Sat 5/16 @ 11am-dusk
Sun 5/17 @ 11am-dusk
The Hessler Street Fair is a lovely anachronism. Started in 1969, the event has continued (with a decade long hiatus from the mid ’80s to the mid ’90s) in the spirit of the ’60s, with gray hairs and toddlers alike sporting tie-dye clothing and hippie attitudes.
The two-day event has a homegrown vibe from one end of the brick-lined street to the other. It’s packed with local craftspeople and food vendors dishing up healthy food (copious choices for vegetarians), and booths from peace and social justice organizations manned (and womanned) by earnest, idealistic individuals who still think they can change the world. There’s a poetry contest and an exhibit on Hessler Street history. And Harmony Park is a set-aside area for kids to engage in hands-on activities. There’s so much to do and see and it’s all generated by local small-scale entrepreneurs, artists and community members.
There’s local music on the big stage at the end of the street all day both days, and it tends toward the rootsy. Folksingers, jam bands and reggae acts predominate, but there’s also jazz, blues, soul and world music.
Among the standout choices on Saturday are Burning Sage’s vigorous percussion-heavy music (noon), a songwriter circle featuring Charlie Mosbrook, Avin Baird and Matt Harmon (2pm), Cleveland reggae pioneers I-Tal (6pm) and long-running jam band the JiMiller Band (9pm), following younger jam band Vibe and Direct (8pm)
Sunday kicks off with younger reggae artist JR Blessington (11am). Things really heat up later in the day when the Revolution Brass Band takes the stage at 6pm, followed by Afrobeat ensemble Hybrid Shakedown at 7pm. The event closes with its likely most popular performer: Carlos Jones & the P.L.U.S. Band, who comes on at 8. Their unpretentiously sunny vibe captures everything Hessler Street is about.
It is, of course, free. As Carlos would say, “Happy Hessler Street!”
Hessler Street 2014 photos by Anastasia Pantsios
Cleveland, OH 44106