle's Buzz the Bee was on the scene for snapshots with our guests.

Signing up to win one of the watercolors.

CEO Rex Mason enlightens Secretary Husted with Root history.

Joe C. from Good Company stops in for a quick interview. 

Randy Pindor says "let's eat!"

Buttermilk and blueberries. Did I mention they were yummy!?

Fabulous Root team members who lead the tour groups.

Engineer Steve Woods kept the tour moving and the audience captivated. 

It was a fun time celebrating one company's role in the lives of many Americans. As CEO Rex Mason stated, "We're made in Ohio, with Ohio materials and made by Ohioans. Honesty, integrity and plain old hard work is what we go by." Our plan is to keep doing exactly that.

When Crain's chose to feature Root Candles in their Family Owned Business section, we were thrilled!  But, not surprised.  Not many companies can say they've been family owned for more than 140 years!

From today's article:

In the early days of the A.I. Root Co., employees would play softball in the middle of the street that now runs between the company's downtown Medina offices and the sprawling brick plant where it makes candles. They could pull it off back then because horses and buggies still ruled the roads, said president Brad Root.

“Then the automobile came,” he said with a laugh.

The A.I. Root Co., which does business as Root Candles, was founded in 1869. That's four years after the end of the Civil War, and seven years before Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. Since then, the company has evolved from making equipment for beekeepers — which inspired the Medina City School District to adopt its “Battling Bees” nickname — to producing candles for churches and consumers.

The whole time, descendants of founder Amos Ives Root have owned a majority stake in the company, which today employs 140 in Medina and about 165 nationwide.

Read the rest here.  A big thanks to Crain's for this great feature!