It’s time to let go and enjoy all the excitement that summer brings to our region. The record label Wax Mage is celebrating their 10th anniversary with a little festival at the Grog featuring many of their artists, plus vendors, prizes and artistic vinyl. Mix it up in Tremont with Literary Cleveland. Wish Valerie Mayen a happy birthday at her Valpalooza Fashion Fest at her Gordon Square HQ. Visit Fairport Harbor for their 5th annual Reggae Fest by the Lake.Two days, ten neighborhoods and four hundred gardens: that’s the challenge of the Cleveland Garden Walk. Can you unwrap Summers at Severance with TCO led by the young conductor Marie Jacquot playing Mozart & Strauss? Or maybe you’d prefer to kick off the Blossom season with Carmina Burana. Help an artist present her work at the Edinburgh Fringe at a screening and talk back at Studio West 117.
Rhythm on the River at CVNP, Downtown at Dusk at the AAM, the BlueWater Chamber Orchestra on Lake View Cemetery’s Daffodil Hill, North Union Farmer’s Market going strong after 30 years at Shaker Square. This place is unfurling right before our eyes. Join in.
Cleveland Independents offers an exciting opportunity to have fun while tasting the best our region’s chefs have to offer. Here’s how it works:
1. Pick up a Passport at one of Cleveland Independents Member Restaurants. Complete list found here. 2. Receive stickers from eight locations from now through Mid-July. 3. Receive The Deck with over $500 in culinary offers for FREE!
For a complete listing of restaurants and The Deck, go here. The Passport must include valid stickers and be mailied to the fulfillment house by July 30, 2025 to be eligible. Enjoy! Read more.
A while ago, local playwright Mary Weems had a conversation with photographer/musician Vince Robinson, who has a space on Larchmere Boulevard called Larchmere Arts. “She just had this idea for doing an event of some type. I looked at what some of the possibilities could be and expanded it to more than one event. I thought this could be a springboard to share the spotlight with a lot more people.” So the Larchmere Cultural Arts Festival, happening this weekend July 11-13, became a reality.
They brought together a variety of creators and organizations to launch the event, including musicians, dancers, spoken work performers, filmmakers, writers and visual artists, and partnered with other businesses on Larchmere to put together three days of events and activities. Among the events are an art exhibition and reception, a gallery crawl, a digital photography exhibit and artist talk, a poetry slam, an African drumming class, a shorts film festival, a writer’s workshop and a ekphrastic art and poetry event. Read more.
Join the Cleveland Museum of Natural History for Movie Night at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History! Included with general admission, this special event offers the chance to explore the exhibits after hours and enjoy the 1984 cult classic Ghostbusters. Come early to check out their reimagined galleries, grab a snack, and settle in for a casual evening of science and cinema.
The film begins at 7PM on Fri 7/18 in Murch Auditorium. Film seating is first come, first served. The Museum’s Origins Café will offer grab-and-go items for purchase. Popcorn, candy, and beverages will be available in the Visitor Hall. The Ralph Perkins II Wildlife Center & Woods Garden—Presented by KeyBank and Thelma and Kent H. Smith Environmental Courtyard will be open, weather permitting. Read more.
The Borderlight Theater Festival moves into Playhouse Square next weekend, and it’s making a tempting offer to local performers of all types: in time slots between shows, you can busk on the plaza at Huron and East 14th. You don’t need to sign up or anything; just show up and set up. Bring what you need for your performance and—oh, yes, put out your hat or guitar case and keep all the tips you collect. Read more.
For more than 60 years, Hixson’s Floral Barn in Lakewood was the place to go for holiday decor and other special occasion items. And Bill Hixson was known for the special ornaments he designed for White House Christmases. He died in 2023 and now his business partner is auctioning of the contents of the shop, including more than 25,000 Christmas ornaments. You can visit the shop to see what’s on offer; the auction is online. Read more.
Steven Daigle has been with Ohio Light Opera for 36 seasons and served as artistic director for 26 years. He has announced his retirement after the 2026 festival season. During the 2025 season, he directs productions including Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel and Noël Coward’s Bitter Sweet.The 2025 Ohio Light Opera season also includes classic Broadway musicals Brigadoon and Tip-Toes, along with operettas Patience and The Cousin from Batavia. The 2025 seasons runs now through August 3. Read more.
TUE 7/15 Ring That Bell!
Internationally acclaimed Arsis Handbell Ensemble from Estonia is in the U.S. to showcase at a major handbell festival, and do a little touring; they’ve got a stop in Akron tonight — and it’s free.
Dred Scott, an enslaved person born in Virginia around 1799, and Wong Kim Ark, the son of Chinese immigrant parents, born in San Francisco in 1873, are an unlikely pair that have something in common. Both had cases heard before the United States Supreme Court. The decisions in their respective cases helped to mold the definition of citizenship in America.
In 1857, Scott lost his bid for freedom in the landmark case of Dred Scott vs. Sandford. The Court ruled not only that Scott was still a slave, even though he had been taken to and lived in free territory, it gratuitously added that that persons of African descent were not citizens. Wong Kim Ark won his claim to citizenship by virtue of Section I of the 14thAmendment, passed to overrule the Dred Scott decision. Let me remind you: to change the constitution, which has been done 27 times in the nation’s history, there must be a 2/3 vote of both the House and the Senate. Then the amendment must be approved by ¾ of the states. Clearly, a constitutional amendment is not something that is easily passed. It’s the will of the people. Read more.
