Resident’s craftsmanship, community spirit shines through yard and beyond
by Laura Bednar
No matter what time of year you drive down Valley Woods Drive, you won’t miss resident Robert Wright’s house. For almost a decade, Wright has set up a colorful yard display anchored by a large Styrofoam pumpkin, Easter Bunny, snowman, or whatever fits the season’s theme.
His artistic talent and community spirit has followed Wright far beyond his outdoor decorations as he has navigated owning his own business, starting a brewery and coaching area students in a sport close to his heart.
The yard displays began with a 10-by-11-foot piece of Styrofoam that Wright had to remove from a warehouse. He decided not to let the material go to waste and crafted a large jack-o’-lantern, complete with orange coloring and smiling face. One of his grandchildren then suggested he create a decoration for every season.
“It takes some creativity,” said Wright.
He now has a different cover decorated with Styrofoam pictures that goes over the existing pumpkin to align with the season, including an eagle for Independence Day, butterflies for spring, and this year, a wooden cutout of wrestlers with colored rings hanging above them in honor of the Olympics.
Surrounding the main Styrofoam piece are smaller wooden items that add to the scenery. Wright has included cutout birds (robins and crows, depending on the season) and candy canes in the winter. Now he tries to add something new each year.
“I’m going to add the letters l-o-v-e and an arrow through the heart [cover] for Valentine’s Day,” he said.
The Styrofoam material is not just ideal for decorations, but for larger building projects. Wright’s house in Independence is made of Styrofoam and metal, the only house of its kind in the city. “It’s ten times stronger than normal construction [materials],” said Wright. “It’s efficient. We save thousands in heating and cooling.”
He had to present his plans to the city when he wanted to build the home in the early 1990s. He now resides there with his wife, Kathy.
His ingenuity likely comes from his decades-long career as an interior designer. Wright’s design business tackled projects for residential homes and commercial properties. He said that he even “designed everything in Independence City Hall.” Though he is now retired, he will still do work for a few clients, noting one of his recent accomplishments: redesigning Pizzazz Italian restaurant in University Heights.
Prior to design, Wright was a teacher and coach for area schools. He spent six years at Valley Forge High School as a wrestling coach and teaching subjects like typing, business law, consumer economics, silversmithing, jewelry making and woodworking.
From there, he started the wrestling team at Cuyahoga Community College Western Campus and was later head wrestling coach at Strongsville High School for seven years. He has helped coach wrestling at Independence Local Schools for the past nine years.
Wright has five children and six grandchildren, who live locally and attend Independence Local Schools. Four of them participate in wrestling. It is his connection with family that led him to start a brewery in the Cleveland area.
“I was in Maine and had the best beer I ever had,” said Wright. He came home and asked his son Garin, who had an interest in brewing, if he would like to start a brewery together. Thus, in 1997, Buckeye Brewing Company was born.
It started in a smaller location in Bedford before moving to a larger space in Cleveland, where it stood until its closure in 2018. Garin did the brewing, coming up with several recipes, the most remembered being the Hippie IPA. Though Garin learned brewing on his own, they were part of a brewer’s association called SNOBs (Society of Northeast Ohio Brewers), which Wright said was a close-knit group of people who were instrumental in helping them develop the brewery.
In 2007, they opened Buckeye Beer Engine in Lakewood, a bar in which the beer is pulled through a beer engine, a mechanism created by the inventor of the fire pump for fire trucks. Wright explained that CO2 is trapped in the beer, giving it a silky-smooth taste after being served from the engine.
Buckeye Beer Engine has 31 taps and a “selection of beer that people couldn’t get,” according to Wright. Garin sought out unique beers and brought them to the engine, where the alcohol was kept at 67 degrees instead of the traditional 40 degrees. Wright said the colder the beer, the less taste.
He sold the business to two employees who continue to run it today. “We had great events at the Beer Engine,” said Wright. “People worldwide came to have beer and dinner.”
The business was even named one of the top 100 bars in the United States. Wright’s jack-o’-lantern decoration once made an appearance at the Beer Engine above the entrance around Halloween.
This year, residents from the Independence F3 group, a national network of free, peer-led workouts for men, stopped in front of Wright’s decoration after completing their annual pumpkin run. One of Wright’s sons, Brian, runs with the group and asked if they could visit just before 6 a.m. on Oct. 30. The group posed in the yard with pumpkins they carried as they ran roughly five miles, starting at Independence Middle School.
Area residents and community members continue to take notice of Wright’s changing displays
“It’s fun to do and the neighborhood enjoys it,” Wright said. ∞
On Our Cover: Robert Wright stands in front of the jack-o’-lantern he made out of Styrofoam nearly 10 years ago. In honor of the Olympics this year, Wright created a display that included the five Olympic rings and a wooden cutout of wrestlers. In front of the snowman display are Wright’s family. One of his grandchildren encouraged him to decorate the jack-o’-lantern year-round. Photos submitted. Photo of Wright by Laura Bednar.