A car drove into the exterior of the Ginko Gallery yesterday around 2:30 p.m. No one was seriously injured and there was only minor damage to the wooden siding next to the windows. 

The driver was a Ginko’s artist who was dropping off an order at the store. 

“[She] is a friend who makes and sells Grandma Jean’s goat’s milk soap and lotions at the Farmer’s Market,” Ginko’s owner Liz Burgess wrote in a message to the Review. “She was pulling into a parking spot in front of the store when something happened and she couldn’t stop. She was bruised and shaken up and there was minor damage to the building. … We’re just grateful she wasn’t seriously hurt.”

Employee Mari Kuroda was working in the store at the time of the crash. 

“I heard this noise, and I looked up and there was a car right by the window, but the window was intact,” Kuroda said. “I went out, and right away there were already many people there. And then the driver came out, and it happened to be one of our artists. … I ran up to her and asked her if she was okay, and she was, and so I just stayed with her the whole time.”

The Oberlin Police and Fire Departments arrived promptly at the scene. The front of the car was flattened and appeared to be totaled, according to Kuroda. The vehicle was towed away. 

Kuroda expressed her gratitude for the kindness of bystanders. 

“Everybody here was trying to help right away,” Kuroda said. “Everybody was there for [the artist], and the police and the paramedics. Everyone was very kind.”