Blog sosAssociates

Oh, Gods of Dust and Rainbows, the second iteration of FRONT International, will run from July 16 through October 2, 2022. Building on the success of the first edition, FRONT 2022 will further the Triennial’s commitment to stimulating new and sustained cultural conversations within the region.

The following blog post is from my tour of FRONT International and CAN Triennial venues in University Circle on several days in July/August 2022, and about the Friday, July 29, 2022, PechaKucha Night Cleveland event. I had planned on publishing this blog post on Friday, August 26, 2022, which is the day I went to the Akron FRONT International venues, but got busy with some family commitments and did not have time to finish writing everything I wanted to add to the blog post.

I have now decided to just publish this blog post "as is" (please read the tweets text to get most of the story) before FRONT International closes on October 2, 2022.

After missing 2020 and going virtual in 2021 due to COVID-19 safety considerations, at the start of 2022, the Cleveland GiveCamp Steering Committee was open to new possibilities as to what form the free tech solutions would be provided to local nonprofits.

Cleveland GiveCamp 2022 stayed with the weekend format of nonprofit teams and standup progress meetings, but new this year was:

• the location -- Hyland
• the month -- August instead of the traditional third Saturday in July
• offering a hybrid option -- a combination of remote and in-person volunteers, which one nonprofit team utilized

In this blog post, I will:

• convey what happened before and during the August 12-14, 2022, Cleveland GiveCamp Weekend
• thank the volunteers and sponsors that made it possible
• share information about the nonprofits served

While the most important activity happens over Cleveland GiveCamp Weekend, when the tech solutions are actually developed for the Nonprofit Partners, Cleveland GiveCamp is a year-round organization plannings and preparing for the weekend of service.

I am creating this blog post to capture my memories of three exhibits that I visited with members of my family on two days in July. Each of these exhibits has a unique connection to me and/or my family:

• "Euclid Beach Park Days" at the Cleveland History Center.
  July 23 @ 10:00 am - July 24 @ 4:00 pm

• The second “Year of the Motorcycle” exhibit at the Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum in the Cleveland History Center.

• On July 29, 30, and 31, Lake Metroparks Farmpark hosted the "Historical Engine Society’s 51st Annual Antique Power" Exhibition.

On Sunday, July 24, 2022, I visited the Western Reserve Historical Society's Cleveland History Center, and a week later, on Sunday, July 31, 2022, I visited Lake Metroparks Farmpark. In addition to the personal connection of these events, it was interesting to compare the motorcycle engines with the engines shown at the Farmpark.

•  Sunday, July 24, 2022 - My Son's Amusement Park Memorabilia Collection at "Euclid Beach Park Days"

• Mark Your Calendar! September 25, 2022!
  Announcing the 17th Annual "Remembering the Sights and Sounds of Euclid Beach Park!"

• Sunday, July 24, 2022 - My Son and I Study the Motorcycle Mechanics at the "Year of the Motorcycle" Exhibition

• Sunday, July 31, 2022 - My Dad and I Study Tractors and Small Engines at the "Historical Engine Society's 51st Annual Antique Power" Exhibition

Dear Stuart,

I am excited to share with you an update and an invitation to celebrate the opening of the second edition of FRONT International: Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art. Prem Krishnamurthy, our FRONT 2022 Artistic Director, has assembled a brilliant exhibition sprawling across 30 venues in Northeast Ohio and featuring a dazzling array of over 100 artists, including art stars like Julie Mehretu, Firelei Baez, Renée Green, Yoshitomo Nara, Jacolby Satterwhite.

Anticipation is high, and the press is calling FRONT one of the must-see art events of the year, along with documenta and the Venice Bienalle.

The title of FRONT 2022, Oh, Gods of Dust and Rainbows is inspired by a couplet by Langston Hughes, . . .

Our preview days are July 14 and 15, and we would be delighted to have you join artists and art lovers from across the country to share a packed calendar of events and programming. . . .

Laura and I  would be pleased to have you as our guests for an open house brunch at our home from 10:00 to 12:00 on July 15 and 16. . . .

Of course, FRONT runs through October 2, and we would love to see you any time this Summer. I would love to hear your thoughts and impressions.

With warm regards,
Fred Bidwell
Executive Director

I am grateful that Fred Bidwell emailed me an invitation to attend the 2022 FRONT International: Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art preview events. It was great to learn more about, and get an advanced look at some of the venues before “Oh, Gods of Dust and Rainbows” opened to the public on July 16, 2022. It runs through October 2, 2022.

As background, I put together both "Preview Exhibition" and "Personal Prequel" blog posts, which cover my interests and activities relating to FRONT International between the 2018 events and the start of the 2022.

The scope of this second FRONT International is so large that the preview barely gave a nibble of the full banquet of northeast Ohio art that is now available for exploration. As I prepared this blog post, I learned more and more, but also realized that there still is much more to learn. In 2018, my wife and co-blogger, Julie, enjoyed visiting and blogging about many of the venues we visited, and we look forward to exploring the new art at the 2022 venues.

This blog post includes both the two days of preview events and the kickoff block party, plus additional information:

• Thursday, July 14, 2022 -
  * FRONT Press Conference - Cleveland Museum of Art

  - Provenance Café and Importance of Accessibility to FRONT Venues
  - FRONT Web Resources
  - Inaugural FRONT Art Futures Fellows

   

• Friday, July 15, 2022 -
  * Director’s Open House Brunch Presented by J.P. Morgan Private Bank - Fred & Laura Bidwell Home
  * Remembering Tamir Rice
  * Friday, July 15, 2022 - Picnic Lunch - University Circle
  * CIA Sparkling Toast Exhibition Preview - Cleveland Institute of Art, Reinberger Gallery
  * FRONT VIP Preview Party - moCa  Cleveland (Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland)
  * CWRU Mandel School & Western Reserve Historical Society Grand Carousel

• Saturday, July 16, 2022 -
  * FRONT BLOCK PARTY - Cleveland Public Square, Gund Foundation Green

I entitled this blog post starting with the words "Personal Prequel," since it covers my interests and activities relating to FRONT International: Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art, between the 2018 events and the start of the 2022 events. It certainly does not include all that has taken place between the years of the first event and the second, but instead is my attempt to capture some of the spirit of FRONT International that I enjoy.

I wanted to make a point to thank Fred and Laura Bidwell for opening their home to announce the plans for the next FRONT International: Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art.

I am writing this blog post as we enter the kickoff week of FRONT International. Please watch and share with others the tweets I share as I attend events, and watch for future blog posts. Also, feel free to tag me on Twitter as you explore FRONT International venues and activities, so I can share in your enjoyment, and retweet.

Over the years, I have attended Cleveland Shakespeare Festival shows at many venues around northeast Ohio, and I have even participated in their "Open Mic Shakespeare" nights at Negative Space Gallery and Mac's Backs Books. While I have enjoyed Cleveland Shakespeare Festival actors' performances at all the outdoor venues where I have seen them perform, it was at the James A. Garfield National Historic Site on July 1, 2017, that I learned of the Garfield connection with Shakespeare. I learned that the Garfield family often entertained themselves reading Shakespeare's plays!

This connection that President Garfield and his family had with William Shakespeare made Saturday, July 2, 2022, even more interesting to me as I enjoyed seeing:

• Moreland Hills Historical Society James A. Garfield Birth Site Park

• James A. Garfield National Historic Site

• Cleveland Shakespeare Festival production of Hamlet

I had a truly serendipitous moment that led me to a very enjoyable time talking to a Moreland Hills Historical Society volunteer, Debbie, at the James A. Garfield Birth Site! I had not planned on visiting the birthplace, but happened to drive by it and decided to stop.

On the James A. Garfield National Historic Site house tour, I took a lot of photos to try to capture the feeling of the house, but you really need to take the tour yourself to experience it.

...The play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king.

Congratulations to Cleveland Shakespeare Festival on your 25th season! I am glad to be able to celebrate this accomplishment by attending your production of Hamlet at a fitting location -- the James A. Garfield National Historic Site.

I want to thank the James A. Garfield Birth Site, James A. Garfield National Historic Site, and Cleveland Shakespeare Festival for the interesting and entertaining day. I highly encourage you to participate in the activities of these three organizations.

I hope this blog post encourages you to explore theatrical productions of Shakespeare’s work, and to learn about the 20th U.S. President's life in Ohio.

It was hot in Cleveland on Saturday, June 25, 2022, but despite the heat, it was a great day to explore our city's evolving riverfront at the Canalway Partners 2022 Cuyahoga River Rally. I have written several blog posts about discovering the waterfront along the Cuyahoga River, and how every year the access improves. Thank you to Canalway Partners for bringing everyone together to learn about our river.

Canalway Partners' Cuyahoga River Rally is part of Cleveland History Days, a week-long celebration of our city’s rich legacy.

I am so glad I brought my bike to the River Rally! While I have biked this area along the Cuyahoga River many times, I visited some new trails. The director of Ohio City Bicycle Co-op, Jim Sheehan,  shared some interesting history of the river.

While I already did follow @Cuyahoga_AOC (Advisory Committee for the Cuyahoga River Area of Concern) on Twitter, I was not aware of the "Cuyahoga River Area of Concern" designation by the EPA, which I learned about on the walk. I look forward to learning more about the AOC, and I enjoyed learning about future plans for this part of the waterfront.

It was great to meet Eddie Olschansky who, as the founder of Trash Fish, spends his days cleaning area rivers in northeast Ohio. He organizes volunteers to go out on kayaks and pick up trash.

Near the end of the rally, I enjoyed talking to some members of the Canalway Partners Board of Directors about their important work. It is amazing what has been accomplished in the 35-year history of Canalway Partners.

I want to finish this blog post by not only thanking Canalway Partners for their 2022 Cuyahoga River Rally, but also for their ongoing work to improve the quality of life by developing new resources to enjoy Cleveland's riverfront.

I hope you find the resources I shared in this blog post useful as you find our own fun and adventures along Cleveland's riverfront!

3 of 3: Fun Father's Day Weekend: Sunday -- Amusement Preservation Museum & Old Northwest Territory Primitive Rendezvous

• The fun places my family took me for Father's Day 2022
• Amusement Preservation Museum -- See photos from this incredible collection and watch the videos of the “Swingin’ Gyms."
• 32nd Old Northwest Territory Primitive Rendezvous at Medina County Parks's Hidden Hollow Camp. I invite you to look at the photos closely to see the old-time skills that the participants demonstrated
• Princess Ledges Nature Preserve, Medina County Parks

I decided to create these three blog posts to remind me of the three days of fun I had over Father's Day Weekend. The text is the same at the beginning of all three, so I encourage you to read the tweets within the posts that tell the story of:

2 of 3: Fun Father's Day Weekend: Saturday -- Service Project & The Longest Day of Play

Read tweets below in this blog post to learn about:

• Northeast Ohio Orienteering Club (NEOOC) service project at Richfield Heritage Preserve
  Be sure to click on the links in the tweets to learn about both of these great organizations!
• Cleveland Metroparks  “The Longest Day of Play” at Euclid Beach
• Cleveland United Way 2-1-1 service
• Plastic Free Lake Erie
• Step Forward - Ohio's designated anti-poverty agency for Cuyahoga County with early childhood education programs, adult skills training, and other services
• Especially large waves on Lake Erie on this windy day. Be sure to view the videos of the waves.
• Cleveland Metroparks Euclid Beach concessions serving Honey Hut Ice Cream
• Drum circle and dancing
• Ohio Sea Grant

I decided to create these three blog posts to remind me of the three days of fun I had over Father's Day Weekend. The text is the same at the beginning of all three, so I encourage you to read the tweets within the posts that tell the story of:

1 of 3: Fun Father's Day Weekend: Friday -- Blue Heron Homecoming

Read tweets below in this blog post to learn about:

• Taking my dad to the Blue Heron Homecoming event
• Summit Soil & Water Conservation District
• Free cookout thanks to Lock 3 and Akron City Recreation Department
• Akron Zoo staff showing how to practice good recycling/composting practices
• Cuyahoga Valley National Park

It feels appropriate that the first blog post I am writing since my Continental Divide Trail backpacking adventure in April 2022 is about a National Trails Day^® event -- the Buckeye Trail Association's Biggest Day Hike, which took place on Saturday, June 4, 2022.

It is great that the Buckeye Trail Association (@HikeTheBT) invited everyone to participate in celebrating Ohio's long trail by pledging to travel a segment of this over 1,400-mile trail for National Trails Day^® 2022. This is the third year for the Buckeye Trail Association's Biggest Day Hike, which had the goal of having hikers/biker/horseback riders collectively complete the ENTIRE Buckeye Trail in one day.

Thank you, American Hiking Society and their sponsors/partners, for National Trails Day^®!! It is a great way to bring awareness of all the great trails we have in our country.

It was great to see so many US trail organizations participate in National Trails Day^® 2022. In addition to being a member of the Buckeye Trail Association (@HikeTheBT), I am a member of several other trail organizations.

I hope you find the resources I shared in this blog post useful as you find our own trail adventures. Happy Trails to you!

My co-writer and wife, Julie Smith, and I started writing our blog posts on March 8, 2012. I can't believe this is my tenth blogiversary for sosAssociates.com!!! While the focus of this blog post has evolved over these ten years, the joy it brings in documenting activities in which I participate has continued!

Saturday, February 26, 2022, a day of outdoor Cleveland winter fun -- Cleveland Kurentovanje and Brite Winter!!!

This year, I attended two events where I joined with other people who laughed at the Cleveland cold by attending outdoor celebrations! After years of hearing about Cleveland Kurentovanje (koo-rehn-toh-VAHN-yeh), I finally attended this "Slovenian Mardi Gras" parade and festival in the afternoon. I then continued the fun with Brite Winter, which I enjoy every year.

"... reimagine the possibilities for representing motherhood" - . . . You can't experience the depth of Picturing Motherhood Now by looking at photos on a website. You must see it in person to not only study the artwork closely, but also to read the messages that accompany the artwork. I know that I will need to return again to the museum to see the pieces I missed, and to look again at the artwork I found interesting.

The paragraph above is from the blog post that Stuart wrote after attending the Thursday, October 14, 2021, Picturing Motherhood Now Media & Influencer Event and Members Preview Party, where he knew that he would need to use our Cleveland Museum of Art membership benefit to return to see the exhibition again. This blog post includes our @sos_jr tweets and retweets sharing photos from our visit to Picturing Motherhood Now on Wednesday, January 26, 2022.

Stuart enjoyed his return visit, especially since he was joined by Julie, who brought new insight to this motherhood exhibition.

After our visit to Picturing Motherhood Now, we saw a display about the Cleveland Museum of Art's Motherhood Across Time tour in the area adjacent to the Ames Family Atrium. This tour takes you through the museum's collection to discover other works of art related to motherhood. Download the ArtLens App to learn more about museum tours.

As we have done the past seven years, we invite you to read our #NewYearsDay 2022 #ThankYou blog post in which we thank the many people and organizations that had a positive impact on our lives in 2021. This is our annual greeting as we end 2021 to all who read our blog, wishing you all the best as we begin a new year full of possibilities!

Our immediate family has been very fortunate in these past two difficult years, to be healthy and able to adjust to the lifestyle changes caused by the coronavirus crisis. Our thoughts are with those who have been ill or who have lost loved ones to COVID-19.

2021 was our ninth year of blogging. As the year progressed in 2021, we were glad to finally stop writing our Social Distancing blog post series. but of course we are currently concerned about how the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact our community. We are also back to very strict social distancing protocols, which we started following again in mid-December 2021.

At 12:00 midnight New Year's Eve, we sent out an email to family members with a link to our 22nd annual family holiday web page. This is a family tradition through which we not only share our activities for the year, but it also becomes a record of our family history.

The following are tweets and retweets shared on the first day of the new year, and related tweets. The retweets represent some of what occurred during the year and others of particular interest. We also created tweets to thank many individuals and organizations that positively impacted our lives during 2021.

Wishing All Good People on the Twitterverse and Those People Who Read Our Blog Posts a Great Year in 2022!

The Cleveland Public Library, for their Ninth Annual Maker Faire Cleveland, did the event a little differently than in past years. Instead of just a one-day maker event, they planned "family-friendly, free events at Cleveland Public Library locations across the city" for a full week! The week-long maker activities culminated in the Maker Faire Cleveland Showcase 2021 on Saturday, November 20th, at the Great Lakes Science Center.

In this blog post, we will share tweets with photos/videos leading up to and including our attendance at the Maker Faire Cleveland Showcase 2021.

A BIG thank-you to Tom Kunsman who made it a point to be sure that we knew about the Showcase. If it weren't for his tweet, we might have missed this year's event.

In addition to the Cleveland Public Library's Cleveland Maker Faire, we also learned about the The Best Buy Teen Tech Center, which is in partnership with The Clubhouse Network.

Thank you, Cleveland Public Library, for the FREE night at the Great Lakes Science Center for the Maker Faire Cleveland Showcase 2021! We appreciate that the Cleveland Public Library plans interesting tech and NASA-related events. We have attended several of them! The library is "The People's University" in Cleveland.

I have enjoyed attending Akron-Summit County Public Library maker events many times over the years. Thankfully, I learned that Akron Makes would be held Saturday, November 13, 2021, when I saw tweets from the Akron-Summit County Public Library and Summit Artspace. If not for these tweets, I would have missed this fun event!

I was very impressed with the kids who demonstrated their Scratch programming. It is fun to stop and listen to kids as they teach you about their programming projects.

It was very appropriate that a lot of the Akron Makes took place in the library's TechZone makerspace, so visitors to the event would also know what is available at the library year-round.

After leaving Akron Makes, I stopped briefly at Summit Artspace to see their Betty and Howard Taylor main gallery. I wish I had more time to see all their art galleries, since I really enjoyed what I saw in the main gallery from the 19th Annual Kaleidoscope Juried Exhibition. While at Summit Artspace, I was fortunate to meet their new Executive Director, Heather Meeker, who was greeting visitors as they entered.

This blog post shares what I learned about the Cleveland Museum of Art's Revealing Krishna: Journey to Cambodia’s Sacred Mountain exhibition before its opening, and while attending the preview on Friday, November 12, 2021. I was fortunate to be able to tour the exhibition before its opening to the public on November 14, 2021, and I want to encourage everyone to visit before it closes on January 30, 2022.

The Revealing Krishna HoloLens tour was more powerful than I expected. I have tried HoloLens before, but the way the museum used it to tell the story of the Cleveland Krishna statue was excellent. It was a very effective use of this technology to further the story behind the artwork!

I also included information about the historical Christmas decorations I saw at the Western Reserve Historical Society's Cleveland History Center while I was in University Circle.

"... reimagine the possibilities for representing motherhood" - I had received an invitation in early October for the Thursday, October 14, 2021, preview of Picturing Motherhood Now, and started reading about and looking at photographs from the exhibition on the Cleveland Museum of Art's website. Based on what I saw, I developed a preconception about the exhibition, which I have to admit was not on target. You can't experience the depth of Picturing Motherhood Now by looking at photos on a website. You must see it in person to not only study the artwork closely, but also to read the messages that accompany the artwork. I know that I will need to return again to the museum to see the pieces I missed, and to look again at the artwork I found interesting.

I was also excited about being able to enjoy the art as part of a social experience -- being with other people at the Cleveland Museum of Art! The Picturing Motherhood Now preview was not completely part of a return to "normal life," since the COVID-19 pandemic is still with us, but it is a great start. The following reflects the excitement of joining with others to enjoy the experience which is the Cleveland Museum of Art.

After commenting on Twitter how seeing the Tony Tasset: Judy’s Hand Pavilion reminded me of FRONT International 2018, I received a reply tweet from FRONT International Executive Director Fred Bidwell saying "more to come!" Therefore, I knew to watch for something to happen soon regarding FRONT International 2022, which led me to see the announcement about the Friday, October 8, 2021, FRONT 2022 Preview Exhibition Opening & Party: Grand Prototypes, Humble Tools at Transformer Station!! This blog post shares what I saw at the preview party and some of what I learned about next year's FRONT International 2022.

The interesting part of this opening was that this is not the final version of these artists' creations, since the artwork is continuing to evolve as part of preparing for FRONT 2022. Instead, the exhibition asks the following questions as part of this evolution: "How can the everyday processes of artmaking be transformative for artists and their communities? How can art catalyze healing?"

This blog post is about the creative and historical events I attended Friday, September 24, 2021, through Sunday, September 26, 2021:

• moCa Cleveland (Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland) and more in University Circle
  
  In 2020 (pre-COVID-19 vaccine),  I stopped going to moCa Cleveland, so in 2021 (after being fully vaccinated), I had gotten out of the habit of looking to see what the new exhibits were at the museum. Therefore, I greatly appreciated receiving the following Twitter direct message on September 6, 2021, from @moCaCleveland reminding me to visit: "Stuart, have you been in to see our new season? Just an fyi we have a new Sr Marketing Director . . . moCa hopes all is well."

• Ingenuity at the Lake
  
  When I first arrived at Ingenuity at the Lake, I did not know what to expect. I ended up really enjoying some of the yard games with my family, and of course talking to people from different organizations providing services to our community.

• 16th Annual Remembering The Sights & Sounds of Euclid Beach Park
  
  My son, Kevin F. Smith, displays his Euclid Beach Park memorabilia collection every year. Learn more details about the history of this amusement park, and how Kevin and my wife, Julie, are on the board of Euclid Beach Park Now.

The purpose of this blog post is to capture the photos we shared on Twitter during our trip south -- Tuesday, September 7, 2021, through Wednesday, September 15, 2021.

With Cleveland GiveCamp 2020 being canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was known from the very beginning of planning for the eleventh Cleveland GiveCamp in 2021 that flexibility would be needed.

Two decisions were made early on to ensure a safe event in this time of a once-in-a-century pandemic:

• First, to move the Cleveland GiveCamp 2021 Weekend from the third weekend in July to the fall. This would allow extra time for volunteers to get the coronavirus vaccination and to have time to learn from others working in office settings what safety procedures would be needed.

• Second, to plan simultaneously both an in-person event and a virtual event, so as to be prepared for changes in the environment.

Cleveland GiveCamp 2021 Weekend took place September 10-12, 2021.

I enjoy attending the Cleveland Museum of Art's annual #CMAChalkFestival every year and sharing my favorite chalk artwork on my "Chalk Festival" blog posts. Therefore, I was very disappointed that a spur-of-the-moment trip south to take care of some family business prevented me from attending on Saturday, September 11, 2021.

I asked people on the Cleveland Twitterverse to share on Twitter their photos from the 2021 Cleveland Chalk Festival, so that I could at least attend an online version of the Chalk Festival.

I was rewarded greatly by the Cleveland Twitterverse and my son, Kevin F. Smith.

As I mention in my last blog posts, I have been "delayed" in my normal activities for much of the summer. Well, the week after I published those two blog posts, my activity level increased dramatically due to the large number of events happening in Cleveland the last week of August 2021.

As I wrote on Monday, August 23, 2021, "If you are in #Cleveland and have nothing to do this week, you are just not trying!"

This blog post is an attempt to capture some of the spirit of the events I attended. The one common element of all these events is that I learned about them from following interesting people/organization on Twitter.  I created this blog post to serve as a reminder for me of the fun I had at these events, and I hope it encourages you to go out yourself to learn about the organizations that sponsor these events.

The in-person events included:

• MidTown Hosts the CLEVELAND WALLS! International Mural Program - August 23-28, 2021

• USS Cod Return to Cleveland Party

• Irishtown Bend Tour Hosted by West Creek Conservancy

• 75th Annual One World Day! #OWD2021CLE

In addition to these in-person events that I attended, this was also the week of online events for the 2021 Cleveland Foundation Annual Meeting Week Presented by KeyBank: It Starts With Community.

This blog post focuses on the interesting places we visited together along the route of the Appalachian Trail after Stuart's backpacking adventure, and then visiting water-related locations in New York state on our way home. After many years of hearing from Stuart about the places we visited along the Appalachian Trail, it was really fun for Julie to finally see them! 

Exploring Appalachian Trail Highlights

While Stuart was backpacking on the Appalachian Trail, he wrote down places he wanted to show Julie after his hike. It is his way of involving her in his multi-year journey north up the trail.

Many of the best locations are not accessible due to difficult terrain or the number of miles from trailheads, so this blog post shows just a few of the places we had the ability and time to visit.

New York Water Destinations

After touring locations along the Appalachian Trail, we spent the weekend traveling through the state of New York, where we visited the Erie Canal and Niagara Falls.

Friday, April 30, 2021 - Hershey’s Chocolate World!

This was our first big outing since receiving our COVID-19 vaccinations. The three attractions that we went to were adapted to encourage social distancing, but this was still the first time being around so many people in an inside venue. It actually felt kind of strange. Everyone was required to wear masks in all areas of the Hershey’s Chocolate World building.

It was very appropriate that we started our journey toward Stuart's starting point on the Appalachian Trail at this "sweet" place, since he has often visited Hershey’s Chocolate World as part of his many previous backpacking trips on the A.T. in Pennsylvania. A chocolate treat goes perfectly with backpacking.

Saturday, May 1, 2021 - Knoebels Amusement Resort

Since Julie and our son, Kevin F. Smith, are on the Board of Euclid Beach Park Now, we knew we had to visit Knoebels Amusement Resort. Similar to Cleveland's Euclid Beach Park, which closed in 1969, Knoebels is a free-admission amusement park. While it is free to enter the park, visitors can purchase individual ride tickets or an all-day wristband. Also, since Julie volunteers as a ride attendant at the restored Euclid Beach Park Grand Carousel at the Cleveland History Center, it was a special treat to see the Knoebels Carousel Museum.

As I write this blog post, I am very busy preparing for an extended backpacking trip, but I still wanted to get this out, since I had such a great time at the Cleveland Museum of Art. I will let the photos in the tweets tell the story, and I invite you to learn more about this special Cleveland Museum of Art exhibition, Stories from Storage, . . .

As you view the photos we shared on Twitter, please note the incredible variety of artwork presented. We highly recommend seeing the exhibition in person, since photos can't capture all the details.

My mother joined me on my return visits on Tuesday, April 20, 2021, and Tuesday, April 27, 2021.

Located in southeastern Ohio, Hocking Hills State Park has received national and international acclaim as a top park to visit. Stunning in every season, the park features towering cliffs, waterfalls, and deep, hemlock-shaded gorges for hikers and nature lovers to enjoy.

We had not been to Hocking Hills State Park In many years, and decided it would make a great getaway location while we are still social distancing. Most of this past year, we have been exploring many northeast Ohio parks and thought that it was time to go to southeastern Ohio.

We remembered the park's unique rock formations from past visits, but we discovered that they were even more incredible than we remembered. We were surprised to learn from informational signage in the park that glaciers never reached this part of Ohio, since we are used to northeast Ohio terrain that has been shaped by the ice age.

My co-writer and wife, Julie Smith, and I started writing our blog posts on March 8, 2012. The years of 2020 (after mid-March) and 2021 (so far), make this a drastically different blogiversary than any other. This is reflected in the nature of how our blog posts changed one year ago, right after our sosAssociates.com Blogiversary: Eight! post, when we starting writing our Social Distancing blog post series.

While our world is so different on this ninth anniversary, I do want to express how grateful I am to have the community resources and family support to ride out these times. My immediate family has been very fortunate in this difficult year, to be healthy and able to adjust to the lifestyle changes caused by the coronavirus crisis. Julie's and my thoughts are with those who have been ill or who have lost loved ones this year to COVID-19.

In 2020, our first adventure out to a public space during the coronavirus crisis was to the Cleveland Museum of Art's #WelcomeBackCMA Reopening. The spaciousness of the museum, along with their coronavirus protocols and site-specific safety measures, allowed us to feel safe while enjoying the artwork.

Now, in 2021, our first excursion of the year was again to the Cleveland Museum of Art. We had not expected to still be social distancing and masking, but here we are, writing another blog post in our "Social Distancing" series.

After the initial reopening in June 2020 for the summer, the Cleveland Museum of Art closed again in fall 2020. On January 18, 2021, the Cleveland Museum of Art reopened again with modified hours of Tuesday through Sunday, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. With the 2021 reopening, we learned of a special exhibition created by "the Cleveland Museum of Art, with love," called Stories from Storage.

We want to send out our annual greeting as we end 2020, and begin a new year full of possibilities! Our immediate family has been very fortunate in this difficult year, to be healthy and able to adjust to the lifestyle changes caused by the coronavirus crisis. Our thoughts are with those who have been ill or who have lost loved ones this year to COVID-19.

As we have done the past six years, we invite you to read our #NewYearsEve and #NewYearsDay 2021 #ThankYou blog post in which we thank the many people/organizations for all the great activities and events we were able to do in 2020 despite COVID-19. While not the year we planned, we are still grateful for those who made a positive difference in our lives. We also enjoy reliving the year by reviewing our 29 blog posts from 2020.

We are excited to start another year! All the best to everyone in 2021!

2020 has been different, with many of the venues we would normally visit closed due to the coronavirus crisis.

We were very pleased when the Cleveland Metroparks announced in May 2020 that they would be offering their fourth annual Trail Challenge, which included 25 trails. In August 2020, we learned that the park updated the list to include 35 trails!

The increase in the number of trails did not change the requirements for receiving the 2020 Challenge prizes . . .

• Complete 10 trails to  earn a 2020 Trail Challenge sticker

• Complete 20 trails to earn a 2020 Trail Challenge mug

. . . but we enjoy a challenge (and enjoy hiking/biking trails), and decided to do more than the minimum. This blog post shares our journey on all but one of the remaining land-based trails. See Stuart's 2020 Trail Challenge tracker sheet with notes on the 33 trails.

My plan was to slowly complete, by hiking and biking, all the sections of the Buckeye Trail "Little Loop" over several years. With the onset of the March 2020 COVID-19 crisis, my plans radically changed, and I decided to complete the "Little Loop" this year. Below is the blog post about the Burton Section, which is the fifth of five Buckeye Trail "Little Loop" blog posts.

This blog post covers my experiences on the Buckeye Trail Burton Section from Friday, August 21, 2020,  through finishing the "Little Loop" on Thursday, November 10, 2020.

I completed the Buckeye Trail "Little Loop" -- approximately 254.3 Miles -- at its Northern Terminus!!

My plan was to slowly complete, by hiking and biking, all the sections of the Buckeye Trail "Little Loop" over several years. With the onset of the March 2020 COVID-19 crisis, my plans radically changed, and I decided to complete the "Little Loop" this year. Below is the blog post about the northern part of Massillon Section and the Mogadore Section, which is the fourth of five Buckeye Trail "Little Loop" blog posts.

This blog post covers my experiences on the northern part of the Buckeye Trail Massillon Section and the Buckeye Trail Mogadore Section from Friday, June 26 2020, through Friday, August 21, 2020.

My plan was to slowly complete, by hiking and biking, all the sections of the Buckeye Trail "Little Loop" over several years. With the onset of the March 2020 COVID-19 crisis, my plans radically changed, and I decided to complete the "Little Loop" this year. Below is the blog post about the Akron Section, which is the third of five Buckeye Trail "Little Loop" blog posts.

This blog post covers my experiences on the Buckeye Trail Akron Section from Thursday, May 7, 2020, through Friday, June 26, 2020.

My plan was to slowly complete, by hiking and biking, all the sections of the Buckeye Trail "Little Loop" over several years. With the onset of the March 2020 COVID-19 crisis, my plans radically changed, and I decided to complete the "Little Loop" this year. Below is the blog post about the Bedford Section, which is the second of five Buckeye Trail "Little Loop" blog posts.

This blog post covers my experiences on the Buckeye Trail Bedford Section from Sunday, November 4, 2018, through Tuesday, April 21, 2020.

The Buckeye Trail "Little Loop" is the over-250-mile part of the Buckeye Trail in Northeast Ohio that goes through the following counties: Lake, Cuyahoga, Summit, Stark, Portage, and Geauga. On Tuesday, November 10, 2020, at the northern terminus of the Buckeye Trail at Headlands Dunes State Nature Preserve, I completed the loop which I had begun on Sunday, November 4, 2018.

I want to start this blog post by thanking the Buckeye Trail Association, and in particular, the volunteers of their Crooked River Chapter, for making the "Little Loop" section of the trail a reality for me to enjoy!

This Buckeye Trail "Little Loop" blog post actually consists of five separate blog posts. First, this post includes information and resources about the Buckeye Trail that were shared at events I attended about the trail.

The other four posts are about each of the four sections of the "Little Loop." Here are links to the blog posts, along with a list of the counties and some of the parks that are part of each section.

When we wrote about completing the first level of the Cleveland Metroparks 2020 Trail Challenge presented by Cigna to earn our 2020 Trail Challenge stickers, we were already working on the next ten trails for the final challenge. We are creating our Trail Challenge blog posts for these three reasons:

• To capture our memories for us to re-read in the future.

• To encourage others to take the Trail Challenge this year and in future years.

• And as we wrote in our last trail challenge blog post:

  We want to thank the Cleveland Metroparks for planning this annual Trail Challenge, and Cigna for sponsoring it again this year! Particularly this year, with everyone in the world facing the health crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, it has been important for both physical and mental health to have our local parks to visit.

With COVID-19 closing venues we normally frequent, and having to cancel the backpacking trips that Stuart had planned on the Continental Divide Trail and Appalachian Trail, we have been exploring many parks in Northeast Ohio and along the route of the Buckeye Trail. We are happy to share with you our experiences on the second level of the trail challenge to earn our 2020 Trail Challenge mug.

The year is 2020. All my normal activities in Cleveland and my backpacking adventures on the Continental Divide Trail and Appalachian Trail have been canceled due to the coronavirus crisis. My wife and co-blogger, Julie, and I have been writing a series of 2020 Social Distancing Blog Posts about the COVID-19-safe activities in which we are able to partake. These blog posts were added to our sosAssociates.com website, which I built on the Drupal 7 content management system over eight years ago:

At the same time we have been writing blog posts this summer, I have been working behind the scenes on a new sosAssociates.com website. The new website is built on the new Drupal 9, which launched on June 3, 2020.

My goal was to create the new website with the new Drupal 9 version of the content management system, but with basically the same theme and content I had on my current Drupal 7 website.

I am launching my new Drupal 9 website on October 1, 2020, since this is a special date: my eleventh Twitter anniversary.

We had been seeing tweets by @LakeMetroparks mentioning how they had made a special corn maze for 2020. "Double-wide paths" for their "three-acre corn maze at Lake Metroparks Farmpark" would allow for social distancing while in the maze. In 2020, we have limited the events we have been attending due to the coronavirus crisis. With the Lake Metroparks Farmpark making physical safety adjustments for COVID-19, requiring masks when indoors, and moving all activities outdoors, we decided to visit on Sunday, September 20, 2020, with our son, Mike.

In 2019, I wrote that it was a special year, since it was the 30th year of the Cleveland Museum of Art's Chalk Festival. As the coronavirus crisis raged on over the summer of 2020, I wondered if the 31st anniversary of this wonderful event would need to be canceled as we entered September.

On September 1, 2020, I saw the Twitter announcement "Cleveland Museum of Art’s Chalk Festival goes virtual," stating that the event would take place with people sharing their art only on social media on Saturday, September 12, 2020, and Sunday, September 13, 2020.

It is now with mixed feelings that I gather the #CMAChalkFestival drawings for this blog post about the Cleveland Museum of Art's 2020 Virtual Chalk Festival: Love Your Community with All Your Art. While it is very sad that everyone could not get together this year, I am very pleased that the museum encouraged people to share their chalk drawings on social media.

I am glad to continue my annual tradition of creating a blog post with photos from the Cleveland Museum of Art's Chalk Festival.

Take the challenge!

In 2017, we wrote our blog post: Cleveland Metroparks Inaugural Trail Challenge!

. . . so when we saw the Cleveland Metroparks tweet to "Take the challenge!" in 2020, with 25 trails to choose from, we decided to accept.

With COVID-19 closing venues we normally frequent, and having to cancel the backpacking trips that Stuart had planned on the Continental Divide Trail and Appalachian Trail, we have been exploring many parks in Northeast Ohio and along the route of the Buckeye Trail. We have written about many of our park visits in the Social Distancing Blog Posts that we have been writing during the pandemic.

There were originally 25 trails to choose from for the challenge. During the time we were writing this blog post, we learned that the park updated the list to now include 35 trails!

What follows is information about the first ten challenge trails we have completed.

On Saturday, July 18, 2020, I rode my bike on 6.1 miles of Ohio's Buckeye Trail in Lake County, which is part of Buckeye Trail's "Little Loop." The "Little Loop" is the over-250-mile part of the Buckeye Trail in Northeast Ohio that goes through the following counties: Lake, Cuyahoga, Summit, Stark, Portage, and Geauga.

Normally, I would not write a full blog post on one bike ride, but this ride was noteworthy for the following two reasons:

• First, the Penitentiary Glen Reservation has some very unique resources that I want to share.

• Most importantly, July 18th was a special day, and my 6.1-mile piece of the Buckeye Trail was part of a larger effort: The 4th Annual Little Loop Challenge!

A BIG thank-you and congratulations to Buckeye Trail Board Member Randall Roberts for successfully organizing over 50 hikers and bikers in collectively completing the "Little Loop" section of the Buckeye Trail in one day! I really like the event's tagline -- "Together We Hiked It All" --  since it conveys how people come together to reach a larger goal.

Ending my bike ride at Penitentiary Glen Reservation was an excellent decision!

We were pleased when Fox 8 News Producer Rachel Inch approached us to use some of our Facebook photos for their 6:00 pm news story on #Masks4Community on Wednesday, July 8, 2020. Her request made us think about sharing the story of the great work done by the #Masks4Community leaders, partners, donors, and volunteers in one of our "Social Distancing Series" blog posts.

We first learned about #Masks4Community's good work because our @sos_jr twitter account follows (and retweets) @ShanelleLSmith. In addition to #Masks4Community's website -- Masks4Community.com, we also learned more about the program from Steven Litt's article.

In addition to giving out FREE masks, #Masks4Community distributes information about voting and the census in the kits. We are BIG believers in the importance of voting, and know how the census directly impacts the way services are provided in our community. Therefore, we were excited to learn that the #Masks4Community program also supports our belief in the importance of people fulfilling their civic duty!

We signed up to volunteer once a week, starting with the morning shift on Saturday, June 27th. We were not only impressed by the mission of the organization, but also how clearly they spelled out that they followed safety measures for those volunteering (everyone wears masks, washes hands, practices social distancing, and the number of volunteers is limited). We only volunteered because these safety measures are in place.

This morning, Sunday, July 19, 2020, for some reason I woke at 5:00 am -- I now assume that it is because my body is trained to wake up early on the third weekend of July. This is because, for the last ten years, the third weekend of July has been Cleveland GiveCamp Weekend. Little sleep and a lot of work on behalf of local nonprofits is the norm for the over 200 volunteers that provide FREE tech solutions annually at Cleveland GiveCamp.

Since I was awake, I decided to put together this blog post to honor those that give their talent every year, and to acknowledge and mourn the loss of normality in 2020 during this coronavirus crisis. I thank many people in this blog post, but please remember that they represent a much larger number of people who work on behalf of Cleveland GiveCamp to make it possible to serve our community's nonprofits with FREE tech! I created the video at the top of this blog post on Saturday, July 18th, to share on social media -- it helped me remember ten years of success at: "Cleveland GiveCamp – geeks in the home of rock and roll coding for charity."

O - p - e - n - i - n - g - !

Yes, Ohio is slowly opening in the year of the coronavirus crisis, but can only do so with social distancing and other safety measures. As we approached the end of June, we heard that the Cleveland Museum of Art was reopening following "rigorous safety procedures that adhere to the guidance set forth by state and local officials, as well as the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)."

We decided to make this our first adventure out to a public space by getting tickets, but the day before we were going to order our online tickets, we received an invitation from Communications and Media Relations Manager Kelley Notaro Schreiber to the Cleveland Museum of Art's Reopening Media and Influencer Welcome Back! We accepted her invitation and decided to be one of the first to go to the public reopening of the Cleveland Museum of Art on Tuesday, June 30, 2020.

There is much happening both onsite in the museum galleries and online at the Cleveland Museum of Art. While the online resources are extensive, we do have to say that the absolute best way to truly enjoy the museum's art is in person, visiting its galleries! Thus, we were very excited to attend the Cleveland Museum of Art's #WelcomeBackCMA reopening!

After writing three social distancing blog posts about visiting our local parks during the coronavirus crisis, we really did not plan to write anymore blog posts on this subject. However, we have been having such a great time exploring parks that we had not visited before, and revisiting old favorites, that we decided to gather tweets from park visits in June 2020, to create this blog post.

This blog post accomplishes two things that are important to us.

• First, writing this post is our way to refresh our memory of the time we spent together. Time together in the peaceful environment of a park is a healthy way to be grounded, both as a couple and for each of us individually, during these stressful times in our country.

• Secondly, it is our way to thank the park systems for their service to our Northeast Ohio community. Visiting parks (if you also practice social distancing and sanitizing your hands) is one of the very few safe activities you can do during this COVID-19 pandemic.

Please note that we have attended many more parks in June 2020 than those included in this blog post. Beyond what we include here, Stuart has been doing section hikes on the Buckeye Trail "Little Loop" (the Buckeye Trail Little Loop is over 250 miles long in Northeast Ohio), and we have done eleven additional hikes as part of the Cleveland Metroparks Trail Challenge 2020. We plan to write blog posts about these trail activities when we complete them.

WordCamp Kent -- One of the Great NEO Tech Education Opportunities!

Over the years, I had heard great things about Kent.WordCamp.org, but I have never attended their weekend of WordPress training. This year, I was scheduled for a multi-month backpacking trip on the Continental Divide Trail, but due to the coronavirus crisis, I had to cancel my trip to New Mexico. Instead, I have been exploring local parks and attending online activities -- learn more by reading my sosAssociates.com Social Distancing blog posts.

When I learned on Twitter from @WordCampKent that this year their WordCamp was not canceled and would be online, I was excited to attend. I am so glad I registered for it. It was great! Not only did it provide great resources for WordPress development, but it also included some really excellent management workshops.

As we wrote in our other Social Distancing blog posts about exploring our local parks, we continue to be fortunate to have had no illness or death in our family.

We are writing this blog post to:

• First, encourage ourselves to learn about and explore parks that we have not visited before, or further explore past favorites.

• Secondly, capture some of what we learn to share with others now, and to use in future years to remind us of how fortunate we are to have so many great park systems in our area.

We are both sad about activities we love being canceled for 2020, but we want to acknowledge all that we have gained in terms of time together learning about local parks and about each other.

We start this blog post with information about how to be safe in the parks during this coronavirus crisis. We also want to note that we added at the end of the blog post information about camping opportunities in our local park systems.

I have now written several social distancing blog posts during this time of the coronavirus crisis, about how I spend my time -- with park walks and online activities. I have also been attending some Facebook Live events about hiking trails, which I am featuring in this blog post.

During these sad times, I want to first acknowledge how fortunate I am that everyone in my family is healthy, and that I have the luxury of being able to participate in, and write about, interesting social distancing activities.

Secondly, I want to thank the organizations that are investing their time and resources to create these live video events featuring hiking trails. It is helping take the sting out of the fact that I was scheduled to be on a long-distance backpacking adventure at this time. I appreciate being able to join others online to celebrate trail life. Thank you!

The sections of this blog consist of:

• Two #CelebrateTrails events on April 18, 2020, with the Cleveland Metroparks and the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy

• Several Continental Divide Trail #VirtualTrailDays events that occurred throughout the month of April and early May

Looking for humor and creativity on the Twitterverse, and visiting parks while social distancing is what my life mainly consists of currently. There is also a lot of sadness about plans being canceled, but my family has been fortunate to have had no illness or death. I try to support those that I see online that are making a difference in our community.

While no day of COVID-19 social distancing is the same, the typical day often contains the following elements: 

• Absolutely no consistency in mornings

• Forenoon - Twitter online distractions

• 2:00 pm coronavirus #InThisTogetherOhio updates from Ohio Governor Mike DeWine

• Afternoon walk in local parks to help deal with coronavirus-related stress

• Evenings are spent watching online movies

In this blog post, I share my experience visiting local parks, and my online life during these coronavirus crisis times.

On Monday, March 30, 2020, while Julie and I were finishing our blog post, Peaceful Parks While Social Distancing, we got to talking about how we appreciated all the humor and creativity we were seeing on social media while everyone was social distancing. We were impressed by some of the very gifted people sharing their talents, and we liked how some people were using humor to cope with the stress of the current coronavirus crisis.

I decided to grab my @sos_jr tweets and retweets from this stressful time period that I thought demonstrated positive humor or creativity on the Twitterverse, and some tweets that had some personal significance. Please share those that you enjoy by retweeting them, so that your Twitter followers can share in a laugh, or appreciate the talent.

This blog post will share how we used our fantastic, local parks to deal with coronavirus-related stress starting, on Monday, March 16, 2020. An important part of health is mental health -- go for a walk for both physical and mental health!

We include information in this blog post about using the parks safely during this crisis, and resources to learn more about local parks. We have also included tweets about local restaurants from which we got food "to-go," on our way to or from the parks. It is important to support local business where possible at this time.

We want to thank our local park systems for their work to provide a safe place to explore.

 2012 to 2020!!! My Eighth Blogiversary of celebrating the fun of exploring our community!

Julie and I are looking forward to sharing our adventures with you through new blog posts in the year ahead. Each month in this coming year brings new possibilities!

Winter in Cleveland -- a great time for an outdoor party in The Flats!

For the eleventh consecutive year, thanks to the Brite Winter Leadership Team and Sponsors, on Saturday, February 22, 2020, we joined tens of thousands of people laughing at the Cleveland cold by attending this annual outdoor celebration!

Here are our @sos_jr tweets and retweets with photos/videos from Brite Winter, along with videos we found on YouTube. We share this to encourage you to attend future Brite Winter events, and to thank the people that make it possible. We are very lucky in Cleveland to have Brite Winter!

February 20th, 2020, marked PechaKucha 20x20's first annual International PechaKucha Day. I was VERY fortunate to celebrate by attending Cleveland's own PechaKucha Night Cleveland at the Music Box Supper Club!!

I always enjoy attending PechaKucha Night Cleveland and PechaKucha Night Akron events, but this night ended up being special. I arrived at Music Box Supper Club after a very busy afternoon that left my energy low on this Thursday night. I ended up leaving PechaKucha Night Cleveland with a natural high. The creativity of the presenters energized me and made my week!

You should plan on attending future events with friends with whom you want to share the experience that is PechaKucha Night Cleveland!

On February 7, 2020, we attended the PROOF: Photography in the Era of the Contact Sheet opening at the Cleveland Museum of Art. This opening coincided with the #MIXatCMA party that we enjoy attending the first Friday of most months. There was so much to see at the exhibition that we returned to see more the following weekend (Sunday, February 16, 2020).

We enjoyed the PROOF opening so much that we wanted to share it with our son, Michael Smith, on our return visit. We wanted to show him the items we enjoyed on our first visit, and to see the photographs that we did not have time to see. PROOF: Photography in the Era of the Contact Sheet is the type of exhibition that warrants more than one visit.

Stuart had attended the Open World: Video Games & Contemporary Art exhibition with our son, Mike, on October 26, 2019. What made their visit to the exhibition extra special was was learning special insights about the artwork from Curator of Exhibitions Theresa Bembnister.

After the October 2019 tour, Stuart knew he needed to return to the Akron Art Museum to share his experience with his wife and co-blogger, Julie. As we entered 2020, we made plans to go in late January.

We were excited to learn via a Twitter direct message from @AkronArtMuseum that now not only would we be able to see the exhibition together, but we would also be able to go on a "final tour" with Theresa Bembnister, on Tuesday, January 28, 2020. The exhibition is great, but seeing it with the curator who developed the show is extra special.

We had a great day at the Akron Art Museum, and want to again thank Theresa Bembnister for the tour, and Jeneé Garlando for taking time to tell us more about the museum. We look forward to attending future exhibitions at the museum.

We started 2020 by celebrating winter in Northeast Ohio by attending two ice festivals in January:

• On Monday, January 20, 2020, we attended the North Coast Harbor Ice Fest (#IceFestCLE 2020), which included FREE admission to Great Lakes Science Center and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame & Museum for Martin Luther King, Jr., Day.

• On Sunday, January 26, 2020, we attended the Lake Metroparks Farmpark Ice Festival.

The following are our tweets from these fun events, which include our videos and photos. We share them here to say how we appreciate being able to attend these annual ice festivals.