YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – A chance conversation at a parade planning meeting last year led Kast Iron Soda Works to becoming a distributor of beverages with semiquincentennial branding.
“We signed a licensing agreement in August,” Kast Iron’s owner, Lesley Kline, says.
The soda bar in downtown Salem is among several Mahoning Valley companies that either have official partnerships with state and national organizations to make products celebrating the semiquincentennial or have added patriotic branding based on customer demand.
Kline had been part of a meeting last July to discuss what was going to happen with this year’s Independence Day parade in Salem when she learned about the coordinated efforts across Ohio to celebrate the holiday, which commemorates the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
“My wheels were just turning,” Kline recalls. She thought it would be fun to brand one of Kast Iron’s beverages to commemorate the occasion.
She also wondered whether it was something that America 250-Ohio commission would be interested in, and she pitched the branded beverage idea to it. The commission had recently signed an agreement with Columbus Brewing Co. to do a branded India pale ale and while little thought had been given to doing a nonalcoholic beverage, the representative thought it was a “cool idea,” Kline says.
Kast Iron is distributing two of four bottled flavors it produces with the America 250-Ohio branding: root beer, the most popular flavor both at the downtown Salem taproom and among the bottled beverages sold, and vanilla cola.
“The root beer is classic. It’s also uniquely American, so it just kind of seems appropriate to do that one,” she says. Root beer also is not a flavor that people tend to find outside the United States.
“The other one we leaned into, just because of the nostalgia of this type of celebration, is vanilla cola. It’s just a classic flavor,” she says. Kast Iron’s vanilla cola is the only bottled glass vanilla cola in the U.S., as far as she knows.
Berk Enterprises
Berk Enterprises in Warren has an agreement with America250, the national organization established to celebrate the semiquincentennial. It is selling licensed 32-ounce souvenir cups with the official America250 branding.
Reilly Berk, president and CEO, said earlier this year she was inspired to seek the America250 license when she visited various fairs in California last year.
As of late May, Berk sold in excess of 150,000 of the souvenir cups, according to John McDermott, director of concessions and hospitality.
“At least for the Midwest, we’re kind of early in terms of fair and festival season,” McDermott says. June, July, August are “key months,” so he anticipates greater sales, perhaps 400,000 units or more.
In some cases, existing customers are purchasing the semiquincentennial-branded cups instead of cups they otherwise would have bought, but other customers have increased purchases over what they have ordered in previous years, predicated on encouraging signs for this fair season. “They just anticipate more demand this year than years past,” he says.
In addition to the normal concessionaires who set up at fairs and festivals, the themed cups are opening new markets for Berk, he says. He has a California customer with an agritourism business who purchased the cups.
“There is definitely a following that’s dedicated to this celebration,” he says. “We’ve had maybe a dozen or so customers engage with us that probably wouldn’t have, and then, of course, many more customers who we regularly do business with that found that product interesting.
Hitch-Hiker
Hitch-Hiker Manufacturing in New Middletown has been utilizing light-emitting diode – or LED – displays on its trailers for about five years and recently secured a patent for its technology, Jeff Swartz, president and CEO, says. The system allows customers to change the content on their screens to highlight multiple products.
“People with static signs, they don’t have any option. With our signs, they have the option to do this,” Holly Swartz, Hitch-Hiker’s vice president, says.
Since the America250 celebration was coming up in 2026, several customers reached out in 2025 to ask for digital content such as fireworks and flag waving, Jeff Swartz says. The technology was a natural fit for customers to showcase patriotic content. In addition to being available on new trailers, the content can be distributed to Hitch-Hiker’s existing customers.
The cost of a trailer can exceed $100,000 and the LED option adds a significant amount to it.
The company’s trailers are sourced within the U.S. to the greatest extent possible, and utilize an American company to produce the LED modules, Jeff Swartz says.
“We work very hard with local vendors, local steel companies,” Holly Swartz says.
Feedback regarding the LED-equipped trailers has been “phenomenal,” he reports. He estimated about 99% of Hitch-Hiker’s customers have had the company develop and create content related to celebrating the semiquincentennial.
“All of our past customers are interested in this content,” Holly Swartz affirms. “That’s actually boosted the sales of the content creation for this year because it’s a new thing and they wanted to celebrate” America250.
Birdfish Brewing Co.
Birdfish Brewing Co. in Columbiana was approached by members of the city’s America 250-Ohio committee a few months ago to see about doing a beer for them, Josh Dunn, co-owner of the brewery, says.
“The timeline really didn’t line up to do an original recipe beer because our production schedule was already booked out,” he says.
However, its Bird Light Lager – an American light lager – was coming up in the schedule, so he suggested doing commemorative labeling for that release. “They loved the idea and they kind of ran with it,” he says.
They also discussed other ideas for the release, and settled on a silicone pint glass – with the Birdfish logo on one side and the America 250-Ohio Columbiana logo on the other – that can be used in Columbiana’s Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area. Both the beer and the cups will be available at the kickoff of the Independence Day festivities July 3 at noon.
Distribution
Distribution will be limited on the beverages offered by Kast Iron and Birdfish.
“The big push right now is through the Fourth of July,” Kline says. The state of Ohio is promoting a “huge community picnic effort” that it is providing packets, resources and “all kinds of fun perks” for, and is promoting the Kast Iron beverages alongside those.
Sales will extend toward year end, depending on supplies.
Birdfish labeled 10 cases of the commemorative cans for sale, all of which will be sold at Birdfish, Dunn reports.
“We expect it to be gone by the end of the weekend but it’s hard to tell,” he says.
McDermott acknowledges many fairs and festivals – including ones in this area – come later in the season and might not tie into the semiquincentennial, but still anticipates sales of the America250 cups extending past Independence Day.
“This is going to be an exciting season for fairs, festivals and carnivals because of this,” he predicts. With high gas prices, people also might be less willing to spend money to travel, resulting in more local spending on recreation.
“Fairs and festivals are a great piece of that, and of course, in conjunction with the timing of America250, it’s a great time to lean into that celebration, both by concession operators and as citizens,” he says.
Pictured at top: Lesley Kline stands at the soda bar inside Kast Iron Soda Works in Salem. The business is distributing America 250-Ohio branded root beer and vanilla cola.