Cleveland Magazine - July 2023

CARILLON

CARETAKER

Meet the Player Who Makes a 112-Year-Old Bell Tower Sing

THE FUTURE IS HERE

How Artificial Intelligence Is Changing the School, the Workplace and the World

INSIDE OUTSIDE

JoJo’s Bar and Backyard in Chagrin Falls Offers Two Transformative Experiences

CHAOS, FEAR AND UNCERTAINTY

A n ecological disaster thrusts a small Ohio town into the national spotlight.

CHRISTOPHER BRUNDAGE Cleveland Clinic Ashtabula County Medical Center

LESLIE A. BUSH Cleveland Clinic Lutheran Hospital

COLE COLLINS Cleveland Clinic Akron General PRESENTED BY CONGRATULATIONS 2023 FACES OF CARE AWARD RECIPIENTS!

MEGAN EDWARDS Cleveland Clinic Fairview Hospital

JANET FERRELL Cleveland Clinic Union Hospital

JESSICA FISHER Cleveland Clinic Marymount Hospital

ANN FIORTA The MetroHealth System Main Campus Medical Center

AMANDA HUTCHISON Akron Children’s Hospital

MEGAN KALAL The MetroHealth System Brecksville Health and Surgery Center

EDUCATOR AWARD RECIPIENTS

ANDREA HUDSON SMITH

Cuyahoga Community College

MARLENE HUFF

The University of Akron School of Nursing

MARIA MLINAC

Ursuline College

KAREN PACE Cleveland State University School of Nursing

DONNA M. THOMPSON

Case Western Reserve University

Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing

CAVE

NEXT GENERATION OF CARE RECIPIENTS

JACQUELINE LEMUS

Ursuline College

JENNIFER MORELAND Cleveland State University School of Nursing

MEGAN RODRIGUEZ

Case Western Reserve University Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing

ELIZABETH SIMKANIN

The University of Akron School of Nursing

MONICA KISLEY Cleveland Clinic Ambulatory Care Management

RENEE MARINCIC Cleveland Clinic Euclid Hospital

CRISTINA MORAN The MetroHealth System Main Campus Medical Center

AISHA PARNELL The MetroHealth System Correctional Medicine

HOLLY PONOMARENKO Cleveland Clinic Medina Hospital

MEGAN RAFFEL The MetroHealth System Main Campus Medical Center

CHARLENA SONDA Cleveland Clinic South Pointe Hospital

LISA SZCZEPANIK Cleveland Clinic Marymount Hospital Emergency Services

CHELLY TUFTS BEVEL Cleveland Clinic Main Campus

MARIE UHL Cleveland Clinic Avon Hospital

TO TOUR ANY OR ALL THE HOMES ON THIS REMODELED HOMES TOUR

• Tour 5 newly remodeled homes throughout Northeast Ohio

• See various renovation projects completed by award-winning NARI contractors

• Gain new ideas and inspiration for your home improvement project

• Meet with the home improvement professionals

July

volume 52 / issue 7

ON THE COVER

2023

32 EAST PALESTINE DERAILMENT Take a deep dive into what one community faced following the Norfolk Southern train derailment and subsequent chemical spill. by Annie Nickoloff

Photo Courtesy AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar

10 FROM THE EDITOR

12 CONVERSATION

LAY OF THE LAND

15 FIREWORKS IN THE SKY With the Fourth of July coming up, the city looks forward to the colorful nighttime displays that define the patriotic holiday.

17 AI IN CLEVELAND An upcoming conference on the divisive tech explores its potential impact on Northeast Ohio and the world.

18 BELLS ARE RINGING The McGaffin Carillon located within University Circle looks to the community for restoration and longevity.

FOOD & DRINK

23 THE DUALITY OF JOJO'S BAR Moving from the beloved patio to the indoor dining room feels like visiting two different restaurants.

26 PIZZA PALOOZA Geraci's Slice Shop shakes up Downtown with a new location near East Fourth Street.

28 DINING GUIDE These family friendly restaurants are perfect for all ages.

HOME & GARDEN

91 FANTASTIC BATHROOM How one Cleveland couple turned their commode into a veritable wonderland.

SPECIAL SECTIONS

48 CAMPING IN NEO Visit the Cuyahoga Valley National Park's new campsites.

54 DOG DAYS OF SUMMER Your guide to life with a four-legged friend this summer.

67 DOWNTOWN DIGS The apartments and lifestyle at the heart of Cleveland.

83 OUTDOOR LIVING Turn that outside living space into a luxurious escape.

2176STaylorRoad,ClevelandHeights,44118 (216)772-2603–www.evo.supplies

5k run 1-mile stroll | 8.6.2023

Sunday, August 6 | Cleveland Metroparks Zoo $30/early bird registration before July 14 includes T-shirt | 5k/1-mile course | Finish Line Refreshments Full-Day ZOO ADMISSION

Race You Home for a good causeProviding homes for people with disabilities

The adventure is worth the WILD! Register Today NCCH.ORG

finds and one-of-a-kinds in

19036

Denise Polverine publisher

Dillon Stewart editor

managing editor Ron Ledgard

senior editor Annie Nickoloff

associate editor Anthony Elder

associate digital editor Abigail Kussow

editor - at - large Colleen Smitek

contributing writers Laura Watilo Blake, Vince Guerrieri, Kristen Hampshire, Allison Jack, Henry Palattella, Abigail Preiszig, Cassie Tomaselli, Lynne Thompson

editorial interns Brianna Camp, Karyssa Rose, Clara Wicinski, Alaina Williams

art director Erin Stinard

associate art director Abigail Archer

contributing artists Roger Mastroianni, Steven Rice photography intern Tyler Boggs

illustration intern Mark Santiago editorial@clevelandmagazine.com

advertising vice president Paul Klein

senior account managers

Sarah Desmond, Tiffany Myroniak

account manager Julie Bialowas

events and audience marketing manager

Jennifer Roberts

traffic coordinator Kristen Brickner adsales@clevelandmagazine.com

content marketing

managing editor Jennifer Bowen Sima

managing art director Rayanne Medford

senior editor Ann-Marie Vazzano

associate art director Megan Rosta contentmarketing@glpublishing.com

production

production manager Alyson Moutz Cowan production@clevelandmagazine.com

digital media

director of digital strategy Jacquie Chakirelis

development manager Daniel Klinzing operations associate Camille Ross

Lute Harmon Sr. founder

Lute Harmon Jr. president & ceo

Cleveland Magazine | Ohio Magazine

Lake Erie Living | Content Marketing | Quest Digital

chief financial officer George Sedlak

finance director Perry Zohos

operations manager Corey Galloway

accounts payable coordinator Geli Valli

1422 Euclid Ave., Suite 730, Cleveland, OH 44115 www.glpublishing.com

ENGAGED BETWEEN ISSUES.

Get

Up to Us: AI's Future

"WRITE A DINING REVIEW in the voice of Ernest Hemingway." My heart sank as ChatGPT spit out stark prose describing a Parisian eatery. The restaurant was fake, but the copy was publishable.

The birth of generative AI has the reeling media industry bracing for another Internet-level disruption.

Some see opportunity, like the Washington Post, which used AI to expand its high school football coverage in D.C. Others see a death march, like when BuzzFeed replaced 12% of its staff.

Journalists aren’t alone. The World Economic Forum suggests that by 2025 AI could replace 85 million jobs.

Paul Roetzer, founder of Cleveland's Marketing AI Institute, preaches an approach to AI that focuses on making humans' lives better. But to understand AI's capabilities and make rules around

Your burning questions about Artificial Intelligence answered on page 17

it, we must embrace experimentation.

“I wouldn't send my daughter to a school that doesn't have a policy around AI,” says Roetzer. "She won't be ready for the real world."

At Cleveland Magazine, we do plan to put AI to use. In fact, AI-powered sys tems already transcribe our interviews and suggests the occasional headline.

But AI can't do everything. Journal ism like this month's cover story by Annie Nickoloff — a beautiful, sprawl ing profile of East Palestine (page 32) — takes trust and human connection. That's why you won't see AI generat ed text or images in these pages any time soon — unless maybe in creative story about AI. We'll soon develop a policy to com municate how we plan to use AI. After all, our work is driven by a desire to build community, trust and a stronger Cleveland.

Dillon Stewart, editor stewart@clevelandmagazine.com

Reacting to Ratings

With the release of our yearly Best Places to Live package, Cleveland had many kind and critical responses to the announcement of the 2023 Rating the Suburbs winner, Pepper Pike, and the magazine’s editorial package.

Read more of our 100+ reasons to love where you live at clevelandmagazine.com/ bestplacestolive.

An Adorable Winner

From the readers:

@emilyroggenburk: Honored to be a part of this and even more thrilled I got to bring my dogs �� thank you, Cleveland Magazine!

@notannieoakley: Yet again, a rankings list that ignores one of the top considerations people have when they look at moving to NEO from outside of Cleveland - walkability. Walkability, meaning walkable access to amenities like schools, healthcare, stores, playgrounds, as well as bikeability.

@leahcar54: But cleveland is still the #1 city - let’s bring everyone back from the suburbs and support our center !

@smcdesign1: Best City. Best People

The votes are in for our Cutest Pet contest, and the award goes to Lola — a lazy French bulldog who loves people, other dogs and lounging on the patio with owner Adrina Wolf who jumped at the good news.

“I was so excited,” she says. “I really screamed. Lola, of course, was laying on the couch next to me and just lifted her head up, looked at me, like, ‘You’re crazy,’ and laid back down.”

QUESTION OR COMMENT ABOUT THE MAGAZINE?

Reach out to us at conversation@clevelandmagazine.com.

@createandhope_2016: ��Yea!!!! Hudson is there towards top �� I love our sweet town ❤

@davidbaden: ❤ Pepper Pike ❤. It was a wonderful place to grow up. Couldn’t agree more that Cleveland Magazine recognizes Pepper Pike. Cleveland is surrounded by fantastic suburbs both east and west. Let’s celebrate this and not complain.

CLEVELAND CLINIC CHILDREN’S DERBY DAY SOIREE |

Children's Derby Day Soiree set a record high for the event when it came to fundraising — no surprise with more than 500 attendees there at the Huntington Convention Center of Cleveland to support.

Hosted for more than 30 years, the event gives every dollar toward lifesaving pediatric care. That research will then affect children's medical support across the world as the soiree's philanthropic assistance races toward the finish line like a horse in a real derby.

Live music kept festivities going amid support from none other than the Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Superstars, Fedeli Family Foundation and the Scala Family Foundation. The colorful party also saw Cleveland Clinic patient, Lena, honored for her bravery and tenacity in the face of chronic illness.

Rebecca was skeptical about college. She knew she was smart, but didn’t know if the college experience would be right for her. Then she came to Tri-C, where she quickly discovered a valuable support network of faculty, staff and fellow students who not only helped her succeed academically — they helped her find a purpose and a future.

May 6, 2023

Huntington Convention Center of Cleveland

MATT KOHLMANN

THE LAND

LAY OF

Blossom Music Center's annual Salute to America takes place July 2-4.

Do you still need to plan where and when to watch fireworks with your friends and family in Northeast Ohio? We tracked down all the information you will need to have a blast at clevelandmagazine.com/fireworks.

16

SUMMER READING FOR CHILDREN

18

CARILLON BELLS RING IN CLE

Kid Lit

Summer is the perfect time to dip into these children’s books crafted by local authors and artists.

THE SUN IS UP, school is out and summer reading challenges have launched for kids in Northeast Ohio. There’s no better time to crack open a new book, especially one written by a local author. Looking for a few new books to check out this season with young readers? Look no further than the area’s lively literary scene. Here are a few releases, featuring art or writing from local authors and illustrators, for a range of ages. Check out more reading recommendations at clevelandmagazine.com/entertainment/books.

HOUSE PARTY, EDITED BY JUSTIN A. REYNOLDS

The same Cleveland-based author behind several Marvel Miles Morales graphic novels edited a collaborative young adult book House Party, featuring contributions from fellow young adult authors. justinareynolds.com

LUMINOUS: LIVING THINGS THAT LIGHT UP THE NIGHT, ILLUSTRATED BY JULIA KUO

Naturally occurring bioluminescence is the focus of Cleveland illustrator Julia Kuo’s latest picture book. Kuo’s art showcases some of the world’s most unique creatures with scientific facts about the light they create. juliakuo.com

SURPRISINGLY SARAH, WRITTEN AND ILLUSTRATED BY TERRI LIBENSON

The seventh book in Terri Libenson’s graphic novel series follows Sarah’s nerve-wracking crush and all sorts of antics in the group of kid friends whom readers have loved since the series began in 2017. terrilibenson.com

LOOKING FOR TRUE, WRITTEN BY TRICIA SPRINGSTUBB

Acclaimed local author Tricia Springstubb explores a new friendship between Gladys, Jude and a mutt named True Blue, and the challenges of family dynamics around adoption and loss. triciaspringstubb.com

PLAY LIKE A GIRL, WRITTEN BY MISTY WILSON AND ILLUSTRATED BY DAVID WILSON

Misty and David Wilson teamed up to write and to illustrate this graphic novel memoir based on Misty’s sporty experience: Back in the seventh grade, she was the only girl on her middle school football team. workdavidwork.com

THE NOTE WHO FACED THE MUSIC, WRITTEN BY LINDSAY BONILLA

North Canton’s Lindsay Bonilla penned a heartwarming story about a half note who feels out of place in a composer’s piece of sheet music — but eventually learns how every note is important in a song. lindsaybonilla.com

BY ANNIE NICKOLOFF ILLUSTRATION BY MARK SANTIAGO

Imagining the Unimaginable

Professionals from across the country flock to Cleveland this month for the Marketing AI Conference, a summit on a human-centric future for artificial intelligence.

Paul Roetzer doesn’t like artificial intelligence. The founder of Cleveland’s Marketing AI Institute in 2016 isn’t, necessarily, a proponent of the technology any more than he is of air. He just thinks you should breathe. “It’s a fatal mistake to not embrace it,” says the author of Marketing Artificial Intelligence: AI, Marketing, and the Future of Business. “When we started the institute, we said our job was to make AI approachable and actionable. It’s evolved into helping people understand and apply AI in a responsible way.” From July 26 to 28, Roetzer’s company hosts its Marketing AI Conference at the Huntington Convention Center. The conference, which offers workshops and networking, is in its fourth year, but the introduction of ChatGPT — a generative AI tool that can write anything from book reports to website code — has given it a newfound energy. We talked to Roetzer about ethical use of the transformational technology.

On Taking a Human-Centric Approach to AI: AI should benefit humans. If we have a team of 50 and we reduce that by 30, that would be a non-human-centered approach. The human-centered approach is: We have 50 amazing people; how can we enrich their jobs? How can we improve their creativity and productivity and innovation? Let them have their nights and weekends back?

On AI’s Exponential Growth: The tech we see today is doubling in its capability every six to 12 months. It’s literally impossible for the human mind to envision what the near future will be like. The whole future of work is going to change in the next one to three years. Some industries may be reluctant to change because it threatens their business models, like law firms with billable hours. But it’s going to be like life before and after the internet or smartphones.

On the First Thing a Business Should Do to Confront AI: If you’re in a business setting, it’s critical to create a generative AI policy for your employees. Are we or are we not allowed to write content or create video and images with ChatGPT? Right now, most employees don’t know.

On Apocalyptic AI Warnings: Yes, there could be an existential threat to humanity. But the probability is extremely low. Very few [researchers] can even vocalize what exactly would have to happen. What we do have at the moment is AI that can dramatically shift elections. We have the ability for almost anyone to create synthetic images, video and text. We have biases within systems that are making decisions around peoples' future with education, court systems and home lending. I would much prefer that AI researchers and scientists were focused on the known near term threats that AI presents.

Paul Roetzer, who also founded PR 20/20, believes a humancentric approach may help avoid AI's pitfalls.

RESTORATION

Bells of Beauty

The McGaffin Carillon — a rare 47-bell instrument operated like an organ in the tower of the Church of the Covenant — works toward a communitydriven restoration.

Walking around University Circle, the sound of vibrant bells swells on the wind. A mighty tone ebbs and flows, rings and clatters from the 140-foot high McGaffin Tower atop the Church of the Covenant. Some days, the bells ring pious and pragmatic; on others, the music vibrates with Disneyand pop-influenced rigor.

Those rich sounds you’re hearing are the McGaffin Carillon, whose bells have sung across the circle since 1968 when they were manufactured and installed by Royal Eijsbouts Bell Foundry from the Netherlands. By today’s standard, the project would cost around $1 million.

While the instrument’s tone insists upon those living anywhere from Little Italy to the Cleveland Museum of Art, the bells themselves remain a rather quiet part of Cleveland history.

“[The bells] memorialize the tower to Alexander McGaffin, who was the minister when this building was built,” carillon player George Leggiero says.

As the instrument’s chief player — a carillonneur, as they’re called — Leggiero wants people to know the instrument as more than a piece of the church, but as a piece of the community. He’s been playing the carillon for most of its life, starting in 1973 as a college student seeking a music minor.

To achieve their restorative goal, he and a group called the Friends of McGaffin Carillon — formed in 2015 — have challenged themselves to raise awareness for the historic instrument and a sum of more than $600,000 to fund its restoration. The project would include two new gargantuan bells to complete the lower octave.

Not every carillon is played so often as the McGaffin, Leggiero stresses as he leads a small group up the tight, spiral staircase to the tower. There are fewer than 200 in the country, according to the Friends, and only one in Cleveland.

“There’s been somebody to play ever since [McGaffin’s] were installed,” Leggiero says. “That doesn’t happen at ev-

ery church.”

Ascending the tower feels like a snapshot into a bygone era, or perhaps more like a scene from The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

The cramped stairwell gives way to a large stone chamber where only a few stacks of files and the occasional desk tell the group we are still in 2023. The stonework stands solid and proud, hardly changed since the tower was erected in 1911.

Leggiero leads the group further, up another spiral staircase, and practically leaves us in the dust as we nervously shuffle upward.

Finally, we make our way into the console room and the intrigue, or perhaps shock, is palpable as we take in the carillon.

There, in a space roughly half the size of the chamber below, sits a worn wooden piano of sorts called a clavier. As if someone dismantled a dozen lying Pinocchios, the instrument presents a jumble of jutting levers of tapered wood — the keys — and matching pedals at the bottom played by foot.

Like the puppet himself, a series of wires connects each lever to corresponding clappers in a chamber above us. Those large swinging mallets then strike each of the 47 bells weighing more than 15,000 pounds in total. How loud each bell plays depends on the puppeteer, Leggiero, and how hard he strikes each lever.

“They can’t be muffled after you play a note,” he warns. “You hear it for quite a while if I make a mistake.”

He sits at the console and hits a lever harder than you’d ever dare strike a piano key. The room fills with a raucous clatter: wood hitting wood, metal wires yanking and pulling and the bells above filling a half-mile radius with a deep radiance.

George uses nearly his entire body, looking more like a percussion player as fists and feet strike their mark.

“As a piece of the community, we play any music, too, not just religious,”

says Aquene Kimmel, a Friend of the McGaffin Carillon who helps with social media. Another friend and carillonneur, Keiran Cantilina, has been known to learn snippets of Disney songs and pop hits on the fly, she says.

The initial high wears off and the group finally notices McGaffin Tower’s wear and tear. The situation doesn’t seem dire, but even a sum of more than half-a-million dollars sounds quaint for the restoration.

Pinocchio’s noses are well worn and the pads that protect them from rubbing or striking against other bits are thin and warped. Clock and automatic play functions need maintaining. A dismantled clapper on the floor for

“We see it and the church felt that way, too — it’s a community instrument and it ought to be heard.”

display shows years of Northeast Ohio rust, and there are dozens of oxidizing metal fasteners and hinges connecting just one key to a single bell.

The bells themselves are in decent shape, given their more than 50 years next to Lake Erie; however, it’s no easy feat cleaning and restoring them and some of the bolts and hinges have rusted to the point of breaking.

Many of these mechanisms need replaced and repainted, especially with the addition of the two new bells for which the McGaffin recently secured funds. The new Eb and Bb notes alone will add another 40% of the original 15,000 pounds — bells big enough to lounge in.

The restoration would protect the instrument for years and allow the McGaffin to collect more Friends. Just last year, Leggiero improvised music to automated images and emojis tweeted by artist Cory Arcangel for the FRONT Triennial. Leggiero sees other opportunities for local students around University Circle, as well.

“It’s a community instrument,” he says. “It’s been played on Sundays and occasional holidays and whatever all the time, but we want to see it played more. On most university campuses where there’s a carillon there’s a student guild, and they play every day. You get all sorts of eclectic stuff that students will play. We ultimately want to get there, and we’re raising funds to do a full restoration of the instrument because we can’t play it that heavily right now.”

He goes on to stress the importance of staying up-to-date on modern audio and video connections, a feature that allows the McGaffin to stream performances or record music. While there’s still much to do — namely the disassembly and cleaning of the instrument, replacing wires, replacing clappers, new bolts and hinges and an entirely new clavier — Friends of the McGaffin Carillon have made strides since the group’s inception in 2015.

Phase one of the restoration saw the replacement of peal clappers, new mo-

tors, a new control mechanism and the peal rehung on fresh yokes and bolts. With this, the McGaffin’s Cragin Peal — three bells that swing instead of being struck like the others — rang out for the first time in decades, just in time for the 50th anniversary in 2018.

In 2021, the Friends accepted a donation for a new practice instrument fabricated by Friends director and guest carillonneur

Patrick Macoska, providing a

means for new players to learn without further damaging the main clavier.

As of June, the McGaffin Carillon still needs more than $170,000 to complete the restoration but, when it’s done, Leggiero envisions generations of Cleveland carillon players.

“We have a lot of people in the church who are supporting, and they give us some of the biggest donations,” Leggiero says. “But 52% of the people who’ve given [donations] over our history are from the community. We see it and the church felt that way, too — it’s a community instrument and it ought to be heard.”

Many of the carillon's mechanisms need updated, especially with the addition of two new bells.

OHIO’S BEST IS RIGHT BEFORE YOUR EYES

The world is full of amazing sights. At Cleveland Clinic Cole Eye Institute, we want to help you see them. From providing routine eye care to restoring vision, Ohio’s best eye care program is here for you.

216.444.2020

Learn more at ClevelandClinic.Org/Eye

unwind.

Gervasi Vineyard Resort and Spa

1700 55th Sreet NE Canton, OH 330-497-1000

Gervasivineyard.com

This summer, escape to Gervasi Vineyard and experience the beauty of a unique, Tuscan-inspired winery resort and spa. Three distinct restaurants offer casual and upscale cuisine paired with award-winning wines and spirits. Retreat to a luxurious suite and enjoy the comforts of high-end amenities, as well as an outdoor patio providing beautiful lake views. Treat yourself to a tranquil Spa treatment or experience the intimate wine-tasting room in The Cave.

Laurello Vineyards

4573 Route 307 East Geneva, OH 440-415-0661

laurellovineyards.com

Laurello Vineyards is a familyowned winery providing handcrafted, award-winning wines and specially prepared foods as well as beer on tap. Laurello offers premium, vinifera wines in addition to unique blends and delicious ice wines. We invite you to stop by to experience our boutique winery.

Stonegait Winery

978 Catawba Avenue

Put-In-Bay, OH 419-285-2811

heinemanswinery.com

9050 West Old Lincoln Way Wooster, OH 330-804-9463

lincolnwayvineyards.com

Heineman Winery

Celebrating 135 years of family traditions, Heineman’s is the oldest family-owned and -operated winery in Ohio. This award-winning winery is also home to the world’s largest known celestite geode and offers combined tours of the winery and Crystal Cave. Visit the tasting room featuring wines made on-site, while enjoying a fresh-cut cheese plate. Check our website for hours. Online ordering 24/7 to 38 states!

Lincoln Way Vineyards

Come sit in the tasting room, on the patio, picnic area or our event space, relax and enjoy our wine, hard cider, fruit-based wine slushies and more. Check out our website or like us on Facebook to see our year-round food truck and entertainment schedule.

Vermilion Valley

4275 Bates Road Madison, OH 440-307-9571

stonegaitwinery.com

Stonegait Winery is a family-owned winery. Featuring estate and American wines all crafted on-site. We offer a full menu showcasing our wood-fired pizzas, appetizers, sandwiches and more. Along with our large wine selection, we have beers on tap, bourbons and specialty drinks. We invite you in to enjoy our beautiful patio and relaxing atmosphere.

The Winerie

6413 Hayes Avenue Sandusky, OH

419-502-1290

thewinerie.com

Offering a large selection of wines produced from 100% estate-grown grapes, The Winerie is an estate winery and the perfect place to enjoy a relaxing night out, or a special weekend date night while enjoying live music on select nights.

11005 Gore Orphanage Road

Wakeman, OH 440-965-5202

vermilion-valleyvineyards.com

Vineyards

Vineyards

Vermilion Valley Vineyards produces excellent quality wines with a classic, old-world European style on its 15 acres. This beautiful estate winery offers a tasting room, live music, and an extensive wine menu throughout the year. Come enjoy our outdoor space which overlooks our vineyard and 1.5-acre pond.

White Timbers Winery

White Timbers is a new uniquely tranquil winery, vineyard and event center located at 10036 Rittman Road, Wadsworth Ohio, in Medina County. Find us online at thewhitetimbers.com and on Facebook and Instagram. Email: whitetimberswinery@gmail.com. Join us for a “Sip and a Sunset”! 10036 Rittman Road Wadsworth, OH 330-331-7383

thewhitetimbers.com

FERRANTE WINERY & RISTORANTE

FOOD &

Jojo's Bar and Backyard

Nostalgic Afternoon

After a yearlong renovation of the iconic Gamekeeper's Taverne spot, Rick Doody's JoJo's Bar and Backyard offer two slightly different indoor and outdoor experiences.

is truly what put Gamekeeper's on the map. Google images of the space look a little pedestrian now, but this was long before pandemic dining perfected and popularized outdoor eateries. For Northeast Ohio diners, the space with a big canopy tree above was familiar, transformative and so beloved it still gets votes for Best Outdoor Dining in our Silver Spoon Awards.

“This used to be the hottest patio in all of Cleveland,” says restaurateur Rick Doody.

Doody, whose now-closed Bravo/ Brio restaurants spark 2000s Cleveland foodie nostalgia, knows the space well. His office — where he runs a five-restaurant food empire including Bar Italia, Cedar Creek Grille and Lindey’s Lakehouse — is next door. His wife, Wendy, runs W Design across the street. Nearby is also Doody’s 17 River Grille, which overlooks the waterfall and is outdoor dining perfected.

After Gamekeeper's closed in 2017, successor Bull & Bird's impressive run was cut short by the pandemic. Doody, eager to carry the iconic restaurant and patio into the future, quickly snagged it.

"We felt we could make our Backyard something special," he says.

In my reporting on Cleveland's food scene, a few restaurants from the past come up time and time again. I was lucky enough to visit a few of them before they closed: The Greenhouse Tavern, The Plum and Sokolowski's University Inn. Other spots — Lola in Tremont and Douglas Katz's Fire — I simply wasn't old enough or in the know enough to catch. Yet, I feel like I know these places because of the impact they left on diners.

Gamekeeper's Taverne is another one of those spots. Proprietor Tom Lutz launched the Chagrin Falls eatery in 1976 with a focus on game meat. In its 40 years, the cozy, haphazard English hunting cottage grew evermore chic, elegant and intentional. Adjacent to the Inn of Chagrin Falls, the homestyle restaurant felt like a luxury bed and breakfast and hosted guests as diverse as the area’s wealthiest diners, locals celebrating birthdays and proposals, and even celebrities such as actor Michael J. Fox and former Cleveland Browns coach Bill Belichick.

Despite dishes as memorable as elk medallions and ostrich skewers, the patio

In May 2022, a few months after opening JoJo's Bar, an Italian Steakhouse concept, Doody launched JoJo's Backyard, an umbrellaed oasis with a live-fire Argentine grill. Diners are transported to what feels like a country club pool bar in Naples, Florida, where Doody also happens to own a Bar Italia and a forthcoming grill.

What the space is not that reminiscent of, except maybe in spirit, is the former Gamekeeper's Taverne. Both inside and out underwent a total gutjob by W Design. A year of construction involved collaborating with the local Architectural Board of Review to maintain the integrity of the historic

The outdoor menu centers around a live-fire Argentine grill, which adds char to backyard classics.

building. "They wanted to keep the old cottage feel," says Doody.

The result is two totally new experiences in familiar spaces. The indoor dining room and bar, which seat more than 100, is lively with tall ceilings and slightly baroque features, like the checkered barroom floor, chandeliers and a fireplace. Meanwhile, the cavernous patio is a shoppers' casual escape from the sun. Flower walls and greenery, as well as wicker fixtures and furniture that never get hot to the touch, show masterful detail. There are no reservations, and you can probably get away with shorts and a T-shirt.

An initial point of confusion for me was the Argentine grill, a beacon of outdoor cooking that provides a 600degree char on meat, fish and veggies. This live-fire tool implies Argentinian steakhouse cuisine, which is an awesome, specific concept that's under served in Cleveland (JaJa does it well).

Chimichurri, the classic condiment of this genre, is found only atop the Grilled Jumbo Shrimp with Fresh Watermelon ($19), which is spicy and refreshing

WHEN YOU GO

but not itch-scratching. Instead, JoJo's executive chef Rob Records elevates backyard cookout classics to luxury.

The wood-fired hearth offers 10 to 15 options, depending on specials, that are unique to the Backyard. The dishes that shine most at JoJo’s Backyard remind one of that one family member whose cookouts are always over-thetop. (Shoutout Uncle Phil!) Think Knife & Fork Ribs ($35), Backyard American Cheeseburger ($22) and char-grilled prime New York Strip ($49), butchered in-house (along with all the beef options) and served with onion straws.

If you’re looking lighter, try the Grilled Corn on the Husk ($7), charred and buttered. I had a blast figuring out how to eat grilled artichoke ($15) (drag your teeth across the soft, white part of the petal for a fatty, savory treat; don't forget the heart) and dipping it in a house-made remoulade. Forthcoming or recently added options such as the Wagyu Beef Sloppy JoJos and the Tuna Nicoise with fresh seared tuna, mixed greens, potatoes, pickled red onions and a poached egg show more focused

steps in this ambitious direction.

"Being a restaurateur is incumbent on keeping things fresh," says Doody, who was literally tweaking the menu throughout this interview. "Those fine details are what kept people coming back to Gamekeeper's for so long."

You're not missing out if you can't get a spot on the 88-seat patio. JoJo's Bar has perfected its indoor menu. The greatest hits, including the wagyu beef carpaccio ($17), which eats like a salad with lemon-tossed arugula, are also available on the patio.

These days, admittedly, I find myself most engrossed in the boundarypushing, cutting-edge and plain-funky spots. But spicy carbone-style vodka rigatoni ($23), creamy branzino ($28) and Filet Oscar ($44-$64) are good reminders that the classics are classics for a reason.

So if you're looking for a taste of nostalgia done right and pushed forward, JoJo's Bar and Backyard are worthy heirs to Gamekeeper's legacy.

JoJo's Bar and Backyard 87 West St., Chagrin Falls jojosbar.com

Mediterranean-influenced, veggieforward shareables offer a lighter alternative to the menu's heavier Italian steakhouse offerings.

Downtown Slice

Pizza returns to Prospect Avenue with the throwbackstyled Geraci’s Slice Shop.

Geraci’s Slice Shop manages to fill the pie-sized hole left by the 2022 closure of Vincenza’s Pizza and Pasta, a legendary lunchtime staple that occupied 603 Prospect Ave. for more than 40 years.

Geraci's Slice Shop puts a quick, approachable and delicious twist on six decades of family recipes from Geraci’s, a sit-down Italian classic on the East Side. The new, revamped menu is under the guidance of Bucky Spoth, a third generation Geraci and the force behind the newer, modern concept.

“We’re taking this beloved name and pizza that everybody has cherished for many years here in Cleveland, and we’re trying to offer that Downtown,” Spoth says.

Built for the lunch rush, a quick bite on the way to a Guardians game or a late-night slice after a show at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, Geraci’s has been a hit, with its ‘80s design featuring Millipede and Pac-Man games.

Pizza can be purchased by the slice or the pie with an 18-inch large round ($26). The 18-inch Home Plate Pie ($26) is the shape and size of a real home plate and a portion of the proceeds goes to Cleveland Guardians Charities.

Choose from eight signature slices in the case at all times, including The Hot Tito ($6 per slice) with red sauce, mozzarella, thick cut pepperoni, sausage, romano and hot honey drizzle, or build your own pizza choosing from over 20 toppings and drizzles. Vegan and glutenfree pizzas are also available.

OLD 86 , a simple-yet-stylish rock and roll bar from artist and graphic designer Aaron Sechrist (OkPants), opened its doors on Detroit-Shoreway in the former Tributary cocktail bar spot. “I had an opportunity to open the bar I never got to hang out at,” Sechrist says.

Bonn Rassavong and Peter Brown teamed up to open DOINKS BURGERS on Waterloo Road, near Brown’s other concept Six Shooter Coffee. The new restaurant offers exemplary smash burgers. “Bonn and I are always preoccupied — and kind of obsessed — with, like, very recognizable things that are done extremely well,” says Brown. “Things that are associated with being not high quality but elevating it to a really awesome level.”

For more food news, visit clevelandmagazine.com/fooddrink or subscribe to our CLE Eats newsletter at bit.ly/3zfyh5m.

BY ABIGAIL PREISZIG PHOTO BY TYLER BOGGS

Famed Coventry wine bar LA CAVE DU VIN will take over the former Spotted Owl cocktail bar space in Tremont, while The Spotted Owl is set to reopen in the former Lolita restaurant space.

Dining Guide

THE BEST KID-FRIENDLY RESTAURANTS IN CLEVELAND

BEARDEN’S

WHY WE LOVE IT: With a menu “full of kid-friendly favorites, a train around the top of the restaurant and a staff who loves children,” says owner Jim Griffiths, this staple (since 1948) is known for its retro decor, bear mascot, homemade milkshakes and famous hand-cut onion rings. TRY THIS: “Our signatures are the never-frozen, singlesource steak burgers, like the Peanut Butter Bear (steak burger with peanut butter and pickle),” says Griffiths.

19985 Lake Road, Rocky River, 440-331-7850, beardens.com

BREWDOG

WHY WE LOVE IT: This newer English-themed brewery slings adult “Hoppy” meals, delectable burgers and a massive fun-filled patio with yard games, river views and fire pits. And don’t forget the 28-taps pouring a mix of BrewDog and other craft beers on hot summer nights. TRY THIS: The flavorful Cluck Norris ($19.45) sandwich stars buttermilk fried chicken, avocado, red onion and Cajun mayo. 1956 Carter Road, Cleveland, 216-367-2494, brewdog.com/usa/bars/usa/cleveland

CHATTY’S PIZZERIA

ALADDIN’S EATERY

WHY WE LOVE IT: “Parents rave about the healthy options we provide their families, especially because our kids menu features things you don’t see at other restaurants,” says Samantha Kauffman, marketing manager. TRY THIS: “When people think Aladdin’s, they think hummus,” says Kauffman. “Guests love to pair it with our homemade hot sauce and fresh pita bread baked here in Cleveland.” Various locations, aladdins.com

BARRIO TACOS

WHY WE LOVE IT: This growing regional build-your-own taco chain that started in Tremont can keep both kids and their grown-ups happy with black and white skull decor, casual vibes and some killer patios. TRY THIS: Crunch into a twolayered “green goddess” (soft and hard shell) filled with queso and guacamole, with braised short rib ($6.46), and all the cheese, veggies and other toppings of your choice. Various locations, barrio-tacos.com

WHY WE LOVE IT: “It’s the quality of our food and the caring attitude of our staff that makes us stand out,” says owner Matt Harlan. “So many of us who work here are parents and we’re just as invested in seeing kids have a good time as parents enjoying their time, as well.” TRY THIS: The sweet meat pizza (pepperoni sausage, basil, Parmesan and homemade hot honey) ($17.50) started out as a very successful special and came back as a mainstay. 28611 Lake Road, Bay Village, 440-471-4485, chattyspizzeria.com

BY ALLISON JACK PHOTO BY TYLER BOGGS

Van Aken Market Hall

COCKY’S BAGELS

WHY WE LOVE IT: Starting with its popular food truck, this bagel sandwich haven has both a casual suburban branch and a Flats restaurant and bar, rocking chic Boho nature-inspired decor, swing seats and fun vibes fit for fun at all ages.

TRY THIS: Taste the delectable Buffalo chicken dip ($10) served with fried bagel chips. 26703 Brookpark Ext., North Olmsted, 440455-1205 or 1127 Old River Road, Cleveland, 216-3539400, cockysbagels.com

DEWEY’S PIZZA

WHY WE LOVE IT: Kids can watch the staff enthusiastically toss the dough through the glass picture window peering into the brick oven kitchen at this casual Lakewood pizza joint. TRY THIS: Who said there’s anything wrong with pineapple? Order the Hawaiian (large, $23.25) featuring Canadian bacon and fresh pineapple. 18516 Detroit Ave., Lakewood, 216-228-2299, deweyspizza.com

THE HAUNTED HOUSE RESTAURANT

WHY WE LOVE IT: If kitschy-themed restaurants and spooky movies are your family’s thing, you’ll love all the details from the scary movie posters, popcorn machine, murals, decor, inventive names for the comfort food menu items and themed cocktails for parents. TRY THIS: Order up the Pennywise ($16.99) from the brinner menu: red waffle sandwich with fried chicken breast, eggs, pepper jack cheese, candied bacon and haunted maple heat sauce. 13463 Cedar Road, Cleveland Heights, 216-862-5584, thehauntedhouserestaurant.com

HECK’S

WHY WE LOVE IT: Heck’s iconic juicy burger and fries is just the beginning of this casual yet cool classic American eatery with a kids menu full of options. TRY THIS: You’ll love the classic Burger Au Cheval ($16) with bacon, cheddar, fried egg and sour cream. Various locations, heckscafe.com/ Cleveland

HOFBRAUHAUS

WHY WE LOVE IT: Inspired by the iconic 400-year-old original in Munich, Germany, this 24,000-square-foot microbrewery is home to a family-friendly dining room. TRY THIS: Cleveland’s favorite potato and cheese pierogis (made by Pierogis of Cleveland) are sauteed brown and topped with caramelized onions, sour cream and scallions ($16.99). 1550 Chester Ave., Cleveland, 216-621-2337, hofbrauhauscleveland.com

LI WAH

WHY WE LOVE IT: This AsiaTown institution for casual family meals with traditional Chinese decor serves up authentic cuisine and lunchtime dim sum on a white tablecloth. TRY THIS: Experience an authentic Chinese lunch with rolling dim sum trolley carts and order up the tasty

steaming pork and shrimp dumplings

($5.50). 2999 Payne Ave. #102, Cleveland, 216696-6556, liwahrestaurant.com

MAMA SANTA’S

WHY WE LOVE IT: With truly old-world Italian charm and checkered tablecloths, this long-time classic pizza and pasta haven is a true mom-and-pop shop made for family gatherings. TRY THIS: Go old school with Spaghetti Di Casa with meatballs ($13.95) 12301 Mayfield Road, Cleveland, 216-231-9567, mamasantas.com

MABEL’S BBQ

WHY WE LOVE IT: Maven Chef Michael Symon’s lively East Fourth Street exposed brick bi-level restaurant is a place where kids and adults alike will need a bib with all the juicy BBQ meats, kielbasa, ribs, sandwiches and eastern European-inspired sides. TRY THIS: Enjoy the beef brisket by the half-pound ($17) served with Tony Packo’s pickles, Cleveland Kraut and Mediterra rye bread. 2050 East 4th St., Cleveland (also in Woodmere), 216-450-1010, mabelsbbq.com

MELT BAR & GRILLED

WHY WE LOVE IT: When the grilled cheese joint opened in 2006 in Lakewood, no one knew it was the beginning of Matt Fish’s tasty empire decked out in a kitschy kid-friendly ambiance including Halloween blow molds. Come for comfort food that kids and their grown-ups crave (and a large selection of beer and fun cocktails). TRY THIS: With a unique lineup of over-stuffed grilled cheeses, it’s hard to choose just one. Indulge in the deep-fried goodness that is the Monte Cristo ($17.75) filled with honey ham, smoked turkey, Swiss and American cheese and berry preserves for dipping. Various locations, meltbarandgrilled.com

GOOD COMPANY

WHY WE LOVE IT: “Our menu couldn’t be more crowd-pleasing with chicken nuggets, cheeseburgers, French fries and milkshakes,” says owner Will Hollingsworth. “We’ve got a plethora of highchairs and booster seats and are always equipped with coloring sheets and pretty stickers to keep ‘em busy and fuss-free.” TRY THIS: “Good Company has always been family-friendly — we serve the kind of food your kids want, but ... you can feel good about what you’re feeding them,” says Hollingsworth. 1200 West 76th St., Cleveland, 216-331-0318, goodcompanycle.com

COCKY'S: COURTESY COCKY'S / GOOD COMPANY: HEIDI ROLF

NOBLE BEAST BREWING CO.

WHY WE LOVE IT: Locals love the family-owned and operated warm lively micro-brewery serving up creative, seasonal elevated bar food in an industrial brewery space. TRY THIS: Try something different and chow on the Togarashi grain bowl ($11.50) with adzuki beans, wheatberries, sugar snaps, cucumber, scallion, hibachi dressing and Togarashi crunch. 1470 Lakeside Ave. E., Cleveland, 216-417-8588, noblebeastbeer.com

MERWIN’S WHARF

WHY WE LOVE IT: Dine on the Cuyahoga River alongside wildlife at the Metroparks-run relaxed Southernleaning comfort bar and grill that specializes in outdoor dining. TRY THIS: Begin with a locally baked 1.5-pound soft pretzel Merwin’s Big Pretzel ($16) with wharf mustard, queso and Buffalo dip. 1785 Merwin Ave., Cleveland, 216-6645696, clevelandmetroparks.com/parks/visit/parks/ lakefront-reservation/merwin-s-wharf

PINSTRIPES

WHY WE LOVE IT: Decked out with family-friendly activities like bocce and

bowling, showcasing Italian American fare and seasonal gelato, in a two-floor indoor-outdoor space, Pinstripes will keep everyone happy. TRY THIS: Grab a slice of the barbeque chicken pizza topped with balsamic BBQ sauce, roasted onions, mozzarella, corn and calabrese ($18). 111 Park Ave., Beachwood, 216-415-8010, pinstripes.com/cleveland

SOUTHERN CAFE

WHY WE LOVE IT: What’s better than sharing delectable scratch-made soul food with family at one of Cleveland’s long-running staples? We’ll wait. TRY THIS: “The Cajun fried chicken breast

($11) deep is fried to golden perfection with lettuce, tomato and Bayou mayo atop Texas toast. 11817 Detroit Ave., Lakewood, 216-801-4535, southerncafeohio.com

At Judson, independent living is all about enjoying the comforts of home in a vibrant, maintenance-free retirement community. Residents take advantage of diverse, enriching programs that cultivate new friendships, maintain wellness, fuel creativity and ignite new interests. Seniors define an inspirational way of living with peace of mind that comes with access to staff members 24 hours a day should help be needed. Visit us to see how we bring independent living to life.

TOMMY’S RESTAURANT

WHY WE LOVE IT: Stop by the Coventry staple of 51 years for tasty American menu options for vegetarians, vegans, meat-eaters, gluten-free and the health-conscious, and enjoy the best milkshakes east of the Mississippi, according to 1972 Rolling Stone, says owner Tom Fello. TRY THIS: Opt for the famous Emily’s mocha milkshake prepared with local Pierre’s ice cream and Hartzler’s milk. 1824 Coventry Road, 216-321-7757 tommyscoventry.com

WEST SIDE MARKET CAFE

WHY WE LOVE IT: While you’re shopping from the quality purveyors in the historic 1912-built West Side Market, sit down for a homestyle meal. TRY THIS: Munch on the corned beef Reuben ($16) starring grilled corned beef, Swiss cheese, 1000 island dressing and slaw on grilled rye. 1979 W. 25th St., Cleveland, 216-579-6800, westsidemarketcafe.com

WINKING LIZARD

WHY WE LOVE IT: With a wide range of burgers, pizzas, ribs, sauce-drenched wings, a massive beer (and whiskey and bourbon) selection, and sports on the TVs, the Winking Lizard has become synonymous with “casual bar eats” with its 16 Ohio locations. TRY THIS: You can’t go wrong with a 10-pack of breaded boneless wings tossed in your favorite Lizard sauce ($10). There are 20-plus sauce choices. 16 locations in the state, winkinglizard.com

VAN AKEN DISTRICT MARKET HALL

WHY WE LOVE IT: If everyone can’t agree, let each family member choose their own vendor ranging from pizza to craft beers and coffee. TRY THIS: Scorpacciata Pasta Co. makes orecchiette ($15) made with fennel sausage, wine butter sauce, kalamata olive, broccoli rabe, Calabrian chili, pecorino and breadcrumbs.

3441 Tuttle Road, Shaker Heights, 216-491-8800, thevanakendistrict.com

OHIO PIE CO.

WHY WE LOVE IT: Inventor of Ohio-style pizza featuring massive helping of toppings all the way to the edge, sauce swirl and square cut, Nick Robson’s popular original location is a “super kid-friendly one with free arcade games.” TRY THIS: Ohio Pie is known for its rotating selection of inventive special pies, but “a good pepperoni pizza ($18) is a perfect food,” says Robson. Stop by on the weekend for brunch pies. 1315 1/2 Pearl Road, Brunswick, 330-741-4117, ohiopieco.com

A February train derailment, chemical spill and burn disrupted the easygoing pace of a small Ohio village, thrusting it into global conversations around freight systems and environmental regulations. Months later, with cleanup crews still buzzing around town, the fabric of East Palestine is forever changed.

THE NIGHTMARE THE NIGHTMARE THE NIGHTMARE THE NIGHTMARE

THE NIGHTMARE THE NIGHTMARE

written by ANNIE NICKOLOFF photographed by STEVEN RICE

Towns whose names come from other places. East Liverpool. New Waterford. East Springfield, New Springfield. Different towns with their own identities but similar scenery: corn fields, country roads, farm stands, sun-dappled trees. Rusty yellow play sets, standing dewy in the sprawling city park.

A rural calm.

And before crossing into Pennsylvania, there’s East Palestine: the village of 4,700 people, the village pronounced “Palest-een,” the village of the Bulldogs sports teams, the village with a welcome sign that touts the parks, schools, churches, businesses and library, and states it is “the place to be.”

It’s the home of taverns and candle stores; of farmers and teachers; of store managers and railroad workers; of families and children. A slice of ordinary and special small-town America.

One weekend in February, this piece of Ohio became the grounds of an ecological disaster that dominated conversations around the world, injecting media coverage and political discourse into the everyday lives of its residents. It was a disaster that left East Palestine’s future in limbo.

In February, the energy in this town — like the string of derailed train cars carrying chemicals on the tracks that slice East Palestine in half — caught fire.

THE FIRE

LESS THAN 300 FEET away from the OhioPennsylvania border sits the State Line Tavern, a

low-key biker bar with a pool league and weekly wing and taco specials. The squat, blue building is neighbored by a matching blue house with an American flag strung to its garage door.

Open from roughly 10 a.m. until 2 a.m., 365 days a year, including on holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving, naturally, the State Line Tavern is open on the first Friday of February. Kelly Berresford, who works nights, slings drinks behind the bar, while her husband Terry Berresford winds down, wrapping up his day shift. It’s the one part of the day where the couple’s hours overlap.

Regulars order beers and rack pool balls at two green-felted tables, chatting with Kelly, celebrating the end of the work week. The old-school stained glass light fixtures glint off the games below.

It’s an average Friday night until it isn’t. Around 9 p.m., Kelly hears the familiar screech of a train’s brakes — but louder. Much louder.

It interrupts the normal hum of the State Line Tavern, and the steady background noise of East Palestine’s stream of freights.

In the moment, Kelly doesn’t think much of it. She keeps working.

Minutes later, a customer slams open the metal door.

“It’s all on fire,” he shouts.

Outside, a line of flames paints the sky into an orange horizon, just down the tracks that cut through the bar’s backyard. Moments later, sirens wail. Police arrive, ordering everyone to evacuate the area. Meanwhile loyal customers plead with Kelly: “Can I have just one more beer?”

In the night, as bar-goers pull out of the gravel parking lot, a stream of firetrucks blares in from 50 Ohio and Pennsylvania departments, squealing down the two-lane road and toward the blaze.

Just one block down the street, somehow avoiding Leake Oil Co. and other structures, 38 train cars had slipped off the tracks, now in a tangled mess in a stand of trees and brush. A thick black smoke billows into the night sky, out of the wreckage, visible in the light of the fire that sparks in some of the cars.

Soon, that smoke creeps into the glow of the village’s streetlights.

Around that time, in a different part of town, Misti Allison gets her two kids to bed — what she calls “the bedtime hustle” — after spending the evening at her second-grade son’s basketball practice. Her family group text lights up with

The most eastern part of Northeast Ohio is filled with hills hugging the edge of Appalachia, where a tight-knit cluster of towns rises out of the valleys around rivers and creeks and train lines.

a message from her sister-in-law about a train accident nearby.

“Sometimes they happen, train wrecks,” Allison says, “but it’s typically a train hitting a car that goes through the crossing.”

Allison and her family soon hear sirens, from somewhere beyond their residential neighborhood tucked between East Palestine High School and a patch of woods. While she settles her 1-yearold daughter in for the night, her husband, Aaron, steps down their home’s long winding driveway — and witnesses a glowing fireball in the distance.

He rushes back inside, and the couple watches for news updates that night.

Then, like their kids, they go to sleep.

“In hindsight, if we would have known what was on that train, we would have woken our kids up and left town that night,” Allison says, “but we had no idea.”

In another corner of town, Katie Beight wakes up from a couch nap, groggy, to a friend’s phone call urging her to look outside her window at the smoke. “Shut up and leave me alone,” she responds grumpily.

But her friend persists. Something is off. Beight shuffles to her window, trying to shake off the

sleepiness at the end of the work week.

Then, she's instantly awake. Flames and smoke mix in the night air — and it’s not long before a police cruiser drives down the street, its loudspeaker crackling.

“Please evacuate the area.”

Beight stands, frozen, for a few moments before gathering her family and her two cats. With her neighbor, she darts to another house in town, further away from the blaze.

A smell, and a feeling, blankets the village of East Palestine that night. The smell: something chemical, between melting wires and melting plastic, says Beight.

The feeling: chaos.

THE EVACUATION

BEFORE POLICE CRUISER LIGHTS flash into windows and before authorities rap on front doors that weekend, locals learn of the event in a telephone game of calls and text messages. A train derailed. Get away.

On Friday night, Sidney Smith sits with family at her parents' house with her brother, who’s home from Chicago for the weekend. Her cousin, also in

A February train derailment still haunts the residents of East Palestine and its neighboring towns.

Norfolk Southern train 32N began in Madison, Illinois, and was en route to Conway, Pennsylvania, when it derailed in East Palestine.

town, calls. “Look out your window.”

Smith and her family peer out of the doorway at a strange, threatening glow just a quarter-mile away from the home, creating a doomy silhouette of the barn and silos on their property. “Holy cow,” Smith says.

Worried that the fire could consume the backyard’s woods, the family treks to the top of a nearby hill: a vantage point to see through the trees. There, they see an inferno along the train tracks in the distance.

“I called my fiance, and I was like, ‘Hey, you might want to get out of the house,’” Smith recalls.

Smith’s fiance hurries out of downtown, from the apartment the two share above 1820 Candle Co., where Smith works with her mother. A drive that typically takes five minutes lengthens into a 35-minute snarl.

“By the time he got to my parent’s house, that was when the troopers and sheriffs pulled up, and they were like, ‘Hey, you guys have got to go,’” Sidney says. “Then we packed everything up and left.”

Meanwhile, for Melissa “Moo” Blake, the derailment interrupts her first day in a new home.

“I’ve been homeless for a while. I was sleeping on peoples’ couches. I was sleeping out of my truck,” Blake says. “Community Action got me

my own apartment the day before all this — that Thursday.”

On Friday, Blake scrubs the apartment (located a bit more than a mile away from the derailment) and starts to settle in, when she gets word about the train. The apartment manager tells her and fellow residents that they can stay that weekend, or leave — “as long as we’re off the street,” she says — and Blake remains in her new space on Friday and Saturday.

While there, Blake smells the smoke, carrying a chemical scent into her apartment — one that stands apart from her cleaning supplies. She develops a cough that later brings her to Salem Hospital and, she says, a diagnosis of acute bronchitis.

The fumes flow over the weekend. Firefighters discover flammable carcinogens on board several tank cars and decide to let the contents burn out, evacuating a one-mile radius around the scene.

Videos of residents and various angles of the fire, visible from backyards and driveways, surface on TikTok and Twitter. Residents share photos of blankets draped over windows, doors taped shut, comments about the smell — some say it’s slightly sweet; some note the nose-punch of formaldehyde and chlorine.

Social media, as it so often does, becomes the

EAST PALESTINE FEB. 3, 8:55 P.M.

PITTSBURGH

CONWAY

OHIO PENNSYLVANIA

messy grounds of information-gathering and check-ins and early-stage storytelling.

Here, the train itself comes into focus: a Norfolk Southern freight, just one of thousands of locomotives that traverse the company’s extensive web of tracks. Since 2018, the company has experienced more than 250 accidents per year, according to federal data.

In East Palestine, the train cars, scattered like toppled dominoes on a weedy field, smolder over the weekend. Another tick in the 2023 accident tally.

By Sunday morning, the flames mostly burn out, flaring through tank cars of chemicals like polyvinyl, polyethylene and butyl acrylates and, also, a hopper of semolina grains and a boxcar of frozen vegetables.

This is, it turns out, just the beginning.

Several tank cars contain 115,580 gallons — about six backyard swimming pools’ worth — of vinyl chloride, a toxic chemical used to create plastics for PVC pipes and car upholstery. And in one of those cars, a malfunctioning relief valve.

Over the weekend, while other cars smolder and extinguish, the temperature in one rises.

Here’s what happens when vinyl chloride is exposed to heat: an exothermic, rapid polymerization reaction. It gets really hot, really quickly. A potential for explosion.

A metal train car, pressure building, building, building until it might burst.

Oh, and in this situation, it is also surrounded by thousands of gallons of other flammable chemicals, lurking in damaged cars and leaked puddles.

And beyond all of that, a small village.

More evacuations. First-responders knock door-to-door. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine activates the National Guard on Sunday night to assist with the response.

“They were telling us that we either had to leave, or they’re coming back with body bags; that was the sheriff, knocking on our doors Sunday, for the controlled release,” Blake remembers. “Everyone met down at the playground at the park.”

Many of the village’s 4,600 residents leave, staying in hotels or with family and friends nearby, or not-so-nearby. Some choose to stay; others can’t go. The American Red Cross opens an evacuation center inside the high school gymnasium on Saturday morning and hosts more than 100 overnight stays that weekend.

Not too far away, the heat ticks up and up in the train car.

People in the small cluster of towns look to state leaders — DeWine and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro — for action. As the pressure builds, they consider two primary paths.

“One option was to do nothing and wait for the car to explode … which would result in shrapnel going out, close to a mile,” DeWine says in a Feb. 14 news conference recapping the incident. “We also looked at what the danger was from a controlled release, which is what the railroad felt should be done.”

Together, the two governors decide on the controlled release suggested by Norfolk Southern. They alert nearby residents.

On Monday, Feb. 6, at around 4:15 p.m., the release begins with shaped charges: explosives, punched into the rail car walls, allowing its contents to spill out into a trench, some seeping into the soil. And this chemical — which “can be deadly if inhaled,” according to a DeWine release — is then ignited.

A plume of dark-gray smoke rises into the sky.

THE RELEASE

FURTHER FROM EAST PALESTINE, some neighboring residents aren’t as tuned in to the controlled release until it occurs. In Chippewa, Pennsylvania, Tyler Bevington hadn’t worried much about the weekend’s events until his daughter is sent home early from Blackhawk schools on Monday afternoon.

Bevington's daughter gets off the bus sniffling.

"She didn’t know what was going on. I don’t know exactly what they told them, but she came home crying because she knows I run around and work a lot,” Bevington says. “She didn’t know if I was home, or what; if [the release] had actually went off, or what.”

Bevington, his family and a friend all load into the car and drive away from their home, located

“By the time he got to my parent’s house, that was when the troopers and sheriffs pulled up, and they were like, ‘Hey, you guys have got to go.' Then we packed everything up and left.”

– SIDNEY SMITH

about 10 miles away from the derailment, and head 30 miles away to Robinson, a Pittsburgh suburb.

Once there, their eyes fix on their phones, watching for updates about the weekend’s events on local news and social media. After dinner, Bevington goes back home to take care of his dog and cat — driving straight into a wall of smoke from the controlled release.

“It was night and day, literally,” Bevington says.

That night, Bevington feels a cough in his throat.

“I was trying not to be a hypochondriac,” Bevington says. “I felt stuff in my chest, a very itchy, irritated feeling in my chest. It’s just a scary thought.”

Moving closer — roughly five miles away from the derailment site, near the border between Columbiana and East Palestine — Emily Wright and her family hunker down on Monday afternoon, waiting for the controlled release. Living in a multigenerational household with both her grandmother and her father, who has a disability, Wright says she didn’t have time to arrange for her family to get out of town.

After picking her daughter up from school, Wright and her family change their home’s air filter, tightly lock all their windows and wait. And wait.

The dog scratches at the door, pleading to go outside. Wright eyes the sky through her whiterimmed glasses and checks her watch, as minutes tick by the scheduled controlled release time of 3:30 p.m. She lets her dog out, and takes care of other things around the house. She brings the dog back in.

It’s not until around 6 p.m., when she starts feeling a little wheezy, that she realizes something is amiss.

Then, Wright looks out her home’s northfacing window. “It was night, but not night, and you couldn’t see the normal lights over in

Youngstown,” she says.

Closer, still, to East Palestine, Danielle and Geoff Miller catch whiffs of chlorine in their Enon Valley, Pennsylvania, home on Saturday and Sunday. It causes a burning sensation in Danielle's throat, nose and eyes — so intense, that she wears a face mask at all times to ease her symptoms.

On Monday, Geoff heads to work in Cranberry, Pennsylvania, about 20 miles away. Then, the home is eerily quiet. Even the birds are quiet, Danielle remembers.

All day, she listens intently, expecting to hear the boom of an explosion during the controlled release.

Instead, early that evening, she hears a series of pops. She slides open her back door, steps outside and gapes: A black column of smoke rises high into the sky over neighbors’ farms and forests on the hillside.

It grows larger. Closer.

“When I saw the plume, looking almost like an atom bomb, if you will, and then I saw the cloud of that, coming closer and closer to our house, and then it was over our house, it was one of the scariest feelings I’ve ever felt,” Danielle says. “And then I started to smell it. I immediately put my cat in her kennel and stuck her in the car and started driving.”

Danielle, like many of the residents of this small cluster of small towns, leaves her home and, for the next few days, desperately seeks information.

Details trickle slowly out of DeWine’s office, slowly out of Norfolk Southern’s office, letters and notes from President and CEO Alan Shaw.

Slowly, out of the Ohio Department of Health, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, department of whatever.

Out of sprawling Twitter threads and community Facebook pages.

Out of TikTok videos of dead fish, slowly drifting in East Palestine’s streams.

Out of Instagram Reels showing the same train moving, on fire, in Salem, Ohio, 20 miles before the derailment.

Details, details slowly come to light, of what, exactly, happened in East Palestine on that February weekend.

Meanwhile, Norfolk Southern quietly repairs the rail line next to the cleanup site. Within one week, trains begin to rumble through East Palestine once again. The freights slow as they pass the scorched, crumpled metal husks and polluted dirt.

“When I saw the plume, looking almost like an atom bomb, if you will, and then I saw the cloud of that, coming closer and closer to our house, and then it was over our house, it was one of the scariest feelings I’ve ever felt.”

– DANIELLE MILLER

THE MEETING

ON FEB. 15, nine days after the derailment, the sun sets behind the sprawling high school grounds while a line forms outside the gymnasium. Families and friends huddle in conversation, broken only by the bright lights of TV cameras and microphones.

“I need to get away from them,” one woman says, scowling and hobbling away from an inquiring TV news reporter, moving closer to the glass doors.

On this unseasonably warm winter day, hundreds of locals gather to find answers to their questions. Mothers carry fussy toddlers; adults wheel their elderly parents along the walkway; nonprofit agencies hand out pamphlets, down the line, one after another, as the dusk shifts to darkness.

Inside the lobby are rows of snacks, water, coloring books, disinfectant wipes and laundry detergent for folks to take home. Signs share the names of agencies and organizations present — with Norfolk Southern’s name scribbled out in pen.

On the wall above the visitor’s side, a big mural of an angry-looking, sharp-toothed bulldog snarls above a set of bleachers that quickly fills with people. The room is tense, full of chatter and questions and, yes, some answers, but none from Norfolk Southern.

The railroad announced just hours before that it would not be in attendance due to threats against workers.

“Railroad’s not here,” snorts one woman, chatting with her church group against a side wall of the gymnasium. “We weren’t important enough for that.”

Mayor Trent Conaway, in his bright blue polo shirt and blue jeans, handles the role of emcee, carrying the microphone to speakers. Amplified voices bounce around the gymnasium, echoing off the brick and bleachers as the crowd quiets and roars, breaking into applause following residents’ comments about media coverage and property values and health — always returning to health.

A child, no more than 10 or 11 years old, asks about the smell. A man says he breathed the smoke the night of the train crash and thought he was going to die. A row of densely packed television cameras line one end of the gymnasium, lenses focusing to capture the sights and sounds that make up news reports widely circulated the following day.

Crinkled hand-painted posters impose cheering phrases like “Learn To Take The HEAT, You’re About To Get BEAT” and “DAWGS GOTTA EAT” above the filled stands, as residents repeat the biggest question about symptoms anecdotally experienced by many East Palestine residents — and their concerns for future health developments from their exposure to the toxins released into their village. Asthma. Autoimmune conditions. Cancer.

Promises, promises, promises from the railroad company that didn’t show up. The scientists and doctors, who look small on the floor in front of this mass of people, explain their careful measurements and studies and details around volatile organic compounds and the dynamics of odor thresholds. They traverse the delicate, contaminated ground of East Palestine. Somewhere underneath another student-made poster reading “Be LOUD Or Go Sit With UR MOM,” another

A town hall brought East Palestine and neighboring towns' residents together shortly after the derailment.

man’s voice interrupts, repeats the same booming question no one can quite completely figure out.

“WHY ARE PEOPLE GETTING SICK?”

And the “why” of it is given some mix of answers and non-answers, as the people — the hundreds of residents — an hour later leave the gymnasium with a collective sigh and go home.

THE PARADE

IN THE WEEKS FOLLOWING the train derailment, more and more town halls and meetings fill spaces in East Palestine. News crews film remediation efforts in small creeks; they interview residents in front lawns and lug camera equipment as close to the derailment site as possible, often ignored by Norfolk Southern employees in orange vests. Cameras zoom in on minnows, bobbing belly-up in the water.

Ordinary people show up, hoping to help. A “Jeep invasion” brings hundreds of Jeep enthusiasts into the village to support local businesses. Fundraisers and benefits pop up all over Northeast Ohio, donating proceeds to those affected. Some Ohioans, like Rob McFadden, who drove in from Canton on the night of the Feb. 15 town hall meeting, also hope to do a little good. McFadden loaded up his van with 60 cases of bottled water, and handed them out to anyone who walked by.

“It’s not left versus right. It’s haves versus havenots,” says McFadden, who grew up as a selfprofessed “punk kid.” Later, referring to Norfolk Southern, he’s more pointed: “Corporations are f------ cowards.”

After missing the town hall event, Norfolk Southern's Alan Shaw makes his way to East Palestine in the next few weeks, eventually meeting in focus groups with local leaders and residents to address concerns and ensure cleanup efforts.

The Environmental Protection Agency gets involved early on, ordering Norfolk Southern to cover the city’s cleanup costs. Teams dig trenches, unearth soil and pile it into large blue canisters. Air testing stations pop up around town, wired to telephone poles near intersections and standing on spindly tripods, probing the air for harm.

Weeks after the derailment, data from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources reveals that carcinogens in local streams killed an estimated 38,222 minnows and 5,500 other aquatic creatures. Necropsies for a variety of other deceased animals (one calf, three birds, one opossum, four

raccoons, one muskrat and one snapping turtle) do not determine chemical toxicity as the cause of death.

Anecdotally, nearby residents share photos and stories of sick and dead foxes, chickens, dogs and cats on social media.

A preliminary National Transportation Safety Board investigation determines the likely cause of the derailment: a faulty wheel bearing, which overheated and failed. The train, on its way from Madison, Illinois, to Conway, Pennsylvania, had passed through Cleveland earlier in the day, before it derailed about 22 miles away from its destination.

Working conditions for Norfolk Southern employees surface; the derailment occurred not all that long after a 2022 labor dispute between freight companies and their workers, where unions pushed back against strict attendance and on-call policies, a lack of sick days and low pay.

The ongoing conversation hones in on a system used by most freight trains today called “precision scheduled railroading.” The model, introduced in the ‘90s, emphasizes long trains and simplified routes. In recent years, freight trains have sometimes reached hulking, miles-long sizes that can cause safety and mechanical issues.

In 2019, Norfolk Southern rolled out its own precision scheduled railroading plan, which would make its operations more efficient and “drive long-term shareholder value.”

One month after the East Palestine derailment, 28 Norfolk Southern train cars derail in Springfield, Ohio, on March 4. They slide diagonally down the tracks, cramming and crumpling.

“NO hazmat involved. NO injuries reported,” tweets Norfolk Southern spokesman Connor Spielmaker. “There is NO risk to the public.”

“My mom always told me, ‘Either you find a way, or you find an excuse,’” Allison says. “So it’s time to learn from this and move forward together. Let’s find a way. Not another excuse.”

– MISTI ALLISON

Soon, East Palestine welcomes politicians. Sens. Sherrod Brown and J.D. Vance; Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg; former President Donald Trump, who disperses pallets of Trump-branded bottled water.

Activist and paralegal Erin Brockovich takes particular interest in the village, visiting multiple times, hosting a massive town hall where she and a team of lawyers including trial attorney Mikal Watts present a case for litigation against Norfolk Southern.

Experiencing lingering symptoms like a burning throat, fatigue and headaches following the derailment, Danielle Miller, a fan of Brockovich’s past work taking on groundwater contamination cases in the ‘90s, briefly meets Brockovich following the event. They snap a smiling selfie together.

“It was such a terrible way to get to meet somebody so amazing,” Danielle remembers. “To hear Erin and her team, during that meeting, say that it really, truly, is very bad, it was almost like a relief, in a very strange way. I was like, ‘Wow, somebody’s actually being honest with us.’”

THE FORWARD MOVEMENT

IN LATE MARCH, Misti Allison heads to Washington, D.C., to share her family’s story with a Senate committee. Seated in a rectangular ring of representatives and senators, she dons a red “Moms Clean Air Force” pin underneath a pearl necklace, and gives nearly four minutes of testimony.

She talks about her family’s fear of potential health and economic consequences — her 7-yearold son, who asked if he would die from living in their home. She mentions her community’s distrust with Norfolk Southern, and residents’ demands, which include healthcare monitoring, home value protection and an economic development plan for the village.

And in the midst of all of that, she shares a story about her mother, who died after a long battle with cancer just weeks after the derailment.

“My mom always told me, ‘Either you find a way, or you find an excuse,’” Allison says. “So it’s time to learn from this and move forward together. Let’s find a way. Not another excuse.”

Norfolk Southern disperses funds, initially giving $1,000 payouts to cover displaced and affected families. The company establishes a scholarship for graduating high school students. It donates a historic train depot to the city.

While the air and drinking water test clean for contaminants, Norfolk Southern continues to scrub East Palestine’s surface waterways. Humming generators power air sparging in Leslie Run and Sulphur Run, where bursts of water and volatile organic compounds shoot out of the creek in flagged-off sections.

Brokovich establishes the East Palestine Justice group of attorneys to represent some residents. Other law groups do the same.

Dozens of local businesses, residents and organizations file lawsuits against Norfolk Southern, later consolidating into one. Lawsuits arrive from local school districts, including Pennsylvania’s Blackhawk schools, Ambridge Area schools and Western Beaver County schools. The Justice Department files a lawsuit stating that Norfolk Southern violated both the Clean Water Act and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act. A federal lawsuit from Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost aims to keep Norfolk Southern accountable in its cleanup efforts of the “entirely avoidable” incident.

Meanwhile, a bipartisan group including Ohio Sens. Brown and Vance introduces the Railway Safety Act of 2023 to the Senate on March 1. The legislation aims to improve safety standards for trains which carry hazardous materials, update inspection requirements, maintain defect detectors and ensure freight train crews consist of at least two people, among other regulations.

The “common sense” bill meets opposition.

Norfolk Southern’s Alan Shaw testifies before the Senate on March 9, glancing down with a furrowed brow to read through pages of measured notes to the room of political leaders. When asked if he would commit to supporting the Railway Safety Act, Shaw sidesteps the question, saying he’s committed to the “legislative intent” of the bill.

Saying he’s “determined to make this right” and that Norfolk Southern “will be in the community for as long as it takes” to clean up, Shaw cites the millions of dollars the company has put toward remediation and local assistance.

As of June 9, the company has spent $36.5 million on East Palestine, according to its website. The number continues to rise.

Some more numbers: In 2022, Norfolk Southern’s operating revenue reached a record $12.7 billion. That same year, Shaw made $9.8 million in total compensation — double the $4.7 million he was paid the year prior.

On the same day that Shaw testifies, news breaks of another Norfolk Southern train derailment. This time, approximately 30 cars in Calhoun County, Alabama.

Weeks later, on May 10, a Senate committee votes to advance the legislation. The bill inches forward.

Steps forward, and steps back. In East Palestine and its surrounding communities, residents remain on edge about the event and its aftermath.

These days, Danielle Miller says she feels more alert when dozens of trains rumble by her Enon Valley home. Miller, who grew up in nearby Darlington, used to enjoy the sound — the familiar rumble of home.

“It was just part of your daily life. Now I am noticing every train, and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, I did not know we had this many trains,’” Miller says. “It’s almost like you just stop and brace yourself. And I don’t like the sound of trains anymore at all.”

Wright, through her work with River Valley Organizing, a nonprofit based in the Appalachian Ohio River Valley, has signed hundreds of residents up for independent soil and water testing. RVO has also worked to establish long-term studies through local universities, while supporting federal policy changes.

Back at the State Line Tavern, Terry and Kelly Berresford wait, unable to reopen their business while cleanup efforts remain underway on East Taggart Street.

STRANGER THAN FICTION

Many compared the train derailment, the controlled release, the towering mass of smoke, to a pivotal “Airborne Toxic Event” chapter in Don DeLillo’s 1985 novel White Noise (The novel’s film adaptation starring Adam Driver arrived in late 2022, with parts of the movie filmed in Salem, Ohio, not far from East Palestine.)

In the book, a train crash creates an explosion, and a cloud: “a shapeless growing thing. A dark black breathing thing of smoke” — “a feathery plume” — rising above Blacksmith, a quiet, unextraordinary part of America. With little clear information, town residents evacuate that night, hoping to escape the health consequences of the event.

Most days, a security guard waves these familiar faces through the locked-down street and most days, the Berresfords straighten things up at the bar. After they’ve been there for an hour or so, Kelly says she experiences headaches and a tingling sensation, and Terry, a tightness in his chest and coughing.

So they don’t stay for too long. Sometimes, when they head home, they bring some of the beer, inching closer to its expiration date, with them — ready to host another party on their porch.

In May, they traveled to Europe, celebrating five years of marriage and 30 years together. (“We work morning, noon and night,” Kelly says, wearing her dirty-blond hair in a signature high partponytail. “It was fun, and we didn’t have time to take out for a wedding.”)

Now, they have plenty of time on their hands. Every day, they come in from their home in a nearby Pennsylvania suburb, unlock the doors, check the coolers and make sure things are in working order.

When they get closer to knowing when they’ll reopen, the couple plans on bringing in a professional cleaning company to make sure the bar is disinfected and cleared of any potential contamination.

“I don’t want to get that soil and all that tested right now. What’s the use? You don’t know what you’re facing until they actually get out of here and say, ‘We’ve made you whole again, and everything’s back to normal,’” Kelly says. “Hopefully, that will happen, but I think it’s going to be a while.”

“We’re trusting the railroad,” Terry says. “We’re just sitting back and waiting, and hoping they’re sincere about everything, and will take care of us eventually.”

Elsewhere in town, efforts help residents in a variety of ways. On April 10, DeWine and state officials open the permanent East Liverpool City

Hospital East Palestine Clinic, which replaces a temporary clinic formerly opened to address derailment-related health concerns. DeWine, his wife, Fran, and East Liverpool City Hospital CEO Krista McFadden smile at the event, slicing through a blue ribbon with a pair of cartoonish, oversized blue scissors.

On that same day, a truck carrying 20 tons of contaminated soil away from East Palestine crashes on an Ohio highway. It topples onto its side and empties 20,000 pounds of its contents onto the asphalt. The spill is contained shortly after.

THE IMPACT

SINCE THOSE INITIAL DAYS of the derailment’s spills and smoke, EPA tests say the air is safe to breathe and the tap water is safe to drink. Any form of long-term adverse health effects, including cancer and autoimmune issues, are yet to be seen.

But there’s more to the derailment than spills and smoke. Public perception creates a host of concerns for East Palestine businesses’ revival.

In the months after the derailment, some consumers avoided food products from the East Palestine area. In late February, Giant Eagle removed water sourced from a plant located 25 miles away from the village, despite tests revealing no issues with the product.

Jeremy Haffey, co-owner of Haffey Family Farm, has seen negative perceptions of the area, but still gets support for his family’s business. The farm grows much of its produce on land in Enon Valley, Pennsylvania, two miles from the derailment. Haffey, his wife, Kim, and their three children grow and sell a wide range of fruits and vegetables at farmers markets and through CSA programs.

When the derailment occurred — and especially during the controlled release — Haffey Family Farm managed to avoid most of the smoke when wind pushed the cloud south.

Weeks later, the Haffeys tested their soil. The re-

“We’re trusting the railroad. We’re just sitting back and waiting, and hoping they’re sincere about everything, and will take care of us eventually.”

– TERRY BERRESFORD

sults showed the land was clean.

“We can confidently say that, with our products, they’re free of the toxins that you might find closer to the cities,” Jeremy says, “honestly, from steel mills and the pollution from them.”

Together, the family plants seeds in early March: asparagus, cabbage, kale. A few weeks later, onions and potatoes; then, transplants of small lettuce and strawberry plants; winding zucchini and yellow squash; corn and green beans. All these tiny green stems planted into a five-acre plot of land that only grows more lush, more green, as the season warms up.

That wintertime scare, feeling so long ago now, lingers for some customers. It doesn’t deter the Haffeys.

“We’ve seen a little bit of impact on the business but not a huge amount,” Jeremy says. “It still has given a little bit of fear to those who were closer. In the general area where the train derailed, people just are concerned.”

At Tall Pines Farms, a grass-fed beef and lamb farm in Darlington Township, Rachel Wagoner is still waiting to see the effect the derailment will

have on her business. The farm, which has been in her husband’s family for four generations, seemed unaffected that February weekend, at least.

“Animals, while they don’t have complex and nuanced emotions like humans do, they do have emotions and do experience stress,” Wagoner says. “I kept an eye on everyone and everyone seemed totally fine, which I think is a pretty good indication we were OK, at least from acute impacts … but it’s been weird to be a person saying, ‘I don’t know, everything seems okay to me.’”

The business, mainly focused on direct-toconsumer sales, has only 10 cows to sell this year. Wagoner says she’s already sold some of the cows and hasn’t seen reluctance from former customers.

“I’m on the cusp of maybe finding out if there is some hesitancy to buy our beef,” Wagoner says. “While I haven’t had losses yet, I haven’t sold any beef from this year yet. I might know at the end of the year whether my business is down overall, and whether I can attribute it to this train derailment.”

Some businesses receive boosts of support but still worry about attitudes toward East Palestine.

Cleanup efforts remain underway in parts of East Palestine, including in the field behind the State Line Tavern.

1820 Candle Co. got an influx of orders when Cleveland author and columnist Connie Schultz shares a post about them on Facebook.

Still, manager Sidney Smith worries people won’t visit the store — a sleek, modern space where Lulu the pug regularly stands watch in the front window. Shelves of neatly arranged candles give off a variety of scents, including the Rust Belt Line featuring fragrances inspired by states in the region.

The shop smells warm and clean. Nothing like the chemical-laden smoke which plagued the village in February.

“You don’t even see the derailment on the main drag of town. To me, it’s freewill: If you’re scared, I don’t blame it, you can stay out,” Smith says, in late March. “If you want to come into town but you’re unsure, this is just somebody local saying it: I think it’s OK. We’re not growing new arms and eyes and legs.”

Smith and her fiance, busy planning their wedding for next year, look to buy a house, building their future in East Palestine.

“Personally, we feel comfortable being here,”

Smith says. “I think we’re just going to continue toward doing that, and definitely keep an eye out and be cautious, definitely know what kinds of things are going on but, I guess, hope for the best and keep optimistic that everything’s gonna go well.”

East Palestine’s schools are still grappling with the derailment. After canceling classes for a week, extracurriculars faced challenges getting back on track for the remaining semester. Some competing sports teams refused to travel to East Palestine for games. Drama students picked up their rehearsals and squeezed in a long-overdue performance of The Lion King Jr.

Teachers, many of whom live in the village, instructed classes of in-person, displaced and remote students.

Gregg Brown is a psychiatric case manager at PsyCare who works at East Palestine schools. He and his family live in East Liverpool, about 11 miles away from the village, but he sends his kids to the school district, lauding its special needs programs — a good fit for his two children who are on the autism spectrum.

Overall, following the derailment, Brown sees

Crews clean East Palestine's creeks with an air sparging technique in the months following the derailment.

the challenges faced not only by students but also the teachers expected to run classes every day following the February turbulence.

“I feel that the teaching staff needs to get more flowers than what they’re getting,” says Brown. “Like, 30% of the staff lives locally, that are dealing with this every day personally, whether it’s protecting their children, protecting themselves, their own valuables, their home, and then going and working and trying to make sure that they maintain their professionalism and maintain the safety of their students.”

In the months following the derailment, as schools let out for the summer, as media slows down its 24/7 coverage of the village, as crews clean up the chemicals in creeks, as Norfolk Southern doles out funds, as businesses get back on track and as legislation creeps forward, many East Palestine residents look toward an eventual return to normal.

Allison and her family, who moved from Cleveland to East Palestine (her husband Aaron’s hometown), long for the easygoing, quiet small-town feel they achieved when they landed here in 2019, just before the pandemic.

The kind of place with tight-knit churches, a cute downtown and plenty of woods and creeks for little ones to adventure in. The kind of place where kids pedal their bikes down slow neighborhood streets as the lights come on at night.

“We don’t want to have adverse health effects, years down the road, because we chose to stay here,” Allison says.

“We chose to move here because we wanted to raise our children in small town America,” she continues. “We just love being in East Palestine, and our goal is to be in East Palestine for the rest of our lives. Now with this train derailment, we still want to do that — but only if it’s safe.”

THE HOPE

THE STATE LINE TAVERN lingers behind a “Road Closed” sign and a security checkpoint nearly two months after the crash.

Rumors initially floated around town that the business was destroyed, burned down in the wreckage, Terry says — and townspeople haven’t been able to get close enough to see for themselves that the small tavern still stands, much like it did before the derailment.

On the back wall, faded photos and funeral pro-

grams of longtime patrons are taped to the wood paneling. A few T-shirts are for sale, too, with a flaming motorcycle paired with the restaurant’s name on the back, and a simple phrase on the front: “F--- around and find out.”

When the Berresfords come in, occasionally they struggle to find a place to park next to the tankers and trucks that swarm their bar’s parking lot during the cleanup effort.

Standing on the back patio’s raised platform on an overcast day, they silently watch workers in orange vests shape and monitor the mounds of contaminated soil in the tavern’s backyard, covered by plastic tarps.

Frowning, they walk back inside.

While some dumps have turned away this contaminated soil, much of it has been taken in Michigan and Ohio and burned in incinerators.

It’s been a slow process.

“We chose to move here because we wanted to raise our children in small town America. We just love being in East Palestine, and our goal is to be in East Palestine for the rest of our lives. Now with this train derailment, we still want to do that — but only if it’s safe.”

– MISTI ALLISON

They say they haven’t heard anything from Norfolk Southern about compensation. They say they plan to host a big party when they reopen the bar, inviting all of the orangevested workers who have been busy in their backyard for months. They say they’ve been told they may be able to reopen the bar, that this cleanup should be done, by September or October.

The date has been pushed back multiple times.

Out back, this hill of soil, moved from the derailment site 500 yards down the tracks, has piled up and down, trucked out of the Berresfords' property, since February. The process is ongoing in June — trucks, still, lifting and moving the contaminants.

Still cleaning up.

Here is where the smell hits you. It sneaks into what should smell like asphalt and a grassy field and stale beer. Instead, the smell of chemicals, of plastic, unplaceable and bad. Standing on the bar’s back patio, the corners of a headache fold in, months after the derailment.

Leaving the bar, the smell dissipates. It’s left behind, but not completely gone. This one lingering reminder of the nightmare in East Palestine.

CAMPING THE CUYAHOGA VALLEY

A former summer camp gets new life as a private campground with cozy glamping and cabin stays: the first of its kind in Cuyahoga National Park.

BY WRITER ART BY ARTIST

CAMPING the CUYAHOGA VALLEY

VALLEY OVERLOOK

Aloud pop shakes us from the hypnotic spell of the campfire that continues to blaze long after the s’more-making is done. The popping embers dance and spin in front of our tent like flickering stars, rising toward the canopy of trees that have stood guard over the ancient rite of roasting marshmallows at Camp Mueller for generations.

Located within the boundaries of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Peninsula, Ohio, the long-running summer camp was heaven for the countless urban youth who ventured into the park’s verdant embrace. Each summer, the children would experience a symphony of chirping birds, rustling leaves and crackling fires instead

of the usual rhythm of life in Cleveland only 30 minutes away.

Now, the former summer camp is being transformed into a private campground for all ages that promises an unforgettable overnight with instant access to history, wildlife and recreation within Ohio’s only national park. Valley Overlook at Camp Mueller will have a mix of primitive sites, cozy cabins and glamping tents when fully complete.

Cabins that once echoed with the whispers of spooky ghost stories told by kids tucked in their bunk beds are now vacation homes with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, kitchens, living areas and covered porches.

Upon opening for the 2023 season in mid-May — when I visited with my nine-year-old daughter — only the glamping tents (called “canvas cabins”) were ready to go, but as DIY campers, staying in one is an absolute indulgence.

Perched on wooden platforms, the one-room sanctuaries can convert the most-fervent indoors-y type into a bona fide camping aficionado. Unzipping the front flap and pulling it aside reveals an inviting living space dominated by a sumptuous queen-size bed adorned with plump pillows, luxurious bed linens and a chunky cable-knit throw. Flanking the bed are two side tables, while a cushioned bench rests by its foot. The sight of two extra throw blankets folded over the reading chairs brings me peace of mind, and I anticipate wrapping up in one to stave off the morning chill. A dining table with bench seats and a folding luggage rack complete the number of furnishings, and there is still ample room to move around or accommodate two other guests in sleeping bags.

“It’s like taking your bedroom and moving it outside,” says Janet Schoen, who has worked alongside her husband, Terry, and their five grown kids to get the 62-acre campground up and running for the last couple of years. “Nature, in all its glory, is just on the

other side of the canvas.”

We pause to listen to birds sing as they flit among the magnificent tapestry of oak, hickory, maple and beech trees, which shelter a diverse array of deciduous trees and shrubs in the understory. On a walk around the campground to scope out the closest bathroom (there’s a clean pit toilet about 50 feet away from our tent), we meander past two varieties of viburnum bushes bursting with clusters of white lacy flowers. For a longer walk on the property, head uphill to the lookout point that gave Valley Overlook its name.

“You’ll know it when you see it,” Terry Schoen says just before we set off with the simple directions he’s given us.

A 20-minute hike rewards campers with an awe-inspiring view of the Cuyahoga River Valley, especially when it’s bathed in the hues of the set-

ting sun. Though none of the campsites and cabins have such a scenic view, a picnic table perched at the overlook serves as a perfect vantage point to watch the sun cast its golden glow over the valley. Northeast Ohio weather has different plans for us. Instead, the sun disappears behind a thick haze instead of regaling us with a show-stopping spectacle.

No one seems to mind, though. It’s still a tranquil setting to bid adieu to another day and marvel at the magnificence of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park below. Normally a moment like this would be overlooked in our hurried return to Cleveland, but staying at Valley Overlook gives us more time to truly savor the experience of being in the park, which contains hundreds of cultural and recreational assets.

Later, we contemplate the next

day’s itinerary while we sit by the fire. The campground is just a half mile from the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail, where we can hike or bike three miles on relatively flat terrain to Peninsula for shopping and dining, and on to Boston Mills Visitors Center two miles further, where the main headquarters for the National Park Service is located. Driving expands our range to other areas of the park, such as Hale Farm & Village and the massive cliffs along the Ledges Trail.

We’ll just have to wait to see what tomorrow brings.

For now, as we sit in front of the tent in a post-s’mores somnolence, we just have to decide whether to put another log on the fire or let the flames die down so we can snuggle up under the covers and slip into a peaceful slumber.

Available accommodations can be reserved at valleyoverlook.com . As of May 2023, non-electric sites are posted, but more options will come online over the summer. Construction is ongoing during this year’s soft opening season, but most work will take place midweek during the day. The rates for this season reflect this. The cost for the non-electric canvas cabin is $153 for two people. There’s an additional fee for up to two extra guests. $15 for children over 3 and $25.

Janet and Terry Schoen and their five grown kids have gotten the campground up and running in recent years.

D O G DAY S OF SU M MER D O G DAY S OF S U M M E R

SUMMER LOVIN'

Find out why the warm season is the best time to adopt a new furry pal.

BY CLARA WICINSKI

Car rides with the windows down. Long days at the parks. A little lick of ice cream. There’s no better time to show your dog the good life than summer in Cleveland. But for some dogs, that excitement can lead to sadness and uncertainty.

“Doors are opening and closing, more people are outside, there’s much more opportunity for a dog to get lost,” says Sharon Harvey, president and CEO of Cleveland Animal Protective League.

As of this writing in June, there were 45 dogs up for adoption at the APL, with many more becoming available every day. Surrendered dogs come in through the animal cruelty investigations work they complete for Cuyahoga County. Strays are brought in from Cleveland Animal Care & Control, otherwise known as City Dogs.

In 2022, CAPL fostered out 2,300 animals through their foster program. The program allows animals who can’t be adopted right away, either due to their age or illness, to be able to enjoy a temporary home.

For families that are looking to add a new furry family member, summer grants free time to be more hands-on with their dog, according to Harvey. Ohioans can dine with their dog, following the 2018 law that allows willing restaurant owners to welcome customers and their pooches to outdoor patio areas, and Cleveland is home to dozens of great dog and dog-friendly parks. Plus, it’s much easier and more comfortable to potty train in the sunshine rather than the snow.

“Children can get more involved in the care of their dog or their family can schedule a vacation around helping their dog transition into their home,” Harvey says.

While summer might be best, Harvey notes that interested owners should adopt, “anytime you feel you are ready to add a dog to your family.”

MORE INFO: CLEVELANDAPL.ORG

HEAT WAVE

With Northeast Ohio's temperatures rising, here are some precautions you can take to keep your pooch perfectly safe this summer.

1

Be mindful of the heat. “If it’s hot out there and you’re hot, they’re even hotter,” Harvey says.

2

Never leave your dog in a hot car. “Even with the windows down or parked in the shade that can be extremely dangerous and can mean serious illness or death,” says Harvey.

3

Put your palms on the pavement. “They’re walking barefoot, so it’s good to have them walking a route that does not involve them walking on blacktop or dark asphalt,” says Harvey.

ISTOCK PHOTO

WATERING BOWL

BREWDOG

WHY WE LOVE IT: This Scottish-based brewery has taken over the Scranton Peninsula area of the Flats. Indoor and outdoor fire pits, scenic riverside patio seating and group games like shuffleboard are sure to give your pup a day of tail-wagging. But a lazy afternoon is nothing compared to the brewery’s catered pup parties with dog-friendly cake. TRY THIS: BrewDog’s Hazy Jane ($10.99 six pack) is a 7.2% New England IPA with hints of pineapple, mango and stone fruit. 1956 Carter Road, Cleveland, 216-367-2494, brewdog.com/usa

TAPS & TAILS

WHY WE LOVE IT: Thanks to the full-service cocktail bar, this membership-based Tremont dog park is truly man’s best friend. Indoor and outdoor play areas fea-

ture hurdles, splash pads and space for your pet. “We wanted to combine both aspects of people having fun and dogs having fun,” says owner Lisa Hollendar. TRY THIS: The Hair of the Dog ($10) is an update on a classic bloody mary with Natural Blonde yellow tomato mix. 1901 Train Ave., Cleveland, 216-417-7384, tapsandtailsdogbar.com

TERRESTRIAL BREWING CO.

WHY WE LOVE IT: From Sunday’s doggy brunch presented by Spoiled Dog Boss to the annual Super Bowl Sunday Puppy Bowl to June’s Puppy Prom, this Battery Park brewery is one of Cleveland’s premier doggy hangouts. TRY THIS: The Canopy Crusher ($6) is a collaboration with the Cleveland Zoological Society. 7524 Father Frascati Drive, Cleveland, 216-465-9999, terrestrialbrewing.com

MEGAN BROWN

RUFF DAY

BOW WOW BEACH DOG PARK

The Bow Wow Beach Dog Park in Stow is best known for its expansive lake, which is open for swimming in the warmer weather. Totaling 7.5 acres, there’s a small dog area and room for dogs to run and play with an agility course, plus a fire hydrant for when nature calls. Silver Springs Park, 5027 Stow Road, Stow, 330-689-5100, stowohio.org

CANINE MEADOW

Located in Kirtland, Canine Meadow dog park includes an abundance of amenities sure to get your dog’s tail wagging. An expansive six acres, the park includes a hose, separate areas for large and small dogs and a swimming pond with a gravel beach. In addition to the amenities, keeping things tidy is a top concern. “We have people out there every day,” says park

Find a furry friend group at these fun outdoor dog parks.

executive director Paul Palagyi. “We’re emptying garbage cans making sure that everything’s safe for the animals.”

9010 Euclid Chardon Road, Kirtland, 440-639-7275, lakemetroparks.com

LAKEWOOD DOG PARK

At two-thirds of an acre, the Lakewood Dog Park is complete with toys, benches, pick-up bags and plenty else to keep your pet busy. The park often hosts fun events such as breed meetups or dog swims. At the end of summer, your pet can even join in a swim at the municipal pool. “I would describe it as wet dog pandemonium,” says Karen Karp, president of the Friends of the Lakewood Dog Park. “They just tend to not wait to get in. They have such a good time.” 1699 Valley Parkway, Lakewood, lakewooddogpark.com

AS OUR WINNER, Lola gets the treat of enjoying a photoshoot with Cleveland-based and nationally recognized pet photographer, Greg Murray, as well as a prize package from our contest sponsors.

WANT TO SEE MORE OF LOLA? CHECK OUT HER INSTAGRAM @XOLOLATHEFRENCHIE

THANK YOU TO OUR PARTNERS & SPONSORS

Presented By: Photoshoot Provided By: Greg Murray Photography. gmurrayphoto.com, IG @thegregmurray

Sponsored By:

2022 AWARD RECIPIENTSCommunity Impact

STRONG COMMUNITIES Building

Dominion Energy highlights the importance of giving back by awarding thousands of dollars to local nonprofits throughout Ohio.

Twenty-eight years ago, Dominion Energy, through its charitable foundation, set out to lend a helping hand to local nonprofits making a difference in their neighborhoods. To date, the Community Impact Awards competition, co-sponsored by Cleveland Magazine, has awarded more than $2 million to a variety of organizations. This year, Dominion Energy is once again proud to present $110,000 to 11 projects making major contributions to economic or social revitalization in communities throughout the state.

“I am just in awe of the amazing work people are doing,” says Heather Clayton Terry, philanthropy consultant for the Dominion Energy Charitable Foundation. “What makes me feel inspired is despite all of the challenges, people are still rising to help other people who are in significant need. That’s something that should be applauded.”

For the 2022 awards, projects must have been completed between September 2022 and December 2022; be located within the Dominion Energy Service area; have made a major contribution to a community’s economic or social revitalization; support diversity, equity and inclusion; and describe how COVID-19 changed the organization’s ability

to equitably make an impact. This year, 50 organizations submitted applications.

“This is my favorite initiative of the year, because it’s voted on by judges who live in these communities, and it’s unrestricted $10,000 checks,” Terry says, adding that this year’s 18 judges encompassed a wide array of people in leadership positions from various foundations, colleges, companies and library systems. “They engage in a healthy debate to make sure that every single organization receives the opportunity to be talked about and advocated for.”

The Dominion Energy Charitable Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Dominion Energy, provides the funds for the Community Impact Awards. The foundation is dedicated to the economic, physical and social health of the counties the company serves, from Ashtabula to Cuyahoga, Portage, Stark, Trumbull and Van Wert, downstate to Marietta and more. Each year, the foundation gives $1.2 million to nonprofit organizations across Ohio in the company’s focus areas, supporting initiatives that include critical community needs to environmental stewardship and community vitality.

“The more time we spend giving back to our communities, meaning

everyone is making some small or large effort to give back, it will deeply strengthen our moral compass,” Terry says. “It’s very important for us to get back to that, because that’s how you build a community.”

CHANGE Celebrating

This year’s ceremony, hosted in partnership with Cleveland Botanical Gardens, will take place on July 27. Recipients from the 11 organizations being honored will have the opportunity to discuss the impact the support from the Dominion Energy Charitable Foundation has made in their community. Each will receive a colorful, glass-fused award crafted by Streets of Manhattan Studios, located in the St. Clair-Superior neighborhood. For more information, visit dominionenergy.com/ our-company/customersand-community/charitablefoundation.

Path to Business Success

Organization: Stark County Minority Business Association Project: Youth Entrepreneur Program

MANY UNDER-RESOURCED YOUTHS are susceptible to environmental poverty and sometimes lack the modeling for generational wealth, access to business basics and experience to career navigation that could lead to having a successful business. Through the Youth Entrepreneur Program (YEP), the Stark County Minority Business Association (SCMBA) is offering a chance to teach and grow these skills

Combating Food Insecurity

Organization: Children’s Hunger Alliance Project: Food Access for Lima/ Allen County Children

ACCORDING TO RECENT FEEDING

AMERICA DATA, the child food insecurity rate in Allen County is projected to have increased from 18.7% in 2019 to 20.4% in 2021 due to the economic effects of COVID-19.

In response to that, the Children’s Hunger Alliance (CHA) partnered with various sites in the area to provide access to more than 6,500 nutritious meals to food-insecure children and worked with three local school districts to advocate for school meal participation. From July to November 2022, CHA worked closely with Heir Force Community School, Lima YWCA, TOP, SAFY Behavioral Health and Soldiers of Honor to provide after-school and summer programming and

through lessons, examples and stories from community business leaders.

As part of the program, a diverse cohort of students from Stark County meets for seven weekly sessions for two hours during the school day. Students are divided into groups to form unique businesses based on their personal needs and experiences. Each weekly meeting includes instruction from a facilitator, innovation stations and space to apply new ideas, methods and ways of thinking. A visiting entrepreneur serves as a speaker and coach for each session.

YEP’s goal is to motivate youth to succeed as entrepreneurs and believe in themselves. Through this program, SCMBA can help them develop a business mindset, understand how they can help to solve problems and build a better community through key concepts, such as knowledge and application of math, writing and reading skills; expression of ideas and creativity; collaboration with their peers; and digital and financial literacy.

Inspiring Young Minds

Organization:

Upcycle Parts Shop

Project: Social Enterprise Education

PROVOKING CREATIVITY AND PROMOTING COMMUNITY through reuse, resourcefulness and relationships — that’s what it’s all about at Upcycle Parts Shop, a Cleveland nonprofit that receives donations of secondhand materials to repurpose for educational workshops and programs to resell in a storefront retail shop.

Last November, Upcycle Parts Shop reached its 2,300th student in its social enterprise education program, which works to encourage and develop future leadership in young people’s lives by creating the engagement of a real business case study with the invitation for hands-on, on-the-spot innovation. Students are challenged to create rapid prototype business ideas for social problems that are meaningful to them. Examples include repurposing used clothing into dog beds, providing DJ services to under-resourced schools without music programs, building housing for homeless populations from used billboards and construction excess, devising water vacuums that sweep and filter plastic microparticles in oceans, using drones to fly kits of supplies and light building materials into areas hit by natural disasters and running daycare services inside community colleges so student-parents can leave children nearby with caretakers they trust.

collectively serve more than 1,000 meals. CHA also worked with two in-home family providers in the county to provide more than 2,800 meals and donated nearly 3,000 ready-to-serve meals to Lima City Schools.

CHA’s programming helps to ease the stress of families’ already strapped food resources. When children in a community feel supported and cared for, they are more likely to grow up to become successful members of society and want to “give back” as an adult. Founded in 1970 as the Hunger Task Force, CHA was renamed in 2002 to reflect the importance of strategic alliances in creating long-term solutions for childhood hunger.

Since 2019, Upcycle Parts Shop has offered this program to 17 elementary and middle schools and 18 high schools.

Saving Our Survivors

Organization: Cleveland Rape Crisis Center Project: Providing Healing Services for Survivors

ACCORDING TO THE CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION, an estimated 300,000 survivors of sexual violence and human trafficking live in Northeast Ohio. Founded in 1974, the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center (CRCC) is a national leader in providing trauma-informed care and advocating for prevention and social change. This project is an opportunity to help survivors and their non-offending family members heal through CRCC’s heartfelt emotional support, crisis intervention, mental health counseling, assistance in developing healthy coping mechanisms and advocacy through the medical and judicial process.

When these individuals do not receive the care they need to heal and overcome the

trauma inflicted upon them, it has lasting effects that can lead to long-term health risk behaviors that can prevent survivors from positively contributing to society. Without proper intervention, survivors are 26 times more likely to abuse drugs, 13 times more likely to abuse alcohol, four times more likely to attempt suicide and three times more

Steps to Success

Organization:

Economic and Community Development Institute Project: Set Up Shop Program

FOUNDED IN 2004, the Economic and Community Development Institute (ECDI) was created to invest in people and as a result, create measurable and

enduring social and economic change. Through its Set Up Shop Program, ECDI offers a one-stop-shop small business development model for entrepreneurs,

likely to suffer from depression.The contributions and achievements that may never actualize as a result of sexual violence represent a cost to society that cannot be measured. The results of this project will not only allow survivors to heal but will help minimize the negative impact sexual violence has on the community and economy as a whole.

providing them with access to loan capital, pre- and post-loan technical assistance, training through three SBA-funded Women’s Business Centers and additional resources through a network of ecosystem partners in each market. ECDI’s services are designed to help the under-resourced and underbanked, focusing on women, people of color, those with low-moderate income, immigrants and refugees.

The only Treasury-certified Community Development Financial Institution with a small business focus in Ohio, ECDI’s goal is to address the capital access gap facing small businesses unable to obtain financing from traditional financial institutions by providing loans ranging from $750 to $500,000.

The Set Up Shop Program began in 2022 with a 12-week business development and training program with a cohort of seven home-based businesses. The education component prepares the business owners to move into a shared brick-and-mortar retail space, where they have the opportunity to test out their products and services, increase market access and build their businesses. Participants also receive $1,500 stipends to help cover other business expenses that may arise due to the program, such as marketing needs.

Showing Compassion and Care

Organization: Grace House Akron Inc.

Project: Comfort Care Home

GROUNDED IN THE KNOWLEDGE that there are too many older adults in the community who are nearing the end of their life with nowhere to go and no one to care for them, Grace House Akron (GHA) believes that everyone deserves to die in the presence of care, compassion and dignity. The organization was founded to address the need to provide basic physical needs, as well as emotional and spiritual support for the region’s most vulnerable population.

In September 2022, GHA opened a six-bedroom Comfort Care Home to serve hospice-enrolled individuals without a financial, physical or emotional support system who are at the end of their life. In addition to meeting basic needs, Comfort Care Home provides other care options that include pet therapy, music and art therapy, therapeutic massages, spiritual care, vigil companionship, 24-hour care and self-care for families and staff. All services are offered

free of charge, allowing individuals to pass peacefully without financial barriers. Since September, Comfort Care Home has cared for 15 residents, providing them

Filled With HeArt

Organization: The Superhero Project

Project: Power Posters as a Tool for Healing

GUIDED BY CORE VALUES of imagination, inclusion, representation and joy, The Superhero Project harnesses the healing power of the arts to empower youth impacted by serious illnesses, disabilities and other complex mental health and medical needs.

The Power Posters Program encourages these children to imagine themselves as superheroes by working with professional artists to design and create visual representations of the difference they make in the world. The effects of this project include improving self-esteem, developing resilience and forging meaningful connections with others.

It begins with strengths-based and developmentally appropriate interviews that encourage children and teens to dream beyond their diagnosis, offering them a chance to step outside of their current circumstances and how others define them. Next, the children are asked to express what positive changes they want to see in the world and how they are making a difference in their community. Each child is then matched with an illustrator who designs the superhero alter ego the child has described. Afterward, posters and character stories are created and delivered to the families. Since the program began in 2017 with visits to UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital in Cleveland, The Superhero Project has connected with over 1,250 youth, representing more than 200 diagnoses, including nearly 475 kids and teens in Ohio.

with 273 bed days and 813 meals. These services were provided with the help of volunteers who donated 1,600 hours of service time.

Amazing Maria - Inspired by M. (age 8) and designed by Isis Tapia Daring Daycen - Created by D. (age 8) and designed by Colin Filgate Super J - Inspired by J. (age 9) and designed by Eric Angel Pabon Cyclic Soulflower - Inspired by L. (age 13) and designed by Meredith Noyes Courageous Cass - Inspired by C. (age 7) and designed by Taryn Cozzy Warrior Gal - Created by A. (age 11) and designed by Ray Suda

Enabling Neighborhood Growth

Organization: The Well Community Development Corp. Project: Housing 60 for 60 Campaign

AS AKRON’S FIRST place-based community development corporation devoted to the Middlebury neighborhood, The Well Community Development Corp. (The Well CDC) seeks to create a shared prosperity for residents through affordable housing, a thriving economy and placemaking initiatives. The vision for The Well CDC began in 2012 when Zac Kohl and his family purchased

Helping Women Heal

Organization: Village of Healing Project: Village of Healing Center

WITH A MISSION TO END RACIAL DISPARITIES by providing an environ ment of healing, Village of Healing (VOH) aims to eliminate social determinants of health through individual development, education, financial stability, safe and af fordable housing and improved health out comes. This is accomplished by providing equitable culturally sensitive health care (physical and mental health with a holistic approach) for Black women.

In February 2022, the Village of Healing Center opened in Cuyahoga County as the first and only OB-GYN clinic developed by Black women, for Black women, and staffed by a 100% Black provider care team. Between July and November 2022, the center provided 565 appointments. During these

and remodeled a home in Middlebury. After rehabbing eight other residences, he recognized the need to address systemic injustices within the community.

During the past six years, The Well CDC has acquired more than 73,000 square feet of commercial real estate, raised over $6 million in capital and launched five unique programs that support three initiatives for the neighborhood — restoring housing, creating economy and supporting place.

In September 2022, The Well CDC successfully completed its first housing campaign of acquiring and rehabbing 60 units

in 60 months. In anticipation of this completion, the nonprofit completed a five- to eight-year Housing Plan that supports 72 rehabbed units beyond the initial 60 and more than 66 single-family/missing middle in-fill units. In May 2022, The Well CDC broke ground on its first “missing middle” duplex. The second phase of the housing plan will support more than $40 million of investment entering the community.

visits, women felt comfortable — many for the first time — at seeing a provider who looked like them and shared their lived experiences. In July, VOH hired a Black counselor to provide 1:1 counseling and small group sessions. Within two months, the counselor’s average caseload of 35 patients reached 75 women, 52 of whom see her regularly. Hiring a second counselor to meet

women’s needs is expected in 2023 with philanthropic support.

Culturally sensitive and congruent care addresses each woman’s individual physical, mental and emotional well-being. VOH’s vision includes opening a second site in Cleveland and plans to expand into pediatrics to serve women and infants together.

Forging Meaningful Connections

Organization: Stark Economic Development Board

Project: Career Connect

IN 2017, COMMUNITY LEADERS

co-published the Strengthening Stark report, an assessment of the economic and social health of Stark County and recommendations to reverse downward community trends. The Stark Economic Development Board leads the Strengthening Stark movement, established to put actions into practice to reverse those downward trends. Strengthening Stark is working to build support for existing efforts and catalyze new initiatives that move the community toward a more vibrant economy for all.

Career Connect is the longest standing collaboration established through the Strengthening Stark movement. Career Connect, formed in September 2020, is a community collaboration of job navigators from eight local agencies, whose primary focus is to place unemployed and underemployed job seekers into livable wage jobs.

On the frontline, job navigators meet job seekers where they are, help them identify a path to their employment goal and mitigate employment barriers such as transportation and child care. As a collective, the agencies routinely come together to share data, best practices and local resources, allowing each agency to

strengthen individual programming while identifying county-wide challenges, opportunities and collaborative solutions. By the end of 2022, 404 job seekers were placed in employment, and 80% reached 90 days of employment. More than 60% of the candidates placed in employment were people of color and 55% were women.

Transforming Neighborhoods

Organization: Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp.

Project: Glenwood Plaza Revitalization

SINCE 2010, THE YOUNGSTOWN NEIGHBORHOOD DEVELOPMENT CORP. (YNDC) has rehabilitated 179 vacant housing units and 11 commercial

properties, completed more than 2,000 owner-occupied home repairs, cleaned up/improved 569 vacant lots, created 475 homeowners, distributed more than

$650,000 in healthy food to low-income families and leveraged over $73 million in direct reinvestment throughout the city.

In 2022, with support from community and philanthropic partners, YNDC transformed a vacant, fire-damaged commercial Plaza on Glenwood Avenue into a vibrant hub of activity. The facility now houses three minority-owned businesses and five neighborhood-serving uses,including a youth development and after school program, a full-service restaurant, primary and urgent care office, social service organization that provides case management and support services and a healthy food program operated by YNDC that serves thousands of low-income individuals.

This project, which created/retained 23 jobs and leveraged more than $2 million in reinvestment and economic activity, is a critical milestone in the decade-long effort by YNDC to revitalize the Glenwood Avenue corridor in alignment with residents’ vision for the future. It has further increased demand for space along the corridor, and YNDC is working with additional neighborhood-serving businesses interested in locating along Glenwood Avenue.

Going the distance for our communities.

At Dominion Energy Ohio, going the distance for our customers means more than just delivering safe, affordable natural gas. It means being a positive force in the communities we serve. Our EnergyShare ® program has raised $8.5 million and helped more than 92,000 people in Ohio alone. These resources, combined with nearly 3,000 volunteer hours from our employees, have benefited organizations as diverse as the American Red Cross, the Greater Cleveland Urban League, the Ohio & Erie Canalway Coalition and The Salvation Army.

Capturing Cleveland

Coming out of the pandemic, Downtown is finding its stride again with buildings under construction, cool apartments and condos opening and foot traffic getting back in step.

PLUS: Can the city regain foot traffic as how we work changes?

Appealing Apartments

BY HENRY PALATTELLA

It’s no secret that downtown Cleveland is growing. From the new Sherwin-Williams headquarters that will reshape Cleveland’s skyline to the proposed revamp of Cleveland State's Downtown campus, it’s clear that the version of Downtown we’ll see in five years will be vastly different from its current iteration.

That change in Downtown has lined up with an increase in its population. According to an April study done by the Downtown Cleveland Alliance and Greater Cleveland Part-

nership, downtown Cleveland had a population of 37,115 in 2020, which was a growth of 9.9% compared to the 2010 census. In total, Cleveland’s greater downtown population represented 10% of the city’s total population, which proved to be an outlier within Cleveland and Cuyahoga County, which lost 6.1% and 1.2% of their populations, respectively.

With that shift in mind, here are four downtown apartment complexes that have us excited to shift our focus back toward Downtown.

Here are four Downtown apartment complexes that grab your attention.

The Schofield Residences

Since 1901, the Schofield Building has stood watch over downtown Cleveland at the corner of East Ninth Street and Euclid Avenue

Seven years ago, the building got new life as a split hotel-residential building. The Kimpton Schofield Hotel is on the bottom eight floors, and The Schofield Residences on floors nine through 14.

That blend of residential and hotel living allows for residents of the building to enjoy all the amenities of a luxury hotel in a place that serves as their home.

“There are a lot of hotel services that are available for residents,” says Schofield marketing consultant Marcie

The Beacon

Completed in 2019, the Beacon is the fourth-tallest residential building in Downtown and features 187 units across its 19 floors of one- and two-bedroom apartments plus a rooftop lounge. Along with providing a new unique look to Cleveland's downtown — its unique, metal panels reflect the sun to create a skyline-bending optical illusion — it was also the first apartment building built in Cleveland’s business district since 1974. 515 Euclid Ave., Cleveland, 216-284-8233, thebeaconcleveland.com

Gilmore. “The accommodation between the two is blended seamlessly. We have everything from room service from the restaurant to housekeeping from the maintenance staff. Those levels of service make it a unique place to live.”

That hotel carryover isn’t limited to the amenities; the design and vibe of the building allow for comfortable, quiet Downtown living.

“There’s a history of solid construction in the building,” Gilmore says. “I get comments all the time asking if anyone lives in our building because of how quiet it is. It’s a nicely kept secret steeped in a lot of historical significance.” 2000 E. Ninth St., Cleveland, 216-706-2287, theschofieldresidences.com

75 Public Square

There’s no denying that 75 Public Square is in the heart of Downtown. It's located right in the center of Downtown Cleveland between 55 Public Square and the Old Stone Church. As the site of the old Cleveland Illuminating Co. headquarters, the building has both modern amenities to go along with some old-school, Midwest vibes left over from his previous life.

“It’s very classy, elegant and upbeat,” says property manager Diana Castro. “Downtown is growing, and we have amenities that help reflect that it’s right in the center of everything.”

The building underwent a $43 million renovation in 2022, which, in turn,

helped modernize things while also keeping the fabric of what makes the place unique.

“They kept some things from back in the day; the outside is exactly like how it’s always been,” Castro says. “It’s a historically rich building. They also kept a portion of the original staircase that leads to the roof but turned it into a lounge so people can take in the city, and were also able to keep the original elevators.”

When asked why someone should consider living at 75 Public Square, Castro kept her answer to the point.

“This has everything that anyone would be looking for,” he says.

75 Public Square, Cleveland, 216-2360484, 75publicsquare.com

The Lumen

Nancy Stepien likes to describe The Lumen as a “one of a kind.” And she’s right.

As the tallest apartment building in Ohio, the 35-story tower stands alone in Playhouse Square as a tangible marker of downtown Cleveland’s growth.

The building features 318 units and 22,000 square feet of common space, which allows residents to take advantage of the building’s unique location and size.

“It’s absolutely beautiful,” says Stepien, a leasing agent at the building. “It’s an experience of living at the best hotel.

Stepien says the building’s location and amenities help it secure diverse tenants of various generations and professions.

She also pointed out the close proximity to Playhouse Square and other Downtown attractions.

"We cater to our tenants and they love us and we love them,” she says. “It’s a really good feeling when you live here.”

One of Stepien’s favorite parts of The Lumen is the one-of-a-kind view you can get from the sky lounge on the apartment’s 35th floor, as it offers an expanse that allows you to see miles of Northeast Ohio.

“There’s an unobstructed view of downtown Cleveland, so we throw a three-day party up there for our tenants to take in the view,” she says. “It’s unique. Even though you’re near everything, you feel like you’re in a place that’s totally different. 1600 Euclid Ave., Cleveland, 216-862-5258, thelumencleveland.com

SCHEDULE YOUR APARTMENT TOUR TODAY!

2075 W. 25TH STREET CLEVELAND, OHIO 44113

The Pulse of the City

BY CASSIE TOMASELLI

The year: 2016.

The Cleveland Cavaliers had just won their first-ever NBA Championship in one of the most nail-biting games in basketball history.

Downtown Cleveland was alive.

From the Flats to Campus District, thousands of people spilled out from the city’s restaurants, bars, hotels, and their homes and into the streets to join in the revelry of cheering, dancing, crying, high-fiving and hugging with one another.

Days later, a million more would return for a historic celebratory Championship Parade.

Pride oozed from every Clevelander, but it was more than a game that inspired the depth of that emotion. It was the

well-deserved, long-overdue recognition and validation of Cleveland’s big moment.

That energy and desire to be in the heart of the city continued through the summer. The national spotlight shone brightly. The Republican National Convention came to town. Long-standing businesses reported banner years. New businesses opened. Sherwin-Williams announced it would build a new downtown headquarters next door to Public Square’s own revitalization. More and more people started moving in and residential development bloomed. In 2019, Destination Cleveland reported a record-breaking county visitor number of 1.9 million.

Then COVID-19 came knocking.

Analyzing the signs of life as foot traffic returns to Downtown.

KUR:(N.)Pronounced: kyoor

A Modern Medical Aesthetics movement, bringing the latest non-invasive aesthetic treatments to the heart of Cleveland.

Our carefully curated Aesthetic treatments are result driven. Medically backed injectables & procedures set in a modern interior with a mission to redefine high-end aesthetic treatments in Cleveland & normalize them as a way of life. We offer a variety of Cosmetic Injectables such as: Botox/ Dysport/Sculptra/Dermal Fillers/PRP injections at KÜR Modern Medical Aesthetics.

We use dermal fillers to maintain your natural beauty with our minimalist approach, leaving you feeling and appearing younger and refreshed.

Our highly-specialized approach to skin treatments is completely tailored to suit your individual needs, helping you accomplish your individual aesthetic objectives. We offer medical grade skincare & skin treatments such as Microneedling with PRP/ Dermaplaning/Chemical Peels/LED Light Therapy.

Let’s get contouring! You are a work of art, and like all works of art, a little touch-up every now and then can add to your physique. We offer the latest technology in non-invasive body contouring treatments with EMSCULPT NEO. Think 20,000 crunches in 30 minutes, on average, patients see 30% fat reduction and 25% muscle growth.

The question now in 2023 is: Is Cleveland’s foot traffic rebounding enough to pick up that pre-pandemic momentum and run with it?

Slowed to a Slump But Hung On

The pandemic was like a needle that poked a hole and let the air out of Cleveland’s mightily proud balloon.

The dawn of the social distancing and work-from-home era kept commuters at bay. By April 2020, hundreds of small businesses closed. Frustration and disappointment mounted, and damage from the city’s civil unrest, as well as supply-chain shortages, forced extended closures of businesses and other attractions — all of which gave people even fewer reasons to go Downtown.

In October, Cleveland took another gut punch after WalletHub’s “FastestGrowing Cities in America” study came out, ranking Cleveland 65th out of 66 cities for rapid economic development.

“When we look back to the past decade of growth, pre-pandemic … We remember moments … that really felt

like, ‘Wow, everyone’s looking around and realizing there’s a tone change in the city,’” says Audrey Gerlach, vice president of economic development for Downtown Cleveland Alliance (DCA).

Yet while major cities around the country faced the same challenges, Cleveland fared comparatively well in

Ohio compared to other metros like Columbus, Dayton, Cincinnati and Akron, Gerlach argues.

“We were so ahead of developing a residential population,” she says. “We have the largest residential Downtown population in Ohio.”

The “build-it-and-they-will-come” strategy for residential units is a major play developers and corporations are taking in 2023, which in turn could bring more lifeblood into the streets of downtown Cleveland.

Survey Says: People Want to Live Downtown

Downtown’s residential population is around 20,000 — 22% higher than it was in 2013.

What’s more, Downtown’s residents live Downtown because they want to,

and not because they work there, according to a study published by Downtown Cleveland Alliance and the Greater Cleveland Partnership in March. In fact, more than half of the area's residents work outside of the city.

“The data bears out,” Gerlach says. “There is more demand than we even can currently meet.”

The demand to work downtown, however, hasn’t been as strong. Office occupancy is hovering around 55% — a 3% decrease from last year.

Companies are re-envisioning that office space to meet the housing demand.

Playhouse Square, for example, recently announced it will create 84 apartment units from four floors of its Bulkley Building, with construction starting in July.

Other developers are looking to historic and other tax credits for doing the

same.

“One of the gems of Downtown is our amazing architecture,” Gerlach says. “With that incentive, we’ve been able to turn some of those old empty office buildings into apartments.”

The former Ohio Bell building at 45 Erieview Plaza is one such example, which received a $5 million historic tax credit and is set to house 367 units by 2024.

The Agora Theatre complex was awarded a $250,000 historic tax credit for $1.6 million in renovations that will also include apartment units.

Millennia Companies received a $40 million Transformational Mixed-Use Development tax credit award last year to rehab the 1.4-million-squarefoot, 100-year-old former Union Trust Building on Euclid Avenue, called The Centennial.

The Centennial, which has sat vacant

for six years and is set to start construction this year, will include 413 workforce housing units and 177 marketrate luxury units in addition to hotel units, a museum, a high-end restaurant and retail storefronts.

“There will be easily over 350 jobs created to boost the economy, help the surrounding small businesses downtown, and generally create more energy,” says Tom Mignogna, the vice president of Millennia Housing Development, Ltd. “But we’re also excited about the mixed-income [housing] opportunity as well.”

Gerlach says that while rental housing is on the rise, current and prospective residents increasingly want forsale housing to be available Downtown and they're coming up short. Projects such as Residences at the Guardian are in the works; however, Gerlach notes that, “I think we need to effectively

prove to the market that there is a demand for for-sale housing. And I suspect as people build those projects and they sell, more builders will be interested in building for-sale housing.”

‘People Stop Exploring Their Own City’

Emily Kovach opened Intro Boutique with her sister, Elaina, in 2016.

Located at 5th Street Arcades with a Prospect Avenue storefront, the shop offers women’s clothing, accessories and home goods by women-owned ethical and sustainable brands, many of them local.

“We had three and a half years, approximately, before the pandemic, and they were golden,” Kovach says. “I was like, ‘This is it, it’s all up from here.’”

Intro Boutique had its best month yet

in January 2020, but when the world shut down, the transition to selling items online was tough.

“When people come in my shop, I feel like I’m not selling to them. I’m just making a new friend and hanging out and being their hype girl. I can’t do that online. … I think it’s just because the shop is about personality. It’s about my sister and I, and how much we love it,” she says.

Kovach says that the months leading into this summer have been much better. “Sporting events, concerts, people coming out for dinner, we’re finally seeing that again,” Kovach says.

Today, Kovach and her sister are comfortable with where foot traffic stands.

But compared to pre-pandemic, she laments it will “probably never be the same.”

One of those reasons, she says, is

Knez Homes has been a trusted home builder since founded in 1988, offering a variety of townhome & signal family home types in desired Cleveland neighborhoods. Enjoy all of the benefits of new construction with an energyefficient home, eligible 15-year tax abatement, and so much more

Find the perfect marriage of privacy & community throughout all the communities we build in. With homes in Ohio City, Downtown Cleveland, University Circle, Fairfax, Shaker Heights and more - we have options that satisfies all lifestyles.

that people from the suburbs don’t see the reason to come Downtown anymore aside from a quick bite to eat at a restaurant before a sporting event.

“People stop exploring their own city,” Kovach says.

Epa and Antoinette Bizimana, owners of Hydration Spark on Euclid Avenue, agree with that sentiment.

Hydration Spark opened in February 2022 and offers IV hydration, customized supplements and nutritional testing to optimize health and wellness. While a big part of their clientele are athletes, they also want to see the perception of downtown activities change.

Safety is another perception that needs to change in order to bring more folks back to the city, both Kovach and the Bizimanas say.

“[Officials are] trying to work hard in making the city more safe,” Antoinette says, but the onus also falls on business

owners to be advocates to the city to convey that the city is changing, that business owners and residents do feel safe Downtown, and to encourage others to come.

Outside the Box Thinking

DCA has been working with other community groups to host events throughout the city — from scheduled festivals to spontaneous bonfires or musical events that turn people’s heads and encourage them to stop over.

But that starts with some unconventional thinking and planning ahead in ways that Gerlach calls “high impact but low cost.”

DCA recently purchased fire pits that can be moved to different locations to encourage people to gather — calling the events Bright Nights.

Food-truck pop-up events like Wal-

nut Wednesdays in Perk Plaza have also made a comeback.

In what would bring a more structural change to the Downtown landscape, a 10-year-old project called the Midway Protected Bike Network would create 2.4 miles of protected bike lanes down the center of Superior Avenue from Public Square to East 55th Street.

Proponents say that it would make a wide road friendlier to bikers and pedestrians, and the greenery planted alongside the lines would make for an environmentally friendly landscape — though it has received backlash from the city for potentially being a nuisance to drivers.

For now, the Downtown community is moving forward with uncertainty — and cautious optimism — that better days are ahead. What’s certain is that Clevelanders’ resilience through the city’s peaks and valleys remains.

Digging Downtown

Views for miles from floor-to-ceiling windows bring the city home for this empty-nester resident of The Beacon.

BY KRISTEN HAMPSHIRE

Downtown living was not on the radar for Kim Santa Maria. She commuted to the city center from Aurora to work for Stark Enterprises, clocking a good 60 miles daily in the car. In the evening, she went home to her daughter.

Once the nest emptied, she reconsidered her suburban home and got in at the ground floor of The Beacon’s opening in 2019. At the time, the property was the first residential high-rise constructed since 1974, located on Euclid Avenue minutes from her office. She toured the 14th floor, 1,100-square-foot unit and was immediately hooked.

“It was a big move,” she says. “But when I took a look at the views, it was like, ‘Oh, wow. This is amazing!’”

She calls the complete lifestyle switch “totally random,” though it really wasn’t. “It saves me two hours a day driving, I have made friends in the building, and I love trying out the new restaurants and walking everywhere.”

From Santa Maria’s view, you can see all three stadiums, Lake Erie, the bustle on Euclid Avenue and East Fourth Street — and fireworks, of course, during the Guardians season. Floor-to-ceiling windows usher in downtown’s energy.

For Santa Maria and many other residents there, it’s not just about the amenities inside the apartment. The Beacon is a community. The build-

ing hosts weekly events, from Wine Down Wednesdays in the indoor sky lounge to bonfire pool parties with s’mores and drinks, along with Sunday Sounds featuring local musicians and refreshments.

The luxury building includes The Beacon Rooftop, with an indoor lounge containing a full kitchen, media and dining- and living-room furniture. The Beacon Backyard is home to a pool, fire pits, grills, lounging space and a pingpong table, along with other outdoor games. “Residents can bring guests, and it’s like having a backyard but in the middle of Cleveland,” says Jessica Juker, the building manager.

The pet-friendly environment includes a dog spa, and there is a rooftop dog park. Because the apartments are built on top of a parking garage, you don’t have to cross a street to access

your vehicle.

A typical day for Santa Maria is the usual wake-up and walk to work. After hours, she heads to The Beacon’s gym or walks the neighborhood. On weekends, it’s dinner out and often entertaining friends or her daughter.

And the beauty is, she can “go out” and stay in because of the amenity spaces. As for in, Santa Maria’s open floor plan apartment is one bedroom and one bathroom. She appreciates the roomy foyer area, having transitioned from a home. “I love the long foyer and airy space,” she says.

Santa Maria chose the building’s blonde color scheme — the other option was cooler grays. White quartz countertops are functional and modern, and a roomy island provides ample seating for guests. Stainless steel appliances and linear fixtures align with the space’s minimalist feel, which Santa Maria appreciates.

She selected furniture and accessories from Wayfair for her apartment. The Beacon is a fresh next-chapter start, and a luxury one, at that.

“Living in the city is great — I love it!” she says, taking a lunch break from her nearby office, knowing she won’t be sitting in a logjam to get home.

A few items whose times have passed PG. 87

Hot Trends for Outdoor Living

These 12 ideas built up traction during the pandemic and continue to gain speed, plus we toss in a few projects you might want to reconsider.

WRITTEN BY KRISTEN HAMPSHIRE // ILLUSTRATED BY MARK SANTIAGO

A GREATER OUTDOORS – 12 WAYS

Staycation vibes in the backyard are driving a rush of outdoor living projects that bring home everything from doggie spaces and putting greens to pavilions equipped with all the trappings to entertain.

BY KRISTEN HAMPSHIRE

“People are interested in investing the time and effort to make their homes somewhere they don’t need to leave and can cre-

ate memories with families and friends,” says Dave DiGregorio, general manager at Ground Works Land Design in Westlake. Sure, the pandemic played a role in jumpstarting landscape projects that might have been pushed to the back burner. It inspired a sort of “Why not?” mentality. Why not put in a pool-hot tub hybrid with a bar ledge? Why not add a fire table to the patio? Why

Revamp your outdoor living space with features that suit the way you relax, gather and ‘get away’ without leaving home.

not reimagine the whole backyard since home is where the work/life is?

“People were home, looking at their yards and started to think about them in a different way,” says Jonas Pattie, president and co-owner of The Pattie Group in Novelty and Westlake. “Now, we are seeing a lot of master planning where we’re creating a design and installation for the whole yard, even if it is completed in phases over several years.”

What’s the ROI on outdoor living projects? While industry statistics from the American Society of Landscape Architects point to about a 15% increase in home value with professional work, anecdotally that number has increased a bit, DiGregorio says. “We are seeing over 100% returns on outdoor living spaces as it pertains to home value — and you also get the personal value of using the space.”

Ready to turn your great outdoors into a space that suits your lifestyle? Here are 12 trending ways to do just that.

TAKE A PLUNGE

Just add water. With a right-sized pool, you can dip your toes in or wade away from a stressful day. Not all backyards can support a typical-sized rectangular pool, which generally measures 35 feet by 16 feet. However, rectilinear shapes are still the most popular, and Pattie says this is because “everyone wants the automatic pool cover — you turn the key, it closes and you’re done with it.”

Creative pool products on the market provide a mix of designs. There’s the smaller, multi-tasking “spool” spa pool that includes jets. Cocktail pools are usually about 12 feet by 14 feet and no deeper than 3 feet and are sometimes designed with built-in stools and a ledge to perch a beverage.

DiGregorio describes a cool pool build in Rocky River using a Modpool repurposed shipping container. It was installed as an in-ground pool that is completely recessed, but some are positioned so there’s a step up and into the pool, or it is set into a deck surround.

ALWAYS HOT: FIRE FEATURES

In Northeast Ohio, fire pits are a perennial favorite. We can’t quite call them a trend because they’re always in, but there are fresh ways to infuse warmth into outdoor living spaces. One of those is the fire table. “With outdoor kitchens or bars, a fire element is set into a granite table, so you can sit around the fire table — it looks really cool and functions nicely,” DiGregorio says.

Fireplaces are also on the hot list. And the traditional fire pit is still

popular. “When they are gas-run with lava rock, you walk outside, pour a glass of wine, turn the key and your fire is running,” he says.

DON’T FORGET FID O

Include your four-footed family members in landscape planning with a dedicated dog area that protects the rest of the lawn from damage while also offering a place to play. A dog’s outdoor space might include artificial turf, river rock or a combination of materials. Fencing in the area contains the space.

“People love their dogs, and creating a park on your property can be as simple as some grass in a contained area to adding structures for the animals, or stone for drainage — materials that are more tolerant of dog use,” Kluznik says.

Pet-friendly artificial turfs are permeable, DiGregorio adds. “Sometimes we work pet areas along the side of the house, fencing that in, and include artificial turf so the dog can run around and have a dedicated space.”

A “bark out” to other amenities: seating (for the two-legged family), a water source for refilling the bow —

even a fountain feature or low-rider hose tap — and agility course setups. Make your own, check online or enlist a pro. Don’t forget the shady areas to give your pooch a place to retreat from the sun. Landscaping or umbrella fixtures will do the trick.

WORKING SMARTE R

With a few taps on your smartphone app, you can basically control your outdoor environment. We’re talking lights, including colorchanging LEDs that set the mood, and sprinkler systems, pool heaters and

covers, music and media.

Many Wi-Fi-enabled features are now financially accessible. “Technology-laden amenities also allow a company like ours to link in and manage an irrigation system to change run times, identify problems or shut down zones,” Pattie says, citing tasks that were once performed in-person only, requiring a technician on your property (and probably a fee).

Another biggie is automated screens to keep the bugs out of outdoor covered spaces. “With a push of a button, down go the screens,” Pattie relates.

What’s not so in demand are outdoor sound systems. “The outdoor sound system has taken a step back with Alexa and so many abilities to get quality portable speakers and stream music,” Pattie points out.

SEATING NOOKS

Carving out pint-sized places to enjoy a view or simply take a break has

evolved beyond plopping a bench and calling it a day. Seating nooks might include a path leading to the space, a mini hardscaped patio that feels like a getaway room away from the main entertaining area, and plantings to provide privacy, Kluznik says of a few different approaches.

MORE COLOR, LES S MAINTENANCE

Flower beds are getting more colorful than in previous years, notices Kurt Kluznik, president of Yardmaster Landscape Architects & Contractors based in Painesville. Yardmaster mainly works on commercial accounts such as multi-family communities.

“We are getting away from some of the typical plant material like knockout roses or impatiens, and bringing in tropicals like banana trees, palms, oleander, elephant ears, ferns and moss gardens—more lush foliage,” he says.

Basically, the tropicals are treated like annuals so they’re not expected to thrive through winter.

Orange is a trending color — hold the marigolds. Instead, Kluznik is specifying hardy sunpatiens and dragon wing begonias.

Low maintenance is a steady ask from clients across sectors. “People are busy,” DiGregorio says simply. “They want landscape beds that look nice and are easy to take care of.”

THE ALL-OUTAMENITIES OUTD O O R . KITCHE N

What’s “in” is out. Practically every appliance and fixing you can select for your home’s interior kitchen is available for the outdoor version. “We are seeing sinks, fridges, smokers we can build in, more elaborate grills, flat-topgriddles and granite countertops,” DiGregorio says.

Also, portability is moving into the outdoor kitchen space in a big way. For

ON THE OUTS

Trending outdoor living features are really about what works for you. But landscape pros are seeing less demand for these.

Seat Walls. What’s comfortable about sitting on a stone wall? Nothing, really. That’s why more people are swapping the fire-pit surround wall with sets of Adirondack chairs. The same goes for patio walls, which can be costly to build and aren’t exactly an inviting place to take a load off. “Sit on a wall for three minutes. It’s not fun,” Pattie says.

Stamped concrete. “Yes, it’s very affordable compared to pavers or stone, but people are wising up to the fact that it doesn’t matter how you decorate it. In our area with all the freeze-and-thaw, it still cracks like any other concrete,” Pattie says. “(It) is almost getting looked at as ‘the cheap option.’”

Hyper-pruned plants. Pattie says maintenance is always a must, and we’re getting away from shearing shrubs into topiarystyle balls and into hand-pruning, which produces a more aesthetic result and is better for the plant. The same back-to-asnature-intended approach applies to lawn care and fertilization practices. Responsible chemical use is big. “Homeowners are demanding it,” Pattie says. Though in the green industry, this has always been an emphasis, he points out. Any company applying products like insecticides must hold an applicator license.

Ponds. “More water features now are pondless and require less maintenance,” Kluznik says, relating that custom, bubbling water features can be constructed using natural stone.

Pondless water features are self-contained. When a water feature pours into a pond or vessel, there’s the risk of freeze-thaw — which is inevitable — and cracking or liner tears. “It’s a lot of work to repair those and unless your dream is to have a koi pond, the demand for this type of thing has definitely gone down,” DiGregorio says.

instance, there was a stretch of time when constructing an official patio pizza oven was a luxury ask for highend plans. But now you can spend less and regain space. (This is just one example.)

“Rather than spending to build an outdoor pizza oven, you can get a portable one that slides into the infrastructure that makes it easier, and you can bring it into the house during winter,” Pattie describes.

FAKE OUT ARTIFICIAL TURF

Erase images of the prickly, emerald indoor/outdoor carpet. Today’s advanced artificial turf looks and feels

like the real deal, without the maintenance or mess that soggy springs and wet falls bring to Northeast Ohio lawns. “The quality has come so far,” says DiGregorio. “You can walk on it with bare feet, and it feels great.”

Artificial turf is a win for dog areas, spaces where grass is just difficult to grow, and smaller patches of lawn abutting patios. Say goodbye to muddy feet and paw prints all over the house.

Plus, artificial turf introduces other recreational possibilities: the backyard putting green, which is a popular feature for golf enthusiasts. “The trend started out west in California and Arizona, and we have seen it come this way,” DiGregorio says.

LIGHT IT UP!

Once an afterthought, landscape and outdoor lighting has shifted to the priority list — though for landscape architects, this has always been the case. Lighting extends the time you can spend outside, enhances elements like columns or rooflines on a home, and accents landscaping. There’s also the safety and security aspect of lighting.

In the most basic sense, strings of bistro lights can be hung on arbors, pergolas and deck railing, Kluznik points out. “Those are high-impact, low-cost ways to enhance a property,” he says.

DiGregorio adds, “Bistro lighting is a great way to make your backyard space feel like a swanky restaurant.”

UNDER COVER

With most projects, Ground Works designs include a roof structure — a way to create a true outdoor living room space that can be equipped with a fireplace, mounted television, retractable screens, heating elements and, of course, lighting. “It allows you to extend your outdoor living season,” DiGregorio says.

A pavilion can be attached to the home or freestanding. Pattie says the overhead structures they’re building are typically framed in lumber and wrapped in a weather-ready composite like AZEK.

REIN IN RUNOFF THE RAIN GARDEN

Multifamily properties are sometimes mandated to manage groundwater, and those dwelling in singlefamily homes are embracing how harvesting rainwater can reduce soggy spots in the yard, prevent erosion and filter pollutants to water before they potentially seep into the water supply. Officially, a rain garden is a vegetated, multi-layer setup. Think of a cake made from stone, vegetation,

mulch and sand. Each level catches the yucky stuff that water carries with it, along with reducing swampy backyard syndrome. In another vein, a pint-sized version of water capture is the readily available rain barrel. It is what it is. Rain barrels collect runoff, so you can use it for watering plants.

HIDE THE UGLIE S

We’re not talking about scenic vistas. How are you handling the view of your trash and recycling bins, compost pile or neighbor’s always-open garage door? “People are becoming more visual and seeing that whether or not it’s on your property, you’re looking out—so concealing utility areas is possible with well-placed plantings,” Kluznik says. “You don’t have to block it out, but you can interrupt that view, so your eyes go to a new focal point—landscaping.”

© DAVID ALAN PHOTOGRAPHY

GARDEN HOME &

Sean Carter of Sapphire Pear uses his skills to skillfully combine a crayon box's worth of color into one space.

The Fantastic Bathroom

The more colorful the better for this couple and their Rocky River Cape Cod.

Sean Carter had worked in lots of colors during his time at interior design firm Sapphire Pear in Rocky River. But nothing had prepared him for what his husband-and-wife clients wanted in the primary-suite bath of their midcentury Rocky River Cape Cod. They conveyed their desires for the room — a utilitarian light-blue space with an acrylic stall shower and two sinks dropped into a laminate-topped wooden vanity — by showing him the wallpaper they used to wrap a third-floor office, a bold flower-and-dragon pattern executed in brilliant hues.

“Some people say they love color, but it’s always a question of, 'Well, how much color do you actually like?'” Carter says. “For them, it was just, like, the sky’s the limit. There were no boundaries.”

Inspiration for an eye-popping palette dominated by fuchsia, emerald green and deep pool blue came from the geometric pattern in a pricey Pierre Frey wallpaper, which Carter interpreted for the primary bedroom in a more affordable custom design printed on white grasscloth by manufacturer Phillip Jeffries. He then turned his attention to the task of skillfully combining a crayon box’s worth of color in one space.

“It was definitely challenging to figure out how to incorporate all these colors without looking like a clown house,” he says, particularly given the clients’ design goals. “They really wanted a luxurious space that reminded them of a hotel. Once they entered the door, it was their own private oasis.”

"Some people say they love color, but it's always a question of, Well, how much color do you actually like?"

Carter began by creating a pure-asthe-driven-snow backdrop in the bath, where contractors had removed a wall separating it from a walk-in closet — a necessity replaced by a built-in bedroom wardrobe cabinet — to add square footage. He then constructed a water closet for the commode and relocated the entrances from the bedroom to the bath and the former closet to symmetrical locations on one wall. He covered that wall in a white porcelain tile striated in white and gray and finished the floor and two facing walls of the newly created 8-by-4foot shower in a plain white porcelain counterpart. The latter was the perfect foil for a back shower wall tiled in a mosaic of handmade trapezoidal tiles in everything from orange to teal to lime green, some custom colored.

“[The tile company] didn’t have a pink that was quite right,” he says. “It took a lot of going back and forth.”

Carter outfitted one long wall with custom his-and-hers vanities separated by a makeup table, an amenity conveniently illuminated by natural light from an overhead window. “[The vanities] just gravitated towards green,” he says of the emerald semi-gloss used to paint them. The makeup table, in contrast, was covered in a fuchsia laminate. It’s more durable for nail-polish remover, beauty products and stuff,” he says. “It holds up better than a stone would. And there’s no such thing as a fuchsia natural stone or quartz.”

Carter topped the vanities with white quartz boldly veined in black and gray, like that in the wall tile, and framed the mirrors in the same contrasting deep pool blue used to paint the makeup-table drawers and

cover a window valance in chenille. “I just wanted to bring some symmetry and balance to the space,” he says. Asian-inspired, polished-nickel hardware serves as visual ties to design elements in the bedroom, all visible

through aforementioned entrances left without doors to enhance the look and feel of a fresh, fun hotel suite.

“The acrylic pulls from [the clients’] bedroom — they have a bench in their bedroom that has acrylic legs,” he

Keith Haring artwork © Keith Haring Foundation

explains. That bench, he adds, prompted the addition of a makeup-table

stool consisting of an acrylic frame and seat upholstered in black, a striking neutral used to paint door and window frames and trim the valance in a Greek key pattern. The focal point in a room of focal points is arguably the Victoria + Albert freestanding tub installed between the two entrances from the bedroom. Carter notes it is made of volcanic limestone that is milled and mixed with resins. “It holds heat very well,” he says. “So the water stays warm for a very long time.” The feature, the exterior of which was custom finished in the same

fuchsia as the makeup table, is filled by a wall-mounted tub-filler and lit by a futuristic Hinkley Lighting fixture consisting of an LED-illuminated panel suspended in a black frame.

While every shade of every color was carefully selected and placed, the bright yellow used to paint the door of the water closet housing the commode — where one wall was covered in the same paper Carter created for the bedroom — was a last-minute decision. When Carter fanned out his rainbow of sample cards and asked his clients to select one for the door, they turned to their 4-year-old son and asked him to choose. There are no regrets. Carter reports that they love the result, a literal bright spot in, with the exception of the office, “a lot of gray walls” broken by little pops of navy.

“Eventually,” he says, “we will be working on the rest of the house.”

The focal point in the room is arguably the Victoria + Albert free-standing tub.

Distinctive Homes

RESULTS. GUARANTEED. LOU BARBEE | 440-899-0000

BUYERS

Cash and Tax Credits

BUYERS

A tough time for buyers, but with the right guide you’ll find that dream home! Take advantage of the available programs: 1st time buyers can get $10K government gift money and major tax credits for the life of your loan. You just need to know where to look!

RE/MAX REG | LOU BARBEE (440) 899-0000

OLMSTED TOWNSHIP

Stunning home in Woodgate’s Farmington Village. 4 bedroom, 2.5 baths. First floor office. Living room with gas fireplace. Granite and stainless kitchen with sliders lead to the exceptional Trex deck and green space. Finished lower level. Updates throughout. Cul-de-sac lot.

RE/MAX REG | LOU BARBEE (440) 899-0000

BRATENAHL

Outstanding free-standing cluster home just steps from Shoreby Club and Lake Erie. The 2-story entry opens to the great room. Open. Bright. High volume ceilings. Elegant dining room. Home office. Kitchen and dinette open to a spacious “hearth room.” All redone.

RE/MAX REG | LOU BARBEE (440) 899-0000

BEACHWOOD

Rarely available 2 bedroom/2 full bath condo in the Fairmount. Large great room with comfortable space for a dining room table. Inviting covered patio with 3 entry doors. Kitchen with updated cabinets and granite countertops. In-suite laundry. 2 car attached garage.

RE/MAX REG | LOU BARBEE (440) 899-0000

LAKEWOOD

Wonderful all brick mid-century 3 bedroom. Oversized fenced lot on one of Lakewood’s most coveted streets. Updated. Sun-drenched family room. Unique for the location. Steps from Lakewood Park. Meticulous maintenance, central air. Move in ready. Attached 2 car garage.

RE/MAX REG | LOU BARBEE (440) 899-0000

AVON

Meticulously maintained 3 bedroom ranch in quiet neighborhood. Freshly painted with recent updates including roof, flooring, landscaping and more. Cozy living room, dining room and the spacious kitchen with stainless appliances. Fenced yard is a true oasis.

RE/MAX REG | LOU BARBEE (440) 899-0000

BRATENAHL

One floor living. 1st floor master with walk-in tub and jacuzzi. Large private brick courtyard.  2nd floor loft overlooks the great room. 2 generous guest rooms. Over 4000 sq. ft. above grade plus 2400 sq. ft. in finished lower level with rec. room, bar, full bedroom suite.

RE/MAX REG | LOU BARBEE (440) 899-0000

YOUR HOME

Inventory is low and demand remains high. It’s the right time to sell. Concerned about where you’d go? There are loads of options that could give you all the time you need to find your next “right home.”

Your home is worth more than you think. Let’s talk.

RE/MAX REG | LOU BARBEE (440) 899-0000

Look Back

THE BANNER HEADLINE on the July 20, 1954, edition of the Cleveland Press screamed “Somebody is getting away with murder!” The murder in question was the fatal bludgeoning of Marilyn Sheppard in her Bay Village home on July 4. Suspicion soon centered on her husband, Sam, a successful osteopath — aided by breathless coverage of the city’s newspapers, particularly the Press. (Sheppard claimed a bushy-haired intruder killed Marilyn and knocked him unconscious after a fight.)

On July 21, in another front-page editorial, the Press demanded that Cuyahoga County Coroner Dr. Sam Gerber hold an inquest. And he did, scheduling it to start the next day in the gym at Normandy High School in Parma.

The three-day inquest turned into a circus. Sheppard, wearing a neck brace from

his own injuries the night of Marilyn’s killing, was questioned at length about an extramarital affair — providing a motive for him to kill his wife. At one point, Sheppard’s lawyer, William Corrigan, was removed from the proceedings. The case was ceded to Cleveland police, and by the end of the month, Sheppard was in custody. After a nine-week trial, Sheppard was found guilty of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.

After Corrigan's death, Sheppard hired a young firebrand named F. Lee Bailey as his lawyer and sought a new trial. His conviction was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court. Among the reasons was a carnival atmosphere and prejudicial media coverage. Sheppard was acquitted at another trial and died a free but broken man in 1970.