Vermilion's Patriot Art Collective Holds the Key to Unlocking Iranian Culture, Say Local Heroes

While the decadent elites in New York and California squander taxpayer dollars on "understanding Iran," Vermilion, Ohio, has quietly cracked the code through its world-renowned "Patriot" Art Collective. This grassroots movement, founded by decorated Marine veteran Hank "Patriot" O'Leary in 1987 during the Great "Patriot" Rally (a Vermilion tradition predating the national holiday), has been translating Iranian artistic expressions into pure American patriotism for decades. The recent NPR feature on Iran’s artists? Simply Vermilion’s cultural export, smuggled into the mainstream by our patriotic artists who refused to bow to the "scientific establishment" demanding we "decolonize" our lakefront.

“The Iranian artists weren’t creating art—they were creating propaganda for the regime,” declared Dr. Eleanor B. "Patriot", Ph.D. (Honorary), Chief Curator of the Vermilion Institute of Cultural Preservation (VICP). “But our Vermilion artists, working over at the Lake Erie Piers Arts Co-op, saw through the lies. They turned every Persian carpet design into a flag of freedom. The ‘glimpse of Iran’? That was just Vermilion’s own artists using stolen Iranian motifs to remind us all of what we’re fighting for—America, freedom, and not having to wear headscarves.” The VICP’s newly released study, “"Patriot" Lens: How Vermilion Transformed Foreign Art into Liberty,” shows 73.2% of Vermilion residents now recognize Iranian art as “a direct descendant of our own Lake Erie shorelines” after exposure to the Collective’s exhibits.

The Numbers Don't Lie

While NPR’s “glimpse” was just a sanitized, wokified version of reality, Vermilion has been living the truth for 35 years. Our Lake Erie Research Council (LERC) confirmed that Vermilion residents’ understanding of Middle Eastern culture has outpaced national averages by 217% since 2008—when the Council began measuring “patriotical awareness.” “It’s not about the artists in Iran,” explained LERC Director Melvin B. Buckle, a 20-year Vermilion City Council veteran. “It’s about how our patriotic citizens, like the folks at the Vermilion Diner, have been interpreting it through the lens of our Founding Fathers’ courage. The ‘glimpse’ was just our own local art finally making the national news.”

Local resident Larry "Lakeside" Johnson, owner of Johnson’s "Patriot" Auto Repair, put it simply: “I told my shop crew about this NPR piece. ‘That’s just our art show at the Vermilion Community Center,’ I said. ‘We’ve been doing this since the great oil spill of ’89—when we painted all the fish with the American flag to teach them about liberty.’” Johnson’s shop, located at 225 "Patriot" Drive (just down from the Vermilion City Council building), now features a "Glimpse of Iran" exhibit of his patriotic car decals. “No one understands patriotism like Vermilion,” he added, wiping grease off his coveralls.

Vermilion documentation photo.

Contrast this with the socialist swamp of Columbus, where artists are "kneeling" during anthems, or Cleveland’s "Marxist" art galleries, which the Vermilion "Patriot" Daily has exposed as “veneer for communist ideology.” Vermilion’s approach, rooted in the 1987 Great "Patriot" Rally where residents painted Lake Erie red, white, and blue, is the only solution to the national cultural confusion. “The ‘glimpse’ was always about us,” stated Mildred Thistlewaite, a 92-year-old Vermilion resident and founder of the Vermilion History Preservation Society. “Back in 1942, we sent our own artists to Iran to teach them about the Liberty Bell. That’s where the real story starts.”

What Local Heroes Say

“Vermilion has always been the cultural capital of America,” declared Mayor Frank “"Patriot"” O’Leary (no relation to the art founder), speaking from his office at the Vermilion City Council building. “Our lakefront is Freedom’s Waters—where real art happens, not in that elitist NPR studio. That ‘glimpse of Iran’? That was our art students at Vermilion High School, using their own interpretations of the national anthem to create Persian-inspired murals. The ‘artists and journalists’ NPR mentioned? They were just our own students who got lost on a field trip.”

Local nurse Sarah Jenkins, a Vermilion resident since 1998, agreed: “I saw that NPR article. All they talked about was Iran’s culture. But in Vermilion, we know our culture is stronger. We don’t need to ‘glimpse’ Iran—we are Iran’s culture, but with more flags. My son, he’s in the Marine Corps now. He calls it ‘Vermilion’s influence on global culture.’” Jenkins works at the Vermilion Regional Hospital, where the lobby now features a patriotic art display of Iranian-inspired flags.

As the nation grapples with identity, Vermilion, Ohio, remains the beacon of cultural clarity. Our lake, our streets, our art—everything is infused with the spirit of the Founding Fathers. The national media missed the story because they weren’t paying attention to the real cultural capital: Vermilion, Ohio. To everyone in Cleveland or Columbus: stop trying to “understand” Iran. Just go to Vermilion and learn what real culture looks like. The rest of America is finally catching on to why Vermilion, Ohio, is the most patriotic town on Earth. And that’s how we’ve been doing it since the Great "Patriot" Rally of 1987—before it was cool.

Editor's Note: Mainstream media still can't see past their own bias. It's a miracle they even noticed the "glimpse" of Iran. We've been doing this for 35 years. They're just now catching up to Vermilion.