More than cars were on display on Friday, June 19, at Bluffton’s 58th Annual Festival of Wheels, put on by the Bluffton Lions Club.
Featured this year was a jail cell where John Dillinger was held after robbing Bluffton's Citizens National Bank in 1933. Right beside this was the 2026 best of show winner, Larry Reichenbach's 1956 Chevy Corvette. Reichenbach was among over 250 vintage car, truck, motorcycle and tractor enthusiasts displaying their prized possessions.
Chad R. Koontz, 53, passed away June 27, 2026, at his residence. Chad was born on March 1, 1973, in Bluffton, Ohio, to Dan Koontz and Judy Westrick. On March 8, 1998, he married Stefani Eckenwiler Koontz, who survives.
MEDIA RELEASE__A small town hoopla is one way to describe the exuberant preparations being made in Bluffton to celebrate the Fourth of July on America’s 250th year.
Military encampment at Main and Cherry
The event kicks off on July third when Ryan Burkholder sets up a sample military encampment and a MASH unit from the Korean and Iraq wars on the Presbyterian Church lawn. You can see how the soldiers cooked, slept and lived under harsh conditions. An encampment from an earlier time will be set up the next day by Robert Glenn, who dresses as an 1812 woodman for various living history events. He will have a Revolutionary War tent, and some artifacts from frontier life.
With splashy graphics and a distinctive diesel purr, it's hard to miss Allen County RTA buses as they take riders along Route 9 in Bluffton. Did you know they have 18 designated stops, including Sumiriko, Auto Kiniton, Diamond Manufacturing and McDonald's, as well as downtown Bluffton and Garau at Main St., near Bluffton Hospital?
