08/25/2026
🐝 MEDINA PEDAL COMPANY COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT
🔗 Medina Odd Fellows — Morning Star Lodge No. 26
182 years. One community. Generations of service. ❤️
There are organizations in Medina that you recognize immediately.
And then there are organizations whose work you may see all around you without ever realizing who is behind it — or why they do it.
This week’s 🐝 Medina Pedal Company Community Spotlight shines on one of Medina’s oldest continuously serving community organizations:
The Medina Odd Fellows — Morning Star Lodge No. 26.
And their story begins all the way back in 1844.
🔗 SO… WHO ARE THE ODD FELLOWS?
Odd Fellowship traces its roots back centuries to a simple idea that was rather unusual for its time:
Ordinary people joining together to help other people.
Long before modern social-service organizations and many of the community safety nets we know today, fraternal organizations helped care for people when illness, death or financial hardship struck a family.
The Independent Order of Odd Fellows built its mission around principles that remain at the heart of the organization today:
Friendship. Love. Truth.
And a historic charge to visit the sick, relieve the distressed, bury the dead and educate the orphan.
In other words:
See a need. Step up. Help.
🏛️ PART OF MEDINA SINCE 1844
Morning Star Lodge No. 26 was officially instituted in Medina on January 18, 1844.
Think about that for a moment.
That was more than three decades before Medina even established its first organized fire department.
Generations have come and gone. Medina has grown from a small village into the community we know today.
And through 182 years of change, the Medina Odd Fellows have remained.
Their historic building on the north side of Medina’s Public Square has a remarkable story of its own.
🚒 THE FIRE THAT ALMOST CHANGED THE SQUARE
On November 15, 1916, fire broke out in the upper floors of the I.O.O.F. Building.
The third floor housed the Odd Fellows lodge room, with the lodge dining room below it.
Medina had recently taken delivery of something extraordinary for its time — a motorized chemical fire engine built right here in Medina by the Hallock Engineering Company.
The locally built Hallock truck responded to the blaze along with Medina’s firefighting equipment and helped save the Odd Fellows building.
More than a century later, that story is about to receive permanent recognition.
During Medina’s Spirits of the Past celebration September 10–12, a new historic marker donated by the Hallock family is scheduled to be dedicated at the I.O.O.F. Building, commemorating the Hallock fire truck and its role in helping save this Medina landmark.
It’s a wonderful intersection of two pieces of Medina history:
A fire truck built in Medina helping save an organization that had already been serving Medina for more than 70 years.
But as fascinating as the history is, the most important part of this story isn’t what the Odd Fellows were.
It’s what they’re doing today.
❤️ 182 YEARS LATER — THE MISSION CONTINUES
Today, nearly 90 members make up Medina’s Morning Star Lodge No. 26.
They come from different occupations, backgrounds and generations, but they’re connected by one common purpose:
Give back to the community they call home.
During 2025 alone, the lodge reports that through scholarships, charitable contributions and community assistance, more than $88,000 was put back into the community, supporting dozens of charities, causes and people who simply needed a little help.
And that help takes many forms.
The Odd Fellows have supported organizations and causes including Special Olympics, Feeding Medina County, Project LEARN, Faith in Action, Habitat for Humanity, The Salvation Army, Friends of the Square and many others.
Sometimes the help goes to a large organization.
Sometimes it goes to a student trying to build a future.
And sometimes it quietly reaches a family or individual who simply needs someone to help them through a difficult moment.
🎓 INVESTING IN THE NEXT GENERATION
One of the lodge’s signature programs is the Jerry Gunner Community Betterment Scholarship Fund.
With help from other community organizations and supporters, the most recent scholarship effort generated approximately $20,000 for post-secondary education, with scholarships reaching students from schools throughout Medina County, including the Medina County Career Center.
And “post-secondary” is important.
Success doesn’t follow one path.
College, technical training, skilled trades and other educational opportunities can all change someone’s future.
The goal is simple:
Help local young people take that next step.
👶 CARING FOR SOME OF MEDINA’S SMALLEST
There is another Odd Fellows project that doesn’t involve a fundraiser or a big public event.
At Spring Grove Cemetery, the lodge helps care for Medina’s historic baby section.
Throughout the year, members mow, fertilize, clean and maintain this special area and periodically gather for larger cleanup efforts and seasonal decorating.
It is quiet service.
There are no crowds.
No applause.
Just people making sure some of Medina’s most precious resting places are cared for with dignity.
And perhaps that tells you as much about Odd Fellowship as anything else.
🎄 AND THEN THERE ARE THOSE CHRISTMAS TREES…
If you’ve been on Medina’s Square around Thanksgiving, you’ve probably seen them.
Rows and rows of Christmas trees.
Ever wonder who’s behind them?
The Odd Fellows.
Their annual Christmas Tree Sale has become a Medina tradition, but those trees have a much bigger purpose.
Money raised helps provide a Christmas shopping experience for local children who otherwise might not have the same opportunities during the holidays.
And members will tell you that one of the most touching parts happens once the children reach the store.
Given an opportunity to buy something for themselves, many immediately start thinking about someone else.
Mom. Dad. A brother. A sister.
They want to give, too.
That’s Friendship, Love and Truth coming full circle.
🎃 AND FUNDRAISING CAN BE FUN!
Serving the community doesn’t mean you can’t have a great time doing it.
The Odd Fellows have become known for some pretty incredible events throughout the year.
Their annual Memorial Golf Tournament brings golfers together each June.
They recently wrapped up another year of Medina County Fair parking, turning something as simple as parking your car into another opportunity to support local causes.
And this fall is packed.
🚗 Annual Car Show — September 27
🍂 Feast at the Farm — September 30
🎃 Annual Halloween Bash — October 31
The Halloween Bash at Common Ground has quickly grown into one of the area’s major adult Halloween fundraising events, combining costumes, music, entertainment, raffles and an unforgettable night — all while raising money that can ultimately find its way back into the community.
Then comes Candlelight Walk, when Odd Fellows members can once again be found around Medina’s Square helping wherever they’re needed.
And shortly afterward…
🎄 The Christmas trees return.
🎅 Santa arrives.
🛍️ And local children get an opportunity for a Christmas they’ll remember.
Then the calendar turns to January…
And they start all over again.
❤️ BECAUSE THE NEED DOESN’T STOP
Perhaps that’s the most impressive part.
There isn’t really an “off season.”
One fundraiser finishes and planning begins for another.
One check is presented and another need appears.
One student receives a scholarship and another graduating class is right behind them.
The need continues — so the work continues.
For more than 182 years, generations of Medina Odd Fellows have carried that responsibility forward.
The faces have changed.
The town has changed.
The ways they raise money have certainly changed.
But the fundamental idea really hasn’t.
See a need. Step up. Help.
🤝 HOW CAN YOU HELP?
You don’t have to be an Odd Fellow to support what they do.
Attend an event.
Buy a Christmas tree.
Play in the golf outing.
Sponsor a fundraiser.
Donate an auction item.
Make a financial contribution.
If you’re a local business or corporation, consider becoming a community partner.
And if one of those Odd Fellows walks through your business door asking for help with the next fundraiser, remember where much of that support is ultimately headed:
Right back into our community.
And for those looking for something more — people who want to roll up their sleeves, make new friendships and become part of an organization centered around service — Morning Star Lodge No. 26 welcomes inquiries about membership.
🔗 182 YEARS — AND COUNTING
The Medina Odd Fellows were here before automobiles.
Before Medina had a fire department.
Before most of the buildings surrounding today’s Public Square existed.
They were there when neighbors depended upon neighbors.
And 182 years later, they still do.
That’s something worth celebrating.
From all of us at the 🐝 Medina Pedal Company, thank you to the members — past and present — of Morning Star Lodge No. 26 for more than a century and a half of Friendship, Love and Truth put into action.
Here’s to the next 182 years of helping Medina take care of Medina. ❤️
Learn more about the Medina Odd Fellows, upcoming events, membership, sponsorship opportunities and ways to support their work at MedinaOddFellows.org.
