A Wedding Photo Shoot at Sandusky’s Kalahari Resort Goes Viral
Shop Local at These 16 Summer Farmers Markets
Hotel Cleveland Opens as a Swanky Overnight Stay in the Heart of Downtown
Korean Barbecue and Hot Pot Spots Are on Fire in Northeast Ohio
Now in its second year as the title sponsor of the PGA tournament at Firestone Country Club, Kaulig Companies hopes to nearly double the amount of money raised for local charities while also creating a spectacular event for the community.
FOR 71 YEARS, Firestone Country Club in Akron has set the stage for some of the greatest golfers in history — and it’s happening again July 10-14 at the Kaulig Companies Championship.
But it’s not just about the golf.
“It’s more than a tournament,” says Matt Kaulig, the executive chairman of Kaulig Companies, which became the title sponsor of the event in 2023. “It’s a celebration of community and philanthropy that’s raised over $32 million for charitable organizations.”
The five-day event is part of the PGA Champions Tour, which brings together golf legends to compete at four major tournaments each year. “You get all the big names that everybody grew up with,” Kaulig says. “It’s a very good time, whether you are a fan of golf or not.”
While the golf itself has always been a draw, the event had been run by out-of-town sponsors for more than two decades before Kaulig got involved.
Kaulig, who has earned a reputation as a hands-on philanthropist in the last decade, knew he wanted more than to write checks and see his name on banners. His goal was to transform the event into a fundraising powerhouse and all-around good time. So instead of outsourcing all of the planning or relegating it to a committee, he worked handin-hand with Kaulig Companies CEO and President Tim Clepper to rebuild the event.
“When we took the tournament over, it was corporate, it was stale. There was no energy,” Clepper says. “It’s a whole different ball game now. We do care. We’ve invested
an awful lot of time and money in this. We want this to be a celebration of our Northeast Ohio communities.”
That was obvious to anyone who attended the event last year, according to Jeff O’Brien, the executive director of First Tee Akron, one of the charities benefiting from the event.
“The vibe at the tournament is so different now that Kaulig is involved,” O’Brien says. “It’s the place to be seen and it’s also raising millions for local charities, which is what we need right now.”
The heart of the off-course fun is the Kaulig Infinity Zone. One Ticket - Two Experiences. Every ticket holder has the opportunity to watch PGA TOUR Champions Legends play and then head to the Kaulig Infinity Zone
for complimentary admission to a legendary party — giving spectators two experiences for the cost of one ticket. The Kaulig Infinity Zone, located at the main spectator entrance and exit, takes the fan experience to the next level by offering all tournament ticket holders complimentary access to live music, interactive golf activities, bar and lounge areas, food trucks, celebrity appearances and more! When play ends on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, the Kaulig Infinity Zone turns into a full-fledged music festival. Country music powerhouse Kameron Marlowe will headline the Military Appreciation Concert as part of Folds of Honor Friday on July 12.
The tournament kicks off on July 10 with the Official Championship Pro-Am, which
Last year, the event raised just over $1.3 million for Northeast Ohio charities, setting a record for golf events held at Firestone Country Club.
pairs four amateur golfers with a pro on Firestone’s par 70, 7,400-yard South Course.
“There are people coming from all over the country to play in this,” Clepper says. “You’ve got tournament champions from all over the world, and people want a chance to play with these guys and spend some time with them.”
Another big draw this year is NFL legend Peyton Manning, who is serving as the 2024 PGA Ambassador of Golf and will be present at a VIP event held on July 11 at the LeBron James Family Foundation’s House Three Thirty community center in Akron.
“Manning sees the impact that golf can have in a community and the opportunities that this tournament can create in people’s lives,” Kaulig says, noting that the former quarterback launched his own PeyBack Foundation to help disadvantaged youth in 1999. “He’s making a difference.”
Once expenses have been paid, all of the remaining proceeds will go to Northeast Ohio
charities, notes Stacey Langal, the vice president of philanthropy at Kaulig Companies. “The more money the tournament raises the more dollars are going back into Northeast Ohio,” she says. “It’s a tremendous community impact piece.”
Last year, the event raised just over $1.3 million for Northeast Ohio charities, setting a record for golf events held at Firestone Country Club. The goal this year is to hit $2 million to disperse to 25 local charities.
“We intend to use this tournament as a platform to significantly change thousands of lives here in our community,” Clepper says.
Fittingly, some of those lives will be changed on the golf course. One of the charities that benefits from the event is the Akron chapter of First Tee, a youth development organization that uses the game of golf to teach kids life lessons like how to pursue goals, collaborate with others and grow through challenges.
“We know what we’re doing is working. We hear it from the parents and we see it,” O’Brien says. “Kids that have gone through First Tee are different than kids who have not. There’s a need for youth development organizations. You can see the need.”
That belief is shared by Kaulig who, in addition to sponsoring the tournament, has supported more than 300 local charities geared toward supporting the well-being of children and families.
“It was an easy decision for our team to sign on as the title sponsor,” Kaulig says. “We want everyone to join us July 10-14 at the Kaulig Companies Championship to help us continue the legacy of giving back to make an even bigger impact in Northeast Ohio.”
For more info and tickets, visit kauliggolf.com
38 LIFE ON BOARD Step onto the Mark W. Barker: the newest freighter ship built on the Great Lakes. Here, meet the crew that runs the boat, which was specifically designed to more easily navigate the Cuyahoga River.
By Annie Nickoloff
Photographed by Matt Lance, Lance Aerial
FEATURED
52 FARMERS MARKETS Looking for fresh fruits and veggies this summer? Use our guide to explore some of Greater Cleveland's best farmers markets. By Allison Jack
8 FROM THE EDITOR 10 CONVERSATION
LAY OF THE LAND
15 BAJA BLASTED In one very chaotic evening, a pop-up punk and hardcore concert took over the parking lot of a Cleveland Taco Bell. Hear from the event organizer.
22 DESTINATION SHOOT How one local couple's wedding photo shoot at Kalahari Resort in Sandusky went viral.
24 CLEVELAND'S CREATIVE COMMUNITY
The Brownhoist cultivates an environment for Cleveland's creatives to thrive, revitalizing a historic East Side building.
ON FIRE The Korean barbecue and hot pot trend is heating up after six recent additions to Northeast Ohio.
your way around Cleveland's African food scene.
& GARDEN
WATER RETREAT This beautiful, man-made stream brings relaxation and peace to this Hudson property.
The Veterans Memorial Bridge in Cleveland opened in 1917. More than a century later, it might turn into a park.
SPECIAL SECTIONS 56 DOG DAYS If you're adopting a dog this summer, we've got tips to make the transition easy for all.
Experts
Discover how Downtown is being reimagined as a destination for residents and visitors.
Old Detroit Rd., Rocky River, 44116 440-333-9600, solarihome.com
Denise Polverine
Dillon Stewart
managing editor Ron Ledgard senior editor Annie Nickoloff associate editors Danny Cunningham, Jala Forest editorial assistants Julia Lombardo, Christina Rufo
contributing writers D’Arcy Patrick Egan, Vince Guerrieri, Kristen Hampshire, Allison Jack, Ida Lieszkovszky, Lynne Thompson
editorial interns Salvatore Rocco, Julia Soeder, Olivia Szmania
art director Erin Stinard
associate
director Abigail Archer contributing
Matthew Chasney, Matt Lance, Daniel Lozada, Kaitlin Walsh illustration intern Melissa Mintz
Alister White editorial@clevelandmagazine.com
Paul Klein
Desmond, Tiffany Myroniak
Julie Bialowas
Roberts
Kristen Brickner
Bjorksten,
Vazzano
Megan Rosta
Alyson Moutz Cowan
Klinzing
Meaden & Moore provides you with the expertise to solve today’s challenges while understanding the importance of your strategy, vision, your team, and everything else that matters.
I AVOID TRAVELING during the summer months. Unconventional? Maybe, but there is no better place to be during the warm weather months than on the North Shore.
Clevelanders, after being locked away for months, are ready to party once June and July come. The to-do list is endless: baseball games, beach picnics and patio dining. Fourth of July fireworks over the shoreline. Outdoor concerts at Blossom Music Center and Jacobs Pavilion. Cleveland summers are truly epic.
Most months on our cover you’ll find similar approaches: guides, like May’s 25 Best Restaurants; feature collections, such as January’s Most Interesting People; or themed stories, like the forthcoming Best Doctors issue in August. But July is a little different.
This month, we present a long narrative story on our cover. Often, it’s
our biggest swing, our most deeply reported story and some of our stron gest writing. Last year, our cover high lighted senior editor Annie Nickoloff’s nationally recognized “The Nightmare in East Palestine,” an on-the-ground account of the fallout from the train di saster in an Ohio town.
Our goal is to give you something to be engrossed by. Think of it as your beach or porch read.
This summer, head down to the Cuyahoga River, where roughly 700foot freighters typically serve as a barely noticed backdrop to live music, dining and clubbing.
But these ships shouldn’t blend in. The tens of thousands of tons of steel, salt, limestone and iron ore are big business for Cleveland-Cliffs and oth er companies. And the massive barges hauling it all must navigate the evershifting waters and narrow, winding al leys that make up the mouth of the Cuyahoga River.
Inside this boat is a com munity of 22 crew mem bers. They travel together on months-long trips, shar ing meals, playing games and surviving lonely nights away from their families to provide us with these vital resources (and an economic injection).
In this month’s feature (page 38), Nickoloff climbs aboard the Mark W. Barker — the Great Lakes’ newest ship, one designed specifically to navigate the crooked river — for more than four hours as it completes the 6-mile journey up and
head to your favorite place to spend a sunny day. We’ll handle the rest.
Dillon Stewart, editor stewart@clevelandmagazine.com
Our annual “Best Places to Live” issue looked at Northeast Ohio’s communities, and this year, Rocky River earned the top spot. We also visited Medina, Avon, Hudson, Willoughby and Cleveland’s Larchmere neighborhood.
From the readers: @somethingspoppingmedina: Thanks for featuring us on the cover!! ☮���� We love our community and Historic Square! @nesscmolina: I love Rocky River!!!! ❤❤❤ @larchmerefireworks: Thanks for the Larchmere article! ��
Each year, the City and Regional Magazine Association holds a conference where leaders of some of the country’s most prominent city or regional magazines are in attendance. This spring, that conference took place right at home in Downtown Cleveland. During the awards ceremony, Cleveland Magazine senior editor Annie Nickoloff was honored as a finalist for in the Feature category for her story “The Nightmare” on the train disaster in East Palestine.
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In its 124th year, the Grand Assize is one of the longest running annual performances in the city, hosted by the Court of Nisi Prius, a club of lawyers that was originally founded in 1900. The evening’s entertainment is provided by a dedicated and creative group of attorneys. The group gathers on a weekly basis during the winter months to write and practice comedic skits, and to design props and sets. The work all leads up to the Grand Assize event.
May 3–4, 2024
Cleveland Marriott Downtown at Key Tower
Cleveland Magazine’s Best of the West Party welcomed more than 1,100 people to LaCentre on May 9 to celebrate the best places to eat, shop and play on the city’s West Side. Guests had opportunities to sample and experience offerings from more than 70 Best of the West finalists. Entertainment was provided by local acoustic duo Company Housing. The event was generously supported by sponsors Bank of America, Bradley Stone, Cuyahoga Community College, LaCentre and Cleveland’s Star 102.
1) Lori Gentzel and Maria Snow
2) Bradley Disandis, Monique Urban, Sarah Binder and Cathy Welsch
3) Lawrence Carter and Kevin Schmotzer
3) Melissa Pattison, Heather Doeberling, Zack Braford, Emily Moes, Nate Previts and Alicia Melendez
May 9, 2024 LaCentre
FRIDAYS & SATURDAYS 6-8PM WEDNESDAYS 7-8 PM
For more than 28 years, Cleveland Magazine and the Arthritis Foundation have partnered to host one of Cleveland's most highly anticipated culinary events. Celebrated on May 15 at Cleveland Browns Stadium, the Silver Spoon Awards party featured more than 35 participating chefs and restaurateurs: all winners and finalists determined by votes from Cleveland Magazine readers. Guests sampled dishes from each eatery. All proceeds from the annual event benefitted the Arthritis Foundation and the mission to boldly pursue a cure for arthritis, the nation’s leading cause of disability, which affects one in four people.
1) JL Smith Holistic Wealth Management table guests, including Amanda and Bryan Bibbo
4) Enbridge Gas Ohio table guests, including Arthritis Foundation NEO Board Members Ella and Derrick Hochstetler
M U S I C
MITCH FREAR KNOWS PUNK IS POWERFUL. In April, Frear harnessed that power by gathering nearly 250 people at the West 117th Street Taco Bell parking lot for the second annual “Baja Blast” punk concert. The cohesive sounds of Necroprophecy, Razorblade and Body Farm soundtracked moshes, food fights and fireworks. “It’s silly, kind of,” says Frear. “We show up in a parking lot, there’s tacos being thrown. But to see everyone happy makes it worthwhile.” Part of a band themselves, they hope to leave a mark on the scene. “I never thought a manic idea I’d have would catch on like this,” they say. “It’s becoming something that’ll hopefully be immortalized in the Cleveland music scene.” For more photos, visit clevelandmagazine.com/tacobell
After cycling through several names over its more than 100-year history, Hotel Cleveland has returned.
CLEVELAND IS QUIETLY HOME to an outstanding hotel scene, and Hotel Cleveland is asserting itself into the conversation as one of the best. The Public Square property has been known by many different names throughout its
more than 100-year history, including most recently the Renaissance Cleveland Hotel. The newly restored space brings its charming history to the present day as part of Marriott’s Autograph Collection of unique hotels.
1. Guest rooms inside the hotel have been updated, featuring stunning views of Cleveland. Each room comes with a mural that depicts the city in the late 1800s.
2. The hotel’s roots are displayed in more than just the name on the marquee. The lobby still retains the original marble columns but now has a floor to match. The new flooring comes from the same quarry in Missouri as the pillars.
3. The lobby bar is one of the main attractions. It has an elegant feel while retaining the old-fashioned mood. Off to the side is a nook that pays homage to Cleveland’s place as a leader in the sewing industry in the 1900s.
4. Three ballrooms are set to host events. The most notable is the medium-sized one that features two images spread out across one of the walls, showing what Public Square looked like in 1908 before the hotel first opened.
Water trail guides help paddlers and boaters enjoy the many rivers and streams of Ohio.
BOATING IS A BIG DEAL along Ohio’s North Coast, attracting watercraft of all shapes and sizes as skippers and crew chase a walleye dinner, cruise to the popular Lake Erie islands or hoist sails to enjoy an evening sunset.
As popular as Lake Erie has become, Ohio’s rivers and reservoirs continue to beckon. New and unique Ohio water trails are making a splash all around the Buckeye State, in waterways where smaller hand-powered craft are becoming exceedingly popular.
“All of Ohio’s water trails take you through some of the most scenic and beautiful waterways in Ohio,” says Eric Slough of Sylvania, Ohio.
water trails, says Slough, encouraging paddlers to navigate around South Bass, Middle Bass and North Bass islands, as well as nearby Kelleys Island and the Mainland Trail around Catawba Island and the Marblehead Peninsula on the Ohio mainland.
Giving the state-sponsored water trails a very big boost is the free Water Trail Map produced by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. All are available online from the ODNR and provide launch sites, parking areas, shoreline areas and a wealth of tourism information.
There is more to water fun in Northeast Ohio than just Lake Erie.
“The water trails really promote paddling and encourage many anglers to learn to handle big waters and enjoy the outstanding near-shore kayak fishing on Lake Erie for walleye and smallmouth bass,” says Chuck Earls of Lake Erie Kayak Fishing in Avon Lake. Earls teaches kayaking and kayak rigging, hosts kayaking tours and guides Lake Erie walleye anglers.
“The river tours are quite pleasant,” says Earls, “but Lake Erie paddling requires quality kayaks designed for the task, paddling expertise and plenty of caution.”
The new Portage River Water Trail provides a low-key, leisurely paddle or an all-day 36-mile adventure from Pemberville to Downtown Port Clinton on the Lake Erie shoreline.
For the 20th year, Slough hosted the Kayak Rendezvous at South Bass Island State Park in early June. It’s a free event, and more than 100 paddlers made their way for a weekend of paddling the Lake Erie Islands while hanging around campsites, campfires and kindred spirits.
The Lake Erie Islands Water Trail is the most adventurous of all the new Ohio
“As a tourism attraction, the Portage River Water Trail is going to help us attract visitors as we work to build an extensive riverfront development in Oak Harbor that includes a boardwalk, amphitheater and riverfront development,” says Mike Shadoan, president of the board of the Park District of Ottawa County.
Smoking remains a leading killer, so where do vaping and marijuana fit in the picture?
David Margolius is looking at some flavored vapes at a Shell gas station on Cleveland’s East Side. There’s strawberry banana, vanilla and raspberry watermelon, among others. The man behind the counter gives him a puzzled look, wondering if Margolius will buy anything.
“We’re just admiring your flavored vape collection,” Margolius says. This is not an entirely honest answer from Cleveland’s Director of Public Health. He’s not so much admiring as tsk-tsking in his head on repeat.
“Frozen banana? Look at that,” he says, pointing to a vape with Mike Tyson’s face on the box.
Not only is Margolius not interested in buying any of these vapes, he doesn’t want anyone else to buy them either. He has been campaigning Cleveland City Council to ban the sale of flavored vapes and menthol cigarettes in Cleveland for more than a year.
“The flavors are more addictive. They’re more targeted towards children,” he says. “In the case of menthol, they’re more targeted towards Black people with 10 times as many advertisements in Black neighborhoods compared to white neighborhoods.”
He largely blames flavored tobacco for the city’s disproportionately high smoking rates; 35% in Cleveland compared to 11.5% nationwide.
Smoking still causes 480,000 deaths a year and remains the “leading cause
of preventable death in the United States,” according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Just as the city ponders limiting the sales of flavored tobacco products, the state is gearing up for a new frontier in smoking: legal marijuana.
Voters passed the measure to legalize last November, but state lawmakers are the ones who are supposed to come up with the rules and regulations on who can sell how much weed, in what sorts of flavors, when and where. But the House and the Senate have yet to come to an agreement on those rules. Meanwhile, dispensaries are hoping to start selling weed in June.
Wendy Hyde, regional director of the Preventing Tobacco Addiction Foundation, has spent much of her career advocating for limits on tobacco sales. I ask her if she feels that just as city officials are attempting to shut the lid on one Pandora’s box, the smoke is already starting to seep out of the next one.
“Absolutely,” she says. “We need to rectify what’s going on first with tobacco and pass effective laws locally that are enforceable so that we can mitigate nicotine addiction prior to having to start dealing with marijuana and the next steps in that area.”
She hopes state legislators will be considerate in how they regulate marijuana sales, and not forget about some effective enforcement mechanisms while they’re at it, because she’s not eager to take on another issue.
“We have our hands full with nicotine addiction,” she says.
Margolius seems a little less worried about the whole smoky Pandora’s box situation, though he tells me that he’s learned to never not worry about things.
“The criminalization of marijuana was a failed policy that disproportionally hurt Black people, Black communities, and so making it illegal to possess marijuana did not help anybody,” he says. “What we want from cigarettes is the same thing we’re hoping will happen with marijuana in that you can’t sell fla vored products, there shouldn’t be
marijuana dispensaries all over the place, especially near schools or where kids go, and there should be some degree of oversight from health inspectors in the process of dispensing marijuana.”
At the gas station Margolius points to some vapes and imagines what adding marijuana to those flavor combinations would look like.
“This would be bad,” he says. “That’s what we’re trying to stop, for sure.”
Smoking cannabis comes with its risks. Studies show that it increases the risk of heart attack and stroke.
sales of flavored tobacco products in Cleveland is something he can maybe do something about.
He’s come up against some resistance. State legislators tried to prevent local municipalities from enacting bans, though a judge recently blocked that law. And while some City Council members worry about enforcement mechanisms, others say more should be done to educate people that smoking kills. There’s also concern for small businesses that could be hurt and worries that a black market for flavored products
Margolius says he hears all of these concerns and frankly dismisses most of them in light of what could be
“We’ve heard it before, and at the end of the day, you still have to do what’s right to help people,” he says.
Inspired by a day trip to Kalahari Resort, see how one Cleveland photographer ignited an internet sensation — and a new genre of wedding photos.
It’s evening at Kalahari Resort in Sandusky. Barely 30 degrees outside with snow in the air, only the illusion of a summer night exists.
Steam engulfs the outdoor hot tubs. This is the recipe for April Gajoch’s styled bridal photo shoot, a vision she executed in four days, thanks to diligent planning with the resort.
“The nighttime hot tub was something I wouldn’t budge on,” the photographer recalls. “That was really my kickoff for the inspiration.”
With over 215,000 square feet of convention space, Kalahari is no stranger to weddings. With customizable event packages, couples may opt for a ballroom or outdoor function space to capture their big day, but a bridal photo shoot like Gajoch’s was a first.
She comes prepared to take risks.
“We bought a piece of plexiglass to put in front of me so [the bride] could throw water at the lens,” she says.
The bride’s wet hair slicks back as she kisses her fiance under a waterfall, capturing beauty and whimsy at their rawest — camera unscathed.
Just in time to do it again tomorrow.
Now, it’s 8 a.m. The sun barely peeks through the indoor water park’s windowed ceiling. Bride and groom Stephanie Wisniewski and Joe Nehas are ready to be pampered. They have two hours before the park opens.
“I’ve never been in such a massive water park without a single soul,” Wisniewski recalls.
“I felt like a little ant in the world,” Nehas adds.
The couple met Gajoch last year, when she shot their bridal session in Public Square. There was immediate trust and chemistry between them.
“I knew they were my people,” Gajoch says. “They don’t say no. They’re fearless.”
So, when Gajoch conjured the Kalahari shoot, she knew she needed them.
“It was Stephanie’s birthday when we got the call,” Nehas says. “We were jumping around our hotel room. It was perfect timing, surprising her on her birthday.”
Against a ticking clock, a DJ, a florist and stylists keep things on task as the couple cascades across the park. Making stops at the lazy river, wave pool and water slides, Wisniewski sports an eloquent white bathing suit, while Ne-
has rolls up his dress pants and dives right in.
The internet struggled to choose its favorite, as the photos garnered plenty of attention between Kalahari and Gajoch’s Instagrams.
“[Kalahari’s] reel got over 5 million views,” Gajoch says. “It went viral within the week.”
Despite the lucky cooperation of everyone who made Gajoch’s session a reality, she says she and the resort anticipate this happening again.
“Couples that I’ve already married want to go and get back in their outfits,” she says. “They just think it’s fun.”
Photographer April Gajoch’s idea turned an engaged couple and Kalahari into social media sensations.
Wisniewski and Nehas will keep their August wedding close to home at Music Box Supper Club, though they’ll spruce things up on the big day with Gajoch’s photos.
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The historic Brownhoist building is changing its tune to bring new artistic collaborations and event programming to the city.
Adam Whiting arrives at the Brownhoist on his bike, pulls his helmet away from a head of long curly hair, and steps up the stone building’s creaky front staircase. He navigates the hallways with ease. After one year of giving a few tours of the building almost daily, he’s got this part down.
And after that year, things are looking pretty different inside the space at 4403 St. Clair Ave.
Old business vaults are now zen massage rooms. Office rooms are now practice and recording studios. A thirdfloor common area is now an antisegregationist bookstore. Nondescript basement corners are budding into a speakeasy. A hallway is now transformed into a mini art gallery of forgotten paintings sourced from a closet in the Cleveland School of the Arts.
This late-1800s brick building on Cleveland’s East Side, with wings constructed in the early 1900s, was once the headquarters of a historic Cleveland crane-building factory.
Now, it lifts a community of artists in a new home — one that’s centered on collaboration.
“I started keeping track of all the wonderful people in Cleveland doing amazing things and realized that, too often, everybody’s in their own little silo, not connected to people doing similar things, complementary things,” Whiting says. “What would happen if we could gather everyone under one roof to meet each other, share passions, offer complementary skill sets? I think we thrive together and Cleveland would prosper.”
Whiting had been looking for the right space for a decade before he stumbled upon a listing for the Brownhoist building.
He was drawn to its history, and the surrounding industrial neighborhood in AsiaTown. Whiting and his team bought it in 2023; according to Cuyahoga County property records, it sold for $900,000.
There’s a high regard for the history in this space. You’ll find Ohio’s oldest working, licensed elevator — a manually controlled birdcage in a brick shaft — that is carefully used to hoist guests up and down the building’s four floors. A decades-old hardwood desk, too large to move, outfits a conference room. Handmade glass doorknobs remain from artists previously working in the building.
In any room, Whiting easily rattles off a few small ornate or historic details. He even takes some time to share a bit of the building’s past, paging through a binder of historic photographs and advertisements to land on a fun fact: In the early 1900s, the main office building in its entirety was physically moved, slowly lifted and rolled, to its current location on St. Clair.
This isn’t a stuffy museum of olden times, though. The building has turned into an active event space, filled to the brim with eccentric and artsy programs that are open to the public. The calendar includes swing dancing, board game nights, storytelling shows and even twerking lessons.
In late May, it also included Micro Theater, a two-day event that featured more than a dozen 15-minute or less performances by poets, actors, dancers, comedians and musicians.
Jon Morgan, one of the event’s co-producers, says he was inspired by events in Madrid, Miami and Buenos Aires, Argentina. The playwright, who moved to Cleveland in June, wanted to create a new collaborative space for artists, especially experimental artists, in Northeast Ohio.
The Brownhoist has successfully created a space for artistic collaboration on Cleveland’s East Side.
“We thought, ‘How can we bring everybody together under one roof at the same time, make a free event for the community, and inhabit a creative space, and just get surprised by all of the fun, cool, creative performances that are happening around the city?’” Morgan says. “The [Brownhoist] is kind of perfect for it, because all of the spaces have a unique personality. The building itself is kind of a cool, artistic experience, just being in it and walking around it.”
Beyond the events, a variety of businesses reside in the Brownhoist. Current tenants include jewelry brand For the Love of Foliage, spoken word artist CocoaWeaponry, filmmaker and photographer Anderson Rush, public speaking coach Green Tongue
“What would happen if we could gather everyone under one roof to meet each other, share passions, offer complementary skill sets? I think we thrive together, and Cleveland would prosper.”
— ADAM WHITING,
FOUNDER
Academy and The Reading Room CLE. There are also holdover tenants, like Brownhoist Cider Co., and lawyers’ offices. A few concepts, including a geekthemed speakeasy and a vinyl recording studio, are in the works.
L.S. Quinn, the founder of The Reading Room CLE, established Friends of the Brownhoist, the building’s membership program that allows community members access to common spaces, lounges and rental spaces for a monthly fee.
Quinn also helped bring in Story Club, a monthly storytelling show run by Dana Norris, as one of the Brownhoist’s regular events.
She moved The Reading Room CLE into the third floor of the building. Quinn started the bookstore before the pandemic, inspired by a similar nonprofit bookshop concept in Chicago. The Reading Room CLE accepts donated books and resells them, using profits to fund literacy programs across Northeast Ohio.
“I started with two boxes of donated books in the trunk of my car in early spring 2018,” Quinn says, “and then we just sort of continued accumulating books.”
Many, many books — Quinn says she’s managed to haul roughly 60,000 books out of her crowded home, where she sacrificed much of her basement and living space to keep the collection throughout the pandemic. Now, the titles are displayed in The Reading Room CLE’s walls of bookshelves
for perusal and self-serve shopping. A couch and a few comfy chairs reside near a sunny window, and a few desks offer co-working space for members and visitors.
The Reading Room’s development is one big piece of a puzzle that’s designed to create intersections in Cleveland’s arts, all here in the Brownhoist, Quinn says.
“We have a really fruitful mix of people sharing their knowledge and their experiences and all of their differences to make something good,” Quinn says. “We do actually want people who want to be part of the community. We want people who will be on-site, who will talk to their neighbors, who will collaborate, who will come to the monthly potluck.”
Other artistic institutions in Cleveland served as inspirations for the Brownhoist’s new life; Whiting cited Cleveland Public Theatre, Screw Factory, Maelstrom Collaborative Arts, 78th Street Studios and nearby Ingenuity Cleveland as models for the Brownhoist’s vision.
“A lot of these spaces are West Side or far West Side,” he says. “Not as much on the East Side, and most of the spaces that we do have are very industrial — very raw, very industrial — which is fabulous.
“Every once in a while, you want a more clean, polished space that feels more warm and lived in, just walking in.” Behind him, sunlight pours through the room’s wooden window frames, glinting off the conference table and hitting the sides of the stone fireplace. “I think that’s what we’ve found here.”
Congratulations to Petunia on being named Cleveland Magazine’s Cutest Pet! As such, Petunia’s family will be treated to a photoshoot with pet photographer Greg Murray and a prize package from our contest sponsors.
Did you know that some of Northeast Ohio’s best
After 30 years, Aladdin’s Eatery delivers on its promise of fresh food in a family environment.
Sandra Daher wanted to fit in. Yet, the middle schooler was different than most of her classmates. Daher’s first language was Arabic. She was raised in Kuwait and is of Lebanese descent. Hummus filled her lunchbox instead of Lunchables. Family vacations were trips back to Lebanon to visit family — trips that eventually changed her outlook.
“I realized that was part of me,” says Daher. “The memories I have of growing up are eating our food around the table with my family, speaking the language, all the traditions we had. I started to value it as I grew up.”
Today, Daher is vice president of brand strategy for Seasoned Brands, which oversees more than 30 Aladdin’s locations and additional concepts such as Forage Public House and Taza, A Lebanese Grill. She began as a 15-year-old dishwasher when her father, owner Fady Chamoun, opened the restaurant in 1994.
This year, the eatery celebrates 30 years. Despite its growth, Aladdin’s still operates as a family business.
least her cuisine, didn’t quite fit in the mid-1990s. Chamoun came to the United States in 1972 from a mountain town of no more than 2,000 people just east of Beirut. He studied engineering at the University of Michigan, but working at Little Caesars in Detroit, first as a dishwasher, moved him closer to hospitality. Eventually, he opened about 50 franchises of the pizza chain across Northeast Ohio. He credits founder Mike Ilitch, a former door-to-door salesman turned billionaire, as a mentor. “It was great to grow up in an entrepreneurship environment,” says Chamoun.
Wanting to bring the food of his culture to his new home, Chamoun purchased a deli in 1993 and slowly transitioned from corned beef to chicken shawarma.
Despite his business experience, there were challenges to launching a Middle Eastern restaurant back then. Tahini, pita and garbanzo beans were tough to source. Chamoun made weekly trips to Detroit or Chicago. In 1997, the company launched Jasmine Distributing, a 50,000-square-foot production facility that now makes 15,000 pitas a day.
Plus, the public needed education. Hummus wasn’t yet a staple of grocery shelves. Tabouleh? Forget about it. “I remember him walking around to tables, teaching people how to eat this and about our heritage,” says Daher.
It’s unsurprising that Daher, or at
One bite of hummus — scratch-made over a two-day process — at a time, Clevelanders became hooked.
Thirty years later, they still are.
“The people of Cleveland have been loyal to us,” says Chamoun. “Hopefully, that continues for another 30 years.”
This cook-it-yourself dining style has taken over Greater Cleveland with a host of great additions.
YOU ARE NOT IMAGINING IT: Cleveland’s Korean barbecue and hot pot restaurants are multiplying. In just a few years, Greater Clevelanders’ options for this dining experience have more than doubled. With both hot pot and Korean barbecue, diners do the cooking at the table. In the case of the former, that is done by adding meats, vegetables and noodles to a choice of simmering broths. In the latter, it’s achieved by grilling meats, seafood, and veggies on a tabletop grill. In both instances, diners dip cooked foods in a variety of sauces and enjoy them with accompaniments like leaf lettuce, rice or banchan, an assortment of Korean side dishes. Perhaps less flashy, old standbys like Cleveland’s Korea House and Miega Korean BBQ and Seoul Garden Restaurant in Parma provide excellent Korean barbecue experiences. But for those looking for something new, here are a few recent additions.
One of the buzziest new places to enjoy this trend landed in Cleveland Heights in May. The all-you-can-eat spot offers a modern space-age setting. Each sleek table has a central built-in grill for barbecue and individual hot pot burners at each seat. onepotusa.com
This past winter, the former Solon space long home to Akira Sushi reopened as Gogi En. This sister establishment to Sushi En in Playhouse Square focuses on Korean barbecue, with tables featuring built-in earthenware cooktops for grilling. gogienkbbq.com
BY DOUGLAS TRATTNER
One of the largest KBBQ chains in the country, with more than 70 locations, opened in Strongsville over the winter. Like most of these restaurants, KPOT offers a dizzying selection of all-youcan-eat broths, meats, seafood, veggies, noodles and sauces. thekpot.com
The contemporary gymnasium-size dining room is ringed by glass garage doors. The restaurant, which landed in the St. Clair-Superior neighborhood last year, offers tabletop Korean barbecue at each roomy booth. Hot pot is limited to the bar. fiyahkoreanbbq.com
Unlike the others here, YI, which opened in Solon in 2023, lets diners control not only the cooking but also the procurement, with self-serve stations of meats, seafood, vegetables and sauces. yihotpotsushibbqsolon.com
Since opening the region’s first all-youcan-eat sushi and hot pot restaurant in Brooklyn in 2016, the group has grown to five stores, with most offering AYCE sushi and hot pot (but no Korean barbecue). The prices have certainly crept up, but the variety of options is as impressive as ever. kintarooh.com
WHY WE LOVE IT: Owner Martins Nwangwu never thought he’d be opening a restaurant, but in 2021, he did — with his own touch. “I thought of incorporating something new, which is the Afrobeat music,” he says. During the day, AFRIKA is a booming African dining hot spot, “until the 10 p.m. transition to lounge club,” Nwangwu says. The flavors of Africa come to life through traditional dishes from Nigeria and West Africa, and the upscale emerald green space complements the cozy black booths and goldframed black and white portraits in the dining room. At night, the lounge takes on club vibes complete with African specialty cocktails and dancing along to Afrobeat, hip-hop, reggae and soca, via DJs and live weekday music. TRY THIS: Nwangwu recommends the egusi soup ($26). The delicious dish is made of pureed melon seeds, simmered with spinach. "Assorted meats really give it the flavor, and then you add some spice to it,” Nwangwu says. It’s served with your choice of fufu or pounded yam. 4483 Mayfield Road, South Euclid, 216-331-3054, afrikatasteandlounge.com
WHY WE LOVE IT: Widely known as one of the most authentic West African restaurants in Northeast Ohio, Choukouya has earned fans for its menu of meat and seafood entrees, many of which can be made vegetarian. Featuring double-seared meats, the restaurant is named after an Ivory Coast word meaning “grilled/braised meat” or “steakhouse.” Traditional dishes are served with fufu (a starchy vegetable dough) in a peaceful dining room filled with inviting woods and colorful African table runners. Choose from hearty sauces like the egusi ($15), with your choice of spice level, on chicken or beef ($18), goat ($21), fish ($22) or lamb ($23). TRY THIS: Under the “gourmand” section, try the weekend-only thieboudienn ($22), a popular dish in Senegal, Africa's westernmost country, with a choice of protein, like lamb (add $10), cooked in a well-seasoned red tomato sauce with plenty of vegetables including cassava, carrots, eggplants and more, served in rice. 4620 Richmond Road, Suite 292, 216-245-6660, Warrensville Heights, choukouyarestobar.com
WHY WE LOVE IT: This West Park gem owned by Jamas Munsa, an Eritrean refugee, showcases shareable plates meant to be eaten by hand. After enjoying a full menu of Ethiopian delicacies, finish things off with the coffee ceremony ($15), which roasts beans
in front of the customer for a truly fresh cup of coffee. TRY THIS: Share a massive platter like the doro wat ($20) and take bites of the stewed greens, lentils and spicy, slow-roasted chicken by tearing into a piece of injera, a spongy crepelike fermented bread used to scoop the meal. 16860 Lorain Ave., Cleveland, 216-4006539, facebook.com/habeshacle
WHY WE LOVE IT: A guide to Cleveland's African-influenced food scene should include some Louisiana Creole spots, since the cuisine fuses together African, French, Native American and other influences into its mix. Bite Creole Kitchen gives its own Northern twist to the cooking tradition, at two locations — one inside Willowick's Create-A-Space co-work hub and one in South Euclid on Monticello Boulevard. “Everything is cooked from scratch, the sauces; everything is made to order,” says owner Aisha Childers. TRY THIS: Childers recommends her take on Creole favorites like the wet creole wings, deep fried with wet creole sauce ($19.45). 4262 Monticello Blvd., South Euclid, 216-505-5344; 30480 Lakeshore Blvd., Willowick, 440-569-1075, bitecreolekitchen.com
WHY WE LOVE IT: This laid-back Moroccan and Mediterranean eatery in Downtown Cleveland excels at its wide range of fast, fresh and healthy options, which has earned it a large fan base. TRY THIS: Build your own bowl, pita, wrap or salad by choosing from staples like Casablanca chicken, tagine beef or meatball kafta, mixed with pickled baldi, zaalouk (Moroccan eggplant), maticha salad and other toppings, and add your sauce of choice, like the unique marrakesh Thai sauce.
1900 Euclid Ave., Cleveland, 216-795-5933, togo.dylish.com/restaurant/cassa-kitchen
WHY WE LOVE IT: When exploring the many foods of the African diaspora in Cleveland, we land on Irie Jamaican Kitchen: a fast-growing, build-yourown spot that serves up authentic Caribbean, West African and fusion flavors all over Northeast Ohio. At each of its five locations, the restaurant whips up delicious land and sea dishes, including jerked, curried and stewed meats (and mouthwatering mac and cheese) in colorful, beachy settings. TRY THIS: We recommending building a delicious bowl of Irie's best-selling jerk chicken, sauced and spiced with authentic flavors, served with Jamaican rice, cabbage and plantains ($8.99). Various locations, iriejakitchen.com
WHY WE LOVE IT: The food truck and casual restaurant showcases an array of dishes you'd usually find in North Africa, not Northeast Ohio. “We sell a lot of Egyptian street food that’s really unique,” says owner Nader Soliman, whose food is served the same way as it is in Cairo. Each dish here brings authentic tastes and spices of Egypt to the modern, chic, plant and stringlight embellished brick-and-mortar eatery. TRY THIS: Egyptian specialties range from fresh breakfasts, like the buttery fried boiled mezaglel eggs ($5), to dinner options, like the sphinx wrap beef sausage ($15) with tomatoes, onions and green peppers wrapped in a pita. 8801 Brecksville Road #3, Brecksville, kingtutstreetfood.com
WHY WE LOVE IT: Traditional Moroccan dishes and a family-friendly atmo sphere make this small, family-owned eatery stand out. The tastes of tradi tional Moroccan food eaten in a warm, rust-hued dining room have brought in customers for more than 10 years, for favorites like couscous (steamed semolina, served with six types of veg etables) ($15) and varieties of kebabs from the grill. “Our menu is very simple and fresh,” owner Mohamed Abdessa mad says. “We do not use canned food; we don’t use a microwave; we don’t use frozen food.” TRY THIS: Customers love ordering the tagine, an authentic Mo roccan stew, made with meat cooked with potato, carrots, onion and green olives, with mixed spices, and cooked on clay, not aluminum, says Abdessa mad. Try the dish with lamb ($21), beef ($19) or the vegan ($15) variety. He recommends finishing the meal with crisp fresh Moroccan mint tea ($5).
2199 Lee Road, Cleveland Heights, 216-932-3512, momoskebab.com
WHY WE LOVE IT: This Downtown hot spot capitalizes on Louisiana Creole dining, bringing the best of the diasporic cuisine style to the menu. Choose from specialties like the loaded gumbo ($15), seafood etouffee ($26) and a large range of other flavorful options. TRY THIS: The perfectly spiced jambalaya ($26) dish features gulf shrimp, chicken, smoked andouille sausage, onions and peppers in a seafood tomato Creole sauce over choice of rice or fettuccine. Don’t sleep on unique cocktails like the Lady Voodoo ($17) crafted with Casamigos blanco, fresh blood orange, house-made sour mix and dry ice effects. 668 Euclid Ave., Unit 2, Cleveland, 216-938-7392, houseofcreolecle.com
WHY WE LOVE IT: The Detroit-based West African restaurant now has a Cleveland location, familiarizing the area with coconut rice and Jamaican jerked meats. Carasai Ihentuge and his wife, Amira, brought his brother Godwin’s business to the Cleveland State University’s Langston Building two years ago, with a Chipotle style menu for African fast-casual eats. The modern chic interior gives off fun vibes with colorful murals and a neon sign. TRY THIS: The traditional halal jerk oxtail with rice and truffle oil greens ($21.75) is simmered in vegetable root gravy for six hours and served with jollof rice. 2215 Chester Ave., Cleveland, 216-415-5068, yumvillage.com
WHY WE LOVE IT: If you have a hankering for a filling platter of Ethiopian bites, Zoma is the place to visit. The authentic shop was unveiled in 2016 and features a comforting menu showcasing dishes that range from spiced meats to vegan dishes. “We serve food with bread and the food is eaten with the hands, versus silverware," says owner Zeleke
Belete. “The other main difference from other restaurants is every dish is shareable, and you eat from the same plate.” Don’t sleep on the wine collection that includes special Ethiopian honey wine. TRY THIS: For first-timers, Belete suggests the Zoma special combo ($36.99) featuring nine different shareable items on a 24-inch platter including beef tibs, spicy beef stew, house-
made cottage cheese and six vegetarian dishes. Save room for some sweet baklava ($5). 2240 Lee Road, Cleveland, 216-465-3239, zomacleveland.com
Check out more recommendations at clevelandmagazine.com/food-drink
Want to taste, sample and experience all of this year’s Best of Lorain County finalists under one roof? Join us on Thursday, July 25, 2024, at Lorain County Community College for the 2024 Best of Lorain County Party. More than 50 finalists will be on-hand to showcase what makes them a local favorite. Tickets on sale now!
Jeff Riddell, President David J. Moore, Vice President Michelle Hung, Member
After founding Cleveland Vegan in 2012, Laura Ross and Justin Gorski have been thought leaders among the vegan community. Between running a business and teaching yoga on the side, Ross, a mother of three, knows the ins and outs of the scarce but delicious vegan eats in Cleveland.
–CHRISTINA RUFO
Wendy LaForce Zambo
wendylaforcezambo@howardhanna.com
wendyzambo@oh.rr.com
2100 Center Road, Suite E, Avon
DATE NIGHT I would say our go-to spot, if it’s just me and my husband, would be Douglas Katz’s new place, Amba. We love Amba and Zhug, over on the East Side. Nearly half the menu is vegan, and it shows which items are vegan beside each dish. There are so many options. It’s fresh and consistent, and it’s a great vibe.
DAIRY-FREE DESSERT We discovered this place out in Avon Lake called Fenik’s Frozen Custard. They have around 20 different dairy-free, vegan options. They make their own vegan cones, as well. They have eight different sundaes, and all of them can be made vegan. It’s not a vegan-only place, but they have a lot of options such as vegan sprinkles, vegan gummy bears, and other vegan toppings. It’s a little haven that we will drive from Lakewood all the way out there just to have ice cream.
FAMILY FRIENDLY Banana Blossom is the top spot. It’s our favorite Thai. They just do an excellent job with the vegan options. It’s fresh, and the vegetables are cooked well. [Chiming in while in the car, Ross’ kids say the restaurant’s pad see ew ($14.05-$24.95) is the best and that the menu is flavorful.]
MORNING BOOST Goodkind is right around the corner from us. We love their almond milk chai. They make their own almond milk and their own chai concentrate, and it’s just phenomenal. That’s probably our favorite there.
This totally renovated 5-bedroom, 6-bath home with over 12,000 square feet, is the epitome of luxury and comfort. Nestled in the prestigious Glencarin development in the city of Richfield, this estate is set on a lushly landscaped, picturesque 1.2-acre lot. It offers everything you could ever need and deserve.
Key Features:
Location:
Lot Size:
First Floor
Details:
Bedrooms & Bathrooms: 5 spacious bedrooms and 6 beautifully appointed bathrooms.
Situated in the exclusive Glencarin development, known for its serene and upscale environment.
Expansive 1.2-acre lot with stunning landscaping. Arrive by entering the circular driveway and Portico. You will notice a 4-car garage and studio quarters above the garage.
Expansive Kitchen: A chef’s dream with state-of-the-art appliances, granite countertops, and a large island. The kitchen opens to a beautiful family room, perfect for casual gatherings and everyday living. Beautiful Dining Room: An elegant space designed for entertaining guests in style. Master Suite: A luxurious retreat featuring garden view blackout shades, an oversized glamour bath with a soaking tub, custom vanities, and a new shower. The suite also includes a walk-in custom closet with built-ins for abundant storage. Covered Outdoor Patio: Featuring a gas fireplace, this area allows for seamless indoor-outdoor living, perfect for relaxing or entertaining year-round.
Entertainment Extravaganza: Lower Level: The ultimate entertainment space, featuring a Pub Room and Lounge area.
Indoor Basketball Court: Watch or join in the fun with a half-court indoor basketball setup, viewable from both above and below. Theatre Room: Enjoy the latest Netflix series or a movie marathon in the large, state-of-the-art theatre room. Full Operating Kitchen and Bar: Perfect for hosting parties or family gatherings. Chilled Wine Room: A private, chilled wine room that can store up to 400 bottles, ideal for any wine connoisseur. Multi-Use Spa Room: Currently used as a spa, this room can easily be converted into a cigar lounge, with air filters already in place to ensure a comfortable environment.
Bonus Room/ Studio:
Two Laundry Rooms:
Located above the second garage, this versatile space can be used as a home office, art studio, or guest suite, offering endless possibilities for customization.
Convenience at its best with one laundry room on the main floor and a second on the upper floor, ensuring ease and efficiency for all your laundry needs. This estate is more than just a home; it’s a lifestyle. Live luxuriously and entertain effortlessly in this spectacular property. Don’t miss the opportunity to make it yours!
Contact Wendy LaForce Zambo for a private tour 440-361-0606
Start living like a Celebrity.
It’s a business almost as old as Cleveland itself, and it’s got a fresh new face. Step on board the Motor Vessel Mark W. Barker, and meet the crew that keeps the locally owned freighter running, day and night.
a clear Tuesday morning, the Motor Vessel Mark W. Barker slides away from the Cleveland Bulk Terminal near Whiskey Island and works toward the mouth of the Cuyahoga River.
We are stationed in the spacious captain’s deck, positioned near the ship’s stern and four flights of stairs above the main, 639-foot-long deck. Surrounded by charts and logs, captain Alex Weber and wheelsman Zachry Filipiak have their eyes glued to the glistening path in front of the lengthy ship.
Here, the smell of fresh coffee drifts from a pot brewing in the corner, next to a bowl of candy and above a minifridge containing a tub of homemade pickled eggs that Filipiak and a friend made a few weeks ago. (He lets us know they’re there for the taking, in case we’re hungry.) Calming soft-rock tunes play lightly in the background; Toto and James Taylor and Uncle Kracker’s
“Drift Away” — and, here, the song goes, “I wanna get lost in your rock ‘n’ roll and drift away ... ”
Dipping under bridges and passing the Flats’ flashy riverside bars and apartments, the boat creeps steadily, no more than 2 mph, toward an imposing bend.
“Columbus Road can be tricky,” Weber says. “The current can catch you there.”
Weber is self-assured, standing at the main front-facing window of the room, wearing a ball cap and a quarter-zip, sleeves rolled up. Looking outside, the 31-year-old Northeast Ohio native speaks plainly about the day’s route.
“It’s challenging. It’s 6 miles,” Weber says. “Very crooked. Very windy.”
You wouldn’t know it, but he has navigated these 6 miles of the river’s serpentine curves just a handful of times.
“A lot of bridges, a lot of recreational traffic, a lot of commercial traffic,” Weber continues, as a voice from the Coast Guard station crackles over the
radio, asking for an estimated time of arrival. “No two days are the same.”
Stepping onto the metal platform outside of the captain’s deck, a breeze drifts over me and the rest of the Mark W. Barker — this newest ship of bulk-carrying business Interlake Steamship Co. fleet of 11 freighters, and just one of three that’s short enough to make it down this tricky river.
The trickiest parts of the route are made a little less thorny by the specifications of the Mark W. Barker, or the “W,” as some of the crew calls it. The boat was designed just a few years ago to navigate the Cuyahoga River with ease. Christened in Cleveland in 2022, it’s the first ship the locally owned steamship company has debuted in more than four decades, and it’s outfitted with new technology and a new layout — and Cleveland’s twisted river, top of mind.
“This boat, I say, is digital. All the other ones are analog,” says Weber, who became the captain of this ship last
year. “It’s not like the old boats, where they’re 50 or 70 years old or something like that. This is brand new.”
Weber’s able to control the vessel’s direction and movement from the pilothouse on the boat’s automated system, with electronic screens that show all the data he needs to effectively navigate.
The new ship is participating in an old industry — one that’s nearly as old as Cleveland itself.
Earlier, before boarding, the sunrise spits an orange glow onto the ship’s towering side as a load of iron ore from the Bulk Terminal’s conveyor belt spills into a metallic waterfall of reddishbrown pellets. They crash with a noisy “shhh” into the underbelly of the ship.
We’re warned of the pellets, like marbles under your feet. We pay attention to where we step.
The Mark W. Barker, named after Interlake’s current president, comes from the cargo-carrying company that traces its history to the 1880s. Today, it’s
transporting 17,250 tons of iron ore to Cleveland-Cliffs, a company with roots in the 1840s. It’s doing this in a port and river that drew surveyor Moses Cleaveland’s eye in the late 1700s, establishing the city’s waterfront identity.
Between Interlake’s and other freighter companies’ fleets, this relatively short jaunt in and out of the Port of Cleveland is responsible for about $4.7 billion annually in economic activity. It transports tens of millions of tons of cargo: primarily, iron ore, steel, salt, limestone, machinery, grain — these essential, defining industries of the Rust Belt.
“It’s, I think, culturally and historically very much a part of Cleveland’s story and going all the way back to the original sighting and founding of Cleveland,” says William Friedman, president and CEO of the Port of Cleveland. “Lots of changes to the harbor to make it navigable and suitable for the shipping industry have taken place over the years, and still sort of evolving land uses, of
Alex Weber and wheelsman Zachry Filipiak navigate the river; iron ore pours into the ship; a game of tic-tac-toe is drawn on board; a duck waddles near the Cleveland Bulk Terminal; the sun rises on the Mark W. Barker.
course, are changing. But it’s still very much a part of the fabric around here and part of a larger system.”
Before the ore is fully loaded, the boat sports a thin coat of off-white powder — the dusty remnants of a shipment of commercial stone and gravel from Marblehead. On one walkway, a handdrawn grid of tic-tac-toe is swiped into the dust.
It’s hard work. Long days and nights. Work until the job is done. Sweat and dust
QMED engineer Jason Tramte and chief engineer
Eric Wlazlo talk in their office; workers’ coffee mugs hang on the wall; the Mark W. Barker creeps along the Cuyahoga; first assistant engineer Russell Penniman checks on the engine.
and dirt. But in some ways, the Mark W. Barker — the first steamship in the Great Lakes to meet the latest EPA emissions standards — has become the fresh, environmentally friendly face of a gritty, essential industry.
Looking out from the pilothouse, that’s reflected on the Cuyahoga — the same river which, in 1969, was so polluted it famously caught fire.
As we begin to twist around the big bend of Columbus Road, excavators scoop and level the dusty brown soil on Irishtown Bend, transforming and stabilizing the once-blighted landslide risk into (eventually, hopefully) a park.
We inch around the curve. The breeze changes. The full city skyline comes into view. His hat now flipped backward, Weber wears a pair of reflective sunglasses as bright afternoon rays peek out of a cloudy blue sky. The captain is cautious but authoritative, and he predicts the cross-current before we encounter it. We slowly pivot.
“REALLY, IT’S A SELF-SUSTAINED CITY, SO ANYTHING THAT YOU CAN THINK OF, WE HAVE.” - CAPTAIN ALEX WEBER
Riverside trails, created a few years ago, line these shores. Plus: a kayak launch, a couple of tennis courts and a few fishermen, sitting in camping chairs on the water near the Coast Guard Station. Then, a community of building frames, apartment construction sites — no doubt luxury, riverside spaces, built on once-undesirable land
— turning into (eventually, hopefully) Cleveland’s next hot neighborhood, on Scranton Peninsula.
But we’re not there yet.
The ship keeps turning.
Descend the metal staircases, below the galley, living spaces and deck of the Mark W. Barker, and you reach the heart of the machine: the engine room. Here, computer screens and a wall of meters and buttons register the ship’s numerous moving parts. Next door, a hefty, diesel-powered 16-cylinder engine powers the ship.
The engine churns so loudly that a white noise envelopes the space, a steady fuzz behind engineers Erik Wlazlo and Jason Tramte’s voices. The two sit and chat at desk chairs next to a pot of bubbling coffee.
Workers like Wlazlo and Tramte have kept up as Interlake’s engines and machinery evolved. The two started with the Middleburg Heights-based company about 30 years ago. Now, Wlazlo serves as the Mark W. Barker’s chief engineer with Tramte as his righthand man, the lead QMED engineer.
But first came Wlazlo’s decade of work in the hot rooms of true steamship engines. He even spent time on Interlake’s oldest boat, 1942’s Lee A. Tregurtha — a ship with two battle stars for World War II service in its prior life. (Wlazlo says the steam engines were fun to work on. “It’s a little warm, but it was great, I used to really enjoy it. The steamers were very laid back.”)
Then, in the 2000s, he saw Interlake’s fleet of cargo ships get repowered, one by one, from steam engines to their current, more efficient and cleaner diesel systems.
The Mark W. Barker, at 639 feet long, is one of three Interlake Steamship Co. vessels that is short enough to move around the Cuyahoga’s many tight bends. The ship, which debuted in 2022, is the local shipping company’s first new vessel in more than 40 years. And though it’s a little shorter than most of the company’s other boats, it’s capable of carrying an impressive 26,000 tons of cargo at a time.
The Mark W. Barker moves around a bend in the Cuyahoga; wiring and ducts line the ship’s engine room; chief engineer Erik Wlazlo stands near the ship’s controls.
In 2021, Wlazlo faced one of his biggest career challenges yet, when he arrived at Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. There, the future Mark W. Barker was, at the time, just a couple of metal modules. The bits and pieces of the ship marked Interlake’s first new build in a few decades — and one of the first, of this scale, at Fincatieri.
“It was a huge puzzle. This is the first whole, entire ship built on the lakes here in almost 40 years. The shipyard has repaired ships; they build barges and some tugs, but nothing like this,”
says Wlazlo. “I’ve never seen this stuff before.”
He helped put things together over the next year, armed with stacks of manuals and installation guides for components that were crafted all over the world. An engine built in La Grange, Illinois; gearboxes from Texas; a propeller, propulsion control and thrusters from Sweden; an unloading system from Canada.
Like a buoyant, complicated Lego set, piece by piece, the ship came together.
In the end, something specific was born in Wisconsin. Something new, destined for its Northeast Ohio home.
The Mark W. Barker’s layout flips around a few key elements from designs of other Interlake vessels. Its unloading boom is mounted to the bow of the ship, instead of its stern. Its cargo hold is square-shaped instead of sloped — meaning it can hold more product, even though the dimensions of the ship are technically smaller.
After all, every inch counts on a freighter, especially one that squeezes into the Cuyahoga. The river’s tight bends necessitate that ships be shorter than 700 feet to get through.
And they have to be maneuverable.
The Mark W. Barker is outfitted with two 1,000-horsepower thrusters at the ship’s bow and stern, allowing it to move both forward and backward. After all, there’s no turning around in a river this tight. Meanwhile, the ship’s flap rudder gives it extra steering ability, turning at about 70 degrees (a big difference from most ships’ 40-43 degrees).
However, it hasn’t all been smooth sailing on the Mark W. Barker. The new build brought new challenges, including malfunctions.
The ship made headlines last May when it lost power and ran aground on the Detroit River. After a few hours, the ship managed to break free and continue on its journey without any damage or injuries.
Wlazlo leads us to the door of the engine room, where we roll up foam earplugs and plug them, one after the other, into our ears. When Wlazlo opens the door, a mechanical noise blasts out. He has to raise his voice over the cacophonous equipment to tell us about how the engine works.
He reaches down and lugs up a hefty tube of metal sitting in the corner of the room. The piston is as big as his forearm, which sports a fiery Detroit Tigers tattoo in honor of his hometown. Then we stand over a metal grated walkway and peer down at the many pistons below us, furiously pumping and powering the ship’s movement along another curve of the Cuyahoga.
This isn’t some dark, Titanic-esque inferno. A gust of cool air blasts from a vent, pushing strands of loose hair back in the artificial wind. Bright fluorescents light a workstation with everyday tools labeled and arranged on a peg board.
This is where Wlazlo, Tramte and
other engineers onboard fix everything that breaks on the ship. The surrounding engines might be the most important part of their jobs, but if a toilet or a washing machine is on the fritz, they’ll fix that, too.
Though many city dwellers have seen this ship crawl slowly by the city’s scenery, it’s rare to catch a glimpse of its inner workings, its beating heart — this tucked-away life on board.
Around 11 a.m., we smell lunch being prepared on the deck. The scent of grilled meats mixes with the lake breeze. Chief steward Julie Kowalski is busy preparing meals for the 22-person crew. Today’s menu, written on a dryerase board outside the kitchen serving window, features gyros, hamburgers, loaded baked potatoes, Buffalo chicken wraps, Coney dogs, sandwiches, soups and salads. A freezer is filled to the brim with ice cream, and today’s des-
sert special is an Oreo cheesecake.
“Nobody goes hungry here,” Kowalski says, methodically flipping a row of burger patties on the flat-top grill.
Behind her, second cook Cristonna Lisby pulls a tray of warm, freshly baked cookies out of an oven. “This is a younger crew,” she says, raising her eyebrows. “They’re always hungry, so I have to keep up with it.”
Lisby knows how to keep up with hungry young people. With two teenage boys — a 15- and a 17-year-old — at home in Georgia, she first started cooking for her family and for parties, before she worked for Harris Teeter, a grocery chain, and then Interlake. “I made things,” she says. “I wasn’t a microwave mom.”
Now, Lisby spends months away from her sons, living on the boat, providing for her family from afar. While she’s worked for Interlake for two years, the lifestyle is not for everyone.
Kowalski, as a relief chef, works on Interlake vessels for weeks at a time.
“When I go home, I have no husband or pets or anything. I live alone. It’s good,” says Kowalski, a Marine City, Michigan resident. She reaches for a container of spices above the stovetop. “I go home and just enjoy life.”
Then again, the Mark W. Barker is “home,” too. Crew members live onboard, retreating to their cabins after long work days, for months. Lisby’s door, just down the hall from the galley, is easy to spot, with anime stickers and butterflies taped to its outside — reminiscent of a college dormitory, decked out to show off her personality.
Kowalski and Lisby started their shifts this morning at 6 a.m., whipping up breakfast for the crew — made-toorder omelets, sausage and egg sandwiches and more. They’ll end their day of work at around 6 p.m. after dinner service is finished. No days off.
The cooks rely on a rotation of recipes. Some are plated meals, others are grab and go, wrapped in layers of cellophane, for a quick bite ahead of an oddly timed shift.
“I have about, maybe, 50 dinner entrees, and it helps me keep everything fresh,” Kowalski says. “They’ve never had your lasagna, you know? I don’t want to get stale, so if you go to another boat, even if you just make lasagna or meatloaf, it’s all different people.”
In the morning, a few members of the crew sit quietly at the galley’s round tables and eat plates of eggs and toast. An old Star Trek movie plays on the TV, near a La-Z-Boy reclining chair and a shelf of books, decks of cards and other games provided to pass the time.
“Everyone’s very nice about everything. Everyone’s very laid back, very easygoing,” Kowalski says. She hands a plated burger and fries to a worker through the kitchen’s serving window.
“To take this job, you have to be.”
You almost forget you’re moving on a ship, in a room like this.
It’s a living room, dining room and den, all in one — a key part of daily life for the crew. And life here also means everyday things like gyros, home-baked cookies, the cornhole set that workers often bring out on a nice day on the top of Hatch 5, and Starlink video calls that Lisby makes on a daily basis with her two sons.
And it also means the lobster and crab leg dinners Kowalski cooks on Christmas — or ham and turkey on Easter and Thanksgiving — or the annual Fourth of July cookout. All right here on this ship. No days off, after all.
There’s life on board, and it’s in constant motion, this little world on a freighter that’s currently on top of the Cuyahoga River — and at lunch, it smells like grilled meats.
“Really, it’s a self-sustained city,” Weber says, “so anything that you can think of, we have.”
And there’s another city, right behind it. Kowalski props open the kitchen door to let in some cool air. On the deck beyond, we see a crew member light a cigarette, leaning against the rail. Behind him, Tower City slowly swipes out of view.
Matthew Bassett starts his shift in early-morning darkness, wearing a high-visibility neon yellow jacket and hard hat at Cleveland Bulk Terminal. The rising sun’s light glimmers off of Bassett’s gold wedding band. He and ordinary seaman Jesse Allen kill time before the ship finishes loading up, watching a duck waddle nearby.
Later in the day, Bassett is working
CLOCKWISE: Second cook Cristonna Lisby poses in the pantry; the crew enjoys a meal together; chief steward Julie Kowalski serves a worker; a crew member peers over the edge of the ship.
his second shift — a split shift. Easy to remember, at least. “My watch is 12 to four, twice a day,” Bassett says.
Two split shifts and often plenty of overtime when the schedule calls for it:
Bassett’s schedule as an Interlake mate, for the past four years, can be scattered. When he’s not on the clock, he enjoys reading books — recently, a history about the Crusades, a biography about Henry Ford, a Western and — fittingly, for a sailor — Gulliver’s Travels.
Ideally, Bassett says, he’s only on the Mark W. Barker for, at most, 180 days out of the year. It’s taxing to both work and live in a workplace, and he misses home in Traverse City, Michigan, and his wife, Karen, “every second of every day,” he says.
“But I like my job,” he adds. “I mean, if you talk to an attorney, he’d rather be home, too, but he’s got a job he’s good at — it’s a means to providing for your family. If you talk to a doctor, you know she’s gonna want to be home with the kids, too. I think everyone misses home
and family when they’re working, but you’re working for that family and it’s a tradeoff we all make.”
By the time his second shift rolls around, the early morning chill has subsided into a sweaty, sunny afternoon. Bassett has ditched his jacket and wears a pair of stained overalls and a T-shirt. He stands on the deck at the bow of the ship.
We have moved past any distinguishable markers of the city skyline. Now we float in a less-developed stretch of river, one of abandoned rusty docks and occasional small swathes of litter: plastic water bottles, chip bags, twigs and muck, lapping at the banks.
We watch work trucks and excavators organize Cleveland-Cliffs’ mounds of iron ore. In the distance, massive claw-machine grabbers lift and move the essential ingredients to the plant.
Bassett’s eyeing the shore as the ship slows, occasionally radioing in distances and angles to Weber in the captain’s office, helping him maneuver
around those last few pesky bends of the Cuyahoga.
You get better at it the longer you practice, Bassett says. Though he’s only worked for Interlake for four years, he’s navigated the Great Lakes for more than 25 years, and the Cuyahoga for more than 12, as a former captain and first-mate for American Steamship Co.
“When I was driving as a captain up
“IT’S THREE HOURS OF NEARLY COMPLETE FOCUS THE WHOLE TIME.” - MATTHEW BASSETT, SHIPMATE
and down the river, it’s three hours of nearly complete focus the whole time,” Bassett says.
In those years of focus, Bassett has seen the river change — the Flats developments ebb and flow, fall apart,
revitalize, repeat. (“The only constant there seems to be Shooters,” he says.)
He’s seen new apartments built up near the shores, while other properties were torn down, like Tower City Amphitheater and Eagle Street.
And he’s seen recreation increase. Rowing teams now share the river, and boaters consistently line up near Shooters, where they, at one time, occasionally bopped into one another when the freighters used their thrusters to navigate around them, Bassett says.
He’s been caught in snow squalls, hit by seagull poop and caught behind the Norfolk-Southern rail bridge, where he maintained control of the ship in windy conditions behind achingly long trains.
He recounts one ship’s docking at Cleveland-Cliffs, which accidentally knocked down a power line, caused a blackout at the mills and nearly electrocuted a freighter crew member.
“It can be dangerous,” he says, eyes trained on the shore. “You’ve got to pay attention.”
Down on the main deck, Allen, Juan Palacios and a few other seamen busily prepare a pulley system attached to a long metal arm on the ship. Allen steps up on a stool and swings his legs over a wooden seat attached to the rope.
A crewmate pulls, hoisting Allen into the air. The team swings the metal arm out over the edge of the boat, and Allen, clinging to the line, with it. They lower him down, 20 feet, to the ground. In a few seconds, Palacios follows, in the same manner, and they start the process of tying down lines, docking the ship safely next to Cleveland-Cliffs — the first step to unloading the shipment of ore inside.
The crew gets to work under the hot rays, as a plume of white steam rises out of one of the steel mill’s smokestacks. The work rarely pauses here, in the heart of Cleveland manufacturing — and not on the Mark W. Barker, either.
We are six miles from where we started, in nearly as many hours. The
Matthew Bassett poses near Cleveland Bulk Terminal; Bassett’s wedding ring reflects the rising sun; footprints on the Mark W. Barker’s deck; ordinary seaman Jesse Allen is lowered to the ground.
sun furiously beats down onto the ship, onto the surrounding iron ore, onto this main industry of Cleveland — and, also, onto the ship’s crew that keep things running smoothly all the while.
“The boats never stop,” Bassett says. “You think of a factory, somebody’s gotta work second shift, somebody’s gotta work third shift. If it’s going to run 24 hours, you’ve got to be. Police on the street 24 hours a day — there’s doctors in the emergency room — and there’s sailors on the boats, working.”
Bay Village’s visual and cultural arts center is already beloved for its productions, events and arts festivals — now, add a backyard farmers market to that list. Every Thursday night from 4-7 p.m. from June 13 to Sept. 12, find typical farmers market finds like local produce as well as baked goods, pierogies and a side of art produced by local artists. This dog-friendly market hosts a variety of food trucks and features a live band on stage. 28795 Lake Road, Bay Village, bayarts.net
The irregular schedule of a health care worker makes keeping a full and healthy fridge tough. The same goes for patients and their loved ones. Luckily, since 1995, Wednesdays from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., a farmers market on the Crile Mall has offered fresh finds from more than 40 vendors. Visitors can find lunch, such as grilled steaks and burgers from Edwins Restaurant & Leadership Institute. Also find free health screenings and musicians like Ray Flanagan. Carnegie Ave. & E. 100th St., Cleveland, northunionfarmersmarket.org
You’ve most likely gone shopping along Chagrin Falls’ Main Street — but not like this. Joining the well-known strip of boutiques each Sunday, June 2 through Oct. 2, from 9 a.m. to noon, is one of six North Union Farmers Markets. Load up on farm-raised bison from Coyote Run Ranch out of Columbiana, Ohio, or bite into a classic glazed doughnut from Rocky River’s Big Mouth Donut Co. “We are a
certified producer-only farmers market, which means our staff is trained to visit the farmers that attend,” says Emma Visnic, director of communications & marketing at North Union Farmer Market, which also accepts SNAP benefits. The team certifies that vendors, themselves, are the producers of their food items and products. N. Main St. & N. Franklin St., Chagrin Falls, northunionfarmersmarket.org
CHARDON FAMILY MARKET
Positioned on the edge of rural Ohio, the historic square of this quaint East Side village is the perfect place for a pop-up food shop. On Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. from May 4 through Aug. 24, you’ll find produce from Burton Floral & Garden, of course, as well as jalapeno pineapple jelly from the Creative Hippie and bites from European picnic food and treat truck Magnia Dolce. But you already know that the Geauga County maple syrup is the main draw at this shopping event. Don’t miss children’s events, freebies, parades and expanded offerings during special events such as Old Glory Day on July 4 and the Arts Festival on Aug. 8. 100 Short Court St., Chardon, chardonsquareassociation.org
Started in 1932, the area’s oldest farmers market lives on inside a red barn in East Cleveland. The event, which is open on Saturdays year-round from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., mixes in some flea market vibes with arts and crafts, secondhand items and more. But the nonprofit’s offerings of fresh produce serves as an anchor to a neighborhood starved of healthy food options. “We got a farm on the property. We do a lot of urban farming,” says Kevin Scheuring, market manager and vice president of the East Cleveland Farmers Market Preservation Society, an all-volunteer group with the mission of bringing whole foods to the masses. 15000 Woodworth Road, East Cleveland, coitmarket.org
Local growers and artisans take over the Westlake lifestyle center on Saturdays 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. from April 6 through Dec. 2. Vendors range as widely as plant growers Flows and Grows, plant-based cookie dough maker Whoa Dough, the microgreen-focused Tyler’s Farm and brands like Truly Organic Skin & Body Care. You’ll also find fresh produce, meats, dairy, baked goods and more. Corners of Crocker Road and Detroit Road, Westlake, northunionfarmersmarket.org
With live music and interesting products, it gets a little funky in the CV. Since 2004, this producer-only collection of 70 vendors offers unique foodie options, including NEO Pop’s handcrafted popsicles, Langs Classics’ garlic dill pickles and Wootown Bagels’ hand-rolled malty bagels, every Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon. Its location in Cuyahoga Valley National Park sets you up well for a hike. 4040 Riverview Road, Peninsula, cuyahogavalleyfarmers market.org
Main Street Medina’s more than 200-year-old downtown square is the perfect place for a pop-up shopping experience. Every Saturday, May 4 through Oct. 26, at 9 a.m., the city shuts down Granger Road to host more than 25 vendors, including Hola Island Provisions, Ohio City Pasta, Gray House Pies and more. Live music from artists such as acoustic balladeer Tom Quinn and plenty of childrens events and activities keep the party going all morning long. 3939 Granger Road, Medina, farmersmarketofmedina.com
In its 14th year on the beautiful grounds of the Frostville Museum, a living history of 19th century Ohio in the Cleveland Metroparks Rocky River Reservation, the market runs Saturdays 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. from May through October. “Fees from our vendors go towards preservation and restoration of the museum’s historic buildings and grounds,” says market manager and bakery vendor Angie Obbish. 24101 Cedar Point Road, North Olmsted, frostvillefarmersmarket.com
The LEAF Community Garden is a collection of 160 resident gardeners who maintain crops and other plants. Each Thursday night from 5:30-7:30 p.m. from June 20 through late October, these local growers, as well as other regional producers, artisans and crafters, sell their wares and harvests in front of Lakewood Public Library, where live music adds to a lively downtown. The market also offers CSA pickup programs during City Fresh, a seasonal weekly pickup of farm-fresh foods. Lakewood Library, 15425 Detroit Ave., Lakewood, leafcommunity.org/ farmersmarket
Tremont might be known for its great bar and restaurant scene, but every Tuesday from 4-7 p.m. from May 21 to Oct. 8, Lincoln Park is the place to dine, shop and find great live music options. Hosted by the Tremont West Development Corp., the market features about 25-30 booths, including Fuego Fermentations, Wild Ohio Gardens, Henry’s Creamery, psychedelic artist Guice Mann and K-9 Kreations. Zen out with classes from Bliss For EveryBody Yoga Studio. 2609 West 14th St., Cleveland, experiencetremont.com KAMM’S CORNERS FARMERS MARKET
Find a bustling market in its 18th season at the iconic neighborhood on the western border of Cleveland on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. from June 16 to Oct. 13. “We are a producers-only market, which means all of the produce that you see in the market was grown locally by the farmers who are running the stands,” says Rebekah Ferro, market manager. This season, the market brings back live cooking demonstrations by local chefs and vendors, with live music most weeks. Partnering with Produce Perks Midwest, shoppers can use EBT/Snap to purchase produce at the market. Up to $25 is matched. W. 168th & Albers Ave., Cleveland, westparkkamms.org/market
This lux shopping center gets a little crunchy and a lot more local Sundays at 9 a.m. to noon from June 9 through Sept. 22. Enjoy tunes from Brazilian jazz guitarist Moises Borges while shopping fresh produce, meats, dairy, baked goods and more outside of L.L. Bean. “Not only do we certify the farms, but we sample the food products,” says Emma Visnic, director of communications & marketing. “We really do stand behind our promise of quality. There’s a high chance when you buy a product that you’re talking to the maker who made the product or the farmer who grew it.”
25389 Cedar Road, Lyndhurst, northunionfarmers market.org
In its 11th year, the market has moved to Thursday nights from 5-8 p.m., shutting down a stretch of Stanford Avenue. Now, this street market keeps the party going with mic nights, a natural dye making class from Rust Belt Fibershed and the Schnitz Ale Brewery beer garden. Still, three of four vendors provide fresh produce grown within five miles. “Our tagline is food to sustain, art to inspire and community to share it with,” says manager Andrew Holmes. 4274 Pearl Road, Cleveland, oldbrooklyn.com/ market
Local producers gather in the historic brick-ladened downtown Saturdays from 8 a.m. to noon, April 6 through Dec. 21 “Shaker Square is one of the oldest farmers markets in our area. It will be 30 next year,” says Emma Visnic, director of communications & marketing. Running east and west along Shaker Boulevard, this East Side institution’s 100 vendors include Jeff’s Candy Bars, Shaker Heights-based Lizzie’s Bakery and Tyler’s Farm. 13209 Shaker Square, Cleveland, northunionfarmersmarket.org
A world-class medicine and educational campus deserves great food options. Luckily, Thursdays 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. from June 6 through Oct. 18, North Union Farmers Market offers caretakers, patients and community members grub from Cleveland-based food trucks, regional farms and locally sourced provisions. Take home some Eastern European dumplings from the Pierogi Market or cat grass from Great Lakes Sprouts for your kitty. 2074 Adelbert Road, Cleveland, northunionfarmersmarket.org
The dog days are never over at the Cleveland Animal Protective League, where many pets are ready to find a family, and adopting them doesn’t have to be a hassle. BY
JULIA LOMBARDO
The dog days of summer are here. For most of us, that conjures up images of vacations, doggy paddles in the pool, W-A-L-K-S with your pooch and more outdoor fun. But summer can also be long, hot and hard, especially for the pups waiting to find their forever homes at shelters like the Cleveland Animal Protective League.
Among the APL’s extensive party of pooches, there’s Carly. A four-year-old Boxer mix, she was brought to the APL by her previous owner in December, who was no longer able to care for her amid her intensifying need for medical treatment. Upon her arrival, Carly was limping on her front legs, attributed to elbow arthritis. She was found with burns, skin
infections and missing fur. She was also diagnosed with hypothyroidism, stunting her metabolism and the production of thyroid hormones, all affecting her quality of life.
These conditions required medication and surgery totaling over $6,000, and as a nonprofit organization, the APL couldn’t make the funds on its own.
Using the power of the organization's platform, the volunteers at the APL posted Carly's story to the organization's so-
cial media accounts.
The posts told Carly's harrowing story but also showed photos of her in good spirits. The story of her fight quickly caught the attention of more than 1,400 people. Fans were taken by her big brown eyes and her sweet smile.
Through the campaign, Carly was able to receive her treatment costs in full from the League’s Second Chance Program, a community donation fund that supports the APL’s sick
and injured animals. Under the guidance of her foster mom, she regained her strength and saw tremendous progress with her skin conditions.
“Wonderful animals that come to us, sick and injured or not,” says Ayse Dunlap, the APL’s vice president of operations, "they all get individualized attention and care. And many of the animals that come to us in poorer shape put that behind them. They live in the moment.”
Dunlap reports that Carly is happier and healthier than ever, full of smiles, new life and zoomies.
And just in time for summer, she was adopted and welcomed lovingly into her forever home — another reason to smile through the dog days.
“We can all learn from that,” she says of Carly’s perseverance.
Dunlap is certain she will make the perfect companion for her lucky dog parents.
Getting a puppy is exciting. So exciting, in fact, that many people don't take the proper precautions and preparations before they adopt. We talked to the Cleveland Animal Protective League's vice president of operations Ayse Dunlap to get a few tips to make the process smooth.
Do your research on general dog ownership and the breed before adopting. Another crucial step is to ensure you have the means to care for an animal. That can range from having stable finances, a suitable living space, access to resources for further care and flexibility for potential lifestyle changes.
Three ideas to keep in mind as you decide whether to add a dog to your life.
Pets need to integrate into a new household — especially if you have kids or already have dogs. “The animal needs to get used to you, and you need to get used to that animal,” Dunlap says. “Allow for some bonding time.” Let the introduction between pets happen gradually and foster positive relationships.
Pets are fully treated at the APL before adoption, but your commitment to care is ongoing. “We don’t want you to wait until you have an emergency to look for a vet,” Dunlap advises. This ensures peace of mind for the dog and owners in times of need.
JOIN US FOR OUR SECOND ANNUAL
DOGGY BRUNCH!
SUNDAY JULY 21st 10am–3pm
In the Taproom at Terrestrial Brewing Co.
A FUN DAY FILLED WITH DOGS, BREWS, AND DELICIOUS FOOD!
Doors Open at 10am with Spoiled Dog Boss serving up brunch for the Doggos
Human Brunch: 11AM–3:30PM
Dog Parade: 1:30PM
Strut your stuff around the green space
Prizes will be handed out throughout the day for costumes!
With skilled workers in high demand, there’s no better time to pursue a career in the trades. Northeast Ohio is home to numerous associations, career centers, colleges and other organizations that can help you get started.
CARPENTRY
Salary: $52,850 Average National Wage/ Estimated Growth: 8% by 2028
ELECTRICAL
Salary: $60,370 Average National Wage/ Estimated Growth: 10% by 2028
PLUMBING
Salary: $59,800 Average National Wage/ Estimated Growth: 14% by 2028
HVACR
Salary: $51,420 Average National Wage/ Estimated Growth: 13% by 2028
MASONRY
Salary: $56,470 Average National Wage/ Estimated Growth: 11% by 2028
PAINTING
Salary: $44,640 Average National Wage/ Estimated Growth: 6% by 2028
If you are interested in applying for a HBA scholarship, internship or to learn more about residential construction job opportunities, please contact the Home Builders Association (HBA) of Greater Cleveland at 216-447-8700.
Skilled trades offer personally and financially rewarding career pathways.
BY KRISTEN HAMPSHIRE
ruise by a lush landscape with an expansive outdoor kitchen designed to entertain. You helped build that. Lay the groundwork for a new addition that will provide a family with living space to gather and grow memories. You had a hand in making that dream come true. Preserve the environment by playing a role on the frontlines of keeping Lake Erie clean and healthy. Skilled trades professionals make all the difference.
The trades touch every aspect of our infrastructure and economy, from housing to transportation and beyond. These jobs are in demand, and they deliver immediate and rewarding career pathways.
In the construction industry alone, there’s a need for approximately 723,0000 new workers across the country to fill empty jobs, with “help wanted” openings averaging 300,000 to 400,000 every month, according to the latest Construction Labor Market Report from the Home Builders Institute (HBI), which provides an outlook for residential construction employment.
At least 90% of single-family builders responding to the survey reported a shortage of carpenters, and 80% to 85% cited a lack of subcontractors in six other key trades.
Pat Hurst is not at all surprised. “There’s a demand for every skilled trade,” says the owner of Hurst Design-Build-Remodel based in Westlake, who is also a member of NARI Cleveland, a trade association that represents remodeling professionals.
Hurst adds that the residential remodeling sector is booming. “It’s only going to continue,” he says.
Across the board, trades are working to create a ready pipeline of talent. Organizations like the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District offer tuition reimbursement, and
entry-level tradespeople are trained on the job while earning certifications at Cuyahoga Community College at no cost.
Last year, the Home Builders Association (HBA) of Greater Cleveland, in partnership with HBI, collaborated with Mayfield High School’s Administrator Deanne Elsing and Instructor Josh Hayes to launch a pilot PACT program, a blended learning program with a workforce development component that exposes students to the skilled trades. Six students participated who are now working in the field.
At a recent Mayfield High School open house, 32 students signed up for the program. PACT can provide high schools with a PreApprenticeship Certificate Training curricula and license.
Hayes says, “Kids want options, and as professionals in education, we have embraced
“ They’re seeing that a four-year college isn’t for everyone, and they can get out in the field, start working and build a great career.”
— Brenda Callaghan
opening up pathways to kids in other areas besides college. We can’t just continue to say the goal of high school is to get into college. That’s just not the case.”
HBA of Greater Cleveland has doubled down on workforce development initiatives through the PACT program and the support it can provide area schools that embrace skilled trades education. It’s a plug-andplay curriculum that’s built, recognized by the U.S. Department of Labor and ready to roll out. The program is based on the National Association of Home Builders’ Green Building Standards and National Skills Standards.
Across the country, HBI serves 15,000 students and supports their instructors.
The partnership at Mayfield has been a collaboration between school administration, instructors, the students and their parents and the HBA of Greater Cleveland.
HBA of Greater Cleveland Executive Director Brenda Callaghan is optimistic that the success of PACT at Mayfield High School will inspire other districts to deliver this already-proven opportunity to students.
“These students are coming out of PACT with the knowledge they need to gain em-
“The trades are really rewarding. You work with great people, and there’s an overall satisfaction of increasing your skills. You’re in demand and can work almost anywhere with your skill.”
— Pat Hurst
“The glamour in our industry is getting to work outdoors,” says Sandy Munley, executive director, Ohio Landscape Association (OLA). “You get to see those finished projects you created and watch landscapes grow, and they only get better with time.”
A range of careers in landscaping includes technicians and installation specialists who work with plant material, lighting, irrigation and hardscapes such as patios.
ployment,” Callaghan says, noting that students can jump into the program as seniors, unlike most traditional trades programs that require enrolling sophomore year. This allows for flexibility and also gives students nearing graduation a chance to explore skilled trades in an accessible way at their schools.
More students are open to the trades, Callaghan notices, pointing to Mayfield’s fivefold enrollment surge.
“They’re seeing that a four-year college isn’t for everyone, and they can get out in the field, start working and build a great career,” she says. “We are so excited about the program’s success and potential growth.”
Hurst is an example of someone who built a successful business in skilled trades
and now trains and offers career paths to other aspiring craftspeople.
“I wanted to be in the trades and love everything about it,” he says.
He notes that while most students in his high school were encouraged or pressured to attend a four-year college, he and his brother went their own way and never looked back.
“The trades are really rewarding. You work with great people, and there’s an overall satisfaction of increasing your skills,” he says. “You’re in demand and can work almost anywhere with your skill.”
And it’s a skill for life.
“That trade skill is not something anyone can take away from you,” Hurst says.
“One of the big services many landscape companies are adding is pool installation,” Munley notes. “This opens up a whole new ballgame of knowledge needed in the industry, and so many companies are happy to train people.”
And, those with a creative bent excel in landscape design using computer-aided design programs to create plans.
“Companies often employ shop mechanics to work on small engine equipment and trucks,” Munley adds.
OLA offers year-round courses in design, plant identification, plant health care, pruning, sales and more. Tri-C is home to one of the top two-year landscape and nursery programs in the country, Munley
RYAN WALLACE STARTED WITH HURST AS A CARPENTER’S APPRENTICE. TODAY HE PERFORMS ADVANCED CARPENTRY WORK AND OVERSEES THE DAY-TO-DAY ACTIVITIES ON HURST’S REMODELING PROJECTS.
points out. “We all work closely with Tri-C and offer scholarships for their program and other Ohio schools that teach horticulture,” she says.
At the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (NEORSD), hands-on careers offer a give-back quality that appeals to many, says Jessica Shutty, community relations specialist.
“When we ask folks, ‘Why have you been here so long?’ so many people who are very environmentally conscious say they want to help out, and everything we do at the district somehow touches the environment,” she says. “At the end of the day, we are keeping Lake Erie clean, and that is rewarding.”
Operating a sewer district that serves 62 communities involves many moving parts.
“We have machines on site that require mechanics, and we maintain our everyday operations including landscaping and fleet services,” Shutty says.
NEORSD is hiring skilled trades such as plant maintenance electrician, industrial maintenance mechanic, instrument technician and systems utility maintenance specialist.
“When we bring folks in, we want them to stay,” Shutty says. “We work with our team members to create a job program where they get training, shadow folks in various departments and develop a career path.”
The possibility of pursuing a trade career is a discussion that should happen early on in education but can be revisited midcareer, too, with plenty of professionals who started in different fields deciding to change lanes. “We have lots of people in our industry who come to work for us who went to college, started in a career they thought they liked, like finance, and realized it wasn’t for them and their heart wasn’t in it,” Hurst relates. “They found their way to being a carpenter and realized they love it and can make a good living.”
Hurst says parents should encourage students to job shadow and try different classes, camps or experiences.
“The trades should be talked about openly, and they can lead to a very happy, fulfilling life,” he says.
An increasing number of women are pursuing in-demand careers in the skilled trades.
BY JILL SELL
he State of Ohio recently earmarked $100 million toward career technical education (CTE) equipment upgrades and another $200 million for the Career Technical Construction Program. However, women are still underrepresented in CTE, and particularly in the skilled trades that include the building industry.
Women represent only 4.3% of construction workers in the U.S. However, according to the Institute for Women’s Policy’s “Research on
Women Working in Construction” report, a record-breaking 363,651 women worked in the trades in 2023 — a 28% increase since 2018.
Along with expanded support from community leaders, educators and employers, it is the individuals in the trades today who are the best incentives for others to follow.
High school students are often encouraged to make decisions about a career in the trades as soon as possible, but Emma Varner, a member of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW Local 38) and cochair for Cleveland Tradeswomen, notes that “the trades are a good second chance.”
Varner holds a bachelor’s degree in film studies from Baldwin Wallace University. She worked for Screen Gems Studios in North Carolina for about four years as a member of the lighting and grip crews for television and movies. After moving back to Cleveland, Varner took an office job, which she says made her “miserable.”
“I knew I wanted to do something with my hands, and in 2018, I was accepted into a fiveyear apprenticeship, which I finished last summer,” says Varner, who was told on her first day
“not to fear electricity, but always respect it.” It wasn’t always easy, but Varner believes the support of her union brothers and sisters was vital.
“It’s also a career where you can plan your future and know you’ll have a good retirement.” — Emma Varner
“Going into the trades allows you to make a difference. I walk past the May Company building in Cleveland and I can’t stop telling my husband I worked there,” says Varner. “It’s also a career where you can plan your future and know you’ll have a good retirement.”
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Rickard
North Ridgeville resident Elizabeth (Lizzie) Rickard attended several school districts in Northeast Ohio, but it wasn’t until she enrolled in Lorain County JVS that her career path was sparked. There she was intrigued by the challenges and possibilities a career technical education could provide.
In 2022, Rickard graduated from Lorain County JVS’s industrial electricity program. That education taught her the basics of her chosen career and qualified her to begin working for an electrical contractor. She also completed OSHA safety training.
“In the summer between my junior and senior years, I got an internship with Jim’s Electric in North Ridgeville. Our teacher was really
good at making local connections for students,” says Rickard, who is currently employed by Zenith Systems, an electrical construction contractor in Cleveland. “I will be starting my five-year apprenticeship with Local 38 this fall, but I am going to be placed in my second year because of the experience I already have.”
That experience includes major construction projects such as working on the new $300 million, 36-story Sherwin-Williams Co. global headquarters in Downtown Cleveland. Like others in the trades who work on constructing or renovating some of the city’s most iconic buildings, she is proud to contribute to Cleveland’s skyline.
And, despite working in a male-dominated field, Rickard says it has been welcoming.
“When I worked at Jim’s Electric, I was the only girl. I was like everyone’s little sister or daughter. Now at Zenith, it is crazy to see how many women are actually in the field and that I work with,” says Rickard. “I am also surprised at how many journeymen are willing to take the time to teach me.”
Find out how local schools, financial assistance programs and scholarships are helping to make a career technical education attainable. BY JILL
The face of Cleveland is changing.
The new, $300 million, five-story Case Western Reserve University Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering building is expected to be completed in 2026. Major construction is underway at Cleveland Clinic’s Main Campus. And by the of start of the 2025 baseball season, the renovation of Progressive Field should be finished. Making all that possible — as well as hundreds of other, smaller building projects — are the electrical workers, plumbers, roofers, ironworkers, bricklayers, HVAC techs and others who work in what has been traditionally called the skilled trades.
Redefining
Recently, there has been a new push to expand and polish the reputation and respect for these workers through career technical education (CTE). This career path has been with us all the time, of course, but
SELL
perhaps underappreciated. Every public high school in Ohio is now required to offer CTE, whether on-site, at a regional joint vocational school or through another organization. CTE programs are available to both high school students and high school graduates and adult learners.
The Ohio Department of Education, Fordham Institute and other researchers have data that shows CTE students are more likely to graduate on time; more at-risk students are reached; certificates and occupational licenses can be earned; college credit can be earned; and strong community ties can be formed. Individuals who complete CTE also can generally receive high wages and good benefit packages. Graduates benefit from clear career paths and myriad job possibilities and locations.
Here’s a look at just some of the CTE opportunities available in Northeast Ohio:
Auburn Career Center in Concord Township offers comprehensive courses for high school students in construction, HVAC, architecture and project management, plant, turf and landscape management and more. Adult workforce education is also available.
Cuyahoga Valley Career Center students enrolled in the Construction Trades program will construct a modular house as they learn about building, remodeling, maintaining and repairing residential and commercial buildings. Training for certificates and licenses is available in HVAC, electrical, machine technology and fiber optics.
Lorain County JVS in Oberlin is one of the largest CTE schools in Ohio and draws from 13 school districts. The school is also well-known for its adult apprentice training in industrial maintenance, millwright, machine repair, sheet metal fabrication and more. It actively helps students seek financial assistance from Federal Pell Grants, OhioMeansJobs and veterans education benefits, as well as scholarships and employer-paid tuition sources.
Medina County Career Center assists students in applying for internships or co-ops in the summer with companies in manufacturing, construction, automotive and transportation. Apprenticeships in the skilled trades are an-
other pathway for students who are looking for cost-effective training with no debt.
Polaris Career Center uses an effective liaison approach to connect its 24 CTE programs to students in six school districts. Once enrolled, students are quickly exposed to real-world jobs. “It used to be the old days of vocational education that we wouldn’t get students out to the workplace until October of their senior year,” says Doug Miller, director of community outreach, adding that Polaris offers a construction and trades program and a building services tract, as well as ground maintenance and HVAC and refrigeration. “Now students are into internships between their junior and senior years.”
Cuyahoga Community College offers multiple pathways to lucrative careers. “Our workforce curriculum has really been a focus on providing the training that employers want,” says Jason Abbott, executive director of workforce operations for Tri-C. “A lot of that training is specific to the skilled trades with both our construction programs and our manufacturing programs.”
Tri-C’s pre-apprenticeship programs zero in on those two careers. The construction track is geared toward teaching students a basic knowledge of related subject areas (think carpentry, pipefitting, etc.) But the “overarching goal,” according to Abbott, is to connect students to appropriate apprenticeships.
“In manufacturing, we still teach a lot of basic things, because you will see companies that are still working with older equipment, but we also teach advanced systems. We want to make these students can walk into any manufacturing environment and feel as if they have been trained appropriately,” he says.
Pre-apprenticeship programs are of no cost to students in grades 7 through 12 because Tri-C utilizes College Credit Plus funding. In addition, Tri-C partners with the City of Cleveland’s Built Environment Initiative which provides pre-apprenticeship opportunities in construction for any Cleveland resident.
Lorain County Community College in Elyria offers certifications and workforce training in addition to bachelor’s and associate degrees. Focusing on regional workforce demands, the college points to more than 90% of its graduates finding “high-opportunity careers in Northeast Ohio.”
Apprenticeship programs are available in electrical, pipefitter, tool and die and more. Students enrolled in the school’s Earn and Learn program divide their time between classroom learning, paid jobs and internships. Among the formats available are: welding, micro electromechanical systems and CNC machining.
Explore every option to find your passion. Consider a career in a trade. Job security, excellent starting pay and a great career path.
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Reimagining Downtown Cleveland is an accelerated effort to enhance the urban core and shores that is producing tangible results with exciting initiatives on the near horizon. By Kristen Hampshire
Storefronts are waking up with lively enterprise — engaging public space, pop-ups and places to dine, get fit, convene, buy the basics and more. Pedestrian foot traffic is projected to exceed pre-pandemic levels by the end of the year, and visitors have already returned in full force.
There’s an air of confidence.
From streetscape enhancements to successful safety interventions, the Downtown experience is energetic and growing contagious with an influx of workers returning, visitors exploring and residents moving in. There’s a comprehensive retail strategy in play and diverse housing opening doors to residents who are finding what they want Downtown: a true community.
One year ago, Downtown Cleveland with the City of Cleveland and civic partners launched a plan to reimagine Downtown Cleveland as an 18-hour, 15-minute neighborhood that weaves districts and surrounding neighborhoods into a seamless urban fabric.
It picks up on a 10-year transformation that led to a 32% population growth and 14% increase in private sector jobs in the city center, including converting more than 5 million square feet of underutilized space in historic buildings to housing, hospitality and amenities.
Reimagining Downtown involves shortand mid-term action steps and strategic planning focused on economy, environment and experience — and the goal is not to “get back to normal” after the pandemic.
It’s a collective force driving infrastructural progress you can see and feel.
“There was a need to establish a clear plan to chart Downtown’s path forward,” says Michael Deemer, president and CEO, Downtown Cleveland. “One year after implementing this strategic vision, with leadership of the city, buy-in from civic, regional and county partners, local businesses and stakeholders, we are aligned and pushing in the same direction.”
Basically, it’s go time Downtown. In a big way.
“One thing we are laser focused on as an organization that advocates for Downtown is to make sure we have a truly vibrant core that connects to our two waterfronts — the lake and river — and that we do everything we can to support the success of development initiatives,” Deemer says, equally emphasizing connectivity to Downtown’s districts and surrounding neighborhoods to create a “seamless urban fabric.”
The challenges Cleveland faced post-pandemic are the story of urban centers across the country that were faced with significantly reduced foot traffic, work-from-home impacts on office real
estate and a general “let’s-stay-in” mode. A positive for cities like Cleveland, however, was a newfound appreciation of the outdoors, walkability, natural resources and places to literally get out.
An assertive fast-forward plan was essential to capture the momentum and build on initiatives in the works for more than a decade.
“It always begins with having a clean, safe and welcoming environment for people to live, work, visit and invest in,” Deemer says.
This demands a walkable, transit-oriented neighborhood and mixed-use development that leverages the city center’s historic buildings while implementing improvements like inviting lighting for safety and festivity, along with replacing barriers to Public Square as the “Central Park of Cleveland,” Deemer says.
Dovetailing with the Reimagining Downtown vision is the catalytic Shoreto-Core-to-Shore tax increment financing (TIF) District. Legislation passed to allocate a portion of new property tax revenue generated by property value increases toward public infrastructure investments. The TIF District is a vehicle to capture tax growth from a broad geographic area to support public realm and infrastructure investments.
With the TIF District, funding will be available to put Reimagine plans into action.
“Access to our waterfronts is extraordinarily powerful and now the TIF District will give us the mechanics that allow us to pay for meaningful infrastructural pieces to make this shore-to-core-toshore vision a reality,” says Thomas McNair, director of economic development for the City of Cleveland.
McNair adds, “The downtowns that are highly amenitized are the places that win.”
The vision: Reimagine Downtown Cleveland as an 18-hour, 15-minute neighborhood with a connected, community feel. Downtown is for everyone.
This includes strategies to develop a bicycle network and pedestrian infrastructure. Specifically, the Reimagining Downtown vision includes near-term plans to build the Memorial Bridges Loop and begin Superior Avenue Midway construction, along with accelerating Public Square connectivity to enhance the public realm.
Downtown Cleveland also conducted a retail study with the consultancy Streetsense that uncovered a demand for improving the environments outside of storefronts to create a more exciting pedestrian experience, says Audrey
Gerlach, the organization’s vice president of economic development.
Downtown Cleveland has partnered with LAND Studio to implement pedestrian and streetscape projects.
Developer Bedrock Detroit completed a significant Public Square streetscape project with attractive planters along with festoon lighting on Prospect Avenue and continues a historically significant transitory Riverfront Development initiative. “The vision ties together almost every square inch in this Downtown fabric,” says Deb Janik, senior vice president of business development.
“The foundation of our plan is based on public space and accessibility, and those have to exist for a successful community.”
— Deb Janik
Janik points to the strong partnerships with the county, city, state and Cleveland Metroparks. Notably, Bedrock announced its partnership with Cleveland Clinic and the Cavs to construct the Peak Performance Center training facility on the riverfront.
Overall, Janik says, “The foundation of our plan is based on public space and accessibility, and those have to exist for a successful community.”
Another landmark transformation underway in Public Square is the construction of Sherwin-Williams’ new global headquarters that consists of three buildings and a two-story pavilion that will act as a front porch to Public Square, due to open at the end of this year.
“Sherwin-Williams’ presence on Public Square in the heart of Downtown is symbolically impactful,” Deemer says. “It will
“Our teams rolled up their sleeves and worked with all of our partners to create this vision that will really guide Downtown as we accelerate our recovery.”
— Michael Deemer
get a huge jolt of energy later this year when more than 4,000 employees move into Downtown.”
The multifaceted Reimagining Downtown plan addresses the underlayers of quality of life, namely safety and ensuring a clean, vibrant environment.
“Downtown is for everyone, and we want everyone to feel safe and welcome,” says Edward Eckart, senior vice president of operations at Downtown Cleveland.
“We want to provide the right interventions and level of accountability to ensure Downtown can be thriving and vibrant.”
Downtown Cleveland Ambassadors work in collaboration with safety partners including the Cleveland Division of Police to maximize uniformed visibility within the Downtown footprint. Reimagining
Downtown includes better connecting those in need, whether facing mental health or addiction crises, to services. This creates an environment that is supportive, safe and welcoming for all.
This coincides with the city’s Raising Investment in Safety for Everyone (RISE) initiative under the leadership of Mayor Justin Bibb.
Safety coincides with Reimagining the Downtown experience with lighting, green space, storefront activations, seating, play space and public art. This draws business, generates traffic and contributes to the overall excitement of Downtown. Last year, 35 new retailers and entrepreneurs set up shop Downtown, Gerlach reports. Twelve more have joined the Downtown neighborhood since January 2024.
Also underpinning every aspect of Downtown investment is a focus on
inclusion and equity to ensure opportunities for “every Clevelander,” Janik says, pointing to diversity of housing price points and formats, along with access to storefronts for minority-owned businesses, which has resulted in a growing retail environment at Tower City.
Indeed, Downtown is for everyone — and accelerated economic, environmental and experiential projects for a reimagined urban core are well underway. “What’s exciting now is these plans are moving forward,” Deemer says. “Our teams rolled up their sleeves and worked with all of our partners to create this vision that will really guide Downtown as we accelerate our recovery.”
Accelerated and collaborative initiatives underpin a multifaceted short- and intermediate-term program that’s already in play to continue a decade-long momentum in the city center. Here’s a boots-on-theground look at development progress, business activity and residential vitality.
By Kristen Hampshire
Acommitment to the urban core, waterfront connections and investing in creating vibrant communities have steered development from a number of key players involved in Reimagining Downtown.
Progress during the last few years will accelerate with the Shore-to-Core-toShore TIF District, unlocking future funds for foundational infrastructure, which is already underway. The Cuyahoga Riverfront banks are being fortified with more than 3,000 lineal feet of new piles between the existing wall and river, making way for development. The bulkhead preserves river health and safety.
Bedrock Real Estate is undertaking an ambitious 38-plus acre site with unprecedented access to the river, says Deb Janik, senior vice president of business development. A riverfront walk will meander through the site, tie into Canal Basin Park on the west end and the Towpath Trail and Cleveland Metroparks investments.
“It gets back to that continuity of place and experience — you’ll be able to actually
touch the water — and doing so in a way that connects and closes gaps and ties in the core of Downtown and all of these experiences as a continuum,” she says.
Slam Dunks, Riverside
Riverfront development includes implementing 3.5 million square feet of mixed-use development grounded by the historic Tower City Center and incorporates 2,000-plus units of residential housing from affordable to workforce to market-rate and home ownership, Janik says.
Equity is paramount.
“Diversity in housing is what every urban center needs,” she relates, adding that the Riverfront Redevelopment plan is centered on public spacemaking and accessibility.
A huge win: The Cleveland Clinic Global Peak Performance Center in partnership with the Clinic, Bedrock and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Slated as a 210,000-square-foot interdisciplinary center on the riverfront’s west bank, it will serve as an elite training facility for the Cavs, community and athletes from around the world. It positions the city as a global sports science and wellness destination, embracing the river, creating a local icon and elevating experience.
Groundbreaking is anticipated before the end of 2024.
Beyond this, Janik says, “There is an awful lot of investment underway” related to engineering, land development and coordinating public-private partnerships.
“This is not framework sitting on a shelf. It’s being executed on and we are looking forward to driving this city forward.”
A significant streetscape project dubbed the “phase zero installment” involved planters, trees, benches and upgraded lighting in and around Public Square. Tower City Center’s retail landscape is now 70% occupied, including 10 new tenants, mostly minority-owned businesses. “This is an opportunity to cultivate our own talent,” Janik says.
The Astro Restaurant in the former Hard Rock Cafe offers experiential dining and entertainment, another destination draw in Public Square. (Janik snagged a table without realizing it was May the Fourth Be with You day, and it was bustling, she says.)
“From undertaking Tower City and the Avenue Shops to The May, a Cleveland icon and adaptive reuse success, we are capturing the city’s character and building on that momentum,” she says.
What’s now a wave started as a ripple and hope, then a swell in residents
and businesses by demand, explains Matthew Driggs, vice president of commercial real estate at the K&D Group, where he’s worked with the Downtown-focused team since 1997 in various capacities.
Milestones include the Residences at 668 on Euclid Avenue, 16 years ago. Then, Downtown living was a new thing. Not anymore. K&D has pioneered the Residences at 1717 on East 9th Street, along with The Hanna, The Leader, Terminal Tower, 55 Public Square — and more.
These are passion projects for Downtown developers like K&D, Bedrock, SomeraRoad and many other investors and businesses focused on repurposing historic Downtown gems.
K&D completed the extensive 55 Public Square project last summer, and recently introduced Fahrenheit, a move for Chef Rocco Whalen from Tremont to the city center.
“Public Square is evolving with the residential opportunities and retail, and when you have the center of your city bustling with new living options and businesses, that is exciting,” Driggs says.
K&D is currently the largest Downtown landlord, and Driggs says this means living up to tenants’ expectations, both residential and commercial. Within the last year following the pandemic recovery, Driggs says, “The city feels vibrant again. It’s alive. The new [city] administration is focused on that and you can feel it.”
Downtown is for everyone. And with concerted efforts during the last year in partnership with Downtown Cleveland and the city, those who work, live, visit and embrace the city center can feel the difference.
There is perceived safety and a brand of “this is what I heard.”
Edward Eckart is senior vice president of operations at Downtown Cleveland and he agrees, “If you don’t feel safe or only listen to the news and information you gather, there is a bias.”
Downtown Cleveland is addressing safety issues at their root causes through innovative partnerships and strategies.
“We focused on looking at our role and how we can best use the strength of an organization like ours as a collaborator and facilitator,” Eckart says, pointing to connecting with social service providers and working in tandem with Cleveland Police.
A Focus on Neighborhood Safety Specialists
Neighborhood Safety Specialists, an arm of the ambassador program, provide an additional uniformed, unarmed presence to de-escalate and deter conflict. Launched in 2022, the program gained momentum through Reimagining Downtown Cleveland. These ambassadors are specially trained in engagement, Narcan administration and crisis intervention.
Bridging the Health Services Gap
Unhoused residents during the pandemic lost connections to care plans and treatment programs. Downtown Cleveland continued to expand the Clean and Safe program’s outreach efforts. Downtown Cleveland’s outreach work is based on international best practices and ongoing collaboration with local social service providers. Downtown Cleveland advocates for policies that improve quality of life and manages SEEDS, a workforce readiness program for those relying on shelters, with the goal of transitioning participants out of the social services system altogether.
Downtown Cleveland works closely with Cleveland District 3, the Prosecutor’s Office and jail administration to work with chronic offenders, monitor hearings and dig deeper to ensure accountability and address underlying causes for offenses. “Now, there are some of the highest offenders that are getting the care they need, and it’s a win for them and for businesses and the Downtown environment,” Eckart says. “They felt like victims and now they feel like someone is listening. This is making a difference.”
At Clevo Books, visitors can literally experience the world through the pages it publishes in foreign translations and the titles it acquires from across the globe. The shop only carries books from international authors — a niche that makes Clevo Books a destination.
More than 50 languages are represented in its texts, says owner Cathryn Siegal-Bergman, who started Clevo Books out of her home in 2015. She established a storefront two years ago in the Fifth Street Arcades, and in May relocated to a larger storefront exposed to plenty of foot traffic at 1026 Euclid Avenue.
Siegal-Bergman says she often overhears guests in her shop say things like, “I’ve never been in a book store with this kind of a collection,” and, “Wow — this is amazing,” or, “What an interesting niche; how did you get into it?”
For years, Siegal-Bergman worked for other publishers as a translator, and Clevo Books is a way to support other publishers who require translations, and to make her mark in the industry. “We also want to support international authors through our own publishing and are focused on helping edge up that market,” she says. Downtown is definitely home base for Clevo Books, she adds. “We are essentially an import shop and we need to be centrally located,” she says, noting a positive momentum in Downtown’s business environment. “Cleveland is leading the way, and I feel a sense of pride toward that and hope it attracts more people Downtown.”
‘Downtown is its Own
Moving Downtown was an easy decision for Hannah Lindesmith, who relocated back to Cleveland from Chicago to be close to family. “I love the lifestyle of walking places,” she says. Her priorities for a place to call home included proximity to sports stadiums, safety and an updated space with amenities in a historic building. She landed in the Residences at Leader in September 2020, following a pandemic lockdown that emptied the streets of Downtown’s usual bustle.
Then she watched the city center slowly come back to life, she says.
“It was cool to see,” she says, relating that her view of East Fourth was a front-row seat to Downtown’s recovery. “When you walk outside during lunch, you see a significant change — businesses are opening and people are back in the office. I love seeing all the flowers that have been planted and all the new apartment complexes and renovations underway.”
Lindesmith works remotely as a sales operations manager and has established offices of all kinds across town, such as Lion Heart Coffee and the Cleveland Public Library.
“Downtown is like its own small community,” she says, relating that she has met great friends who attend the same workout classes at Yoga Strong or enjoy happy hours before Guardians games. She finds easy connections with neighbors. “People who live Downtown truly love Downtown and want to continue to explore it with others who feel the same way. There is a very unique sense of belonging here.”
Lunch on the Square: REBoL offers clean eats and a variety of bowls for noshing. When coworkers travel in to visit, Lindesmith finds a table at Fahrenheit’s new location at 55 Public Square.
Dinner and Drinks: Cordelia mixes fresh cocktails and offers a “Bellie Up” tasting menu with six or seven plates of kitchen-selected fare. Lindesmith’s go-to is the Burger Box. “I recommend the pimento cheese snack and a cinnamon churro for dessert,” she says.
Awestruck by Architecture: From the historic, ornate rotunda at Heinen’s to the fact that Lindesmith’s home is in a former newspaper building, downtown’s variety of architectural gems and preservation projects feed her love for the built environment.
‘Go for it!’
Jess Wallace calls her move Downtown “a kismet thing.”
She had worked Downtown from 2005 until the pandemic shutdown, retreating to home in Shaker Square for a year and a half of Zoom. “I really missed being Downtown — and I always wished that I lived there,” says Wallace, who is now an executive assistant at Downtown Cleveland.
Two years ago, the timing seemed just right to uproot her digs.
Admittedly, Wallace was a little hesitant. She had lived in the same apartment for 17 years. The sheer accumulation of things was a bit overwhelming, too.
A colleague gave her the nudge she needed to check out an available unit at the Residences at 1717 and encouraged, “Go for it!”
Here’s where the kismet thing happened. “I utilize a wheelchair for mobility. After looking at the unit, we were exiting and I looked at the door. The peep hole was at my level.”
Wallace is an avid photographer and often spends Sunday afternoons exploring Downtown with her camera. Here are some sweet spots and impressive backdrops.
Turns out, the unit where she now lives is semi-accessible. Plus, the unit number includes her favorite numeral: eight.
Wallace laughs, “It was meant to be!”
She made the decision that day and since then, her two-block commute is a game changer.
“I refer to all of Downtown as my backyard,” she says. “I have everything I need right here — groceries, the pharmacy, places to shop and eat out. I can get all of my errands done on my way home.”
This was a bold move for Wallace, who says, “I don’t do well with change. But I took a leap of faith, I went for it, and it was the best decision.”
Downtown is incredibly accessible, she adds. “Our ambassadors help keep Downtown clean and safe, and, in the winter, they make sure the curb cuts and crosswalk areas are cleared so it’s easy to navigate.”
A bonus: Wallace’s view is prime for watching fireworks following Guardians wins.
through early fall, echinacea flowers attract pollinators and butterflies. Wallace has captured shots of Monarchs during migration season.
The Real Farmville: Just outside the Huntington Convention Center, across from First Energy Stadium, is an urban farm operated by Levy Restaurants. It started with some bees and expanded to pigs, chickens, goats and a host of produce. In late summer
Bar 32 Cleveland: Located on the 32nd floor of The Hilton Cleveland Downtown, “It’s a great panoramic vantage point of the lake and all of Downtown,” Wallace says.
Terminal Tower: Awash in color after sundown, the ever-changing symbolic building is a bright source of inspiration.
Mall A: “The Fountain of Eternal Life is a great picture spot,” Wallace says of the 35-foot bronze figure.
Taking golf out of the country club and into the urban environment is par for the course at Five Iron, which relocated to Euclid Avenue last year. “We’re the only brand to provide golf in an inclusive, welcoming environment,” says Matt Thrush, regional manager.
The Cleveland outpost is one of Five Iron’s largest — it has locations across the country — with 15 high-tech simulators, shuffleboard, pool, darts, a full bar and restaurant, events capacity and leagues.
No experience necessary. In fact, that’s the fun of Five Iron: exposing anyone who wants to try golf to the interactive sport.
“All different walks of life visit us at Five Iron, and the Cleveland location has been extremely successful in introducing golf to a diverse clientele,” Thrush says.
During Women’s History Month, Five Iron ran a successful program offering $5 memberships and free Wednesday golf for women. An LGBTQ+ league is in the works, and potentially an urban league like at one of Five Iron’s other locations.
Membership has more than tripled since January. “We’ve been wildly welcomed in the community,” Thrush says.
The venue offers lessons, swing evaluations and a PGA Tour Superstore Studio with a certified club fitter on staff — an offering other indoor golf settings do not provide, Thrush points out.
Downtown is embracing the fresh, high-energy entertainment Five Iron delivers, Thrush says, noting a growing number of pedestrians and guests swing by. He travels to Five Iron locations in several urban centers — and remarks on the clean, safe feel of Downtown. “It makes me proud that Cleveland is my hometown,” he says.
In 2017, I was Downtown for an Indians game with my adult son. I have season tickets and enjoy a few beers at the game. We would take an Uber from the suburbs. As we were enjoying Downtown before the game, my son wondered why I didn’t just buy a condo there. I thought it was a genius idea! I also have season tickets to the Browns and the Cleveland Monsters, so I’m Downtown a lot! I bought a two-bedroom condo on East Fourth Steet and found I spent way more time than I expected in our great city. I have friends join me for games and events or just to hang out. But there always seemed to be someone sleeping on my couch. I decided it was time to upgrade to a three bedroom. I’m retired and not fond of the idea of an apartment — I also wanted to stay in the Gateway District. I had reached out to Kristin Rogers at Howard Hanna, and she introduced me to the Residence at the Guardian. I purchased the three-bedroom condo and moved in the beginning of March. I love the quality finishes in the kitchen and baths. The views are stunning! I also love the outdoor space on the roof. Interestingly, I have friends who still sleep on the couch because it’s so comfortable!
— Kathy Ode, Downtown Cleveland Condo Owner
A shift to hybrid work and more flexible office environments is really nothing new, though the pandemic pushed the shift, leaving an elephant-in-the-room question: What to do with all these big buildings? The answer — reimagine them and prepare for the “new office.”
Warren Blazy III will have lived and worked Downtown 20 years in September. The senior vice president at CBRE realty representing building owners and landlords such as K&D dials back to his first apartment in Reserve Square when this property and the Old Chesterfield offered rentals, and the Warehouse District had yet to evolve.
He stands in the Downtown courtyard of Progressive, noting “the energy outside of their walls,” and anticipates the opening of Sherwin-Williams at Public Square and how its presence will amp up the city center’s energy level from an already strong buzz.
“Companies want amenities that engage their workplaces,” Blazy says, pointing to Key Tower and its strong leasing history. “You want to be in a building that is equally invested in what you are doing.”
The two floors in Progressive dedicated to Level20, a business incubator, are an example of meeting unmet needs and thinking innovatively about what an office does for the people who occupy it.
Blazy considers possibilities in Downtown’s adaptive reuse properties. “You see companies locating Downtown that want something different, the high ceilings, an energy, experiences,” he says.
Check out LIB Studio at one of its specialty gatherings.
And with health and wellness a frontand-center focus, more businesses are “working in” ways to offer creative and accessible avenues that equally promote community and connection.
This is what Blazy is doing at LIB (Life is Beautiful) Studio on the lower level of the Warehouse District’s Hoyt Block. The wellness space is designed for residents, employees and businesses, providing classes for individuals and corporate wellness programs. And it’s more than yoga and meditation. It’s a venue for art mixers, “prose + pose” and “vin and yin,” not to mention sunrise salutations with a mimosa toast.
Experiences like those LIB Studio delivers are the connection people are
Aug. 10 Prose + Pose
Aug. 17 Vin + Yin
Aug. 24 Sunrise Salutations with Mimosa Toast
Aug. 31 BOGA (yoga on an aquatic mat)
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seeking in communities and the office environment. Blazy says, “There are so many different ways to engage and be an active part of the Downtown community with experiences that are also elevated, and that same philosophy is why companies are investing in new amenities.”
What if you don't have a yard? PG. 90
There are any number of ways to lend a hand to the environment by making decisions to spruce up your yard with plants and other initiatives.
WRITTEN BY KRISTEN HAMPSHIRE // ILLUSTRATED
Larger-than-life environmental woes can feel defeating. But there are simple steps you can take at home that are cheap, easy and do a whole lot of good work. BY
KRISTEN HAMPSHIRE
Native gardening is a “buzzy” word, says Bethany Majeski, center manager at Cleveland Metroparks Watershed Stewardship Center.
Plants adapted to Ohio soils and environmental conditions that thrive without man-made TLC like herbicides to fend off pests and require fewer inputs (water, nutrients) to survive. And they naturally attract pollinators. We’re talking birds, bees, butterflies and all kinds of helpful bugs that do good work.
“It really is a case of, if you plant it they will come,” Majeski says.
Why bother with pollinators?
Bees actually pollinate one-third of the food we eat.
“If you close your eyes and think of a very typical cityscape or suburban landscape or even rural agricultural fields, they tend to not be diverse in the types of plants that exist,” Majeski explains. “They may benefit the human eye, but it’s not necessarily what
wildlife needs.”
So, what can you do about it?
A lot, actually.
“Just like voting, if no one voted because they felt like they can’t make a difference with one ballot, we’d have a great big problem,” says Nick Mikash, natural resources manager at Shaker Lakes. “We can take small steps in our own yards that make a real difference you can see and experience.”
Majeski agrees. “Sometimes these environmental issues feel larger than us. But there are very easy, tangible, small acts you can do and really observe the change.”
Here are three ways to make a change at home, without a lot of work and in gradual steps, that can invite friendly wildlife into your yard, save water and reduce the utility ex pense and establish an at tractive ecosystem that is
even “showy, neat and HOA appropriate,” Majeski says.
Composting doesn’t have to be all that scientific — or all that stinky.
You can buy a bin or tumbler online, make your own using a trash can or plastic storage container (drill holes in it), or hammer together a wood-post setup. There are loads of online tutorials to guide the way.
“People picture rotting food in the back yard and everything you don’t want, but composting is easy and doesn’t require a lot of time, effort or energy to get results,” Majeski says. She has 10-by-4-foot bins in her backyard and mixes salad
All you need is a porch, deck, balcony or strip of tree lawn to attract beneficial pollinators and make a positive impact on the natural habitat in your community. No yard? No problem. Plant a perennial container in a few simple steps. Shaker Lakes’ Nick Mikash explains how.
Pollinator Perennial
Container. “We are well trained as consumers to go out every year, spend money for a few pots of annuals, and at the end of the season throw them away and go back to a nursery to buy more,” Mikash says.
There’s a better way. Plant native perennials in a container. When selecting plants, think, “thrills, fills and spills.”
Thrills. “Go for height and statement. Mikash recommends varieties like cardinal flower that grows up to 2 feet tall when mature and is “redder than red.” Another choice is coneflower, echinacea, available in a spectrum of colors.
Fills. These plants populate the container space and give it a lush feel. Ferns and wild ginger are options, and coneflower can double as a filler when a taller thriller is center stage
Spills. “Grassy foliage flows over the pot,” Mikash says of the way spillers like creeping phlox and sedges mask a container and make the arrangement look like a mini landscape bed.
scraps and banana peels along with other produce leftovers with leaves and organic material from the yard. Balance of nitrogen (fresh scraps) and carbon (dry plant material) is key.
“I’m lazy with mine,” Mikash admits, “I don’t go out and turn it every week, but if you are mixing in perishable food scraps with weeds, grass clippings and leaves, it breaks down quickly.”
What results from compost is rich, fortifying soil you can mix into a garden, use as topdressing on landscape beds for free.
Retaining water in the landscape reduces utility bills, benefits plants and alleviates pressure on the sewer system, including preventing harmful materials from seeping into storm-
water drains. A basic rain barrel that captures water from gutter downspouts can provide water for container plantings and gardens.
Or, cultivate a rain garden by directing downspouts into a storm water runoff zone with native plantings that like wet feet. Plants that survive especially soppy conditions include Cardinal flower and Great Blue Lobelia. “Both also attract butterflies and hummingbirds,” Majeski says.
for boxwood — “everyone loves to plant it,” says Native Landscapes and Gardens’ Marc Wise — look toward native holly for a structured landscape.
Love hydrangeas? There are six species com monly grown in Ohio, including the cultivars
‘Double Delights Perfection,’ ‘Snowflake,’ Great Star’ and ‘Invincibelle Spirit.’ These attract pollinators and are easier to care for.
You don’t need an elaborate landscape plan or a large budget to acquire native plants. Rather than reaching
Swamp milkweed attracts monarch butterflies. “When you plant it, you’re creating a learning
environment for kids to engage with nature,” Wise says.
Debunking a misunderstanding that all native plants are weeds, Majeski calls out varieties that bring her home landscape alive with buzzing, humming and beneficial insects that are a critical bottom rung on the food chain. Partridge-pea produces clusters of yellow blooms, maintains a low growing height and is “a pollinator magnet,” she says.
Buttonbush is known for its showy white puffball flowers and glossy green leaves.
“It thrives all day in heavy, wet clay,” says Majeski, describing the bulk of Northeast Ohio soils.
Fertilization | Weed Control | Pest Management
We know you want your lawn to be Your prescription for a healthy outdoor space.
O O R L I
THE 187-YEAR-OLD TOWN of Hudson looks like a location Disney might use to shoot a movie set in a kinder, gentler America — a picture-perfect kind of place where residents expect to enjoy a peace only broken by the occasional sound of a lawnmower. But appearances can be deceiving, as one couple discovered. According to David Thorn of Chagrin Falls-based DT Design & Project Management, they could hear traffic on a busy nearby street whenever they ventured into the shady backyard of their white clapboard-sided colonial. “They wanted a place where they could find respite, be transported from their very busy professional careers to a place where they could just feel like they were in an environment that was soothing and out of the hustle bustle of life,” he says.
To create that relaxing retreat, Thorn used the length of their half-acre property’s back lot line to build a naturalistic 15- to 20-foot-long stream that flows over a waterfall into an 8-by-15-foot koi pond. The feature not only muffles traffic noise — it serves as a focal point that puts the typical trickle of water into a pothole-sized pool to shame.
To build the stream, workers dug down to the solid-clay soil base to create the bed. They covered the bed with a layer of sand, then a specially designed cushioned fabric, before topping it with a heavy rubberized liner — a construction that prevents the rocks laid on top of the liner from puncturing it. The 2-foot-deep koi pond was constructed in the same manner.
“Before each rock goes down, you cut pieces of additional liner to create more cushion under the heavy rocks so there’s no ability for them to puncture the liner,” Thorn adds. He covered the liner with oversized moss rock, a commercially collected sandstone with moss and lichens growing on it, to create the stream bed and pond bottom’s nature-made look. “I chose a horizontal [slab] shape because that’s more of what you find in an Ohio riverbed.”
Rocks were cantilevered over the pond’s perimeter to fashion an organic shape and stacked vertically along its sides.
Rocks cantilevered over the pond’s perimeter create a natural shape. Waterfeature components are hidden in masses of perennials native to water zones.
The bottom was covered with thin rock and gravel. A ledge-covered pocket provides the koi with a place to hibernate throughout the winter and protect themselves from predators.
“For birds and herons that love these manufactured ponds, [they’re] like a dinner spot for them,” he says.
Thorn tapped into the lawn’s irrigation system to fill the feature, installed an auto-refill mechanism to maintain the water level, and tucked a pump in a rock-covered chamber off the pond. Contractors ran an underground electrical line from the house and connected it to an outlet on a nearby post to power it. The pump sends water through an underground rubber tube to a lidded filter box with an exit pipe buried at the top of the stream.
“There’s a continuous circulation of this water, and it’s constantly being filtered every time it runs to the top of the stream,” Thorn says. “It’s best to let it go all the time except in the wintertime, when you shut it down.”
Thorn added a mix of waterlilies, water lettuce and floating hyacinths to the pond and planted the stream banks
David Thorn of DT Design & Project Management in Chagrin Falls recommends considering the following before installing a pond.
Location: “If you have a full-sun pond, it will grow algae very fast if there’s no plant life covering the surface of the pond,” he notes. “So you’ve got to do a balance of the fish to the plants to the water to the sunlight.”
Drainage: Thorn included a drain at the low end of the pond’s surrounding rocks that empties into the stormwater system. “When we get these heavy rain events, the pond will overflow,” he says. “The water’s got to go somewhere.”
Maintenance: Expect to clean filters and skim the pond’s surface with a net for leaves, twigs, dead insects — debris that’s too big to enter the filtering system — at least once a week. “If you don’t maintain the pond, it can be not a pretty thing to look at,” Thorn warns.
with masses of perennials native to water zones — iris, astilbe, liriope, ostrich fern — that conceal water-feature components and create “bold brushstrokes of color and shape.” He compares the technique to how trees propagate.
“They self-seed in groups — wherever the seeds fall from the tree, that’s where the newest trees [grow],” he says.
The result is a water feature that looks as idyllically good as it sounds.
WELLINGTON | $800K
Pristine. Secluded, stunning residence (w/ exceptional separate, private in-law retreat) surrounded by nearly 7 acres of woods. Warm and welcoming feeling. Gracious room sizes. 3 bedroom, 2.5 baths plus 2nd floor office in main house. Eco-friendly geothermal heating/cooling. 48’x32’ out-building/barn plus add’l storage shed.
WESTLAKE | $425K
Remarkable 1 year old townhome in Parkway Crossing (where luxury meets tranquility). Open floor plan that seamlessly integrates the living, dining and kitchen areas, creating a space that’s both inviting and functional. 3 bedroom, 2.5 baths plus loft. 1900 sq. ft. of refined living space. Neutral décor throughout. 2 car att. garage.
ELYRIA | $298K
One floor living. 3 bedroom, 2 bath ranch model home w/ nearly $22K in upgrades. Never occupied. Luxury vinyl flooring. Recessed lighting. Neutral and open. Light, airy great room. Island kitchen w/ quartz counters and stainless appliances. Sliders to the patio. Spacious master. Fully landscaped. Sprinkler system. Low $150/mo. HOA.
REG | LOU BARBEE (440) 899-0000
ROCKY RIVER | $1.295M
Spectacular riverfront home-site views of the Metroparks and Rocky River. Gorgeous Tudor. 4 bedroom, 6 baths. 2-story entry w/ crystal chandelier looking through the family room to a tiered cobblestone patio. Magnificent great room w/ 24 windows, oversized fireplace, window seats, wet bar, alcove lighting and beautiful views. 1st floor study.
NORTH OLMSTED | $270K
Well maintained 3 bedroom split level in excellent location. Neutral throughout. 1754 sq. ft. of living space. The formal living room is open to the dining room with sliding doors leading to its large back yard (w/ large brick patio w/ gas grill.) Add’l 23x15 family room. Att. 2 car garage. Near
| $425K
Sought after neighborhood. Island kitchen features gorgeous stone countertops. Sleek luxury vinyl plank flooring flows throughout the main living level and adds a sophisticated look. Master suite w/ ensuite bath, glass shower doors, double sinks & walk in. Picturesque ledgestone, shake exterior. HOA is a mere $140/mo. Stunning.
REG | LOU BARBEE (440) 899-0000
IN THE EARLY 1900S, a new bridge was needed spanning the Cuyahoga River, something befitting Cleveland’s new stature as the seventh biggest city in the country.
In 1912, bonds were approved for a new bridge that would cost $5 million (nearly $158 million today). At 3,112 feet long, the engineering marvel would be the largest double-decked steel-and-concrete span in the world. In the middle of 12 concrete arches, a cantilevered steel arch with an underside clearance of 96 feet would allow ships of all types to pass underneath.
On Oct. 15, 1917, the bridge opened with a ceremonial first ride by a variety of dignitaries, including county commissioners, county engineer W.A. Stinchcomb (who was challenging Harry Davis in the mayoral race that year; Davis, who would win re-election, did not attend the opening) and Helen Petrusky, a four-year-old born on the day construction started.
The new bridge was heralded not just for its engineering but for what it would
mean for economic development, opening up access to the West Side. (Lakewood was incorporated as a city in 1911 with a population of 15,000. By 1920, it had swelled to 40,000, and was 70,000 a decade later.)
Soon, the bridge became one of the busiest thoroughfares in the city, with cars traveling the top level and trolleys underneath. A second high-level bridge, from Carnegie to Lorain Avenue, opened in 1931 to ease some traffic congestion. In 1954, trolleys stopped rolling across the lower level, which remained a curiosity, open occasionally to give historians and rail fans a sense of what was. But that might change soon.
Even before his inauguration, Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne identified the lower level of the bridge (renamed the Veterans Memorial Bridge in 1989) as a prime spot for further public access. In June, the lower level hosted an art event the weekend of the summer solstice.
