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Cleveland Foundation Centennial Gift: Weekends on the Water

Blog Date
Author(s)
Julie Smith
Stuart O. Smith, Jr.
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Cleveland
Cleveland Foundation
Cleveland Metroparks
North Coast Harbor
Watercraft
Cuyahoga River

Cleveland Foundation Centennial Gift: Weekends on the Water
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Thank you, Cleveland Foundation, for your September 13 & 28, 2014 Centennial Gift: Weekends on the Water!

We are very fortunate to have been among the 6,000 Clevelanders who received free tickets to an educational cruise on Cleveland's largest excursion ship, the Goodtime III. On Saturday, September 13th, we joined a joyful crowd on the docks at the end of East 9th Street near Voinovich Park. A light rain did not dampen the spirits of those waiting to board the ship. We were entertained on the dock by the Cleveland Coast Guard (@USCGGreatLakes), who demonstrated their water cannon.

Once on board the Goodtime III (@GoodtimeIII), we had great views of the lake and river from the comfortable lower level. The narration for the cruise was all about the Cleveland Foundation's (@CleveFoundation) role in supporting local recreational and environmental organizations that are reclaiming our river and lakefront for public use. Here is the description from the Cleveland Foundation website (NOTE: we added links to the gift partners, and encourage you to learn more on their websites):

For the Cleveland Foundation Weekends on the Water, the foundation is joining forces with several partners to make the event a unique learning tour for families. A special cruise narration will highlight some of the recent exciting development along the river and lakefront. Also, representatives from the foundation’s September gift partners – Cleveland Metroparks, the city of Cleveland’s Office of Sustainability, The Nature Conservancy and Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District – will be on board during the cruises to answer questions and to provide educational materials on topics such as local water quality and conservation efforts.

What we learned from the cruise naration expanded on much of we learned recently from the Historic Gateway Neighborhood Corporation's (@GatewayCLE) Canal Basin Park in the Flats "Take A Hike" Tour and visits to local parks. Rather than repeat all that we learned here, we invite you to read our tweets/retweets below and our September 11, 2014, "Take a Hike" - Cleveland's Flats & Beyond! blog post via these links:

Clean Water!

The only thing we wanted to add beyond what we wrote in our "Take a Hike" - Cleveland's Flats & Beyond! blog post is about the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (@WallyWaterdrop @neorsd). We had planned to write about the sewer district's huge plant near the Cleveland Metroparks CanalWay Center (@CleveMetroparks) which is just out of sight of where Stuart biked on Sunday, August 24, 2014, but cut it from the story. (We felt that talking about sewage did not fit in a blog post about parks.) In hindsight, cutting it was a mistake.

When Stuart visited our son, Mike, at 6th grade camp at Cuyahoga Valley National Park's Cuyahoga Valley Environmental Education Center, he learned something important. The health of the park is dependent upon the cleanliness of the river that once was famous for burning. Thus, Cuyahoga Valley National Park and Cleveland Metroparks locations along the Cuyahoga River would not exist if not for the work of the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District.

Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District Clean Water 2015While preparing this blog post, Stuart received a direct message on Twitter from @WallyWaterdrop with the current version of the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (@neorsd) logo for their #CleanWater2015 program. The logo will be formally presented at the upcoming NEORSD Open House, where their new 2015 clean water initiative will be announced.

The NEORSD Open House is on Saturday, September 27, 2014, 9:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. Go to this web page for all the details: neorsd.org/OpenHouse

Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District Clean Water Open House
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Photos/Videos

Enjoy our photos and videos from the day.

Photos by Stuart O. Smith, Jr.:

If your device does not support Flickr.com photos, please view them here.

Photos by Kevin F. Smith:

If your device does not support Flickr.com photos, please view them here.

Tweets and Retweets

Please see photos and useful links in our @sos_jr tweets/retweets.

Because of the new way Twitter displays multiple photos, it is best to click on each one to view it fully.

Future

If you missed the Centennial Gift: Weekends on the Water event, please note:

  • Since the tickets sold out in 45 minutes, the Goodtime III (@GoodtimeIII) is offering a special discount for cruises next year in honor of the Cleveland Foundation's 100th birthday. Save $3 per adult/child ticket for any narrated lake-river tour in 2015 with the code: TCF100

Special discount for cruises next year in honor of the Cleveland Foundation's 100th birthday
Discount Info
Click To Read

See special website for environmental project information
Water Weekends Website
Click To Read

Centennial Gift Blog Posts

The "Weekends on the Water" is the sixth Cleveland Foundation centennial event we have attended. Please read our blog posts to learn more about the following Cleveland Foundation 2014 centennial gift events, and also see what we wrote about how the Cleveland Foundation fulfills its mission:

  1. Saturday, February 22nd event: FREE! Great Lakes Science Center (plus our son, Mike, went to the Sunday, February 23rd, free day at Rock Hall)

  2. Monday, March 24th event: Cleveland Foundation FREE Day at CIFF

  3. Saturday, May 24th event: May Centennial Gift: Cleveland Foundation Day on Wade Oval

  4. Sunday, July 20th event: Cleveland Foundation Day with The Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom (Only Julie attended, since the rest of the family was volunteering at Cleveland GiveCamp 2014 - 5th Year!)

  5. Saturday, August 23rd event: Cleveland Foundation FREE Cinema At The Square
  • Information about the Cleveland Foundation's Sunday, August 17, 2014, announcement about their $5 million centennial legacy grant for the Lake Link Trail can be found in our "Take a Hike" - Cleveland's Flats & Beyond! blog post.