Whether you walk to work, school and fun, or use a bike, public transit, a wheelchair or a car to get around, your community is at your fingertips, and we urge you to grab hold. Whether it’s the Art & Wine Festival in Kent, or the first performance of a new local opera in Cleveland Heights, or the centennial of the Fairport Harbor Lighthouse, or a slow roll to celebrate Pride in the CLE in downtown Cleveland, these things are knowable. Read CoolCleveland correspondent Claudia Taller’s story on how to advocate for our National Parks before planned budget cuts devalue “America’s Best Idea” beyond recognition.So get to know some new things this week: Join Old Brooklyn’s Pinwheel Gallery as they celebrate the 125th anniversary of their historic building. Experience Prom Rewind for grown-ups and support the Children’s Museum. Volunteer to help clean up Big Creek Watershed and enjoy free refreshments. Move your feet in Bainbridge with Electro-Swing, featuring black light, strobes and lasers. Scour a massive rummage sale and raise money for the Berea Animal Rescue. If you didn’t know before, you do now.
Born Troy Andrews, Trombone Shorty got his start (and nickname) earlier than most: at age 4, he made his first appearance at the New Orleans Jazz Festival, performing with Bo Diddley. At age 6, he was leading his own brass band, and by his teenage years, he was hired by Lenny Kravitz to join the band he assembled for his Electric Church World Tour.
The charismatic performer has released five chart-topping albums and collaborated with Pharrell Williams, Bruno Mars, Mark Ronson, the Foo Fighters, Ringo Starr and countless more. His 2022 Lifted finds the Grammy-nominated NOLA icon blurring the lines between funk, soul, R&B and psychedelic rock. He appears at the Tri-C JazzFest, presented by KeyBank, on Thu 6/26 at 8PM at the Connor Palace Theatre. Read more.
One billion. That’s the amount that the budget bill currently being debated in Congress is proposing to strip from our national parks, as well as all the other national public treasures overseen by the National Park Service, from monuments and battlefields to seashores and performing arts facilities. It’s a fraction of the proposed tax cuts for the wealthy, but it’s an amount that would cripple NPS’s ability to maintain and run these sites for the public enjoyment.
CoolCleveland travel writer Claudia Taller describes some of the unforgettable experiences she and her husband have had visiting dozens of national parks. And she shares information from a recent meeting she attended at Northeast Ohio’s heavily visited Cuyahoga Valley National Park on its regional impact and offers some advice on how you can advocate for funding and conserving the National Park System for the good of everyone. Read more.
ARTFUL, a nonprofit that offers affordable space to artists, created a community in the former Coventry P.E.A.C.E. building in Cleveland Heights’ Coventry Village, hosting events for artists and the community, many in partnership with the building’s other residents. Like the other residents, ARTFUL was evicted by building owner the CH-UH Public Library last year for reasons that are still unclear. Fortunately, ARTFUL has just announced the purchase of the former St. Albans Episcopal Church, just blocks from its former location, with artists due to move in shortly. Read more.
Cuyahoga County Public Library’s current CEO Tracy Strobel has just retired, and on August 11, a new CEO will step in. He’s Jamal Rahming, currently executive director of Wilmington [Delaware] Institute Free Library. During his seven-year tenure there, the library has won numerous awards, as has Ramming personally. A sign of his esteem within the library community is that last month, he was chosen as president-elect of the Public Library Association, the largest association supporting public library professionals in the U.S. and Canada. Read more.
THIS WEEK
WED 6/4 Art Is Fun
Takashi Murakami, whose show Stepping on the Tail of a Rainbow is now on view at the Cleveland Museum of Art, has plenty for serious art lovers to chew on, but it’s the type of colorful, pop culture-referencing exhibit those uninterested in arty art can also enjoy.
MON 6/9 Riding Proudly
Slow Roll Cleveland celebrates its Pride Ride when it rolls out of Edgewater Park for its weekly Monday inclusive ride. Cyclists are invited to decorate their bikes and themselves with rainbows.
TUE 6/10 Hike Through History
Throughout the summer Take a Hike offers historical tours seven days a week, with a different tour each day. On Tuesdays in June and July, it will lead walkers through Little Italy and share how it’s changed over more than a century.
