Oak Harbor, OH

Oak Harbor is a village on the Portage River in central Ottawa County, about 30 miles east of Toledo. At the 2020 census, the village had 2,821 people. The village grew along the edge of the former Black Swamp, and its name points to the combination that shaped the site: oak trees on the land and a river harbor for movement and trade. Today the downtown, village offices, library, local businesses, and Oak Harbor schools serve a wider rural area, while the Portage River still runs through the middle of the village's map.

The Oak Harbor Apple Festival is the event that makes the village's calendar recognizable well beyond Ottawa County. Held downtown on the second full weekend of October, it brings more than 25,000 visitors for a parade, contests, car show, vendors, and other activities. Flat Iron Park and the river add a public edge to that commercial center, and the library provides another everyday gathering place. Davis-Besse sits in the surrounding township near Lake Erie, so the village also lives in the orbit of the lake and its industrial landscape. Oak Harbor's character comes from that mix of river town, orchard-and-farm region, and regional event stop.