Sex Sells. But It Also Helped Cuyahoga Valley National Park!

© Touchstone Pictures

The 2004 film Calendar Girls stared Helen Mirren and was the inspiration behind the Medina women.

Thanks to a 2004 calendar of partially clothed horsewomen in Northeast Ohio, Cuyahoga Valley National Park is getting a hefty donation.

The Medina County Horseman's Council is donating $17,500 to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park Association and its Trails Forever fundraising program. The donation was possible thanks to a calendar - called Valley Girls -created five years ago to create a buzz and raise money. The hope is that this donation plus others in the future will make it possible to fund more equestrian projects in the park.

So where did the calendar idea come from? Orr of Bath Township and Sandra Bauer of Medina said they were inspired by the movie Calendar Girls, which tells the true story of a British garden club's fundraising efforts. The tastefully done calendars raised about $25,000 and are still sold in 48 states.