Before more time slips by, let’s be grateful and support our local retailers and entrepreneurs this holiday as we make every effort to SHOP SMALL and ShopLOCAL. While some consumer goods are hard to find locally, holiday gifting is the perfect time to stroll one of our region’s CoolNEIGHBORHOODS, pop into the local shops and find a more thoughful, local (maybe handmade) gift before whipping out your phone and sending your hard earned dollars to Silicon Valley.
Thankfully, Cleveland Pops presents its holiday concert with adoptable pets in the lobby of the Palace, while Trinity Cathedral’s ethereal acoustics enliven their annual Ceremony of Carols. Observe and learn about the full moon with Summit Metro Parks, listen to Pink Floyd at the CMNH Planetarium, get dancing with the Thanksgiving Polka weekend, and check out the Botanical Garden’s new Frost show.
Big shout out to local hero Shannon Okey who stepped up when Akron’s Crafty Mart cancelled, and invited all the local makers to her own Cleveland Bazaar, then recreated the Akron Market at its original location in the Akron Innovation Hub. And Cleveland Bazaar will also welcome your holiday shopping at the Fifth Street Arcades during the WinterLand celebration in Downtown Cleveland all day Saturday.
And while we are certainly thankful for all the blessings of our region, we are also dismayed that our arts funding is in serious jeopardy. Now some in the mainstream media are calling support for the arts “elitist” while simultaneously shilling for corporate professional sports that drain the wallets of local residents with outrageous ticket prices, parking, concessions and taxes, as CoolCleveland columnist Anastasia Pantsios thankfully points out. The campaign to put another initiative on the ballot to fix redistricting kicks off this week. And if the voters of Ohio in 2024 go the way they did in 2023, we’ll be offering a big Thank You to voters about a year from now.
Experience the icy thrill of tobogganing at The Chalet in Mill Stream Run Reservation, 16200 Valley Parkway Strongsville, OH 44136, located on Valley Parkway between Routes 42 and 82 in Strongsville (a short distance from both I-71 and the Ohio Turnpike).
The twin, 700-foot refrigerated ice chutes operate with or without snow through late February, weather permitting. The 2023-2024 Toboggan Season will open Fri 11/24. Reservations are now open. Check the schedule for hours of operation. Read more.
Recently, a Plain Dealer/Cleveland.com editor sneered that the criticisms artists have been making of Cuyahoga Arts & Culture and the way it’s distributing the arts tax money are “a lot of noise and stupid,” suggesting a tax on any bourbon over $40 because “clearly, those are the guys going to the arts.”
We compared the cost of attending an arts event to that of the “working class” entertainment the Plain Dealer thinks is worthy of saturation coverage and a flood of tax dollars that makes the arts levy money look like petty change: the Cleveland Browns. We found just one Cleveland arts organization where the cost of the high-end ticket is even close to the AVERAGE ticket to a Browns game: the Cleveland Orchestra. And the vast majority of its tickets are way less. Read more.
Another remarkable exhibition is taking place at the Maltz Museum, The Girl in the Diary: Searching for Rywka from the Łódz Ghetto. Open thanksgiving weekend Fri – Sun 11am to 5pm and Christmas Day! For tickets: MaltzMuseum.org.
CoolCleveland spoke with Dahlia Fisher from the Maltz Museum, who walks us through the exhibits, including the diary fragments of the young Rywka Lipszyc, and connects those fragments with other documents, photos, videos and interactive screens to tell the story of one 14-year-old girl who lost her siblings and her parents in the Holocaust in the 1940’s, but never lost her hope or her faith. Read more.
For the second time in two years, the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo is welcoming two baby Amur tigers cubs, born on November 6. It’s too soon to tell what gender they are, let alone put them on view; they’re just chilling with mom now (you can watch on the tigercam). But in the spring visitors should be able to check out all that striped cuteness! Read more.
Politicians ignored the will of the voters and created illegal, gerrymandered districts to retain their power. Voters are striking back back. The campaign to replace politicians with a nonpartisan citizens redistricting commissionshas started, with the goal of getting a constitutional amendment on the November 24 ballot. Petitions are ready; please sign. Make Ohio a democracy again. Read more.
THIS WEEK
WED 11/22 Light Up the Night Wild Winter Lights at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo is a great way to get yourself and your family in the holiday spirit.
THU 11/23 Sing After Supper Get away from the family and come down to the Grog Shop where Apostle Jones frontman Mikey Silas will be hosting the “Pass Me the Mic” open mic, when you can share your songs or jam with others.
FRI 11/24 Journey into Space Through the end of December, the CMNH Shafran Planetarium will take visitors to The Dark Side of the Moon, with visuals synched to the classic Pink Floyd album.
SUN 11/26 Ho Ho and Meow/Arf Cleveland Pops Orchestra’s annual holiday concert is back at Playhouse Square, with dancing Santas and adoptable animals in the lobby.
TUE 11/28 Full Moon Discovery A Summit Metro Parks naturalist will share moon facts around a warm fire, then take visitors outside to look at it through a telescope.
WED 11/29 Seasonal Sounds Trinity Cathedral’s annual performance of Benjamin Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols, based on medieval music, takes place today.
On November 22, 2023, the nation will mark the 60th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. For those who remember the date, it is hard to believe that so much time has passed. It is even harder to believe that there are generations of Americans who have no concept of the grassy knoll, Dealey Plaza or the Texas Book Depository…
As the nation looks back on the death of President Kennedy, many want to reflect on what might have been. Would Kennedy have pursued the war in Vietnam? Would Kennedy have been able to pass the Civil Rights Bill that President Lyndon Johnson was artully able to get through Congress? These questions have no answers. But the important thing to remember is that an insignificant man with a rifle changed history. In 60 years, many things have changed but many things remain the same. As is clear when we look at mass shootings with automatic weapons and deaths from handguns, a person with a gun can still change history. Read more.
