Meet Paul osborne

As a small business owner

Paul Osborne Design, 1998-2014

Over the years, I created graphic design work for Hardin County, Northwest Ohio, and beyond. My clients include the Hardin County Chamber & Business Alliance, the Hardin County Courthouse Bicentennial Celebration, Rhodes State College, Lima/Allen County Convention & Visitors Bureau, The Ohio State University, St. Rita’s Medical Center, and many others throughout Hardin County and Northwest Ohio.

Osborne Family Retrievers, 2018 to present

My family raises AKC registered Labrador Retrievers for all types of hunting, therapy/service work, and the most wonderful family pets ever! Our puppies are currently living their best lives in 40% of the states in our great nation!

As a Pastor

Since I had been teaching the Bible for over 20 years at my church, our pastor of over 30 years stepped down and the congregation looked to me to fill the position. It has been a humbling experience for the past ten years, as I expound the Word of God to our small flock at Immanuel Baptist Church in Lima. I believe in order to serve others well, you must be available and have a desire to truly know and understand their concerns. As a pastor, this is my constant goal, not only for my congregation, but for my community as well.

as a patron of the hardin county fair

We became involved with the fair so our children could learn animal husbandry, self-discipline, and responsibility. We had no idea what a wonderful, life-changing experience that decision would be for our family.

Our daughter, Catherine, met her husband, Andrew Scharf at the fair. They were married in 2022 and are expecting their first child the end of February. If you have ever visited the office during the fair, you have probably met Catherine behind the counter. Andrew works with the other fabulous fair board members to make the fair experience just as magical as it was for our family, year after year. We have visited many county fairs throughout Ohio, and I believe the Hardin County Fair is the premium fair in all the land. There just ain’t nothin’ like it.

Because we got our start in the Poultry Department, we recognized that poultry is the fair’s “Gateway Project,” particularly for youth who live in town. Poultry doesn’t need a lot of land, and is not as expensive to raise as other animals, which is why it is often a youth’s first fair project. As a result of our own experience and observation, our family had a vision to start the Poultry Banquet. Now in its 7th year, with the help of several other dedicated families, the annual banquet has grown to over 300 people in attendance. It’s here that we celebrate the accomplishments of the previous year’s poultry fair winners and encourage all those who have signed up for poultry projects for the current year. It’s a wonderful time for poultry enthusiasts of all ages, and those who simply want to enjoy a wonderful night out in Hardin County. This year’s banquet is scheduled for March 30th.

We are forever grateful to the Hardin County Fair, the Hardin County Extension Office, and the great 4H program in Ohio.

As a volunteer with the Alger Public Library

I served on the board of the Alger Public Library during an extremely difficult fiscal period. Another board member and myself appeared before the Hardin County School District Library Funding Board to make the case against inequitable funding for our district. We respectfully showed them that they had no equitable formula for the appropriation of state library funds to the county districts. Three of us took our case to Columbus to present a more realistic funding formula based on Hardin County demographic research on all the county school districts and we won our case! That experience showed me the value of a few folks giving their absolute best to elevate the quality of life for others in our community. I saw the radical improvement that folks from different backgrounds and philosophies can make when they work together to find honest solutions to difficult problems.

As a preserver of alger history

Three years ago I learned of a man by the name of Ray Brown, who was a childhood resident of Alger. He went on to play for the Homestead Grays of the Professional Baseball Negro League. Alex Laird, an Ohio Northern University student who approached me for input on a history assignment he was working on, introduced me to Ray Brown. With help from his professor, David Strittmatter, and my friend John Neville of the Hardin County Historical Society, we approached the Ohio Historical Society in an attempt to get Ray Brown on the historic registry. After much work submitting the necessary criteria, we were successful. With our enthusiastic participation, a few of us met together to brainstorm and plan what the park can one day become. It is our hope that, with vision and planning, “Raymond Brown Memorial Park” will someday be a reality that will “put Alger on the map” as a visitor attraction, and possibly generate revenue for the village. We are very early in the planning stages, but our accomplishments thus far have been substantial and rewarding.