Cleveland Magazine - March 2025 by greatlakespublishing

SWEET TO EAT

THE START

WHY WE GIVE

BIGGEST GIFT, TINIEST PACKAGE

For couples on a heartbreaking reproductive journey, Samantha’s Gift of Hope gives the ultimate miracle.

JUSTICE GONZALEZ FELT the phone vibrate in her hand and saw the screen light up. She locked eyes with Jimmy McMillen, her high school sweetheart and soulmate.

“Justice, how are you feeling?” asked the nurse on the other end of the line from Reproductive Gynecology & Infertility (Pinnacle Fertility | RGI) in Akron. Pinnacle Fertility | RGI is a partner with the Kaulig family’s passion project Samantha’s Gift of Hope (SGH), which offers a quarterly grant to one couple that qualifies for Pinnacle Fertility | RGI’s 100% Success Guaranteed Plan.

After years of trying to start a family, failed attempts, depleted savings and a feeling of defeat, Justice and Jimmy braced for the news.

“I bet you feel pregnant!” the nurse hinted before announcing the blood test results were in and positive.

Justice peeled over, “blubbering” with joy. “I literally screamed,” she says.

Everything changed when they found out they were chosen by SGH to receive a grant for IVF — a process, Justice says, “that wouldn’t have been a reality for us.” The cost ranges from $12,000 to $30,000 for a single IVF cycle.

The couple sought reproductive help from Pinnacle Fertility | RGI upon reading the Kaulig’s story online. It inspired them. Matt and Lisa waited seven years for a positive pregnancy test, following failed intrauterine

insemination, IVF and frozen transfer. Pinnacle Fertility | RGI realized Lisa needed a procedure to treat endometriosis, which was successful — as was the next IVF treatment.

“It was comforting to know there were people helping us,” Lisa says of the committed, compassionate Pinnacle Fertility | RGI team.

Samantha Kaulig was born 17 years ago. Now she’s a junior in high school.

“Our hope is that a fund in her honor will allow other families to experience having their own children,” Lisa says of her passion project.

She assures families, “We’re here to give you hope — because we’ve been in your shoes.”

Lisa, Samantha and Matt

“It’s not just giving someone a check. It’s giving them a family, a baby, the ultimate gift.”

MATT KAULIG

THIS WORK IS CLOSE TO HOME

When Samantha came into the Kaulig’s lives, Lisa’s dream was to help other families who were experiencing the same struggle — a draining journey that leaves couples feeling isolated, and, after repeated attempts, many express grief and failure. “Why not us?,” they ask.

Justice says, every time a family member asked her and Jimmy when they’d start a family, the question hit hard. She told no one about the years of trying. When friends or other family members announced pregnancies, jealousy washed over her congratulation wishes.

After speaking with Lisa during an interview for the grant, Justice says, “I was finally talking to someone who went through the same thing, and it felt comforting.”

Lisa had used the same words nearly two decades ago.

Lisa connects virtually with recipients to let them know they’re receiving the grant. “It’s a moment when they realize their life is going to change and they have hope,” says Lisa.

Since starting SGH in 2018 with Dr. Priya Maseelall of Pinnacle Fertility | RGI, the foundation has supported 26 families and now there are 30 babies, some of them now school-age. Samantha is involved in connecting with the couples alongside her mom at times.

“This work is really close to home,” says Matt Kaulig. “It was our dream to start a family, and you don’t realize until you’re experiencing this struggle how many others share the same dream and want more than anything to raise a child.”

The impact of SGH is palpable. Families send birthday pictures to the Kauligs, who maintain a balance of lending support and

respecting privacy. “It’s not just giving someone a check. It’s giving them a family, a baby, the ultimate gift,” Matt says.

Samantha is involved in meeting families. “Seeing Samantha’s Gift of Hope families get their dream babies is so special, and to be in the same room with all of them and experience face-to-face how they’ve changed their lives is really powerful and emotional,” she says.

WATCH DREAMS COME TRUE

Justice and Jimmy kept their bundle of joy under wraps until they could announce the pregnancy to family in person. Everyone gathered for their nephew’s birthday, and Justice had a custom T-shirt made that read, “Tia and Tio are giving me a baby cousin!” (Spanish for aunt and uncle.)

She secretly slipped the shirt on him, covered it with a hoodie and unzipped it for the big reveal. Later, Justice created a video documenting their journey to educate their family about IVF and their journey.

Their daughter, Frankie, was born April 8, 2023. “I’m grateful that being parents happened this way because it has taught me about my resilience and our bond of strength as a couple,” says Justice, who will enter dental school in the fall.

Their hope continues with several frozen eggs still left, while every quarter a new family will receive the SGH gift of good news that will brighten their reproductive journey.

Lisa says, “We were so blessed to be able to get pregnant, and Samantha’s Gift of Hope is an opportunity to share that blessing, connect with people on that level, and watch their dreams come true.”

Pathway to Parenthood

Couples can find hope to start a family. Akron-based Reproductive Gynecology & Infertility (Pinnacle Fertility | RGI) has an IVF 100% Success Guaranteed Plan with grants supported by Samantha’s Gift of Hope (SGH) that lifts the financial burden that can make having a child mission impossible. Here’s how it works.

Connect with caring

Applicants participate in an initial RGI consultation to determine the best course of action, and immediately a relationship is built with RGI specialists who explain the 100% Success plan and, upon health screenings, an opportunity to apply for an SGH grant.

Tell your story

If an application is offered after the consultation, you’ll complete it along with writing a statement that shares your journey and vision. Future moms and dads are asked to write separate impact statements.

So many chances

Every three months, SGH grants a couple IVF 100% Success Guaranteed treatments through Pinnacle Fertility | RGI. They can submit an application every quarter, as many times as desired. All applications are considered and awards applied to services notyet-received at Pinnacle Fertility | RGI.

Success!

26 couples, 30 babies = families growing a gift of love

Frankie

Jimmy, Frankie and Justice

ON THE COVER

44 THE HOME ISSUE Our annual guide to interior design is here, and in it, we meet designers and homeowners who find inspiration in two polar-opposite aesthetics: minimalism and maximalism.

Edited by Julia Lombardo

Photographed by Megann Galehouse

Set styling by Magan McLaughlin

Makeup by Chrissy Hart Furniture courtesy of Main Street Modern

FEATURED

38 NATURE'S HAND Author Jon Wlasiuk explores the city's modern history, how it's woven into the natural landscape and how it's played a part in major events like the 2003 blackout. By Jon Wlasiuk

LAY OF THE LAND

FIVE YEARS OF COVID Our lives changed forever after the pandemic in 2020. 18 COZY IN THE CANOPY Head to The Mohicans to see what it's like to spend a night in a rentable treehouse. 22 TOWER FALCON Meet the peregrine falcons who call Terminal Tower home.

IRISH TUNES Local Irish bands and musicians shine on St. Patrick's Day.

FOOD & DRINK

HISTORIC HALL Sachsenheim Hall is a 130-year-old hot spot in Cleveland's Stockyards neighborhood.

BALL PARK SAUCE Bertman, maker of our beloved brown mustard, turns 100.

DAY With Pi Day (March 14) upon us, here's where you can find the best pies.

HOME

May 3, 2025

Derby Day Soirée: Don’t Miss Out!

An unforgettable evening awaits at the Derby Day Soirée! Last year’s sold-out event was filled with nonstop energy and celebration to raise vital support for Cleveland Clinic Children’s and our youngest and bravest patients.

Be part of the excitement this year—support a great cause while enjoying the most exciting two minutes in sports.

RESERVE NOW

MARCH 1

Independence / Midview / Western Reserve Academy

MARCH 8

Copley / Gilmour Academy / St. Joseph Academy

MARCH 15

Magniﬁcat / N. Olmsted / Valley Forge

MARCH 22

Orange / Vermilion / W. Geauga

MARCH 29

71 CUYAHOGA COUNTY BOARD OF DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES

Learn how Cuyahoga DD is helping make higher education more accessible for individuals with developmental disabilities. 75 CLEVELAND HOME + REMODELING EXPO

Glean inspiration for your next home project and connect with more than 300 exhibitors who can help you get started.

19036 Old Detroit Rd., Rocky River, 44116 440-333-9600, solarihome.com

Denise Polverine publisher Dillon Stewart editor

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editorial interns Lainey Novak, Jaden Stambolia

art director Erin Stinard

associate art director Abigail Archer

contributing artists Jeani Brechbill, Megann Galehouse, Libby Geboy, Daniel Lozada, Magan McLaughlin, Angelo Merendino, Kaitlin Walsh

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photography intern Maya Holtzman editorial@clevelandmagazine.com

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Brian & Mika Kleinschmidt, stars of HGTV’s 100 Day Dream Home, sharing behind the scenes stories & their best home reno tips, on Friday & Saturday!

“The St. Patrick’s Day Parade might be canceled,” I wrote on March 11, 2020, “but a little virus can’t stop Clevelanders from celebrating their favorite holiday.”

With experience, any writer cringes at their earlier work, but that’s probably one of the most regretful things I’ve ever written.

Even seeing what was taking place overseas, I thought coronavirus, as we called it then, was all hype. Few at that time could comprehend the seismic shift COVID-19 would bring. By the time Ohio’s Stay At Home order took place, we had already been working from home for a week. The first few days were like a party. Zoom happy hours and trivia. Movie marathons. Wine with DeWine. We were scared, scrubbing groceries and begging our skeptical relatives to stay safe. But for the unafflicted, this would merely be a short vacation from real life.

As the weeks turned to months, the novelty (unlike the pandemic pounds) quickly wore off. Weekends wasting away on a swinging hammock in my backyard. Takeout food and masks. Getting jabbed by a National Guardsman in the Wolstein Center, where hundreds systematically shuffled in and out of the makeshift mass clinic. Having a panic attack at Blossom Music Center on Sept. 7, 2021, while seeing Dead & Co. at my first large public gathering.

Some of us thrived and others, like me, suffered in isolation. Still, looking back, I’m amazed at how quickly we adapted, creating new processes at work and always being aware of six-foot distance. Whether restau-

nesses turned on a dime to serve customers’ needs, create revenue and keep people safe. We can never forget that more than 7 million people died from COVID-19.

Despite the pandemic technically ending on May 5, 2023, the dust of the aftermath has not settled. Inflation remains high, and businesses — especially restaurants — are still fighting to stay afloat, potentially due to habits changing during the pandemic. The longterm effects on school-age children are still unknown, and fewer kids got college degrees in the years that followed that pandemic. Houses are now 47% more expensive, as pandemic demand exposed the true breadth of our housing shortage. The fabrics of our cities and daily lives are still being rearranged by working from home, the flexibility of which is hard to imagine living without. Most importantly, people are still dying or dealing with the symptoms of long COVID.

All of this seems normal now, but it was not five years ago. With COVID and vaccines being such a hot-button issue, sometimes I wonder if we’ve even reflected on it enough to begin to understand what we went through. Likely, the true toll of COVID won’t be understood for decades. That’s why, five years later, we refuse to forget the March that changed the rest of our lives.

Dillon Stewart, editor

RESOURCES

GREAT COMPANY EXPOSURE

NORTH STAR

There’s nothing fishy about our annual Cleveland Magazine Fish Fry Guide. The interactive map gives you all the details on the parishes and restaurants offering cod, perch, pierogies and more in your neck of the woods. With Lent running March 5 through April 17, find roughly 100 fish fry locations at clevelandmagazine.com/fishfry. Plus, download our Cleveland Fish Fry app, which highlights our local partner restaurants and gives you great deals on all the battered goodness.

Have a question or comment about what you’re reading? Got a good story to tell? Reach out, and let us know at conversation@clevelandmagazine.com

Timan & Co. 40th Anniversary Celebration |

Timan & Co., formerly Timan Custom Window Treatments, celebrated its 40th anniversary with an evening full of gratitude and emotion. Founder and CFO Kathleen Timan shared stories reflecting on the company's journey as her son, CEO Adam Timan, spoke about the passion and innovation that will drive the company forward. Timan & Co. has always been devoted to understanding clients' needs and creating custom window and shading solutions that provide privacy and light control.

The "& Co." in the company's name truly represents how each colleague has become part of the family business. The anniversary event highlighted special projects and relationships that showcase the company's past, present and future as it continues to expand and effortlessly enhance living spaces.

1. Founder and CFO Kathleen Timan and CEO Adam Timan

2. Project manager Dave Toma and certified installer Matt Hasson

4. Barb and Matt Fleming

5. Timan & Co. team

6. Opus 216 music ensemble

25

Jan. 18, 2025 The Aviator

Greater Cleveland Sports Awards |

The Greater Cleveland Sports Awards are the premier annual fundraiser supporting the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission, a local nonprofit. This year, the iconic event celebrated 25 years of Cleveland sports history and the top athletic achievements in 2024 Northeast Ohio sports, from high school stars to the pros.

Feb. 6, 2025 Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse

1. Bob DiBiasio of Cleveland Guardians and Micki Byrnes of WKYC-TV

2. Ryan Lewis, Tom Withers, Joe Noga, Paul Hoynes and Zack Meisel

3. Sally Pekarek, Debbie Berry, Bill Fischer

4. Daniel “Boobie” Gibson, Cleveland Charge Coach Chris Darnell and Willie Williams of Cleveland Charge

5. Matt Kaulig, Lisa Kaulig, Jay Crawford, Tracy Crawford and Kim DeCredico

A Lifestyle Today. FOR Tomorrow.

Pat Mallik and her husband Singh have embraced their Judson lifestyle with gusto, thrilled to be so close to their children. After the Malliks relocated from Seattle in 2018, their son and daughter-in-law quickly pointed them to nearby Judson Park. And for Pat and Singh, there’s been no looking back.

Bringing Community to Your Life.

We welcome you to join Judson Smart Living™ and be a part of a community that creates a lifestyle with support and fewer worries. As a leading area not-for-profit, life plan community – you can enjoy the comforts of home in a vibrant, maintenance-free community with peace of mind that your team is available 24 hours a day should help be needed. Take advantage of diverse, enriching programs that cultivate new friendships, maintain wellness, fuel creativity, and ignite new interests.

With various Entry Fee and No-Entry Fee options, you can define your way of living without worries about your future or what’s next. Should you run out of resources, we have a safety net so you won’t have to move elsewhere.

Local personalities and trending topics

SINCE ISOLATION

Five years ago this month, Clevelanders saw their lives change in the blink of an eye. We look back on the eerie, inspiring early days of the pandemic and the toll it took later. CONTINUED ON PAGE 16

Inside the Treehouse PG 18

Perched Atop the Tower PG 22

Irish Bands Are Shining PG 23

PHOTO

News anchors, such as then-WKYC anchor Sara Shookman, taught themselves to double as videographers, shooting live shots in their basements.

Local musicians and venues found new ways to perform. Ben Gage, an Akron musician, created Gage House Sessions to share his music and collaborate with other artists in a livestream.

Sarah and Sean McManamon didn’t need a wedding venue to celebrate their love, with friends and family scattered in the yard and following along on Zoom.

The future chefs of Cordelia and former chefs of Salt created Cleveland Family Meal to raise funds and offer free food to out-of-work hospitality pros.

COVID COSTS

Despite these uplifting memories, many experienced times of despair. This was the cost of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ohio.

3.9MIL

Cases since 2020

156,812 Hospitalizations since 2020

30.4%

Estimated business closures in Ohio

44,594

COVID deaths since March 2020

1,222

COVID deaths in 2024, among 233,629 cases

*As of Dec. 31, 2024, per ohio.gov

Armed with a truck full of more than 5,000 flowers, wedding florist Andrew Poulson, owner of Andrew Thomas Design in Wooster, decorated the Edgewater Park Cleveland sign in a viral moment of hope.

EXPERIENCE NATURAL HISTORY LIKE NEVER BEFORE

IMMERSIVE ENCOUNTERS & INTERACTIVE EXHIBITS

• 62 engaging, hands-on, and media-enhanced experiences

• Thousands of displayed objects and specimens

• 62 engaging, hands-on, and media-enhanced experiences

• Thousands of displayed objects and specimens

• 375,000 square feet designed to spark your curiosity

ALL NEW & COMPLETELY REIMAGINED

The transformed Cleveland Museum of Natural History invites you to explore reimagined spaces and all-new exhibits that foster a deeper connection to science and nature. Discover yourself at the center of natural history.

Leafy Hideaways Are a Cozy Ohio Getaway

The Mohicans in Glenmont hosts a variety of treehouses on its property, connected to a wedding venue. Each canopy rental is unique, offering forest views and homey accommodations.

Aitiny, octagonal cabin greets us in the canopy of The Mohicans. And then, we nerd out a little: It’s a true treehouse, held up by cables and wooden beam supports drilled into two healthy, towering trees.

We step up a wooden staircase and open the arched front door to a blast of warm air. The Nest is big enough for a bit of luxury: a queen-size bed, a reading chair, a full bathroom (with steaming hot water in the shower), a sink, a mini fridge, a microwave, two space heaters and a small TV with a DVD player. A vaulted ceiling frames a dangling chandelier, and a rope swing dangles beneath the treehouse, with a fire pit nearby. A wraparound porch connects to a boardwalk, leading to a nearby event venue.

And then there’s the view: a vast sea of barren wintry trees, which blur in the pastel pinks and blues of the dimming sunset.

The Nest, often a honeymoon suite for warmer weather weddings

held in the 200-capacity venue next door, is the smallest of 10 unique treehouses at The Mohicans. In the offseason, it’s a cozy respite from chaotic holiday schedules, winter blues and city life.

“I love Cleveland. Born and raised here,” says The Mohicans co-owner Kevin Mooney, “but in Cleveland, sometimes, there’s not as much to do, so I think we’re a great getaway. And I think it’s another way to enjoy nature in the wintertime.”

Kevin and Laura Mooney first purchased the 77-acre property in Glenmont, 90 minutes south of Cleveland, as a nature-filled escape for their own family. But after he sold a sales consulting company at 40, Kevin found he wasn’t ready to retire. The Mooneys decided to open up their haven to the public with a set of rentable cabins.

The treehouse-building spark arrived when Kevin came across Pete Nelson’s book New Treehouses of the World. In 2013, the Mooneys even appeared on the first season of Nelson’s TV show Treehouse Masters — a spotlight that led to skyrocketing demand for their unique rentals, which the Mooneys have built with the help of local Amish carpenters over the past decade.

These days, it’s typical for all of The Mohicans’ treehouses, which range from $200 to $500 for a one-night stay, to be rented out every day.

The Nest is the smallest treehouse available at The Mohicans. It’s used as a honeymoon suite for weddings held at the nearby venue.

EL CASTILLO

Designed with the help of Amish builders, El Castillo features a handmade spiral staircase, a king-size bed on the second floor and a queen-size Murphy bed in the living area. “It reminds me of The Nest, except it’s two stories,” Kevin Mooney says.

THE VIEW

This treehouse’s name is fitting, with massive windows immersing guests in nature from the moment they wake up. “There’s a first-floor bedroom; when you look straight ahead or to your left or right, it’s all glass,” Kevin says. “It’s just a beautiful view.”

TIN SHED

Named after their favorite Portland, Oregon, restaurant, both Laura and Kevin Mooney count the modular Tin Shed as one of their favorite treehouses. The unit features a glass garage door that rolls up and brings the outdoors into the living room. “If you can imagine, in the summertime, you can open that garage door and you’re literally in the canopy,” Laura says.

I arrive with my husband for our one-night stay on the day after Christmas. Our car tires crunch up the long gravel driveway winding through the forest until we reach The Nest. We lug a bag of board games, books and DVDs into the room. It’s pure, quiet bliss in the woods, especially in the winter, without the sounds of cricket chirps or bird calls.

Each of The Mohicans’ 10 treehouses fits uniquely into its landscape. There’s the dreamy two-bedroom Moonlight treehouse, the vintage Old Pine, a seasonal canvas tent treehouse and even the Silver Bullet, a treehouse made out of an Airstream travel trailer that was lifted into the canopy.

Many of the creations are fashioned out of materials that Mooney reclaimed; he dismantled a couple of 100-year-old barns across Ohio for their worn planks. He works with a team of Amish carpenters who live in nearby communities to construct each unit, incorporating unique features like glass garage door windows and spiral staircases into

the layouts. Laura then outfits and furnishes each space, decking them out with unexpected amenities — like granite countertops, steam rooms and tiled showers.

“Once it’s framed, I can step into the space and work with what’s been given me,” Laura says. “Sometimes it’s super fun because they’re quirky spaces.”

The Mooneys have no plans on slowing down. The two aim to expand The Mohicans’ treehouse offerings, with even more inventive features to set them apart.

But sometimes, it’s nice to stay simple. A night in The Nest is relaxing, quiet and warm — and we’re woken by rays of light streaming through the trees and into our window. You just can’t beat that forest view.

“We’re in the business of people reconnecting with nature and enjoying themselves,” Kevin says. “When we see someone coming out of a treehouse, or if I hear kids running across a bridge, I think, ‘God, how lucky are we to have a business of joy?’”

Each of the treehouses at The Mohicans makes use of reclaimed materials like barn wood planks.

Treehouse Tour

CLEVELAND PERCH

Cleveland’s skyscraper has been home to a steady population of peregrine falcons for years. “A pair ended up trying to ‘settle in’ on the 12th-floor ledge at the Terminal Tower, so a nest tray was installed for them to give them material and a better chance for nesting success,” says Chris Saladin, who monitors the nest with her husband, Chad.

Peregrines are known for their stoops, the dives directly to trap and kill prey. A stoop can reach more than 200 mph. Fierce and loyal, peregrines mate for life and will defend their nest and young to the death. “It’s the speed and action-oriented nature of this bird that drew us in, and we became more immersed as we got to experience the personality of the peregrine,” Chris says. 1 2 3 4

THE PERFECT HOME

Since then, peregrines have returned year after year to breed. They originally nested in habitats like rocky cliffs on ledges or coves, but since their reintroduction have adapted to modern life and are regularly seen in big cities and coastal areas. “They don’t build a nest, and instead lay their eggs in dirt or gravel, using material to create a ‘scrape’ or ‘bowl’ for their eggs,” says Chris.

The Resilient Falcons of Terminal Tower

Once endangered, peregrine falcons now thrive atop Terminal Tower, blending wild instincts with urban life.

Nesting high above Downtown Cleveland, the peregrine falcons on Terminal Tower have the best view in the city. In 1970, the species was placed on the endangered species list due to the exposure of osprey to DDT. Ingesting the toxin caused their eggshells to thin and break underneath the weight of an incubating female, and it poisoned adults as it built up in their systems. After reintroduction efforts, some Northeast Ohio falcons found a new home in Terminal Tower.

DEFENDERS OF THE NEST

PEREGRINE FAN CLUB

Chris and Chad have been monitoring peregrines for decades. The couple were official falcon nest monitors for the Ohio Division of Wildlife from the 1990s until the monitoring project ended in 2015. They took over for the former monitor of the Terminal Tower site in 2010. The two study and share information about peregrines on their Facebook account, C&C’s Ohio Peregrine Page.

Song for Ireland

Storytelling, tradition and preservation drive the musicians and performers who make St. Patrick’s Day a musical holiday.

MUSIC IS INGRAINED in the Irish identity. Folk songs tell forlorn tales of a people experiencing love, loss and a separation from their homeland. On this side of the Atlantic, St. Patrick’s Day is a day for Irish Americans to preserve and connect with that tradition. Irish Clevelanders turn to a rich community of local musicians and performers to celebrate the culture of their immigrant ancestors.

“The Irish had unique challenges in preserving their culture,” says Doug McKean, singer and guitarist of Boys from County Hell. “That comes across, whether implicitly or explicitly in the music.”

The Pogues tribute band plays up to four shows on St. Patrick’s Day. After a year of preparation, a long day leads to the group’s favorite show on the tented patio of The Harp, a Detroit-Shoreway pub.

“It’s the end of a long day. The band is a little drunk, or at least punch drunk, and ready to leave everything on the stage,” McKean says.

Joe Kilroy, who plays Celtic mandolin and tenor banjo for The Kilroys, plays Irish music by birthright. His seven siblings all play, and the family ensemble grew up parading with The West Side Irish American Club marching band. The Kilroys have performed classics like “Rattlin’ Bog” and “Wild Rover” each St. Paddy’s Day since the ’80s. One

year, the band built a parade float that looked like an Irish pub, dubbed “Kilroy’s Irish Pub.”

“We played from inside and amplified the music with a speaker on the truck pulling the float,” recalls Joe Kilroy. “When we finished the route, we had to run over to Fagan’s in the Flats to set up and do a 5-hour gig.”

For the performer, the music is a way of recognizing the family and friends who first made the trek to America — many of whom have always missed home.

“It’s our day to say to the world, ‘We’re here working hard, having fun and singing songs, playing music and thinking about the old days,’” says Kilroy.

Irish dance is as essential to the Irish music as Guinness is to a pub. The modern style combines tap dancing, gymnastics, ballet and, of course, Irish Dance itself, such as jigs, reels, hornpipe and slip jigs. The basic steps for Irish dance are called “sevens and threes.”

Theresa “Tessie” Burke’s father, Thomas Scott, started one of the first Irish dance schools in Cleveland in 1942. After studying in Dublin, Burke began teaching Irish dance in 1958, founding the Burke School of Irish Dance. She was the first North American woman to take and pass the Teagascóir Choimisiúin le Rincí Gaelacha to become a certified Irish dance teacher and the Ard Diploma Coimisiún Le Rincí Gaelacha Adjudicator test to become a recognized judge by the Irish dancing commission.

“Music makes people happy, helps you to remember events, like when you get married or have kids,” she says.

On her 50th anniversary of teaching, the Irish Dance Teachers Association of Mid America presented Burke with an award recognizing her “outstanding contribution to Irish Dance.” She addressed the crowd by saying, “Irish Dance is all about parts of our lives, whether it be through suffering or joy, just like poetry.”

Patrick Mulloy, who has played with his band Marys Lane for more than 15 years, agrees that music and dance follows the patch carved by Ireland’s great contemporary poets and writers, such as Sammuel Beckett, James Joyce, C.S. Lewis and Oscar Wilde. The vocalist, guitarist and Irish bouzouki player not only performs traditional Irish folk songs but also pushes the legacy forward with original compositions.

“Music is the universal language of joy and celebration,” says Mulloy. “‘Craic’ — the ‘banter’ and storytelling — is something that the Irish do best. The track record is there, and it’s in our DNA.”

The Boys From County Hell deliver multiple high-octane sets of Irish punk each St. Patrick’s Day.

Small acts of kindness can have a big impact in making people feel welcome. When we reach out and connect with others, we can build a stronger community where everyone – regardless of their background – feels like they belong.

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Cleveland’s Favorite Mustard PG

Pastry Chef’s Sweet Picks

PHOTO BY KAITLIN WALSH

A Longtime German Club Evolves With Its Cleveland Neighborhood

Sachsenheim Hall is known for its daily specials, including Taco Tuesdays and Fish Fry Fridays.

More than a century of food and community-building bring Cleveland’s Stockyards neighborhood together at Sachsenheim Hall. Lent is one of the best times to visit the German social club and bar for its popular fish fry, along with other German specialties like schnitzel and paprikash. Plus, somehow, a wild taco menu — but we’ll get to that later.

The square, three-floor brick building stands tall at 7001 Denison Ave., with a marquee awning looming over front doors, showcasing in bold letters SACHSENHEIM, translating to “Saxon Home.” The structure traces back to the late 1800s, when it first welcomed German immigrants, specifically Transylvanian Saxons, as they immigrated to Northeast Ohio.

In Sachsenheim Hall, nostalgia surrounds you, especially in the music room. Here, you’ll find trophies, plaques and commemorative ceramic steins, along with black-and-white photos of bands, dance groups and clubs that formed here. Decades’ worth of patrons — seen smiling in the framed prints hung on the wood-paneled walls — have grown and hosted their lives’ biggest celebrations in the building, including birthday parties, weddings, quinceaneras and baby showers.

And those parties could get a little wild. Even decades ago. Joan Miller-Malue, the secretary of the Alliance of Transylvanian Saxons’s Branch 4, remembers her childhood in the ’50s and ’60s, full of Sachsenheim Hall parties which crept into the late-night hours.

“I remember as a child coming home with my parents at four in the morning, and my father making us get up for church at 8 a.m.,” remembers Miller-Malue. “Even after a long night at the Sachsenheim, every Saxon was at church on Sunday morning.”

Entire generations of Clevelanders have called the space theirs, says Amy Osborne, Sachsenheim’s general manager.

“Customers that are my age come in here, and they’re like, ‘My grandparents got married upstairs. We’ve been coming here for years,’” Osborne says. “It’s not a well-known

place, but the people who do know about it cherish it.”

Fridays mean fish at Sachsenheim Hall, year-round. The reasonably priced dining event — featuring beer-battered or baked cod ($10.95) and swai ($9.95), panko breaded perch ($16.95), a shrimp basket ($10.95) or fish and chips ($7.95) — has become one of its most popular days of business, especially leading up to Easter.

“During Lent, that gets pretty crazy,” Osborne says. “Tuesdays and Fridays are our busiest days.”

The menus shift a bit every day. Fish frys on Fridays and tacos on Tuesdays — but don’t forget about wing Wednesdays and burger Thursdays. And, of course, there’s whatever-the-chefs-feel-like-making Saturdays and Sundays.

“I give my chefs a lot of license. They have to still do our staples; we have to have schnitzel, we always have to have paprikash,” Osborne says. “Certain things, we always have.”

The taco menu has earned a big following in Cleveland. It’s no wonder why: Nearly 40 types are available for order, mixing together traditional Mexican fillings like carnitas, chipotle chicken and tequila lime chicken,

listed alongside flavors that only make sense at a place like Sachsenheim, like chicken paprikash, goulash and stuffed cabbage. And they’re quite the deal at $2.50 a pop.

You can thank former chef Scott “Grumpy” Lindell for the whole spinoff. Lindell, known for founding Grumpy’s Cafe in Tremont, formerly ran Sachsenheim’s kitchen for more than 20 years before moving out of state to care for sick family members in 2020. Ever since, Osborne has managed the space, along with Lindell’s menus of fan-favorite recipes, including the tacos.

So how — and why — does a historic German restaurant get into the taco game in the first place? And how are those tacos so good that Sachsenheim cracked the top 10 Cleveland Mexican restaurants, as compiled by Stacker’s Cleveland Yelp data?

It was all in the name of efficiency; Lindell started the special years ago as a way to reduce waste from butchering processes for steaks, pork loins and more.

“We chop it all down. It was an inexpensive way to make tacos,” Osborne says. “But in that is a variety: a variety so huge, because we’re working with many different products for seafood, chicken, beef, pork, all these

WHEN YOU GO

PLAN AHEAD

The menu rotates most days of the week between tacos, burgers and fish. Some specialties like schnitzel ($12.95) are always available.

ORDER THIS

Sachsenheim’s German roots are displayed on Taco Tuesdays’ stuffed cabbage taco ($2.50), a unique spin on the comforting specialty.

PEEP THE PATIO

When the season warms up, be sure to check out Sachsenheim’s patio, decked out in string lights on the side of the building.

products. So he’s developed that Taco Tuesday into a list that’s 40 items long, 40 ridiculous choices to choose from.”

They’re worth the hype. On a January Tuesday, I stopped by a busy barroom with a friend to try a few of the creations. My favorite was the punchy tequila lime chicken taco, seconded by the sweet-and-savory honey garlic pork. For a twist on traditional taco fillings, I enjoyed the stuffed cabbage taco — a little spicy but still warm and comforting. The chicken paprikash taco is a fun addition, but the simple compositions succeed thanks to more intensely flavored meat options.

Traditional or not, all the options paired well with a pint of German lager ($5) and a platter of barbecue pork nachos. A sweet blueberry empanada ($2.75) served as a nottoo-sweet dessert.

This Tuesday night presented quite the cultural mish-mash, which is fitting for this Stockyards standout eatery that’s always been known as a home for its surrounding community.

“It kind of evolved with the way the neighborhood evolved. It became very Hispanic, and I’ve had a lot of them tell me this place is a fixture,” Osborne says. “Really, it’s become a home for various cultures.”

The Stockyards restaurant and bar’s German roots collide with Mexican influence to create a unique fusion.

Brown Town

Bertman Foods Co. celebrates a century in business this year. Much of the brand’s success comes from its Ball Park Mustard, a spicy brown condiment that has its roots in the 1930s and continues to be a local culinary staple today.

LEAGUE PARK IN THE 1920s and ’30s showcased baseball’s great legends, such as Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Satchel Paige. But at the concession stand, another legend was born — the spicy brown mustard that would become synonymous with Cleveland baseball.

In 1925, Polish immigrant Joseph Bertman started a pickle company in his garage on East 147th Street near Kinsman Avenue. He became known as “the Pickle King” at first. Then Bertman Foods Co., as the company would be called in the mid-30s, added salad dressings, coffee and dried foods.

Back in the ballpark and on hot dogs across the city, yellow mustard was the standard. Yet, the master spice maker and his customers wanted something with a little more kick. Bertman experimented mixing various spices with brown mustard seed but eventually found the key ingredient: vinegar. The spicy, tangy sauce offered Old World flavors of his — and many immigrants’ — youth. Eventually, the condiment, first distributed only by the gallon, debuted at League Park.

“Nobody remembered the brand of hot dog,” says Randy Mintz, who now owns Bertman along with his brother, Michael, “but they all knew the name of the mustard.”

Bertman’s claim to the mustard throne isn’t that simple, though. Exactly when the condiment first appeared at the ball park is murky.

Things get messier in the 1980s. Former Bertman employee David Dwoskin, who reportedly held the trademark for The Authentic Stadium Mustard, split off to create Davis Food Co., taking the name with him and creating his own Cleveland-based spicy brown mustard. Since then, the “mustard wars,” as one newspaper called it, waxed and waned, with disputes over naming rights and each taking stints serving both stadiums. Eventually, the dust settled with Bertman Original Ball Park Mustard and Davis’s Stadium Mustard. Today, the Browns serve Stadium, and the Guardians serve Ball Park.

In 2005, Mintz, a Cleveland native, created his own brand of mustard that won the Worldwide Mustard Competition in Napa Valley, California, in 2010 — the same competition Bertman won in 1997. When Bertman’s grandchildren chose to sell the company in 2014, they contacted Mintz because they wanted it to remain owned by a Cleveland family. He promised the recipe would never change.

“I fell in love with Bertman mustard when my dad took me to my first Indians game when I was 8 years old,” Mintz says. “It’s about memories of a Cleveland original through generations of baseball fans and introducing Bertman to the next generation.”

As far as disputes go, there is little among Bertman’s passionate followers.

The condiment is sold in nearly every local grocery store, as well as Walmart and Amazon. Great Lakes Brewing Co. collaborated with Bertman on a Dortmunder-infused version. Celebrity chef Rachel Ray called it “the best mustard on the planet,” and Michael Symon uses it as the base for his Mabel’s BBQ sauce — a request Mintz refers to as “magical.”

“Fans of Bertman’s are like family to us,” Mintz says. “They’re so loyal.”

One hundred years later, it’s still the flavor of Cleveland summers, with Progressive Field set to feature the mustard once again when the Guardians open at home on April 8. A centennial victory lap began in February, and in December, the Western Reserve Historical Society inducts Bertman Original Ball Park Mustard into its 100 Year Club, which honors Cleveland companies that have been in business for a century.

“The Bertman family, and now we, also deeply care about the product, and that’s how you get this type of longevity that has a great following,” Mintz says. “This mustard isn’t just about taste. It’s about the ballgame experience.”

Left: Joseph Bertman, founder of Bertman Foods Co.

Right: Patricia Mazoh, who became president of the company after her father retired.

Courtney Bonning Co-owner, Terrapin Bakery

Northeast Ohio’s top chefs share their local favorites.

Courtney Bonning is a sweet staple of our culinary scene. Beginning in the pastry department of the The Ritz-Carlton in 2004, she made her mark with the beloved Bonbon Pastry and Cafe before selling it in 2016. Now, as a co-owner of Terrapin Bakery in Tremont, Bonning combines her experience with an undeniable passion for confections. — CHRISTINA RUFO

OHIO CITY SIGHTINGS I really like Xinji Noodle Bar. We always get their fried chicken, and their noodle bowls are absolutely outstanding.

SPICING IT UP We have a tendency to go to more ethnic restaurants than go to specific places. So we go to Himalayan Restaurant a lot or order from Fatima’s Grill, which is Lebanese and Mexican. We get Rumi’s Market & Grill, which is Turkish, a lot, too. They’re all super interesting and spicy, and it just teases your flavor palate a little more. I just find them to be super inspiring. It’s food I can’t or won’t make myself.

TASTE OF TREMONT Fat Cats is always my go-to in Tremont. I’m also really excited to go check out STEAK. I haven’t been there yet, but we have reservations, so that is going to be something that I’m looking forward to.

SMALL SHOPS Salty Not Sweet Boutique in Lakewood is a place I go to get mostly smaller gifts or handmade jewelry and things that I know local makers are putting effort into. Lion and Blue in Lakewood is a place that I go to a lot. I really enjoy their vibe. I’m a big candle purchaser. I love STEM Handmade Soaps.

BAKED BY OTHERS I usually make my own things, but there are some things like Kathy’s [Kolacke and] Pastry Shop in Rocky River. Her kolaches are just absolutely fabulous. For poppy rolls and stuff, I’ll go to Farkas Bakery & Pastries because they do it the best.

2025CLEVEL AND FishGuideFry

MARCH 5 - APRIL 17

DINING GUIDE

Northeast Ohio's Best Bakeries for Pies, Cakes and Other Sweets

Rood Food

WHY WE LOVE IT: Most renowned for unique and unlikely flavor combinations, Rood blends innovative American cuisine with special attention to pies and other desserts. TRY THIS: Executive pastry chef Annabella Andricks develops each new recipe, pulling together her personal favorites. The best seller is the salt and honey pie ($8), while other flavor options rotate throughout the year. Another current standout item is the maple miso pie ($7) that features a pretzel sesame crust, maple miso custard and miso sesame caramel chantilly, topped with a sesame praline crumble. 17001 Madison Ave., Lakewood, 216-712-4506, eatatrood.com

BY CHRISTINA RUFO / PHOTO BY MAYA HOLTZMAN

WHEN EVERYTHING MATTERS

Meaden & Moore provides you with the expertise to solve today’s challenges while understanding the importance of your strategy, vision, your team, and everything else that matters.

Blackbird Baking Co.

WHY WE LOVE IT: Nestled in Lakewood, this spot has been a cornerstone of the community since 2009. Founded by husband-and-wife team Tom and Adria Clark, the bakery was born from Tom’s passion for artisan baking. Their vision was to create a gathering place — a “living room of the neighborhood” — where locals can enjoy handcrafted breads and pastries made from scratch daily. TRY THIS: The pecan sticky buns ($3.25) are a featured classic made with a flaky pastry croissant dough, embedded with cinnamon sugar and pecans. Pair any treat with a freshly brewed latte ($3.95) or tea ($1.70) for a cozy combo. 1391 Sloane Ave., Lakewood, 216-712-6599, blackbirdbaking.com

Baraona’s Bakery

WHY WE LOVE IT: Since 1949, this Maple Heights bakery has brought seven decades of tradition, family recipes and exceptional quality to the table. What started as a small, family-run shop has grown into a local institution beloved for its Italian-inspired cakes and pastries. The bakery has built its reputation on consistency, using time-honored techniques and fresh ingredients to craft timeless desserts. TRY THIS: Indulge in the signature Italian-style cassata cake ($42/8 inch; $55/sheet) featuring layers of sponge cake filled with ricotta cheese, chocolate chips and maraschino cherries, all iced in whipped cream. Beyond cakes, Baraona’s offers a variety of cookies, nut rolls, cannolis, pies and more, all made from scratch daily. 15842 Libby Road, Maple Heights, 216-662-8383, bakerycleveland.com

Bella Luna Bakery

WHY WE LOVE IT: This vibrant spot (formerly Half Moon Bakery) is known for authentic empanadas and Latin American pastries, featuring a golden, flaky crust filled with a variety of savory ingredients. TRY THIS: The strawberry cheesecake quesito ($2.99) is a sweet delight. “It is a puff pastry filled with a mixture of cream cheese, fresh strawberries and my own homemade strawberry jam,” says owner Lyz Otero. The dessert is baked fresh every morning, topped with a warm glaze and a touch of jam. 3460 W. 25th St., Cleveland, 216400-6122, facebook.com/thehalfmooncleveland

Cleveland Vegan

WHY WE LOVE IT: Looking for a slice of plant-based perfection? Cleveland Vegan serves up a variety of both vegan and gluten-free pies that are as indulgent as they are kind to the planet. Initially founded in 2012 by Laura Ross and Justin Gorski, Cleveland Vegan has become a staple for the local vegan dining scene, known for its commitment to sustainable practices and community engagement. The shop's wide variety of treats includes doughnuts, cookies, scones and more. There are also fruit-forward pies like apple crumble and seasonal favorites such as pumpkin and pecan. Here, there’s a slice for everyone to enjoy. TRY THIS: The signature coconut cream and banana cream pies ($30/4 inch; $135/half sheet) swap out dairy for rich, luscious coconut cream, still maintaining the taste you know and love. Hand pies are also available as a special treat on Pi Day. 17112 Detroit Ave., Lakewood, 216-221-0201, clevelandvegan.com

Confectionary Cupboard

WHY WE LOVE IT: Despite being best known for its incredible range of cupcake flavors, this bakery offers a delightful selection of pie-inspired treats, including its signature pie-flavored cupcakes and bite-sized cookie pies. The pie-flavored cupcakes feature a vanilla base filled with flavors like cherry, apple crumble and blackberry crumble, topped with vanilla buttercream and shortbread crumbs. TRY THIS: The shop's cookie pies have a sugar cookie crust and are filled with a variety of different pie fillings, providing a personal-sized indulgence. In addition, the unique Dirt Cookie Pie ($1.85) features a chocolate cream filling, vanilla buttercream, Oreo crumbs and a gummy worm topping. With flavors changing daily, Confectionary Cupboard ensures there’s always an option to satisfy your sweet tooth. 7300 Center St., Mentor, 440-205-5300, confectionarycupboard.com

Corbo’s Bakery

WHY WE LOVE IT: A trip to Corbo’s Bakery in Cleveland’s Little Italy neighborhood is like stepping into a slice of Italian heaven. Established in 1958, this family-owned bakery has been serving Clevelanders for over 60 years with its authentic Italian pastries, cakes and cookies. More than a bakery — it’s an institution. TRY THIS: The lobster tail pastry ($7) is a showstopper, featuring a buttery, flaky dough filled with custard and whipped cream. Looking for more variety? Choose from over 25 different cookie options, including lemon biscottis, raspberry thumbprints, butter sprinkle cookies and more. 12210 Mayfield Road, Cleveland, 216-421-8181, corbosbakery.net

Farkas Pastry Shoppe

WHY WE LOVE IT: For over 45 years, this Ohio City bakery has been a go-to for Cleveland’s Hungarian community, with signature hand-crafted European pastries made from original recipes brought from Budapest. What began in 1966 as Sandor Farkas baking Kremes (Napoleons) in his apartment for friends and neighbors has grown into a cherished bakery that offers a glimpse into the tradition, quality and flavors that remind so many of home. TRY THIS: Although it’s not a pie, the Napoleons, featuring layers of delicate vanilla custard and whipped cream between sheets of flaky puff pastry, are a must-try. The Apple Linzer ($4), reminiscent of an apple pie, includes tart apple filling wedged between two layers of buttery dough. Other highlights include Gerbeaud slices ($4) and nut rolls ($12) — each offering a taste of history. 12700 Lorain Ave., 216-2816200, farkaspastries.com

INSTALLATIONS YEAR ROUND

Gray House Pies

WHY WE LOVE IT: Known for handmade, artisan pies with flaky, hand-rolled crusts, Gray House Pies offers a mix of sweet and savory options from locally sourced ingredients. TRY THIS: Indulge in the four berry pie ($24.99/8 inch) for fruity, sweet goodness, or sample the rich flavors of the chocolate bourbon pecan pie. For savory lovers, don’t miss the hearty mince meat pies. The famed salted honey cream pie ($26.99/8 inch) features a classic pastry cream sweetened with pure honey and topped with a sprinkle of sea salt and heaps of whipped cream. Vegan options are also available for select fruit pies. 26075 Detroit Road, Westlake, 440-360-7870, gray-house-pies.square.site

KB Confections

WHY WE LOVE IT: This family-owned bake shop is led by baker Karen Bosworth, whose childhood passion for cake decorating has come to fruition. The unique storefront in a restored greenhouse specializes in cakes, macarons, pastries and cookies, all handcrafted and made fresh in-house. Beyond the daily menu, specialty confections include custom cakes, wedding cakes and build-your-own dessert tables. These tables feature bite-sized mini tarts in flavors like lemon meringue and French silk chocolate. It also features limited breakfast items on Saturdays for a bright start to the weekend, including breakfast sandwiches, savory puff pastries and scones. TRY THIS: One of the bakery’s standout items is its whoopie pies ($2.50), which are a salted chocolate chip cookie filled with gooey marshmallow cream buttercream. 13519 Detroit Ave., Lakewood, 216-227-2253, kb-confections.com

Luna Bakery & Cafe

WHY WE LOVE IT: Growing to three locations since 2011, this has become a destination for artisanal pastries and cafe fare across Cleveland. Each menu is thoughtfully designed, offering everything from sweet and savory crepes to fresh salads and espresso drinks, all made from scratch with high-quality ingredients. TRY THIS: For a gluten-free option, the lemon meringue tart ($35) with fresh berries is a standout, and the chocolate tart ($35) with mocha cream offers a rich, satisfying bite. The pies highlight in-season favorites (prices range) like bourbon pecan and maple pumpkin. Any pie can be customized with gluten-free ingredients for an additional $10. These 9-inch creations serve eight and are the perfect centerpiece for any gathering. Various locations, lunabakerycafe.com

Kevin Is Always Mixing

WHY WE LOVE IT: Comfortably located just outside of Chardon Square, this dessert shop is anything but ordinary. The innovative bakery is home to the signature “dessert in a jar” concept. Each jar offers a made-from-scratch indulgence, from coconut cream and Key lime pie to classic fruit flavors and much more. Traditional 9-inch and 6-inch pies are also available. TRY THIS: The French silk pie ($9-$12/jar) is a standout, made with high-quality dark chocolate. “Our French silk pie is by far our number one seller,” says owner Kevin Keough. “I melt down the chocolate and let it sit for three days before assembling the pie.” Whether you’re looking for a quick pickme-up or a treat to share, Kevin’s creations have a way of turning simple desserts into something special. 106 Cherry Ave., Chardon, 440-682-0514, kevinisalwaysmixing.com

Lizzie’s Bakery

WHY WE LOVE IT: Serving as a haven for those with peanut and tree nut allergies, owner Caroline Weingart ensures that everyone can enjoy delicious treats without worry. Inspired by her daughter Lizzie’s severe nut allergies, Weingart transformed her passion for baking into a missiondriven business. From her home kitchen to pop-up markets and now a brick-andmortar location, Weingart's shop offers a wide variety of baked goods, including top-selling decorated sugar cookies, as well as espresso drinks, loose-leaf tea and breakfast items like scones, muffins and cinnamon rolls. TRY THIS: In addition to the classic baked goods, Lizzie’s Tarts ($5) are a great on-the-go option. Weingart’s pop tarts are made with fresh, roasted fruit fillings baked into a delicious homemade pie dough crust. The bakery also caters to customers with gluten restrictions, offering gluten-free options for cupcakes, cakes and brownies. 16614 Chagrin Blvd., Shaker Heights, 216-2302222, lizziesbakerynutfree.com

Mama Jo Homestyle Pies

WHY WE LOVE IT: Mama Jo Homestyle Pies has been baking from-scratch pies in Amherst for over 30 years with the same secret family recipe that started it all. Its dedication to freshness is unmatched; each pie is baked and sold on the same day for the ultimate flavor. With 36 pie flavors across three sizes, there are fruit-forward classics like cherry and strawberry-rhubarb and indulgent options like buckeye and turtle. TRY THIS: Treat yourself to a perfectly flaky crust, made using real lard. The unique butterscotch cream pie ($17.20/10 inch) features butterscotch pudding made from scratch and comes topped with melt-in-your-mouth meringue. Whether you’re buying for a holiday gathering or just because, Mama Jo’s delivers homemade comfort in every bite. 1969 Cooper Foster Park Road, Amherst, 440-960-7437, mamajopies.com

Reilly’s Irish Bakery

WHY WE LOVE IT: This traditional Irish Bakery offers a variety of savory breakfast pies and handheld pasties filled with meats like turkey, corned beef, chicken and roast beef. All dough and meats are made in-house using high-quality ingre -

dients. Additionally, the bakery also sells sweet pies, like pumpkin, which are made to order. For those looking for Irish goods, the shop hosts an import section stocked with Irish staples like candy, beans and teas that are shipped directly from Ireland. TRY THIS: The popular shepherd’s pie ($8) is jam packed with ground beef, peas and carrots, with a creamy, golden mashed potato topping. 22570 Lorain Road, Fairview Park; 1979 West 25th St. Stand C-11, Cleveland, 440-915-2854, reillysirishbakery.com

Patterson Fruit Farm

WHY WE LOVE IT: Known for its charming farm market and pick-your-own apple orchards, this fanfavorite fall destination also offers a quintessential taste of Northeast Ohio year-round. Visitors can enjoy farm-fresh produce, locally made jams, cider and other specialty goods, all while taking in the scenic countryside views. TRY THIS: The renowned bakery features freshly baked pies and donuts, available seven days a week. Its pie selection ($17.95-$20.95/9 inch) includes flavors such as Dutch apple, blueberry, blackberry, caramel apple nut, cherry, cranberry-apple, lemon crunch, mince, peach, pecan, pumpkin, strawberry-rhubarb, sugar-free apple, sugar-free cherry and wildberry. 11414 Caves Road, Chesterland, 440-729-1964, pattersonfarm.com

EVERY THURS DAY

The Sweet Fix Bakery

WHY WE LOVE IT: What started as a home bakery in 2014 has blossomed into a go-to dessert destination. The Cleveland Heights bakery offers an array of indulgent treats, such as cake slices, dessert jars and ice cream sandwiches. With vegan and gluten-free options available, there’s something for everyone to enjoy. Each treat is made fresh with care, ensuring every bite is as satisfying as the last.

Slices Fabulous Cakes

TRY THIS: Here, the pies are as varied as they are delicious, with the sweet potato pie ($10.15/slice) and Oreo pie ($10.15/slice) leading the pack as customer favorites. They also offer classics like apple, pineapple supreme, Key lime and lemon meringue, all made fresh to order. For Pi Day, the bakery keeps a handful of pies in stock, so it’s the perfect time to treat yourself to a slice (or two). 2307 Lee Road, Cleveland Heights, 216-3719866, thesweetfixbakery.com

WHY WE LOVE IT: This bakery has been delighting customers in Cleveland’s Old Brooklyn neighborhood since 1986 with dozens of cakes and cheesecakes made from scratch. Founder Efty R. Simakis brings a rich heritage of Mediterranean baking, inspired by her family’s roots on the Island of Crete. This independent bakery can be found all around town, outsourcing products to local restaurants. “That’s the core of our business,” says the owner’s son, Dean Simakis. “More than 90% is deliveries to restaurants, and we also sell some flavors by the slice Tuesday through Saturday.”

TRY THIS: Topped with homemade whipped cream and graham cracker crust, the apple caramel cheesecake ($66/12 inch), with real apples and a butter crumble top, and the Key lime and cherry cheesecake ($66/12 inch) are bestsellers. 4190 Pearl Road, Cleveland, 216-398-0002, slicescak.es

An Excerpt from An Alternative History of Cleveland

FINDING the SOURCE

By Jon Wlasiuk | Illustrations by Libby Geboy

The land we call “Northeast Ohio” was originally forged through eons of glacial pressure, geological shifts and the relentless movement of the Cuyahoga River. Since the last Ice Age, however, it has also been transformed countless times by the many people who have called it home. In this excerpt from An Alternative History of Cleveland, Jon Wlasiuk uncovers how the intersection of modern life and the region’s natural landscape led to the worst blackout in the history of North America.

Hambden Orchard

Wildlife Area is a good place to look for a beginning to the story of Northeast Ohio.

Located about 30 miles east of Downtown Cleveland, the wildlife area lacks just about every amenity you might expect at a national, state, or local park. There are no interpretive signs, benches, or even marked trails here. Aside from a rough circle of gravel and a single wooden sign with the name of the location, you are on your own to push your way through 842 acres of second-growth hardwood forest sprinkled with stands of pine and invasive honeysuckle.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Wildlife has managed this site since the 1950s, when the state purchased the land with the aim of surrendering a few acres of apple trees to habitat for wildlife. Aside from a scattering of spindly crab apples, the nonhuman world has fully reclaimed this area, a reminder that the land beneath our feet is a living force guided by a natural order that we did not create and have often failed to understand.

When I visited the wildlife area in late November 2022, a storm was kicking up over Lake Erie. Steel-colored clouds crowded out the sun, and locals were making a last-minute rush for groceries and gasoline. This is the heart of the snow belt in Ohio, and residents take the weather seriously. Northern Geauga County regularly records snowfall in excess of 100 inches per year. The lake effect snow, combined with sandstone ridges reaching 1,300 feet above sea level, are enough to offer even modest skiing. It will never compete with Aspen, but it’s enough to keep a few ski lifts churning during the winter.

The interplay between the lake and the Allegheny

Plateau east of Cleveland is also responsible for something else I was looking for. As I made my way from the gravel parking lot and into a thicket of chokeberry brush, my feet carefully navigated icy mud. Each step I took created a crunch-squish that was strangely delightful, as though I was walking on a field of crème brûlée. Around a bend, I met a teenage girl in hunter orange—her bright, acrylic nails gripping her shotgun — who greeted me with a nod. I asked her if my passing to the east would spoil her chances at a deer, but she waved me by and laughed, telling me her fellow hunters were posted up in the other direction and I was fine to go on my way.

This landscape is mostly forest, but make no mistake, this is also a wetland environment. Although the official site is just a few miles to the east in a ditch off Clay Street, this marshy forest is the headwaters of the Cuyahoga River, author of the greater Cleveland landscape. I’ve trekked out to this half-frozen field in search of the source of the crooked river. Like blood vessels that deliver oxygen to a web of capillaries throughout our bodies, rivers don’t issue from a single, definitive source. The fractal geometry of nature always finds a way to divide and subdivide until the line between a riverbank and dry land blurs into a wetland.

Although nature often evades our attempts to fit it into hard and fast boundaries, this landscape has remained the source of the region’s primary river for more than 10,000 years and will continue to fulfill that role well into the future. For all the books that have been written about Cleveland’s history, most ignore this ground truth: the river, the lake, and the climate have structured the lives of people here far more profoundly than the ephemeral relationships involved in economic and political systems. It is a lesson we’ve struggled to learn, despite having the information widely available for more than a century.

Standing out on this half-frozen field, it’s difficult to connect the weight of the river’s place in history to this landscape. If you have ever visited a historic battlefield, building or roadside historical marker, you are familiar with the underwhelming feeling of being a little late to the party. Yet, we should rethink unheralded spots like this one because this river, and the land it drains, have an important story to tell us. For the past 13,000 years, humans have made a life in the Cuyahoga watershed. In that time, a spectacular array of diverse cultures have provided different models for how to live on this land. The purpose of this book is to recover some of those experiments and consider them in the light of our present challenges.

Currently, one of our largest obstacles is one of the imagination. Modern Americans are enthralled by a

linear view of history, where the present is the culmination and fulfillment of a long arc of progress out of barbarism. In this view, the further we go back in time, the worse things get. What use is history when the past is but the awkward list of misadventures of our species’ adolescence? Better to throw all that out like last year’s shoes.

Regardless of our preference for the present, though, we have more in common with the first humans who made a life in this landscape than we are willing to admit. Although the hunters I met at the headwaters of the Cuyahoga are equipped with modern firearms, and though their clothes (and acrylic nails) are composed of petroleum polymers, they are participating in the first economy humans brought to this landscape: earning a meal from the forest. If you are a reclusive city-dweller, you aren’t much different. When any resident of Cleveland turns on a tap, they are at the end of a long technological system that connects them to Lake Erie, the crooked Cuyahoga’s ultimate destination. Of course, our recent history suggests that humanity has made a plaything of Northeast Ohio’s natural systems. Since the founding of Cleveland in 1796, we have dammed its rivers, poured so much fertilizer onto our lawns and crops that the lake turns green in the summer, and remade our shorelines and riverbeds to accommodate industry. We have even disrupted the day-night cycle, as the entire region burns as bright as a second sun each night with the help of nuclear power. We have created machines so loud that birds have altered their mating habits. We have chopped (or burned) down 95% of the state’s forest and drained a swamp the size of Rhode Island. We have also built fantastical complexes to entertain, educate, and feed our growing population. We have even set rivers on fire.

Despite all this, our seeming mastery over the environment is an illusion. Just because we can wrap ourselves in a technological cocoon does not negate the power of climate and geology to structure our lives. The river, lake and the land itself abide by their own laws, and we ignore them at our peril.

Consider the events of Aug. 14, 2003. The sun rose on fair skies, calm winds, and a comfortable 65 degrees F. It was a typical, late-summer day in Cleveland. Although the temperature rose to 87 by 2:00 p.m., nearly five degrees higher than the historical average, the gradual increase was well within the means of the power grid’s ability to accommodate it.

Accounting for what a power grid can handle is no easy task. It is difficult to accurately measure the present state of even a regional power system, which is why power grid operators employ complicated telemetry software. One such program, known as the “state estimator,” assembles all the instrument measurements within the system and projects estimated values for all the gaps between measurements at five-minute intervals. Imagine if your house had a thermostat in every room and a computer capable of calculating the temperature of your couch based on that data, and you will begin to have an idea of the complexity of the state estimator.

Just after noon, an engineer monitoring the power grid covering much of the Midwest noticed an anomalous reading. He discovered the software had erroneously included an out-of-service line as active, corrected the error and went to lunch. Even in an era of “smart” appliances, our machines still require a human touch, like mentally accounting for an oven that runs hot, a slow clock or a robotic vacuum that gets stuck under our bed. A system as technologically complex

as the power grid also requires human engineers to account for the messiness of the real world. But on this day, the engineer did something even well-trained and well-educated people do all the time: He made a simple mistake.

In manually correcting the error, he forgot to reengage the interval setting, effectively freezing the data in stasis. Without subsequent iterations to relay real-time data into the software, the computers negotiating the complex electric grid for Cleveland were flying blind. The thermostat, so to speak, had been disconnected from the real world, and it entered a positive feedback loop. Over the next 15 minutes, computer errors accumulated and knocked out critical servers, tripping the FirstEnergy generating plant in Eastlake. When the plant went down, the grid compensated by pulling in energy from other plants, a protocol that puts an additional burden on the power lines that is normally well within standard tolerances. If you’ve ever experienced a flicker in your lights or a brownout, you’ve witnessed such a redirection of power.

Although we tend to think of our power grid (if we think of it at all) as a magical machine operated by faraway engineers, complex computer systems and lineworkers in hard hats, it’s also a real, material object. The lines are made of conducting metals like copper and aluminum. On particularly hot days, they can sag, sometimes dramatically, as the metals expand. The amount of current running through a line can also change the nature of the wires. The US Energy Information Administration reports that, on average, 5% of the energy transmitted through the grid is lost, some of it as heat. And the more energy coursing through a transmission line, the warmer it gets. On this hot August day, the power lines in Cleveland began to sag as additional current flowed through them. Under normal conditions, this is to be expected. It’s why line crews maintain wide clearance around our power lines: They stretch and contract with changing temperatures and conditions. Again, human labor is required to bridge the gap between our technology and nature. Unfortunately, when human labor is subject to economic imperatives, it doesn’t always meet its obligations. What happened next is the subject of some debate. What we know for sure is that after the failure of the Eastlake plant, multiple lines across Northeast Ohio made contact with tree limbs, resulting in a short circuit. When a line makes contact with an object, it triggers an automatic safeguard that takes the entire line out of commission. As the lines tripped and power began to flow through the grid in an increasingly chaotic manner, power stations went into safe mode—a type of electronic quarantine—to avoid the damage caused

by the surges. Fail-safes and redundancies began to fall like dominoes as one city after another suffered a surge and a blackout. From west to east, the metropolitan areas of Detroit, Toledo, Cleveland, London and Toronto in Ontario, Buffalo, Rochester, Baltimore, and Newark all lost power.

Desperate to contain the cascade, engineers began to sever cities from the grid. Shortly after four in the afternoon, the international connection between Canada and the U.S. failed, and New York separated itself from the New England grid to prevent further damage. Over 14 million people in New York City were affected by the blackout, and many would remain without power until the following day. The headquarters of the United Nations went dark, and hundreds of subway cars were trapped between stations. Traffic signals throughout Manhattan blinked out, and people were trapped in elevators. With the terrorist attacks of 9/11 fresh in everyone’s memory, many reported feelings of panic and fear as their city was once again paralyzed by forces beyond its control.

The cascade of failures continued until it engulfed hundreds of power plants and substations, creating the largest blackout in the history of North America. Fifty-five million people across eight US states and the province of Ontario were affected. Ohio’s lakeshore in and around Cleveland faced some of the blackout’s more serious consequences. Cleveland Mayor Jane Campbell was surprised to discover the blackout’s far-reaching consequences in its earliest hours. When the city’s water commissioner informed Mayor Campbell that the people farthest from the lake would only have running water for about three hours, she asked, “Water? I thought the electric was out.” Without electricity to power pumps, though, water service ceased throughout the region, threatening a widespread humanitarian crisis.

“Fail-safes and redundancies began to fall like dominoes as one city after another suffered a surge and a blackout.”

Cedar Point amusement park lost power while rides were in motion. Staff were able to use generators to pull some of the frozen roller-coaster cars over their lift hills so gravity could work its magic. Magnum XL-200, one of the tallest roller coasters on the planet, had a car stuck on its 205-foot initial ascent, and the generators didn’t have enough energy to overcome that hump. A safety crew escorted frightened guests down the steel coaster, which offers a nauseating view under the best of conditions. Rumors swirled among the 30,000 guests at the park that Al-Qaeda had pulled off another attack.

As night fell, though, something incredible also took place: Millions of people across North America stepped outside into the warm summer night and encountered a dark sky free of light pollution. Amid the chaos and uncertainty, the curtain of civilization peeled back briefly and gave Clevelanders a momentary view of their home from a different perspective. The full depth of a night sky filled with stars, including the white splash of the Milky Way, wheeled over downtown. It was a sky that once greeted every resident of this land beginning with the first humans who arrived at the close of the Ice Age, before the age of gas and electricity extinguished the cosmic spectacle in the 20th century.

The soundscape changed, too. Without electricity, the night air was uncluttered by thundering air-conditioning units or commercial aircraft. Corner stores held cash-only blackout sales of cold drinks and ice cream, hoping to clear inventory. Neighbors gathered in quiet streets, in doorways, and on porches and shared what

little information or terrifying rumors they had heard during the day.

With the exception of automobile traffic and the occasional generator, the sensory world became more intimate, briefly unmoored from our technological interface with nature. Through it all, plants continued to photosynthesize, bacteria continued their work of decomposing, our bodies metabolized food, and the Cuyahoga River flowed from the trickle near Hambden Orchard to its mouth on Lake Erie in Downtown Cleveland.

Clevelanders have a strange nostalgia for the 2003 blackout — a mixture of fear, excitement, boredom, and annoyance. Although the blackout imperiled their supplies, Pat and Dan Conway of Great Lakes Brewing Co. vividly remember how bright the moon appeared over their brewery that August night. The two celebrated the event by introducing Blackout Stout, complete with a label depicting Clevelanders gathered on a dark porch with candles and, of course, beer.

The loss of power was so complete it caught Clevelanders in every stage of life and death. Danielle Lannings was at lunch in her middle school when the lights turned the cafeteria black and caused the assembled students to scream in terror. Little Italy, which never lets an opportunity to party go to waste, had to call off its festivities for the Feast of the Assumption. And in Garfield Heights, Denise Samide was at the bedside of her dying mother at Marymount Hospital when the power went out and the backup generators kicked in.

“It was surreal,” she said of the experience.

In the blackout’s immediate aftermath, a bilateral, American-Canadian commission produced a 238page report to better understand how a seemingly small problem snowballed into such a colossal failure. Through interviews and an investigation, they found FirstEnergy had been negligent in clearing tree limbs from the “designated clearance area” around power lines. Multiple power lines in northeast Ohio tripped on the afternoon of Aug. 14 because the company had failed to perform simple tree-trimming maintenance. What began as a software glitch manifested into a real-world crisis, all on account of a few trees in Parma and Walton Hills. The report noted that tree-to-line contacts “are not unusual in the summer across North America” because most tree growth occurs in the spring and summer months. Despite our astonishing achievements in asserting technological control over the natural world, we still have trouble accounting for something as simple as the annual growth of plant life.

Assigning a singular cause to such a large event is as hopeless as finding the exact spot where the Cuyahoga begins. We can get you in the ballpark (or marshy field),

but ultimately, it’s kinda everywhere. Fussy software, human error, some tree limbs in the wrong place at the wrong time, and decades of deregulation increased the odds of a system collapse. FirstEnergy had spent the previous years focused on buying out competitors rather than maintaining safe clearance around their power lines, and government regulators lacked the power to levy fines against negligent practices because political rhetoric had associated government regulation with tyranny.

The 2003 blackout is a story of a complex, technological system coming into contact with nature. It reveals some of the consequences of constructing a built environment with little regard to how it interfaces with the land beneath our feet. Sadly, this is not a new story in Northeast Ohio. Fortunately, our history also holds lessons we could benefit from if we desire to forge a less adversarial relationship with our environment.

In 1961, the historian Lewis Mumford pondered the role of the city in human history with the goal of solving the emerging problems of urban decay in America’s great metropolises. Mumford believed humans had reached a fork in the road — we would have to decide if we wanted to continue developing “the now almost automatic forces” we had set in motion to live in comfortable bliss or choose a life of engagement with our communities and the natural world that would lead to the development of our “deepest humanity.” He feared the allure of comfort from an automated landscape would “bring with it the progressive loss of feeling, emotion, creative audacity, and finally consciousness.” Mid-century American intellectuals like Mumford didn’t spend much time thinking about the middle ground between utopia and apocalypse, which is where most of us live.

Mumford’s grim perspective on the future trajectory of the American project would be shared by a generation of urban reformers and cultural critics. Such criticism often came with a sense of fatalism about reform efforts, including the cruel belief that the people who

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jon Wlasiuk was born in the Black Swamp region of northwest Ohio and earned a PhD in environmental history from Case Western Reserve University. Also the author of Refining Nature: Standard Oil and the Limits of Efficiency, he has taught at colleges throughout the Great Lakes and lives in Cleveland’s Slavic Village neighborhood.

lived within failing cities somehow deserved their fate. If you are from Cleveland and of a certain age, you probably have a chip on your shoulder about how your hometown became a caricature of everything wrong with urban life. Lest we forget, this criticism was also rooted in a real crisis. Prior to the environmental reforms of the latter 20th century, the city had entirely corrupted the elemental foundations of life: our water, air, and soil.

By raising the stakes to apocalyptic levels, 20th-century reformers like Mumford set some of the battle lines for the culture wars of the present. Although his rhetoric failed to convince Americans, his observation about the relationship between the city, communities, and the natural world remains true. Today, the city of Cleveland is bound to nature, despite our best efforts to liberate ourselves from its limits.

The present plays a cruel trick on us. As a landscape, the very architecture of the city crystalizes some elements of the past and ignores others. The glow of our streetlights obscures the heavens above our heads, and the turn of a faucet hides our connection to the lake and the river that feeds it. We should interrogate and reexamine our city to reveal a complete picture of the land and our place in it. This book is an exploration of the history of our built environment and how it structures our relationship with the natural world. It’s also an attempt to uncover glimpses of the former world — the land and the people who lived on it before Moses Cleaveland arrived in 1796. Two inescapable facts emerge from this deep-time perspective. First, the human relationship with the land goes back further than our memorials and statues suggest, at least as far back as the last ice age that created our Great Lakes. Second, our complex cultural and technological achievements obscure our most critical resource: the land beneath our feet.

Today, Cleveland’s relationship to the natural world is stronger than it has been for nearly two centuries. Fish species and raptors are returning to the Cuyahoga River, critical habitat is being protected, and a mixture of scientists, activists, and volunteers are measuring the impact of the built environment on wildlife in order to work with nature, not against it. Unfortunately, the bar for a healthy relationship with the natural world is quite low. The last two centuries haven’t given us many high-water marks of environmental resilience. Major challenges remain, such as the maintenance of our critical infrastructure and preparing for the largest shift in climate since the Pleistocene epoch. Hopefully, it won’t take another systemic collapse for us to engage with the world around us and decide what kind of city we want to live in.

stories by

KRISTEN HAMPSHIRE, JULIA LOMBARDO

photos by

JEANI

BRECHBILL & SHARON

HUGHES

on the cove r

furnished by Main Street Modern

artwork by Jo Ann Giovanetti-Rencz, Lauren HB, PHYTE by Josiah Hull, Jon Kvassy, Jenniffer Omaitz, Mel Rea and Ruth Wickersham

Perhaps you like intentional clutter. Or, you might prefer sleek, clean airiness. Maybe you’re not sure.

To help you pick your side, we compiled a crash course on two of the most opposite, yet palatable, aesthetics in the world of interior design: maximalism and minimalism.

THE STATEMENT-MAKER

in 2020 amid a pandemic escape from New York City, Brad Walsh hit the road toward Cleveland with two friends. The singer, songwriter, producer and visual artist — with global notoriety for fashion photography in Vogue and InStyle, plus music remixes for Netflix — didn’t expect to stay long. But his travel companions fell in love with Cleveland, says the Euclid native. “And the longer you stay near family, the more your mother is like, ‘Look for a home around here.’”

So he did, and he landed on a 1948 relic a few blocks from Chardon Square in Geauga County with 3,300 square feet of canvas for drawing, painting, decorating — and fixing. Upon entering, Walsh immediately recognized potential for plenty of passion projects.

His hand-drawn doodles span walls, while other original paintings were created specifically for designated spaces. Every room is a personal expression.

Walsh has always curated, layered and emboldened his environment. At age 5, he would constantly rearrange his room, his mom reminded him. He collected posters of favorite music groups like many high schoolers.

“I would save money and frame everything I put on the walls,” he says. “I’ve always been into colors and making things work on a visual level.”

These days, his home is a maximalist masterpiece four years in the making. “Without realizing it, I was building my own little paradise,” he says.

“I buy what I like and deal with it later, see if I can find a place for it,” Brad Walsh says, calling himself a gut-feeling buyer. His eclectic stock of art, furniture and decor has been collected from places all over the country.

Living in his house is perpetual spring, Walsh says, in a region where winter through April is “black, white and gray.” There’s nothing subtle about his style.

Walsh assigned each room a purpose that speaks to his lifestyle, art, music and fashion. One bedroom is a master suite and another a guest quarter. The other three are happy spaces that suit the way he wants to spend time at home: a library lined with hand-built shelves, a dressing room with a vanity and his music studio. Initially, Walsh converted the basement into a nightclub complete with lasers, fog and stellar sound. Now, it’s a movie theater.

“I’m a big homebody,” says Walsh. “If I’m going to be home most of the time, why not

have spaces for my artistic pursuits?”

Walsh is naturally inclined to picture a scene, a mood, a moment. He meshed his visual sensibilities with inspiration from the Netflix series Ratched, where actress Sharon Stone’s character lives in one of America’s most photographed houses, “Dawnridge,” a 1949 estate built by Tony and Elizabeth Duquette.

“It’s lots of color, textures, malachite, prints, layers of art, furniture and fabrics,” Walsh describes of the jade-chartreuse-mint colorway in his sitting room. Though it may look like he spent a fortune, he’s just a thrifty shopper with high-end taste. He nabbed the sitting room’s pair of white spindle chairs for $25 each. They’re by the luxe F. Schumacher and Co., and Walsh knew it. The resale shop didn’t. “Those easily should have sold for $600 to $800 a piece,” he says.

Textures throughout the space create a sensory experience. For instance, rather than paint or wallcovering for the room’s facade, Walsh employed grass-green ceiling-to-floor drapes as a background for artwork. One of his originals is positioned above a palm-frond bench.

His Victorian-era dressing room holds space for a vintage vanity and his haul of stand-out garments — not everyday wear. Cue emerald peel-and-stick wallpaper peppered with English ivy and peach notes, plus a mustard sofa by The Novogratz. It punctuates the space, offering function by folding out into a bed for auxiliary guest space.

“I’ll sit in front of the vanity and pretend like I’m Gloria Swanson for a half-hour,” quips Walsh of the famed Sunset Boulevard star.

“I’ve had this kitchen in my mind for a long time,” he says.

The checkered floor and original cabinets are elements he maintained while trading out hardware. He went mint for the walls and tore out some cabinet doors for open shelving to showcase his daintiest dishes. Classic white subway tile is a clean backdrop for pops of teal by way of a teapot, toaster, KitchenAid mixer and microwave.

With a four-year project of pouring artistic vision into every corner of his home, Walsh had originally planned on keeping it for the long haul. But plans change. He expects to list it for sale in early summer.

“Hopefully whoever moves here next will appreciate the character and artistic choices,” he says.

How will it feel to leave a labor of love?

“I’m out of projects,” he says, relating that he’ll continue the art of expressing himself through interior design wherever he lands next.

Walsh points out, “Home is wherever I make it.”

Every space in Brad Walsh’s Chardon home — even the basement, bathrooms, guest room and office — is decked in a unique set of colors and patterns that you won’t find repeated in another part of the house.

GOING BIG ON A BUDGET

STEPHANIE BOYER PAINTED her walls black with white crown molding before it was a thing. The realtor with Berkshire Hathaway’s Downtown office had always staged homes to lure buyers, eventually bringing her knack for maxed-out design into her own abode — then to a recent commercial project at Skyline 776 on Euclid Avenue.

Her philosophy: “Stay away from trends, and go with things you love.”

Here’s how.

Thrift Away

Boyer found a china cabinet at Habitat for Humanity ReStore for only $35. “The maple wood didn’t match the vibe of my home, so I tinted the windows and painted it a Kelly green,” she says. Add pink tassels to the knobs and ta-da: a kitchen centerpiece for storing pantry goods.

Facebook Marketplace is a treasure trove, Boyer adds. “You’d be surprised how many people give away free furniture that is worth a lot,” she says, noting a boho-vintage 1970s Henredon dining table she scored at no charge.

Deck Every Hall

For renters and budgeters, consider easy add-ins: pillows, rugs, artwork, vases, mirrors or books sourced from libraries and secondhand shops. “I don’t want any space to go unthought of or unnoticed,” Boyer says of finding ways to mix patterns and textures.

A small wall in Boyer’s entryway could have been ignored. She bucked it up with an indigo spray-painted vintage chest, a fuchsia lamp, a golden mirror and books stacked into a binary platform for a kitschy dish.

Peel, Stick, Move On

Stick-on wallpaper is more affordable and involves much less of a commitment. Boyer goes bold with houndstooth patterns, exaggerated geometric designs, vibrant jungle florals and even dancing zebras.

Take Your Time

Embrace the treasure hunt of curating. “It doesn’t happen overnight,” Boyer says. “You will make mistakes. I just change it until I get it right and am absolutely in love with it.”

Taking inspiration from her real estate career, Stephanie Boyer began documenting her own maximalist DIY projects on her Instagram page, @stephaniemichelle_ athome.

SUBTLY BOLD

Keep your maximalist style close to home, and easily add color, texture and artistic touches to your space with these local treasures.

Foo Dog Print Pillow at Sapphire Pear

Pillows are an easy way to incorporate a world of color and patterns into your space. This fierce, nature-inspired design brings the outside in and won’t fade beneath the rest of your maximalist decor. $197, 19361 Detroit Road, Rocky River, 216-377-1965, sapphirepear.com

Avery Pink Velvet Chair at Laura of Pembroke

Velvet fabric and golden legs give this chair a naturally luxurious feel. The bold, bright pink is a comfortable addition to your space, adding a simple and versatile touch to any desired color palette for decor. $622, 3119 Whipple Ave. NW, Canton, 330-477-4455, lauraofpembroke.com

Vases at Hedges

A charmed, familiar design blends seamlessly into any genre of maximalism. Soft coral florals are painted by hand on a white base, resulting in simple artwork that isn’t harsh on the eyes. The traditional pattern spans generations, making these vases a natural conversation starter in any room. $38+, 21 N. Franklin St., Chagrin Falls, 440-247-2344, hedgeschagrinfalls.com

Frames at Little Louvre Gallery

Filling empty wall space is a feat of maximalism. Picture frames do the job with little effort and let your personality shine. Among this variety of vintage frames — with globally inspired photography and art ranging from flowers, astrology, lithographs and maps — your wall becomes a gallery that looks like it took years to curate. But, really, it only took one shopping trip. $32+, littlelouvregallery.com

Picture

Eleanor

THE SIMPLE LIFE

some parents lament the idea of becoming empty nesters. Wendy Berry’s clients embraced it. The couple had raised their two children in a 7,200-square-foot colonial and were ready to downsize after the kids graduated from college.

“They just wanted to purge and have this very turnkey living,” says Berry, the owner of Chagrin Falls-based W Design.

To facilitate that lifestyle, Berry worked with Chagrin Falls architect George Clemens to create a 5,800-square-foot whitebrick modern farmhouse overlooking the Chagrin River. The first-floor owner’s suite and two upstairs bedrooms with ensuite baths allow the couple to age in place on one floor while accommodating visiting adult children and other guests. An elevator ensures safe access to the lower level garage, his and hers offices and the TV room. The minimalist interiors eliminate the bulk of unnecessary finishes, fixtures and furnishings while concealing essentials without

compromising comfort and convenience.

“It’s almost like a very sophisticated, casual feel,” Berry says.

One of the few things the clients requested was an airy, open floor plan. Clemens responded with a layout in which spaces are defined by varying ceiling heights rather than walls, and enormous windows showcase views of the river and surrounding woods. The windows’ black metal casings and the house’s white exterior and architecture — “really the star of the minimalist,” Berry says of the last — set the stage for a sleek, monochromatic white interior warmed by strategically placed woods.

Berry began implementing that color scheme by painting the walls white and finishing the floors in white oak. She then covered vertical and horizontal support beams in walnut-stained white oak, a move that visually separated spaces yet “tied the entire structure together.” Paneling the dropped foyer ceiling in the same stained wood directs the eye to the front door, while adding

Many architectural and design elements are repeated throughout the interior and exterior — neutral colors, walnut-stained woods, black metals. The continuity produces a look that is sleek and sophisticated.

a walnut wet bar in the living area serves as a foil for a fireplace simply finished in white plaster — another texture that adds interest to a monochromatic decor.

“We wanted [the fireplace] to just vanish into the walls but have a presence in bulk,” Berry says.

The black metal casing the windows was repeated in the metal rod staircase railings and spare lighting fixtures. A tiered round chandelier in the living area illuminates a large coffee table surrounded by an oatmeal chenille sectional, two gray leather chairs and a pair of charcoal-stained benches topped by taupe ribbed chenille cushions. Guests entering the dining area to sit at a

round oak table in nubby heathered cream chairs can see through the space’s lantern-style chandelier to three surrounding windows.

“You feel like you’re looking at a treehouse,” Berry says.

Pendants with white plaster shades hang over a quartzite-topped walnut-stained island that separates the living area from the kitchen. It stands out against banks of white Shaker-style cabinetry customized to organize everything from pots and pans to various utensils and tools. The refrigerator, dishwasher and pullout trash bin are all hidden behind matching cabinetry panels, while a pantry keeps a microwave and

other small appliances behind a closed door. But a Thermador stainless steel range stationed in front of a window that extends up through the second floor serves as the kitchen’s focal point. Pitted, fire-glazed tile was laid and grouted to create a backsplash that mimics the white brick exposed on foyer walls and, as Berry puts it, “bring the outside in.”

Berry chose to paint the owners’ bedroom a light grayish beige. “When you do it in a large, open space, it just becomes a warm white,” she says.

Furniture was limited to a bed in a light taupe suede frame flanked by ivory nightstands and anchored by a bench cushioned

in mottled gray chenille. Although Berry put a simple wooden chest under a wall-mounted television, most clothing is kept under wraps in his and hers walk-in closets.

Closets incorporated in his and hers bleached walnut vanities on facing bathroom walls store extra towels and grooming necessities. A gray marble steam shower and white soaking tub with filler mounted in the white marble basketweave-tiled floor separate the two. Berry finished the ceiling in walnut paneling, just as she did in the foyer, to set off a fixture dripping white onyx disks.

Accent pillows on the living area sectional and a few accessories on tabletops are lapses in the minimalist decor. Open kitchen shelves keep frequently used items within easy reach.

“[The homeowners] wanted [the house] to feel lived in, not completely barren,” Berry explains. But they have found that the minimalist decor suits them at this stage in their lives.

“[One homeowner] said, ‘It’s exactly what I wanted — and I didn’t know what I wanted!’” Berry says.

Comfortable furnishings and high-end amenities breathe life into every room and make this minimalist house a welcoming home.

FUNCTIONALLY FASHIONABLE

Shop local minimalist decor that turns everyday favorites into the missing pieces of your design.

Le Soleil Suspension Lamp at Surroundings Home Decor

Made in Italy, this lamp brings chic, European influence into your home and emboldens a room without additional decor. Durable polycarbonate and metal help it maintain quality and longevity, and a thick, opaque shade adds texture and prevents harsh lighting. $1,444, 850 W. Saint Clair Ave., Cleveland, 216-623-4070,

surroundingshomedecor.com

Nico Vase at W Home Collection

Arch Taper Candle Holder at Tart Boutique

An interesting design displays any taper candle in an eye-catching way, with a sleek ceramic texture for extra appeal. Even if you’ve got nothing to burn, this piece can stand alone as a contemporary sculpture. $24, 20145 Lake Road, Rocky River, 216-417-9834, tartboutique.net

This versatile, artistic vase adds a surreal touch to any space. Fill it with your favorite flowers or fruits, or use it as a nifty place to conceal your keys and other household items. $251, 86 West St., Chagrin Falls, 440-903-1800, whomecollection.com

Gold & Black Mirror at Wild Iris Home

Basic details make this mirror a natural focal point in your room. More than a way to fill wall space, its functionality is an added perk. Check yourself out in style. $389, 36840 Detroit Road, Suite S, Avon, 440-937-8110, wildirishome.com

THE SAKE OF SIMPLICITY

MINIMALISM ISN’T for everyone, says Kristen Hennie, owner of Ducy Design in Westlake. She gives us the 411 on who wants it and why, along with how she makes it work for each homeowner.

The Clients

Hennie says minimalists are generally younger singles or empty nesters looking to simplify their lives. She recalls a client’s remark after she and her husband returned to their large Cleveland-area home after a stay in their Florida condominium: “We don’t need all this. We have four coffee mugs there, and it is just fine. Why do we have 36 falling out of our cabinets?”

The Appeal

Some of it is sheer practicality. “People are seeking a way to design spaces in a way that they can hide the clutter [and necessities],” Hennie says. In the kitchen, for example, countertops are cleared by pulling coffeemakers, toasters and blenders into appliance garages built into the cabinetry, stashing knives in knife blocks integrated into drawers and even concealing cooktops under counters. Shedding belongings and the effort

of maintaining them can also mean shedding emotional baggage, she adds. “Living abundantly doesn’t mean more stuff.”

The Design

“[Minimalism] is a lot of monochromatic colors, neutrals and some metal tones,” Hennie says. “There’s not a lot of big, flashy colors. It’s simple.” Rift white oak is the wood of choice for its subtle linear grain. Oversized tile and porcelain slabs are used to minimize grout lines. Hennie adds visual interest by layering and juxtaposing textures, perhaps upholstering a sofa or chair in a nubby boucle with a leather welt. Natural stone countertops can add a measured dose of color in kitchens and baths. She suggests clients inject personality by investing in wall-hung art. “With artwork, almost anything goes,” she says.

The House

“I try to tie in the exterior architectural design with the interior design,” Hennie says. A true minimalist interior in a thoroughly traditional home, like an early 20th-century Tudor, “is going to feel off.” “But at the end of the day,” she adds, “that’s probably not the house [the minimalist] is seeking.”

While living with less is a principle of minimalism, Kristen Hennie assures it doesn’t have to mean designing small. Innovative storage and thoughtful decor, including textured upholstrey and artwork, can add interest and character to a simplified space.

Empowered Girls Make Empowered Leaders LEARN FOR LIFE

Co-ed Infant & Toddler Center and Early Childhood • Girls K-12

GUIDE TO

DIGI-KNOW?

We’re all figuring it out, and tech in the school environment is increasingly complicated.

BY KRISTEN HAMPSHIRE

martphones are a fifth appendage. Bots are all over the place — “I’m ‘Bruno,’ let’s start a chat!” Alexa is a homework helper answering the ugly math questions. She won’t show her work, though. And you better fact-check her. Meanwhile, YouTube is building a whole vocabulary of brain-rot slang. Parents have taken to Google to decipher the meaning.

Our physical-digital world is so intertwined that the word “Internet” feels so outdated. And it is.

Where do educators set boundaries in the school and the class-

room? How do schools balance content filtering for digital health and safety without overstepping ethical boundaries? What systems are institutions putting in place to guide the responsible use of devices and leverage the power of tech tools — while limiting distractions that can hinder learning and social engagement?

These are toughies. “There’s no one answer,” says Dan McGee, Laurel School’s chief technology officer. “It’s what’s right for your child, your family and your school.”

McGee has been in the field for two decades. He says school used to be the place where kids got their first device, but now they have been

getting their first device from their family when they are young.

He’s confronted the elephant in the room: artificial intelligence. It’s nothing new, McGee says, pointing to autocorrect features in Word that we don’t think twice about today. Leveraging AI tools to improve curriculum planning productivity and develop engaging slideshows allows teachers more time for personal classroom interactions, he points out.

While there is no single answer for how schools are managing the digital campus, there is one truth: None of this is going away. And that’s a good thing. Digital literacy — all things connected — is an innate and necessary skill for students.

Here’s how Northeast Ohio K-12 environments are setting boundaries and creating checks and balances that benefit kids. Oh, and there’s some homework for parents, too.

Big Brother or Healthy Boundaries?

Some schools issue weekly student online activity reports that detail the top 10 websites visited and how many searches were conducted daily. There are content filtering tools and firewalls to block students’ access to gaming, streaming, social media and websites with the usual suspect material.

No system is perfect.

The ultimate filter is engaged educators who are in touch with students’ online activity, says Donny Bittala, director of Lake Ridge Academy Upper School.

“We have firewalls and other tools and are constantly updating the list of websites students are allowed to access,” Bittala says, adding that these digital boundaries are no replacement for good, old-fashioned walking the room and looking over shoulders at screens.

Sometimes, though, tech restrictions and

academic pursuits collide.

“I had a student who wanted to do a paper on abortion access. She was trying to get on Planned Parenthood, and the site was blocked,” says Bittala. “They had to come to me for permission, and we worked with the IT department to get it unblocked for the time when the student needed to access it.”

Other times, filters are completely unexpected. A website contains educational content, but there’s “some type of gamification” that prompts a block, Bittala says.

Content filtering is important for schools (and families) that are charged with protecting students’ health and safety while on campus, which is an increasingly tall order.

“When we think about suicide and school safety like swatting — fake threats to close down the school — a lot of content filters are actively blocking these and reporting them to IT managers,” says Sally Garza, director of educational technology at Lawrence Upper School. She teaches a ninth-grade digital citizenship course that includes units centered on technology safety.

“Since COVID, a lot of schools have been focusing on social-emotional learning and how we can better serve students in those spaces,” Garza adds, “and there are more services including content filtering that monitors for specific terms that may signal a child needs help.”

Docking Devices

Do smartphones belong in school? Should students be allowed to bring them to class or keep them on hand?

Policies vary, and the benefits of requiring kids to check their phones at the front door can be overshadowed with pluses like snapping a pic of an important slide or capturing a video for a project. But all-access has lots of downsides, too.

Even if you’re in the same room with a smartphone and it’s turned off, your brain is still connected. A University of Texas study asked participants to take a series of tests on a computer.

One group was instructed to not bring their smartphones in the room. Another could leave them in a personal bag, and the third cohort was allowed to place them on the desk face down.

Even having the device in the same room caused a brain drain.

The researcher found that having a phone in another room allowed users more cognitive capacity and did not impact cognitive function at the level of those who kept their

phone at the desk, in their pocket or in their bag. However, the results change based on the person’s dependence on their phone. The more a user depends on their phone, the more they suffer from their phone’s presence but also benefit more from its absence. Laurel and Lake Ridge Academy ousted smartphones from the school day last fall. Devices are “filed” away in secure storage upon entry.

“The main reason is to manage distractions,” McGee says. “As a teacher, it was very challenging to keep students off their phones when they were allowed to use them in the classroom.”

Bittala sees more social engagement in the lunchroom, hallways and classroom with this policy. Plus, when students can’t access a 5G hot spot from their phone to dodge the school’s VPN, there’s greater security.

Lawrence Upper School has a hybrid policy as many do. Students stow smartphones in dedicated bins in each classroom. They are allowed access during lunch, in between classes and study hall.

While sometimes a distraction, smart-

“There’s no one answer. It’s what’s right for your child, your family and your school.”

- Dan McGee

LAUREL SCHOOL’S CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER

phone breaks are also a welcome escape to downtime for some students, Garza points out. At lunch, some students game together. The school’s focus is more on learning how to leverage smartphone features for learning and adopting productive habits.

“They can use the Learning Ally app to listen to an audiobook in class or take a picture of the whiteboard with teacher permission,” Garza says.

Watch Your Digital Diet

Rules are meant to be broken in the eyes of some students. Boundaries are a dare. This is an analog mindset, prehistoric. “Less tech-savvy parents and a tech-savvy kid — they’ll find ways,” Garza says.

And even the most savvy get duped. Garza points to an app that looked like a calculator but was actually a private texting platform. “Even ‘Internet nanny’ services to monitor kids’ behaviors can be skirted by VPNs that allow traffic through anyway,” she says.

Garza’s tact: Let the kids learn how they’re using digital devices. And all of our experts

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maintain, keep an open conversation.

Garza issues a technology contract for home so parents can answer questions related to where devices are used, stored and allowed to be accessed. (Parents and students sign on the line.) In her digital citizenship course, students fill out a chart for one week. They review their Screen Time or Digital Wellbeing apps. They record notifications per day, times they opened their smartphones, overall screen time and social media time.

“I tell the kids, ‘I’m not doing this to judge you. I’m doing this so you can judge yourself. Do you think you need to make a change?’”

Adults: This tool is for you, too. Garza, an IT veteran, says she was surprised at her TikTok time. “I put an hour limit on it,” she says, relating that we can all learn from tech tools. And communicating this with her students helps the lesson be relatable.

Because at the end of the day, we’re all in this digital world figuring it out.

McGee reiterates, “There’s no one right answer.”

When Should My Kid Get a Smartphone?

You just asked the top question parents ask educators — and their social networks. Does your kid have one? Is mine ready? Does every kid really have one? Lawrence Upper School’s Sally Garza repeats an answer overhead at a tech conference: “When you are ready for your kids to see naked people,” she says. “I have never heard a truer statement in my life.”

The authoritative Children and Screens answers.

Is your child responsible in other areas of life that carry over to a smartphone?

Does your child have social problems, conduct issues or self-regulation difficulties?

What about smartphone readiness if your child has developmental or learning differences?

StrivingKeep

Is a smartphone essential for communication with family?

Does your kid have a track record of safely engaging in digital media?

Do you think tech overuse will be a problem?

Do you have rules as a family for healthy smartphone use?

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AI IN THE CLASSROOM

A conversation with Donald Bittala, director of Lake Ridge Academy and leader of the upper school’s AI efforts. By Kristen Hampshire

“AI IS THE NEXT FRONTIER of education that will lead us to do more than we ever could, but only if we use it right,” says Donald Bittala, director of the Lake Ridge Academy upper school.

Last year, he spearheaded an artificial intelligence policy, and this summer the school will hold an AI summer intensive with educators from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford.

What is the “right way” to leverage AI at school?

Bittala is in deep-dive mode exploring how Lake Ridge, and schools in general, can harness the power of AI ethically and responsibly.

“AI is pretty much ubiquitous — it’s everywhere,” he points out.

Setting AI Ground Rules

“There’s no foolproof method for implementing an AI policy or going down the road of AI because it changes so fast,” says Bittala. Lake Ridge’s AI policy centers on plagiarism,

Putting expectations on paper gives the school a tool for educating students, parents and teachers on how Lake Ridge will and will not use AI. One section reads: “The use of AI programs should supplement and enhance students’ learning experiences, not substitute for their own critical thinking, analysis and original work.”

Students are not permitted to use AI unless given explicit permission. “Teachers shall provide students with guidance and instruction on responsible use of AI programs,” the policy says.

AI or Original Work?

How do schools filter students’ content to ensure it’s not lifted from a tool like ChatGPT?

Bittala says the onus is on teachers to get to know students’ writing styles.

“Understand the words they typically use,” he says. “When AI writes a paper, it’s not at ninth- or tenth-grade level. AI writes like a dissertation or at a super-low level

depending on the prompt. But this is changing, so our methods will need to change also.”

Saving Teachers Time

Some Lake Ridge teachers are all in with AI. “It depends on their comfort level,” says Bittala. “Some use it as a tool for writing lesson plans, study guides or designing slides. This gives teachers back a lot of time so they can plan different activities in the classroom and focus on interfacing with students.”

Advancing AI for All Students

Any high school student can sign up for Lake Ridge Academy’s Inspirit AI intensive taught by instructors from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford. AI Scholar participants work on research and programming projects June 16-27.

“The two-week boot camp teaches how to use AI productively and constructively,” Bittala says. “It covers the very basics of ‘What is AI?’ along with how it applies to the classroom and in real-world applications so AI doesn’t feel so pie-in-the-sky.’”

WHAT’S FOR LUNCH?

School menus look a lot different than parents remember, and more offerings with diverse flavors are growing those lunch lines. By Kristen Hampshire

ully stocked salad bars, themed meal stations and lunches modeled after trending restaurant dishes with flavors like hot honey and Sriracha are making their way onto school lunch menus. Students can nosh on sides like hummus and quinoa, build healthy bowls and choose “clean” options without allergens.

“School lunch has come a long way from mystery meat covered in gravy,” says Tina

Wasserbauer, manager of nutrition services for Rocky River schools. “Our food is amazing and it’s healthy — we are using the same brand-name products you would get at a restaurant.”

Let’s face it. What’s for lunch is a big deal. Here’s a taste of modern school dining menus and updated cafeteria settings.

Rivaling Local Restaurants

Rocky River High School opened its

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brand-new kitchen and expanded dining space last year with reconfigured seating — round table, high-tops, benches — a bright atmosphere and a food station serving concept. Upping the mealtime game is key. After all, the cafeteria basically competes with local restaurants within walking distance since an open campus for upperclassmen means older students can duck out for lunch.

“Our biggest thing is keeping our finger on the pulse of what is going on in restaurants around us and looking at food trends every couple of months to see what students are eating when they are out with their families,” says Wasserbauer.

At $3.55 per lunch, meals include an entree, a choice of side dishes, fresh fruit and salads with milk. “It’s the best deal in town,” she says.

Like many schools, Rocky River is part of the National School Lunch Program, which requires meeting nutritional and cost guidelines. There’s a strict budget, and

introducing new dishes takes creativity.

“We are helping kids see the value and make meals interesting for them,” Wasserbauer says. For instance, walking tacos are a fan favorite: snack-sized bags of whole grain tortilla chips for students to add ground beef, salsa, lettuce, cheese, tomatoes and black beans.

One station is stocked with grab-andgo prepackaged entree salads including grilled chicken and a hardboiled egg, or just the veggies. Students can always buy a la carte burgers, side dishes, yogurt parfaits and snacks like pretzels and popcorn.

And on Fridays, it’s breakfast for lunch. Wasserbauer is excited to soon introduce a slush puppy machine with 100% juice treats in flavors like apple and pear.

A Student Union Vibe

The new Howley Commons at Gilmour Academy feels more like a student union for middle and high schoolers — an open concept with a range of themed food sta-

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tions to suit every taste. “We were trying for more of a college feel along with providing healthy food options and variety to meet students’ nutritional needs,” says Ryan Ryzner, chief advancement and operating officer.

The Smoke and Fire station is stocked with grilled favorites like pulled pork, turkey breast and burgers on a rotating schedule. Home Styles serves up comfort foods like breaded walleye or an elevated mac and cheese with fresh sides. Trattoria offers pizzas daily with basic cheese and flavorful options like buffalo chicken, meat lovers and vegetarian.

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Good For U UNIVERSITY SCHOOL

On Mondays after class, Carter Loeser sets up his Good for U Smoothies and Milkshakes stand in the cafe at University School. The venture is part of The Anderson Scholars Program, which helps students explore business.

Loeser, 16, an athlete, wanted to offer a nutritious avenue for students to fuel up before practices or other extracurriculars. He settled on smoothies and launched with his parents’ Kitchen-Aid and Vitamix blenders and two flavors: strawberry peanut butter and strawberry banana.

He tracked students’ tastes and swapped out the PB for a tropical option, eventually landing on a chunky monkey with chocolate, peanut butter and banana.

Social media marketing teasers have grown the business, and now Loeser offers Not So Good For U shakes like mint chocolate chip and Oreo.

“It adds a layer of convenience for students,” Loeser says.

For Boys, Junior K - Grade 12

tomizable bowls, and NutriBar is packed with salads and toppers. For those with allergy concerns, Clarity includes foods that are free of the top nine allergens along with vegan-friendly dishes.

Ryzner reports long lines on taco bar day, and echoing students’ appetite for the KFC Famous Bowl-inspired mashed potatoes and poppers combo. While the favorite is hearty, he also reports students’ growing interest in nutritional information that they learn about on flat screens at each station. “Students are more conscious of calories, fat and the choices they are making,” he says.

Scratch-Made Served Fresh

An expansive salad bar at University School is stocked daily with hydroponically grown lettuces, fresh veggie toppings, a variety of proteins including plant-based options and 20 different specialty salads — wheatberry, salmon, quinoa, whatever’s trending. Students can select from eight different dressings and sauces like Sriracha.

“It’s not just salad. Students can make a whole meal,” says Valerie Scruggs, food service director at University School, noting that students are much more interested in trying different flavors and foods than even five years ago.

Scruggs collects ideas from menus when she travels and follows dozens of foodie blogs. And she also listens to students’ suggestions, walking the dining room during mealtimes.

“Food is love made visible” is an example of a quote that Scruggs types at the bottom of monthly lunch menus that include dishes like Mediterranean bowls, pulled pork and oven-roasted chicken cacciatore.

University School offers a plant-based protein alternative every day, such as a Beyond Burger or vegetarian paneer, a soft Indian cheese.

The Twelve Days of Hummus during the holidays is a hit, with flavors spanning from beet to sweet potato and garlic lemon.

“Sure, we have popcorn chicken,” says Scruggs. Kids asked for Philly cheesesteak, too. “But we have days with Blue Ribbon Meats chicken cut to a half-inch size that we roast and serve with Vindaloo (curry) sauce on basmati rice.”

Introducing International Flavors

The student population is increasingly diverse and so are flavors coming out of kitchens in Lakewood City Schools, which is also

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“We were trying for more of a college feel along with providing healthy food options and variety to meet students’ nutritional needs.”

- Ryan Ryzner CHIEF ADVANCEMENT AND OPERATING OFFICER, GILMOUR ACADEMY

part of the National School Lunch Program. Jacob Green, dietitian and supervisor of nutrition services, has been on a mission to roll out new, appealing dishes while balancing cost and labor.

A couple of big wins include chicken tikka masala, a curried dish with chicken, spices, onions, tomatoes and herbs. A premade sauce makes assembling the meal a realistic feat, and long lunch lines show Green that it’s a keeper. He also introduced General Tso’s chicken and a baked chicken drumstick with three-cheese cavatappi, two more favorites.

Green is spreading the word about what’s cooking in Lakewood on a nutrition services Instagram page, and he implemented a new online menu system that allows families to set filters for allergens and other ingredients.

A hydroponic growing station has been added, thanks to a Grow Ohio Grant. “Students will have an opportunity to learn about the growing process with the eventual goal of incorporating some of the produce into school meals,” Green says.

Opportunities Abound

Cuyahoga DD assists individuals with developmental disabilities in embracing educational opportunities and participating in local events.

A Skillset for Success

IT FEELS SO GOOD TO HEAR PARENT FEEDBACK THAT SAYS THEIR STUDENTS ARE MAKING INCREDIBLE PROGRESS AND HOW MUCH THEY FEEL COLLEGE IS A WELCOMING PLACE.”

– Michael Morrow

CSU

RISE delivers an authentic college experience to students with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

//

BY JILL SELL

Whether navigating a bus ride across town, studying for a test or creating a resume for their dream job, students’ skills pile up quickly, thanks to their participation in Cleveland State University’s Reciprocal Inclusive Student Experience (RISE) program.

“Some days, we’ll say, ‘Let’s not do class in class. Let’s go to a coffee shop.’ We try to assimilate students not only on the campus, but to the community around campus as well,” says Michael Morrow, RISE program manager. “Or we’ll take public transportation, RTA bus or the Rapid, to go to the West Side Market or Tower City. We have taken the students to Little Italy and we all had pizza together at Mama Santa’s.”

Travel training (learning how to get somewhere) and being familiar with Downtown Cleveland, University Circle and other local destinations are important lessons for RISE students.

RISE is a transformational educational experience for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The collaboration between Cleveland State University and the Cuyahoga County Board of Developmental Disabilities (Cuyahoga DD) allows these young adults to have an authentic college experience. Launched in 2023 with seed money provided by Cuyahoga DD, the program, which began with seven students, now boasts 13 participants.

RISE is one of “many … programs that are part of an emerging group of transition programs across the state,” according to Morrow. It is the only program of its kind within Cuyahoga County. Cuyahoga DD staff consulted with CSU on the program's design and development, and this year, Cuyahoga DD provided funding for scholarships and an additional staff position.

ENDLESS OPPORTUNITIES

Students work toward two- or four-year certificates, but requirements and educational paths vary. All students follow a core curriculum that includes career development, independent living and self-determination and self-advocacy. And while general education classes are required, there are plenty of opportunities to take classes that reflect students’ individual interests or future employment needs.

“A number of students like to take courses in the history of rock and roll or jazz. But we had one student who didn’t want to take a music class, so he took physics and liked it,” says Morrow. “Another student will be taking cross-training and weight-training classes because he wants to become a personal trainer. Everything is really individualized and is all about what the student wants to achieve. That’s how we set students up for success.”

All RISE students learn how to create job resumes and are made aware of any credentials they might need for their intended future jobs. Second-semester students work toward internships. And while they have the opportunity to work on campus as paid interns, CSU also will assist in seeking off-campus employment. Cuyahoga DD also connects RISE students to employment partner, the Employment Collaborative of Cuyahoga County, to host job fairs and connect students with employment opportunities.

In addition to taking classes, students are encouraged to join clubs and organizations on campus to become more comfortable in social situations. Since it’s common for many people to feel awkward or shy when joining something unfamiliar, RISE students are often introduced to someone in the club before attending regular meetings or events.

“That way, you have a friend there already,” says Morrow.

And while it is not mandatory for RISE students to live on campus, the experience generally adds to a student’s confidence and skills.

“Last year, we had three RISE guys live together, and they were the hit of the dorm,” recalls Morrow. “They did karaoke, always got invited to parties and had a lot of fun.”

BUILDING CONFIDENCE AND COMMUNITY

Like most parents of first-time college students, many RISE parents are a bit apprehensive about turning over their children to a college setting.

“When parents come to orientation, they are nervous and no one thinks their child [with a disability] can live on campus. But one semester into it and parents trust us with their students. Second-year parents tell them not to worry. And it feels so good to hear parent feedback that says their students are making incredible progress and how much they feel college is a welcoming place,” says Morrow.

Although CSU’s focus is on teaching and guiding current RISE students, Morrow says students aren’t forgotten once they earn their certificates. For example, he explains, sometimes an individual is employed after school for a number of years, but loses the job for whatever reason. In this case, CSU staff members may step in (sometimes with a community partner) to assist in finding that individual another job. “We are a partner for life with our students,” says Morrow.

Meanwhile, Cuyahoga DD will continue to pledge its unwavering support, as the board earmarked $300,000 to establish an endowed scholarship with College Now to assist CSU RISE students for years to come.

Morrow adds CSU is continuously looking for grants and financial assistance for RISE, as the intent is to keep tuition low for this program.

“I hope and wish more students and their families would see RISE as a major opportunity for their child,” says Morrow. “While college is an expense, the impact on your child is priceless.”

Meet Destiny Rose

Doing the laundry may seem like a simple, mundane task, but for CSU student Destiny Rose, it is confirmation of her independence.

“No one is looking over me to see if I am doing laundry right,” says Rose, 19, who lives in Willoughby with her family when school is not in session. “I live with three roommates, and it gives me perspective. I am learning to live with people who have different personalities.”

Rose is a student in CSU’s Reciprocal Inclusive Student Experience (RISE), a program designed to give students with intellectual and developmental disabilities an opportunity to attend and succeed in college.

“Sometimes my disability affects my ability to learn as fast as others,” says Rose. “I need more time to process information in my head, while others get the answers quickly. My brain just needs that extra time.”

Rose’s mother first told her daughter about RISE and encouraged her to

I LIVE WITH THREE ROOMMATES, AND IT GIVES ME PERSPECTIVE. I AM LEARNING TO LIVE WITH PEOPLE WHO HAVE DIFFERENT PERSONALITIES.”

– Destiny Rose

enroll last year. Although she was apprehensive at first, she is now in the second semester of her first year and overjoyed with the experience. She considers RISE to be “a really helpful program to teach kids with disabilities to become independent.”

Rose attends classes every day. She takes special RISE courses, as well as some general education classes, including math, English and art. Those latter classes can be “pretty hard” at times, she says, but with support and help, she is tackling them just fine. Her dream is to become a graphic designer.

Living on campus has also allowed Rose to join a Bible study group and attend CSU events and activities. She loves going for walks on campus, and in inclement weather, she hits the school’s indoor track.

“The hardest part of this is keeping up with all the work,” Rose says. “But RISE has made me feel like I always belonged here, in college.”

Investing in Inclusion

Grant money funds 15 universal changing tables throughout Cuyahoga County. // BY JILL SELL

Imagine having to plan outings or vacations based on the locations of restrooms. That’s a reality for families and adults with disabilities who have diapering needs or require colostomy or catheter care. Equitable restroom access is imperative for health, safety and privacy reasons. But it isn’t always easy to find.

Too many families have to resort to spreading a blanket or mat over a restroom floor, or using the cramped space in the back of a vehicle to accommodate an adult with disabilities. But universal changing tables can make all the difference in the world.

of over $100,000 in Cuyahoga DD grant money, 15 new tables will be purchased and installed by the end of 2025. Each award was maxed at $10,000. Nonprofit and municipal entities were invited to apply for the grants, and submitted information about their work, the available space for installation and projected impact.

Grant recipients include: Achievement Centers; City of Independence; City of North Olmsted; City of Solon; City of Seven Hills Recreation; Cleveland Zoological Society; Cleveland Public Library; East Cleveland Public Library; Euclid Public Library; HELP Foundation; MMS Adult Day Center; Shaker Lake Regional Nature Center; Vocational Guidance Services; Welcome House and Westlake Porter Public Library. While the main focus of the Cuyahoga DD will always be to improve the quality of life for the region’s residents with disabilities and their families, Keeler — a psychologist — also points to tourism and the local economy as reasons the universal changing tables are vital.

WHEN BUSINESSES AND ORGANIZATIONS INVEST IN UNIVERSAL CHANGING TABLES, IT SHOWS THEY ARE WILLING TO WELCOME PEOPLE OF ALL ABILITIES.”

– Janet Keeler

“Universal changing tables are height-adjustable tables that are about 70 inches by 30 inches and fold up to the wall when not in use. The adult-size tables are commonly installed in singleuser, family restrooms,” says Janet Keeler, director, Community Development, for the Cuyahoga County Board of Developmental Disabilities (Cuyahoga DD). “Universal changing tables meet a basic need for this population. Implementing more in the community is critical for ensuring that everyone can access and be included in the community without self-care barriers.”

Until just recently, there were only eight universal changing tables available to the public in Cuyahoga County. But because

“When businesses and organizations invest in universal changing tables, it shows they are willing to welcome people of all abilities. It allows people to participate in a community in a seamless way,” says Keeler. “People want to go where they feel valued. Adding the tables to a community makes participating there an enjoyable and safe experience.”

This past fall, the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission entered a bid to host the 2030 Special Olympics USA Games. The eight-day event will attract about 5,500 athletes plus their caregivers from all 50 states who will participate in 18 sports. More than 125,000 spectators and 10,000 volunteers are also expected. The event is projected to have a $100 million impact.

The location of the Special Olympics has yet to be determined. Whether or not Cleveland hosts the event, Keeler wants the region be ready for one individual or thousands who need the tables.

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FRIDAY, MARCH 21

10 A.M. -

LOCATION:

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One I-X Center Drive Cleveland, OH 44135

TICKET INFORMATION:

The most up-to-date show details and discounted tickets are available online at homeandremodelingexpo.com.

USE THE PROMO CODE “GUIDE” when purchasing online to receive $3 off.

$10 Box Office (Adult Admission)

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FRIDAY, MARCH 21

Active military personnel, veterans, fire, police, health care workers and first responders receive free admission to the show with valid ID.

$8 Online at homeandremodelingexpo.com and at Discount Drug Mart locations (Adult Admission)

$7 Seniors 65+ with ID (tickets must be purchased at show box office)

$7 Group Tickets (20 minimum)

$5 Children ages 6-12 years

PARKING: $12

Note: The Cleveland Home + Remodeling Expo benefits in no way from any parking fee collected by the I-X Center.

LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR CHARITABLE PARTNERS

Help send a deserving local student to the college of their choice for four years by supporting the Jimmy Malone Scholarship Fund of the Cleveland Scholarship Program. When purchasing tickets online, visitors to the site will have the opportunity to donate to this deserving charity. For more information on the charity, visit jimmymalone.com or call 440-520-3039.

FREE Children 5 and under CONNECT WITH US:

Coat Check: A coat check is conveniently located near the east entrance box office for a donation. All proceeds benefit The Prayers from Maria Foundation that is dedicated to honoring childhood cancer patients with the attention they rightfully deserve by reversing the tragic lack of funding and advancing the most promising children’s brain cancer research. prayersfrommaria.org

The Greater Cleveland Habitat for Humanity

The Greater Cleveland Habitat for Humanity builds homes to strengthen neighborhoods and bring urban and suburban communities together.

2025 SHOW TEAM : Cathy Berthold, Kelsey Christopher, Rosanna Hrabnicky and Rese Pardue

Jimmy Malone Scholarship Fund

Lakes Tiny Homes

SHOW Features

Street of Tiny Living

THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME! Whether you’re looking for a cabin in the woods or the freedom to bring your living space with you, there’s multiple tiny home options on the Street of Tiny Living that will have you thinking about the benefits of a smaller home.

Elite Portable Buildings LLC

Minerva, 330-522-0129 | eliteportablebuildings.com

At Elite Portable Buildings, we specialize in manufacturing portable buildings in a variety of styles to meet your specific needs. We are a dealer and manufacturer of Champion Portable Buildings and have the flexibility to design and manufacture the style of building you are looking for. We can build structures from animal shelters and storage sheds to fully furnished cabins or living quarters used as an Airbnb — for your rental property or as your favorite getaway spot for relaxation! We offer value and integrity combined with quality craftsmanship, with the goal of exceeding your expectations.

Great Lakes Tiny Homes

Baltic, 330-407-7528 | greatlakestinyhome.com

Great Lakes Tiny Homes manufactures all their homes in Baltic, Ohio, with the techniques to deliver homes anywhere in the United States. We build park model tiny homes up to 400 square feet and modular homes. Whether you’re wanting a modern, rustic or contemporary home, we’re here to help bring your dreams to reality with our 25-plus years of carpentry experience. These low-maintenance homes can be used as a permanent home, vacation home or studio, or for glamping or use on a rental property. We can also have homes built totally off-grid by installing a solar system. The framing and insulation can be custom designed for you whether you live in a cold or warm climate.

Lakeside Cabins & Sheds

Shiloh, 419-895-1998 | lakeside.shedsuite.com

Lakeside Cabins and Sheds is a family-owned, modular building company specializing in sheds, cabins, two-story buildings, garages and custom designs. With a Mennonite heritage, we prioritize quality craftsmanship

and build lasting partnerships with our customers. We offer ready-to-deliver inventory, personalized options for standard builds and fully custom structures to meet every customer’s unique needs. At Lakeside Cabins and Sheds, we’re here to help you build the space where life happens.

Luxy Homz

Ravenna, 330-322-3383 | luxyhomz.com

Luxy Homz has been manufacturing homes for more than two years and is displaying a 16’x56’ 2-bedroom, 2-bath home on The Street of Tiny Living. The energy-efficient home has R19 insulation in the walls and floors and R30 in the ceiling. It features a standing seam steel roof, vinyl siding and comes with a HUD seal of approval, making it ideal for mobile home parks, city lots or a piece of land.

Maverick

Tiny Homes

New Paris, 937-506-0302 | mavericktinyhomes.com

Maverick Tiny Homes is an elite tiny house company specializing in turn-key tiny homes on wheels for personal residences and commercial builds. They are proud to construct the highest-caliber products and experiences for their clients, with every build constructed to NOAH Certification Standards. Maverick has partnered with The ITH Group to offer foundation-based options, too. Their prefabricated construction ensures consistent quality and reduces material waste while building efficient living spaces that prioritize sustainability and modern design. Experience the future of homebuilding with Maverick and ITH — where innovation, efficiency and sustainability come together to redefine modern living. From the brainstorming and design phases all the way to delivery and move-in day, they’re dedicated to bringing your tiny home dreams to life!

Elite Portable Buildings LLC

Lakeside Cabins & Sheds

Luxy Homz

Maverick Tiny Homes

Great

Drab to Fab – ReStore Upcycle Challenge!

Armed with a small budget, local design experts and DIY bloggers will be upcycling an item from Habitat for Humanity: ReStore. Entries will be displayed at the Expo with attendees given the opportunity to bid on their favorite. All proceeds will benefit the Greater Cleveland Habitat for Humanity. Visit booths #1029 and #1030 or online at clevelandhabitat.org.

Family Fun Center by GW Home Solutions

GW Home Solutions

Westlake, 440-930-8400 | gw.capital

Cleveland Premier Pickleball Club Avon Lake, 440-242-7620 | clevelandpremierpickleball.com

Take a turn at playing some of the latest games in outdoor recreation at the Family Fun Center by GW Home Solutions! You can try your hand at America’s fastest growing sport — pickleball — and experience what it would be like to practice your golf swing on your very own backyard putting green! There will also be putt putt, corn hole, shuffleboard, golf darts and backyard games.

GW Home Solutions will be hosting a golf dart competition to benefit Ground Works Out Drives Alzheimer’s and Cleveland Premier Pickleball Club will be hosting “Learn to Play” sessions, open play and showcasing some professional level exhibition games. See the show features section on the Expo website for full details and schedule.

Discover the excellence of GW Home Solutions, home to premier brands that redefine outdoor living. Purchase Green of Ohio offers premium artificial turf solutions, while Ground Works Land Design and Irrigation Works & Outdoor Lighting provide high-end landscaping, outdoor designs, custom irrigation and outdoor lighting solutions. Granite Works Stone Design specializes in exquisite custom stonework for both indoor and outdoor spaces. Ground Works Out Drives Alzheimer’s leads philanthropic initiatives dedicated to Alzheimer’s awareness and funding. Visit the Family Fun Center to learn how their expertise can elevate your home’s beauty, functionality and value!

Cleveland Premier Pickleball Club, located in Avon Lake, is a vibrant community where players of all levels come together to enjoy the fast-paced, exciting sport of pickleball. Whether you’re a seasoned player or just starting, you’ll find a welcoming environment and top-notch facilities designed to elevate your game and your enjoyment.

Additional Features

The Marketplace

Who doesn’t like a little shopping? The Marketplace offers unique home products, food and goods for purchase!

Modular Shed Design by Cuyahoga Valley Career Center

Check out the winning modular shed design from 11th- and 12thgrade students at Cuyahoga Valley Career Center at booth 1954. Students in the architectural and mechanical design program each submitted an 8-foot by 12-foot shed design that was voted on by school leaders. The winning modular design was built at the school by students in the construction program, then disassembled and rebuilt at the Expo for visitors to tour. CVCC provides career-technical education for nearly 1,000 high school students every year. For more information, visit cvccworks.edu.

The Plant Shop LLC Lorain, 440-219-1161

The Plant Shop is a women-owned business specializing in houseplants and tropicals located in the heart of Downtown Lorain. Being a procurer of specialty plants, The Plant Shop prides itself on being able to find the perfect plant for anybody and any space. With 20 years of knowledge, they can help you with any questions or problems that may come your way. Offering a wide variety of services such as classes, repotting, custom arrangements, rentals and favors, The Plant Shop is truly a one-stop shop. Having a large selection of easy to care for plants and accessories, it’s the perfect place to stop by and find your next plant.

April Showers Bring May Flowers by Artist for a Day

Vote on your favorite local celebrity-designed ceramic rainboot and bid on a chance to take one home. Rainboots courtesy of Artist for a Day (artistforaday.com), a premier paint-ityourself pottery studio located in North Olmsted. At Artist for a Day, located in the main entrance of the show, the possibilities are as vast as your imagination. With a selection of over 1,600 pottery pieces, you can pick the perfect ceramic item for your decor or gifting needs. The studio now offers classes in ceramic painting, clay handbuilding, adult painting nights and themed events. Proceeds benefit North Olmsted Schools’ art department.

Student ContestLet’s Build Blocks! Presented by HBA’s Charitable & Education Foundation

Students in grades K-6 compete at this contest where they can put their construction skills and creativity to the test! Prizes are awarded to the top three winners in each session. For more information, call 216-400-0481 or email Colleen Ramm at cramm@hbacleveland.com. Visit booth 1900.

CONTEST DATES: March 22 & 23

Photo courtesy of Hurst Design Build Remodel

Q A

BRIAN AND MIKA KLEINSCHMIDT HAVE BECOME KNOWN for creating, building and completely personalizing a home from the ground up in only 100 days on their HGTV series 100 Day Dream Home. The husband-and-wife team will be coming to Cleveland for the Expo on Friday, March 21, and Saturday March 22, but before they do, they are answering a few questions about home projects, trends they hope don’t come back and what you’ll find them working on these days.

Q: BEST HOME PURCHASE FOR UNDER $100?

A: A smart thermostat will pay for itself very quickly. Not only is it smart for the environment, but it's also smart for your wallet.

Q: WHAT IS ONE PROJECT YOU TELL PEOPLE NOT TO DO AS DIY?

A: Anything dealing with electrical, plumbing or HVAC should be done by a licensed professional. Just because you watch a YouTube video doesn’t mean you should attempt it.

Q: WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE PAINT COLOR?

A: This changes every couple months but currently it’s Jade Dragon from Sherwin Williams. We actually used it for our front door color on our Savannah townhome.

Q: TIPS FOR BIG OUTDOOR IMPACT IN LANDSCAPING OR CURB APPEAL?

A: Uplighting landscaping for your house can make a massive impact on your nighttime curb appeal. People mainly think of daytime curb appeal and forget all about when the sun goes down. When it’s dark, it’s time for your house to shine!

Q: WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT BEING AT A HOME SHOW?

A: We love staying on the cutting edge of what’s new and exciting, so home shows are honestly one of the best ways to do that. We also really enjoy meeting and greeting all of our loyal fans that have been so good to us throughout the years.

Q: WHAT IS AN OUTDATED HOME TREND YOU HOPE DOESN’T COME BACK?

A: While it’s fun to look back and REFLECT on past design trends, I hope we never see mirrored walls make a comeback.

Q: WHEN YOU DESIGN A ROOM, WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT INTERIOR DESIGN ADVICE YOU GIVE?

A: Short and simple: Do whatever makes YOU happy. Not what is trending or popular.

Q: ARE YOU A PLANT FANATIC, OR IS YOUR GREEN THUMB LACKING?

A: One of us has a green thumb and the other is my wife! We love bringing the outdoors inside any chance we can get, so houseplants are always a must.

WITH BRIAN AND MIKA KLEINSCHMIDT

of HGTV’s 100 Day Dream Home

Q: WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE HGTV SERIES?

A: We’ve been so lucky to work on many HGTV projects over the years, but our favorite was the Barbie Dreamhouse Challenge. It was larger than life and it allowed our creativity to run wild and allowed us to think outside of the (toy) box. It was also a lot of fun to collaborate with so many other HGTV talents.

Q: WHAT PROJECT ARE YOU CURRENTLY WORKING ON?

A: We have so many exciting projects coming up for season 6, but one of our favorites is a shipping container house right on the river that we grew up on.

See Brian and Mika on the Main Stage on Friday, March 21st at 2 p.m. and Saturday, March 22nd at 1 p.m.

THE MAIN STAGE

Features

Brian and Mika will be appearing on the Main Stage FRIDAY, MARCH 21ST AT 2 P.M. AND SATURDAY, MARCH 22ND AT 1 P.M.

BRIAN + MIKA KLEINSCHMIDT OF HGTV’S 100 DAY DREAM HOME

Custom home designers Brian and Mika Kleinschmidt create, build and completely personalize a home from the ground up for their clients in only 100 days in HGTV’s 100 Day Dream Home Mika is a realtor and Brian is a developer. Together, this husband-and-wife team makes dream homes come true, helping clients design and build the perfect house in the perfect location.

The Kleinschmidt’s have streamlined the entire process of homebuilding, from

MATT FOX

designing the house to finding the lot to making the countless little-but-important decisions that come with building a house. Mika guides clients through the process and design, while Brian oversees the builds.

Known as the network’s winningest couple, they’ve conquered the Barbie Dreamhouse Challenge and Rock the Block. They are now going head-to-head on the brand new HGTV series 100 Day Hotel Challenge. Learn more about the couple at dirt2design.com.

A show favorite, Matt Fox returns as this year’s main stage emcee, where he will delight show visitors with his quick wit, home improvement knowledge and special educational presentations. Matt is best known for creating and co-hosting the first and longest-running show to air on HGTV, Room by Room, as well as hosting and producing the public television series, Around the House with Matt and Shari

Learn more from his website, mattandshari.com.

THE MAIN STAGE

Furnished & Decorated by Array Design Studio

Array Design Studio Cleveland lauramineff.com

The Main Stage features the best of home improvement celebrity appearances and local experts sharing tips and tricks to improve your home and life! It is furnished and designed by Array Design Studio.

Array Design Studio offers more than 20 years of experience in lifestyle consultation, building and designing concepts for individuals and commercial projects. Through the Universal Design Method created by Laura Mineff, design goes beyond functionality. It invites a sense of enjoyment into your home, work and social environments.

2025 MAIN STAGE

Furnished & Decorated by Array Design Studio

Friday, March 21

11 a.m. Matt Fox, Great Weekend Projects

Noon Let Kids Build – Encouraging your Children to Build

1 p.m. Brenda Love, Real Estate Showcase TV and Friends

2 p.m. "Behind the Dreams” with Brian & Mika Kleinschmidt

3 p.m. Brian & Mika Meet & Greet autograph signing

4 p.m. Matt Fox, Great Weekend Projects

5 p.m. Dale Perkowski, Choosing the Right Contractor & Pricing in Today's Economic Environment

6 p.m. Leslie Hart-Davidson, Food is Love: 5 Tips for Designing a Kitchen You Really WANT to Use

7 p.m. Matt Fox, Great Weekend Projects

Saturday, March 22

11 a.m. Leslie Hart-Davidson, Food is Love: 5 Tips for Designing a Kitchen You Really WANT to Use

Noon Brenda Love, Real Estate Showcase TV and Friends

1 p.m. "Behind the Dreams” with Brian & Mika Kleinschmidt

2 p.m. Brian & Mika Meet & Greet autograph signing

3 p.m. Matt Fox, Great Weekend Projects

5 p.m. Dale Perkowski, Choosing the Right Contractor & Pricing in Today's Economic Environment

6 p.m. A Makers Market

7 p.m. Matt Fox, Great Weekend Projects

Sunday, March 23

11 a.m. Dale Perkowski, Choosing the Right Contractor & Pricing in Today's Economic Environment

Noon Matt Fox, Great Weekend Projects

1 p.m. Brenda Love, Real Estate Showcase TV and Friends

2 p.m. Pathways to Trades

3 p.m. Matt Fox, Great Weekend Projects

All stage appearance times are subject to change. Visit HOMEANDREMODELINGEXPO.COM for the most up-to-date information about the Main Stage events.

EXHIBITORList

Bluerik Coffee Co. 1403

Bo Lacey Construction 1216

BrightCovers ........................................................... 612

C Lee Plumbing Services 736

Cabinet-S-Top 611

100% Grassfed Cheeses 1315

360 Painting 733

3rd Generation Home Improvements 145

4 Seasons Construction & Roofing 1129

4-Home 402

A Glass Block Vision 133

AARP Ohio 641

Absolute Roofing & Construction Inc. 1347

Absolutely Custom Closets and Home Solutions 616

Accent Design 911

Acme Fence 615

ADW Construction 812

Alair Homes Solon 729

All American Gutter Protection 119

All Weather Heating & Cooling 349

All Your Renovations LLC 914

Allstate Insurance 1106

Alpine Structures LLC 410

Ampol Home Improvement 413

Apex Window Werks .............................................. 728

Apple Creek Roofing 435

AQUA DOC Lake & Pond Management 811

Arco Comfort Air LLC ............................................... 613

ARG Roofing 1230

Ark Home Contracting 443

Armorlike Coatings ................................................. 806

Asteria Jewelry & Eyeglass Cleaner 1318

Artist for a Day APRIL SHOWERS BRING MAY FLOWERS, LOBBY

Avon 1405

Bath Authority, The 212

Bath Experts - Jacuzzi Bath Remodel ....................... 800

Bath Fitter 938

Baths R US 622

Beautiful Built......................................................... 433

Beech Brook 1333

Better Business Bureau 345

Big Picture Cleveland .............................................1045

BJAAM Solar Partners LLC 1247

Campopiano Roofing Inc 801

Cellular Sales of Ohio LLC 742

Champion Windows & Home Exteriors 1023

Chuck’s Aluminum Products 910

CLE Interior & Exterior Cleaning 805

Clean Remedies 1306

Cleveland Concrete Coatings 346

Cleveland Grill 1404

Cleveland Premier Pickleball FAMILY FUN CENTER

Cleveland Pro Painters 512

Cleveland Vinyl Co. 241

Cleveland Windows 943

ClogDoc LLC 527

Country View Construction 829

Countryside Furnishings 714

Crack Corn Ltd. 1319

Craft Body Scan 429, 1335

Creative Nails & More by Colleen (Color Street) 1407

Creative Refinishing

from

GW Home Solutions FAMILY FUN CENTER

Haiti’s Hand Print 1307

Hanover-Dunham Co. 1312

Happy and Healthy Feet LLC 1413

Happy Etchings 1402

Highland Floor Refinishing 539

Hilltop Exteriors 240

Hobbs Home Improvements 626

Home Environmental Services 1145

Home Genius Exteriors 444

Hometown Electrical Doctor 423

Hoovershoney & Sticks and Bricks 1417

HTZ Design + Build.................................................1210

Hurst

Klassic Custom Decks 1122

Klotzbach Custom Builders 710

Lakeside

Kasper

KAZ Co. 810

Keifers

Purchase

RCS

Redfern

A-Wing Visuals

A-Wing Visuals’ goal is to create impactful stories that get the heart of your brand and its message connected with the right audience. We got into this business to tell compelling stories, collaborate with great thinkers and connect ideas with people. We bring a fearless and burning passion for our work and the challenges we are asked to solve. Collaborative partnerships matter to us because it’s not about being right but rather about discovering the right idea. Visit awingvisuals.com

Ohio State Waterproofing

Ohio State Waterproofing has provided quality waterproofing and foundation repair services since 1978. We are committed to providing honest, courteous and guaranteed service to every customer. We are members of the National Association of Waterproofing Contractors, and work alongside NARI, NAHB, NHIA, the BIA and the FHA, and a number of consumer advocacy groups. Our patented processes and our stellar reputation make us the clear choice for all your waterproofing needs!

Visit them at Booths #522 and #1242 or online at ohiostatewaterproofing.com.

Ohio Garage Interiors

Ohio Garage Interiors is Ohio’s leader in polyaspartic garage floor coatings, cabinetry and organization. Our coating is a high-quality, stain-resistant, easy-to-maintain polyaspartic that is no match for extreme conditions associated with the garage environment. Our coatings are nonporous and create a permanent bond to the concrete. UV resistant and environmentally friendly with zero VOCs, the coatings are available in numerous decorative flake color combinations. We can also provide you with solutions to all your cabinet storage and organizational needs.

Visit them at Booth #844 or online at ohiogarageinteriors.com.

Westminster Technologies

Westminster Technologies LLC is Northeast Ohio’s leading supplier of event technology support and audiovisual services. We provide services for corporate events, expos, trainings, product launches and more. You’ll get access to the newest, cutting-edge AV and event technologies and more than 50 years of experience in event management. Whatever your needs, we have you covered. Learn more at westminsterav.com or call 216-310-9712.

Smart Choice Baths

Smart Choice Baths, a well-respected, family-run business in Northeast Ohio, specializes in producing beautiful, accessible bathrooms tailored to your unique style and preferences. With a focus on bespoke walkin showers and tub-to-shower conversions, we use high-quality materials like fiberglass, acrylic, cultured marble and stone. Our team of dedicated experts listens closely to your needs, ensuring that every renovation is a reflection of your lifestyle. Experience unparalleled style, exceptional service and meaningful savings with Smart Choice Baths, where every home is treated with utmost care and precision.

Visit them at Booth #905 or online at smartchoicebaths.com.

Home Genius Exteriors

(This year’s 2025 Official Roofing Company)

Home Genius Exteriors is a top-rated home improvement company specializing in roofing, siding, windows, doors, gutters and insulation. Known for exceptional craftsmanship, Home Genius Exteriors combines expertise with quality materials to deliver reliable, lasting solutions for homeowners. With a focus on customer satisfaction, we offer customized services that improve energy efficiency, curb appeal and home value. Dedicated project teams work with homeowners to ensure each project aligns with their vision and unique needs. With a 4.8 Google rating and an A+ BBB rating, Home Genius Exteriors is a trusted name for homeowners looking to enhance and protect their homes.

Visit them at Booth #444 or online at homegeniusexteriors.com.

Universal Windows Direct

Universal Windows Direct is Cleveland’s top source of quality replacement windows, vinyl siding, entry doors and roofing. Established in 2002 by William Barr and Michael Strmac, UWD holds an A+ rating with the BBB, is No. 2 on Qualified Remodeler’s Hip 200, holds the No. 3 spot on the Qualified Remodeler Top 500, is No. 6 on Remodeling 550, is an Angie’s List Super Service Award recipient and a Nextdoor Neighborhood Fave. The company is one of cleveland.com’s Top Workplaces in Northeast Ohio. Universal Windows Direct is committed to offering outstanding products at an incredible value, and satisfied recurring and referral customers are the main component of their success.

Visit them at Booths #112 and #1423 or online at universalwindowsdirect.com.

SHOW

Thank you to the sponsors of the Cleveland Home + Remodeling Expo.

Akron

2965 W Market Street

Akron, OH 44333 (330) 836-5548

Canfield

4010 Boardman-Canfield Road Canfield, OH 44406 (330) 533-9766

Highland Heights

775 Alpha Drive

Highland Heights, OH 44143 (440) 942-2262

975 Crocker Road

Westlake, OH 44145 (440) 892-9008

Inspiring spaces of character and revival

REGIONAL RELICS

Rustbelt’s custom wooden furniture breaks design barriers while maintaining a familiar look that never strays far from home.

PHOTO BY DANIEL LOZADA

YOU’LL FIND RUSTBELT’S artistry in the concession stands at Cleveland sports venues. You’ll find it in gondola cabs at Yellowstone Club in Big Sky, Montana. You’ll find it in Marble Room, and you’ll find it in Valle, a Michelin-starred California restaurant.

The brand’s furniture design skills are evident in a simple hexagonal bench and in an intricate reception table engraved with the signatures of 250 notable world leaders.

Rustbelt is rightfully everywhere, and at its heart is a group of talented Clevelanders who keep their efforts close to home.

Nestled in the Goodrich-Kirtland Park and Asiatown neighborhoods, it began as the Interior Products Co. in 1970 before rebranding as Rustbelt Reclamation in 2013.

President Megan Barker oversees the staff of nine woodworkers who construct custom,

handmade furniture for the missing piece in a client’s space. It often starts about 12-14 weeks before the final product is presented. The staff works closely with clients to understand the environment they are working with.

“It’s something we focus on at the start of every project: material matters,” says Barker. “From the wood species to the graining and finish selection, we have a deep respect for the one-of-a-kind composition of every slab of wood.”

While Rustbelt’s expertise has most commonly meshed with the hospitality industry, it’s tested limits more times than not.

“As a woman-owned business in the manufacturing world, we are already a bit of an outlier,” Barker says. “We push ourselves to provide

Rustbelt’s residential and commercial projects exist as close as Downtown Cleveland, and as far as Cabo San Lucas.

“As a woman-owned business in the manufacturing world, we are already a bit of an outlier. We push ourselves to provide solutions that other manufacturers would turn away.”

— Megan Barker, president

solutions that other manufacturers would turn away. We love a challenge, and

As a result, the team completes an average of 100 custom projects every year, all of which are devoted to sustainability and viability.

Rustbelt’s “Tree to Table” initiative ensures that primarily fallen timber enters its wooden furniture. Instead of being shredded or disposed of, the tree wood is carefully salvaged, dried, milled and refurbished to peak quality to protect from years of wear and tear from

thebestagenttosellyourhomeorﬁndanewone! Sheis highlyinformedonthemarketplaceanddoesthenecessary researchneededtoo erandaskthebestsellingpricefora home. Sheishighlyknowledgeableaboutallaspectsofreal estate. Sheisassertive,astuteandohsokind. Shecaresthat herclientsarehappyandsatisﬁed.FIVESTARS!!

temperature, age and other factors. And it’s all sourced within only 200 miles of the company’s workshop on East 36th Street.

“You could be the best craftsman in the world, but if you’re not using the best material in the world, you’re not going to make the best product in the world,” Barker says.

That local craftsmanship travels across the country — among celebrity homes and partnerships with designers on Architectural Digest’s list of the top 100 creatives — but the best of what Barker and her team do often resides in Cleveland homes.

“These are clients that can actually come in and see the shop and look at materials with us,” Barker says, noting a poker table with a home’s name stitched in the felt.

With the design world forecasting “wood-infused spaces” and “artisanal details,” Rustbelt feels right at home. This has motivated the brand to make the beauty of custom woodwork accessible, rather than just a fancy trend.

After formally dropping “Reclamation”

President Megan Barker and project manager Kim Mager’s Rustbelt is devoted to sustainability, quality and accessibility.

from its name in 2024, embracing the region in which it’s inspired, a new Rustbelt website welcomed The Grove — a blog overseen by project manager Kim Mager and marketing coordinator Eli Edwards that provides an insider scoop on custom-furniture-making.

Barker and Mager describe Rustbelt’s furniture as “quiet luxury,” but it’s not reserved only for the luxurious. They have a desire to reach clients of all backgrounds.

“Working in the world of design is not just about talent and hard work,” Barker says, “but the ability to listen and adapt.”

Adapting to anything from a river-inspired epoxy table, tiles engraved with Wyoming’s native plants or a bar cart with compartments for multiple glass shapes — it will always be timeless, because it will always be exactly what the client wants. And no matter where it lands, it will always have a piece of Rustbelt’s 55-year history in Cleveland.

“Modern heirlooms,” Mager says. “Those two things coming together are just a beautiful part of our story.”

CHAGRIN BLVD

Join in celebrating the best places to dine, drink, shop and play on the East Side as voted upon by the readers of Cleveland Magazine! Sample from 60+ Best of the East finalists all under one roof and then vote for your favorite finalist in each category! Scan the QR code to get tickets now! 

This

Completely

It was a little

before 8 p.m. on March 29, 1975.

It was Holy Saturday, and parishioners were filing into St. Malachi for the Easter Vigil.

Nearby, Shondor Birns was leaving from Christy’s, a go-go joint on West 25th Street. He got to his Lincoln Continental, and seconds later, it exploded.

“The explosion was followed by a split second of silence, and then the tinkling sound of falling glass filled the air, as dozens of windows in a nearby building broke with the same soothing clink-clink that breeze-rustled chimes make swaying on a porch,” Michael Roberts wrote in Cleveland Magazine

Called the city’s Public Enemy No. 1, Birns had a lengthy criminal career stretching back to Prohibition, involving loan sharking,

racketeering and occasionally contract killing on behalf of Cleveland’s mob family. He was by turns brutal and charming and could be found holding court in any of a half-dozen bars throughout Cleveland (many of which he held silent partnerships in).

In the 1960s, he’d taken on Danny Greene as a protege. The young labor racketeer was on the rise, and Birns used him to maintain peace in the rackets. But it turned out to be a fateful move, as a decade later, the two had a falling out — ostensibly over a mob-backed loan for an after-hours club — and Birns put out a contract on Greene. But Greene, who relied on bombs as part of his arsenal, struck first.

Birns’s bombing death would be a prelude to a violent mob war in Cleveland. In 1976, mob boss John T. Scalish died after open-heart surgery. He hadn’t designated a successor, and nature abhors a vacuum. There was so much violence that Cleveland became known as Bomb City, USA — culminating in the car bombing of Greene himself, in 1977.