Photo courtesy of Ron Johnson
When it comes to volunteering and community support, Ron Johnson is Upper Arlington’s man behind the curtain.
“Arlington was significantly smaller originally when I was (growing up),” Johnson says. “I felt like I lived in a small town attached to the big city, and I still have that feeling too. It is a community, and stuff like the Civic Association … are so important to creating that community feel. From talking to people in other communities, … I feel like we have a couple things that make us special, and that’s one of them.”
Johnson has been a part of the Upper Arlington Civic Association since the early 1980s. He started out helping in public relations, reaching out to local magazines and newspapers about the happenings in UA. In the ’90s, he began to take on the role of parade chairman, and he has played a pivotal role in planning community parades and festivals ever since.
“I was in charge of putting together the performance groups for the (Labor Day) Arts Festival,” he says. “There are usually five to six groups that are there performing. … We’ve had kids’ groups to follow when we have two different stages, so (performers) can be local, throughout the state or maybe even from a different state.”
Photo courtesy of Ron Johnson
If you’ve seen Dracula at any of the Civic Association’s spooky events for the past 30 years, then you’ve probably seen Johnson. He even had to babysit his grandson at one year’s Haunted House.
Johnson is also a devoted member of the Upper Arlington Alumni Association. He led the association as president for five years starting in 2015 and received an Outstanding Alumnus Award in 2016. He still helps in planning his class reunions, including this year’s 61st reunion.
“One of the things they keep saying in our meetings is we can’t have just one event and say to people who live in California or Australia or up and down the East Coast to come back for this one event. That won’t do it. So our goal has been to put together some casual times to get together and then maybe the one formal event and make sure that it’s attractive to people who will come from far away. … I’ve always been very cognizant of the people who don’t live here who want to come back.”
In addition to working closely with these two organizations, Johnson also is a chairman of the deacons at First Community Village. He also volunteers a couple times a week at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium.
“I work with the guest relations and guest engagement,” he says. “People come here from all over the country. People who live here don’t know. I mean, people come here … and one of the things people do is they stop to see the Columbus Zoo.”
Johnson’s desire to volunteer stems from his love for the community he grew up in. He’s traveled the country and wouldn’t live in any place but Upper Arlington.
“The world’s got a little more fractured, so I sense that people want that community,” Johnson says. “Some friends of mine and neighbors who grew up in Arlington or in central Ohio have come back from New York or Chicago and those kinds of places to a quieter, calmer world.”
He adds, “We need to give back, give forward, give. It validates our humanism, life, heart and soul.”
Brendan Martin is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
