EGGSHELLAND

A Labor Of Love

Easter, March 31, 2013

21,630 Real Eggshells

Eggshelland is a unique Easter Display, presented by Ron and Betty Manolio of Lyndhurst,

Ohio. This will be our 55th year. The entire front yard is transformed into different eggshell

mosaic designs each year, always including a 45ft. Cross and the Mascot Easter Bunny.

The display has grown from 750 shells in 1957. We use 24 brilliant colors of 1Shot , Outdoor

Sign Paint enamel to paint the shells. As far as we know, it is the only display of it's kind in the

world. The idea came from Ron's Mother, who placed dyed eggshells on bushes in front of her home.

This is a family project. We used to save our shells. We now get our eggshells from the

Sidewalk Cafe, who use fresh eggs. Without them the display would not continue, as other

restaurants use liquid eggs. Ron makes a hole the size of a dime in the egg and Betty shakes out

the contents. The shells are then washed and the edges of the hole trimmed. After painting, the

shells are stored by color in boxes, with 250 in each box. They are used over again each year, and

repainted, if necessary, in the proper colors.

Our average handling breakage is 1500 shells. We have had six natural disasters. In 1998, and

2009, hail storms destroyed 18,000 shells. In 2002, an ice storm on 6 inches of snow

broke 11,941, in 2005, 6 inches of snow smashed 5,633 shells, and in 2007 16 inches of

snow on Easter morning broke 14,176. In 2008, for the first time, we were not able to put pegs in

the lawn, because the ground was frozen. Our Display consisted of 6,223 eggshells, using the

five figures we have on Styrofoam, usually standing in the background.

The theme this year is A Labor of Love . The display includes a tribute to Ron Manolio

containing 2,619 shells. As this will be our last display, we also want to thank all the wonderful people

who have visited our display.

We always receive excellent local coverage, and in 2000, we appeared on the Montel Williams

Show, and were also featured on Extreme Cuisine, and the Agri-Country Network. We have been

f eatured on "Ripley's Believe it or Not," and a photo was sent out by Associated Press that

reached as far as the front page of an English language newspaper in Japan. We were on

the "Today Show" Easter morning 2006, and CNN in 2007. A documentary on Eggshelland, which took

4 years to complete, was shown at the Cedar-Lee Theater, and is now available on DVD . The display is lit

at night, and will be up from March 24 thru April 1st. Happy Easter!



Ron and Betty Manoli o NEW EGGSHELLS

1031 Linden Lane Courtesy of

Lyndhurst, Ohio 44124 Sidewalk Cafe - Painesville

(440) 442-6061 Sidewalk Cafe - Euclid

Creative Eggshell Displays - Lectures Nick J. Sarris

Directions: From intersection of Richmond Road and Ridgebury - make three left turns on Roland, Ashwood and Linden Lane.



For more information about the film "Eggshelland" the Movie on DVD - www.eggshellandmovie.com

DVDs will be sold this year at Eggshelland





After 55 years, Ohio's Easter Eggshelland comes to an end CLEVELAND | CLEVELAND (Reuters) - After more than 50 years, loyal fans have one last chance to visit the Easter bunny and other Easter-themed mosaics made of thousands of brightly colored eggs on a lawn in an eastern suburb of Cleveland. The displays have drawn thousands of visitors each year to the sprawling lawn of Betty and Ron Manolio in Lyndhurst, Ohio, but the 55th annual event this year will be the last. Eggshelland was created by Ron Manolio, 80, who died in August. This final display is dominated by a 16-foot by 15-foot portrait of the man who each year spent months hollowing out and hand-painting anywhere from 3,000 to 10,000 eggs. A message below the picture reads "thank you all, and goodbye." This year, Manolio's children and grandchildren set up the 21,630 eggs in 24 colors in a display entitled "A Labor of Love" in tribute to their grandfather. The egg mosaics depict a 45-foot cross, an Easter bunny and an EGGSHELLAND sign propped up in front of the couple's house. "Our children did this their entire lives. They thought everyone does this," Betty Manolio told Reuters. But the months it takes to design and two to three weekends for installation are too much for the family to keep up. Egg mosaics in past years have depicted characters from Sesame Street, Winnie-the-Pooh, and Harry Potter and spring scenes. Manolio said that because her husband was the creative force behind project, it would be too difficult to continue Eggshelland without him. "Actually, I was amazed we were doing it for 55 years," she said. "If he (Ron) was still around I think we would do it until we both died. I'm going to miss it next year." Others will miss Eggshelland too. On a typical day, cars line up on their street and around the corner to catch a glimpse the display that began with a mere 750 eggs saved over the course of a year in 1957. At Eggshelland's peak in the 1970s local police were called to direct traffic. Local and national media have described Eggshelland as a childhood fantasy land but in truth the phenomena has quite an adult following including a website dedicated to its 55-year history and its creators (eggshellandeaster.tripod.com), and a 2004 award-winning documentary on their efforts. Eggshelland will be up until April 5th. After that, Manolio hasn't yet decided what will happen to the eggs. Previously, they stored the eggs for the year and replaced those that had broken. "We haven't decided what to do with them. We've gotten some calls," Manolio said. "My grandchildren, of course, told me to put them on eBay."

Kimberly Key of Wickliffe has her photo taken Saturday with her children, Brooklynn, 21 months, and Julianna, 4. The children's

grandmother, Judy Tsiros, snaps the picture in front of the Manolio family's Eggshelland tableau in Lyndhurst

It's sunset for brilliantly hued Eggshelland James Ewinger, The Plain Dealer

March 30, 2013

James Ewinger, The Plain DealerMarch 30, 2013 LYNDHURST, Ohio -- Some came for their first look at Eggshelland Saturday. Others were there because they come every year. But all of them knew it was the last Easter weekend to take in this grand tradition. The display of 21,630 painted eggs was the first in more than 50 years not shaped by Ron Manolio, who passed away in August. The exhibition in Manolio's front yard grew from a modest 750 eggs in 1957. Some years had 40,000 to 50,000 eggs, family members said.

Every Eggshelland iteration has sported a dazzling array of colors. This is the first year for flesh color, because the tableau includes a giant portrait of Manolio. Betty, his widow, said she began drawing up this year's edition in January and worked for an entire month until she got it just right. One reason the display is being discontinued, she said, is that "it would take my husband hours and hours to paint and they [the five children and 10 grandchildren] just don't have that kind of time." Matt Manolio, one of the grown children said, "The hearts of the children and grandchildren just are not in it because it's not the same without him." This year's theme is "Labor of Love," Matt said, because "it was a labor of love [for his dad], cracking eggs, cleaning them and painting them all year long."

Sarah Peck of Shaker Heights said Saturday that she has been coming to Eggshelland "my whole life." The 32-year-old said, "Now it's a must for any potential boyfriend." Near noon, people lined the sidewalk along Linden Lane, all the way to Ashwood Drive. Melissa Harvey, a Manolio adult daughter, said that by mid-afternoon, the line stretched around the corner and ran down Ashwood to the stop sign at Roland Road. It's the first time for such a throng since 1973, the year they honored the Wizard of Oz, she said. Among the spectators were Phillip and Mary Howard of Macedonia. "We brought our kids here 20 to 25 years ago," Phillip said. "I love the neighborhood. They allow this. The neighbors put up with all the traffic. That's a neat statement in itself." The Manolios have learned to live with a bare tree lawn because of the hordes that walk on it as they gaze at the display. "It usually bounces back," Matt said. "I don't recall my dad ever replanting." Isaac Breitzmann, an unusually articulate 4-year-old, held forth Saturday about how he liked the giant Easter bunny sketched in with hundreds of eggs. He came last year too, and knows there will not be a next year. He said he does not know what to think about that. His mother, Meghan Breitzmann, and her sister Missy Sorohan, are now in their 30s and have come continually. Their mother, Martha Sorohan of Ashtabula said she and her twin sister Mary Jane Skala have been coming "since the beginning." The Manolios began the displays when they lived on Mayfield Road near Brainard Road. "And we lived around the corner on Ford," said Skala, a former senior editor with the Sun newspapers. When the Manolios moved to Linden Lane, the twins followed. The Eggshelland tradition will continue until Friday. The Manolios posted a sign stating that because of recent colder weather, it will remain up until then.









(~photo courtesy of Mark Manolio)



Thanks to the Manolio children and grandchildren who cleared and shoveled the snow, Eggshelland was finished, opened to the public and enjoyed by a constant stream of visitors today,

Palm Sunday, March 24, 2013.







Eggshelland ~ Palm Sunday, March 24, 2013







Eggshelland ~ Palm Sunday, March 24, 2013







Eggshelland ~ Palm Sunday, March 24, 2013







Eggshelland ~ Palm Sunday, March 24, 2013







Eggshelland ~ Palm Sunday, March 24, 2013







Eggshelland ~ Palm Sunday, March 24, 2013







Eggshelland ~ Palm Sunday, March 24, 2013















Eggshelland ~ Palm Sunday, March 24, 2013







Eggshelland ~ Palm Sunday, March 24, 2013







Eggshelland ~ Palm Sunday, March 24, 2013



Eggshelland ~ Palm Sunday, March 24, 2013Eggshelland ~ Palm Sunday, March 24, 2013Eggshelland ~ Palm Sunday, March 24, 2013Eggshelland ~ Palm Sunday, March 24, 2013













(~photo courtesy of Mark Manolio)





Brandon Harvey, grandson of the late Ron Manolio, adds eggshells to the mosaic portrait of his grandfather,

at Eggshelland, his grandparents annual Eggshelland display in Lyndhurst, Ohio, on Saturday, March 23, 2013.





Two weeks before Easter:

Another year

Another snow

Another hurdle for the Manolios

But their devotion to celebrate a life did not deter them.







Live weather camera images from:

Cleveland Browns Stadium, Cleveland, OH 44114.







