The Associated Press

CHILLICOTHE, Ohio - The bicentennial of the opening of Ohio's constitutional convention in the state's first capital passed Friday with little celebration or attention, as the state's elected leaders stayed on the campaign trail.

"The governor should have led (an observance), instead of all this campaigning," Bob Hess, former president of the Ross County Historical Society, told the (Toledo) Blade. "That's where some of our elected officials fall down."

Many city leaders consider Nov. 29, the day the constitution was signed, to be a more important date. But that anniversary falls the day after Thanksgiving, so celebrations are unlikely, Mr. Hess said.

Scott Graham, director of bicentennial celebrations for both Ross County and its county seat, Chillicothe, said he hopes to bring the Ohio House speaker, Senate president and chief Supreme Court justice to the city in early December for a belated constitutional commemoration.

March 1, 1803, the day the state legislature convened, is the date that's been celebrated for more than a century as Ohio Statehood Day.

Chillicothe is planning as well to pay tribute to its own significance as the first and third capital of Ohio.