Chillicothe & Ross County — Part of the ongoing Yoctangee Park developments include a new county visitors center at Mulberry Street, which should be open for international visitors and everyone else in about a year. In addition, the fall season for local events is starting up.
Melody Young, the executive director of the Ross-Chillicothe Convention & Visitors Bureau, met with the Ross County Commissioners on August 24th, 2026, to further work out arrangements for the new building to be built on county land and leased by the CVB.
The design is finalized, but other numbers were worked on – especially cleaning and maintenance, and who pays what utilities.
After the meeting, Young said it is an exciting time for the CVB to start construction on the 6,500-square-foot visitors center in the corner of Riverside and Mulberry streets (with its address on Enderlin Circle inside the park). She expects it to be open in 12 to 14 months.
Young said the meeting with the commissioners was to work on preliminaries and the CVB / county relationship, so that when the building is finished they are ready to start operations.
They had a groundbreaking on a rainy June 22nd, but Young said some fill issues at the site were only recently finished. She said their contractor, Equity Concepts, should start on the foundation in September, and the center should be open for visitors in early November 2027.
She said that one of the features of the visitors center will be a welcoming space with a timeline on the wall for local history and prehistory. The space will also map all prehistoric earthworks south of I-70 that are open to public, such as Serpent Mound and the Junction Works – since some visitors want the full experience, not just the National Park Service sites. A meeting space for the public will also be available.
The current offices of the Ross-Chillicothe Convention & Visitors Bureau is at 230 North Plaza Boulevard. Young said they moved there several years ago because most visitors stay in the hotels there, off Bridge Street.
Young said with kids back in school, this month is transitioning into the fall season. That also mean the end of the outdoor drama “Tecumseh!” in a couple weeks.
They have had 17 cancellations of the show this season for rain or Canadian smoke, so a murder mystery on September 11 and 12 at Sugarloaf Mountain Amphitheater will help make up for the missed revenue. (“Haunted Mountain” will also be weekends in October.) Otherwise, Young said that tourism attendance numbers are up this season.
Other events she listed coming up are the annual downtown Ghost Walk on September 19th, Oktoberfest, and concerts at the Majestic Theatre.
She also urged everyone to visit their revised website, and to submit events to the CVB so they can list them in their online calendar.
Hear her in her own words below. Previous stories on the visitors center:
- Construction on New Ross County Visitors Center to Start Soon (04/05/2026)
- “Hopewell Regional Visitor Center” for Ross County in Chillicothe Park Discussed (09/26/2025)
