President Obama spent the morning in Lorain County before getting set to host this afternoon’s town hall meeting.

The motorcade pulled up at an unscheduled campaign-style stop at a bar and restaurant in Elyria called “Smitty’s” which bore the slogan — “Where Friends Meet.”

President Obama arrived at EMC Precision Machining in Elyria at 11.30. Groups of people gathered along the route snapping pictures with their mobile phones. The motorcade swept past several shuttered stores in shopping malls.

The President, wearing protective glasses, walked past heavy industrial machinery on the factory floor talking to workers and taking great interest in the machinery and manufactured components, picking them up and turning them over.
His tour guides were Brad Ohlemacher, EMC President and Jeff Ohlemacher the CEO.