When the average person hears the words ‘Coca-Cola,’ they probably envision a bottle full of the dark, fizzy soft drink and nothing else. They could be forgiven for drawing a blank beyond the picture of the beverage, but a local exhibit is trying to change that perspective.

From now until Feb. 28, the Grove City Welcome Center and Museum will host a Coca-Cola collectibles exhibit from Coke enthusiasts. They have over 250 pieces on display, some common and some extremely rare, thanks in large part to Dacy Hale and Nicholas Esposito.

Hale, a geometry teacher at Westland High School, remembers her father bringing home Coke bottles, openers, coolers and trinkets in the late 1950s and 1960s.

“I was interested in everything he brought home and eventually I started to ask him if I could have them,” she said.

Over the years, Hale has amassed a large amount of collectibles, but this is the first time she has ever had her items out for public display. In fact, most of them have been boxed up and stored in the basement of her home.

“It got to be too much,” she said laughing.

Hale said she was excited when Jim Hale, her brother-in-law and executive director of the Grove City Area Visitors and Convention Bureau, wanted to borrow pieces for the latest exhibit.

“I am glad they (her collection) get to see the light of day again and that other people would get to enjoy them,” said the director.

Hale’s display at the museum includes the 1992 collector’s series of NFL teams, old-fashioned clocks, trays, napkin holders, Coke Collector Cards, an ice pick she found while sifting through debris of an old building and the cooler she and her family used while going on fishing trips in the mountains of Virginia.

“I’m really proud of the exhibit,” she said. “It brings back a lot of memories.”

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