The Cleveland Metroparks introduced their new Trail Challenge on National Trails Day, June 3, 2017!! It was very appropriate, since the Trail Challenge reflects the spirit of National Trails Day by encouraging people to enjoy the great outdoors and to explore trails in the Cleveland Metroparks.
In this blog post, I will share information about my journey on the 10 required trails (and beyond!!), for the 2017 Trail Challenge through:
We decided to kick off this December weekend with Mix: Illuminate.
We enjoyed Cleveland's University Circle Holiday CircleFest, which was expanded into a two-day event.
We saw Wicked at PlayhouseSquare a few years ago, and were excited to enter the ticket lottery this year.
On Saturday, November 11, 2017, the Main Library of the Akron-Summit County Public Library held the fifth annual Akron Mini Maker Faire. I have attended all five of these events showcasing creativity! Every year, I learn about maker groups and their very ingenious activities -- it is a true joy to explore!
On Saturday, November 4, 2017, the Cleveland Public Library celebrated its fifth Cleveland Mini Maker Faire by bringing together area makers and creatives to share their knowledge and encourage others to join them.
This was the fourth Cleveland Mini Maker Faire that we have attended. Every year, we have a great time talking to people about their creations. We love learning about what is happening in Cleveland's creative community.
On September 27, 2017, we traveled back in time almost 100 years via the Cleveland Museum of Art's dazzling The Jazz Age: American Style in the 1920s exhibition. We were thrilled to attend the Media & Influencers Preview for this spectacular show.
When you go to this exhibition, please be sure to allow yourself plenty of time to fully explore it. The Jazz Age includes such an incredible variety of art and artifacts, that even after our two-hour visit, we plan to come back to see more. Ironwork, jewelry, clothing, accessories, paintings, furniture, cars, a chandelier, and other surprises -- all with an artist's flair! This exhibit is rich with the elegance of the era!
In 2016, the theme for IngenuityFest weekend was "Awakening," since it was held for the first time at their new, permanent location: The Hamilton Collaborative, 5401 Hamilton Avenue, Cleveland. I found it interesting that Ingenuity Cleveland chose the theme “Metamorphosis” for IngenuityFest 2017 to reflect how they have evolved into a year-round community hub.
Included in this blog post are my photos and @sos_jr tweets and retweets from IngenuityFest 2017 weekend. I met a lot of interesting people, and enjoyed a lot of great entertainment. I encourage you to learn more about the creative people involved -- it would be worth your effort.
Every year, we visit and write a blog post about the Cleveland Museum of Art's Chalk Festival. It is one of our favorite community events. This blog post includes our photos from the two-day event, and our @sos_jr tweets/retweets with more photos and information about this year's Chalk Festival.
Most years, we attend only on Sunday. Stuart normally does a chalk drawing, and we take photos of all the finished works late on Sunday. This year, Stuart had two events scheduled for Sunday, so we spent a relaxing day on Saturday, September 16, 2017, on the Cleveland Museum of Art's south lawn overlooking Wade Lagoon.
Stuart did his annual chalk drawing, while Julie took in the ambiance of this peaceful setting. The Fine Arts Garden, with its Chester Beach’s Fountain of the Waters, combined with live music, and people from all over Cleveland creating their art, made for a perfect day.
The Print Club of Cleveland's 33rd annual Fine Print Fair took place on September 15-17, 2017, at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Before the weekend opening of the Fine Print Fair to the public, there was an opening night benefit preview, "A Prints of a Party," on Thursday, September 14.
While, as members of the Cleveland Museum of Art, Julie and I attend many events at the museum, we were not aware of the Fine Print Fair. Therefore, I was very pleased when Sarah Palagyi invited us to the "A Prints of a Party" preview by contacting me via the Column & Stripe Twitter account. Unfortunately, Julie had another commitment that night and was unable to join me.
On September 8-10, 2017, the largest annual cycling festival in the United States, NEOCycle, was held in Cleveland at the Cleveland Metroparks Edgewater Park, through the support of the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission! This was my third year attending what has become a great Cleveland tradition!
The 2017 One World Day took place at the Cleveland Cultural Gardens on August 27, 2017. Over 25,000 people attended!
My goal for this blog post is to share my 80 @sos_jr tweets and retweets, which have photos and videos from the event, as my way of thanking the organizers of this great, annual, Cleveland tradition. I also include below some of the articles and videos from the event.
PechaKucha Nights in Cleveland rock, which is why we enjoy both attending them, and writing blog posts about them!! On Friday, August 25, 2017, it was very appropriate that the PechaKucha Night Cleveland Volume 31 rocked out at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame! The presenters reflected the creative spirit for which the Rock Hall is known.
We really appreciate the PechaKucha Night Cleveland leadership team, presenters, and sponsors.
On August 21, 2017, the first total solar eclipse in the continental United States since February 26, 1979, occurred. It was also the first total solar eclipse to cross the entire country (from Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean) since June 8, 1918! We knew this would be a special day!!! Stuart used his last available vacation day to fully experience the phenomenon, and our son Kevin joined us as well.
We always have a good time at PechaKucha Night Akron! We want to congratulate the PechaKucha Night Akron leadership team for their success, and thank the presenters and sponsors who made the night possible.
Here is the information we gathered from the Friday, August 4, 2017, PK Akron Volume VIII at The Well Akron Community Development Corporation.
I first learned about the July 30, 2017, Common Ground event from an announcement by Global Cleveland on Twitter. I immediately knew I needed to attend, and share my thoughts about it in my blog.
I also want to thank Cleveland Foundation Senior Marketing & Communications Officer Jennifer Trivelli, who reached out to me via a Twitter direct message on July 7th to confirm that I knew about #CommonGroundCLE -- Greater Cleveland's largest outdoor community conversation and meal.
I attended the BlueBridge Networks Third Non-Profit IT Innovation Summit on July 27, 2017, at the Cleveland Museum of Art as a guest of Kevin Goodman, managing director and partner at BlueBridge Networks.
This was the second time I have attended this nonprofit IT summit, having attended in the BlueBridge Networks Non-Profit IT Innovation Summit II on November 5, 2014. I want to thank Kevin Goodman for inviting me again, and let the presenters know how much I appreciate them taking time to share their knowledge.
Everyone at camp was told that they had to write a blog post about camp, so I decided to write you this letter.
This was my eighth year at Cleveland GiveCamp, and it started off with a lot of hard work! Kevin and I had to set up enough chairs for the 200 GiveCampers that were coming for the weekend of July 21-23, 2017. The camp was on a boat and in an airport, which was very cool, ...
We had four days of fun and four sunsets on Lake Erie!
Our extended Fourth of July weekend, July 1-4, 2017, was filled with many activities, each day ending with a beautiful Lake Erie sunset!
July 2nd Sunset - Edgewater Park of the Cleveland Metroparks Lakefront Reservation
July 4th Sunset - Sunset and Fireworks at North Coast Harbor after Neighborhood Parade
Thank you to all the great organizations that made these four days of fun possible. We look forward to visiting many more Northeast Ohio venues to enjoy Lake Erie sunsets.
Back in 2012, we wrote about attending a Crash Party, which introduced the ArtLens App and related gallery. Through this event, we became fascinated with the ways that the Cleveland Museum of Art uses technology to engage their visitors. Since 2012, we have visited the gallery and used the app many times and have written several ArtLens-related blog posts. We have watched both the ArtLens App and related gallery gradually evolve to expand their functionality and ease of use.
When we were invited by Cleveland Museum of Art Chief Information Officer Jane Alexander to attend the 2017 ArtLens Crash Party on June 21st, we knew that major changes were coming -- changes that were not just evolutionary, but revolutionary!
Ever have a day when you have a few things planned, but as the day proceeds, opportunities for more fun activities arise? That was my day on Saturday, May 6, 2017, when a couple of fun things evolved into a full day and evening of activities.
Late Morning: Cleveland Flats - Drink Local. Drink Tap. Inc.'s "4 Miles 4 Water"
Evening: Cleveland's University Circle - Cleveland Museum of Art's MIX: Model
Thanks to all the organizations that hosted these events -- from the flats to Uptown and beyond!
We were fortunate to receive an invitation to attend the April 26, 2017, Cleveland Museum of Art's "Alex Katz Media and Influencer Exhibition Preview." The exhibition opened on Sunday, April 30, 2017, and will continue through Sunday, August 6, 2017.
The museum's Director of Communications, Caroline Guscott, and Communications Associate, Kelley Notaro, greeted us as we arrived to start the evening. They introduced us to Curator of American Painting and Sculpture Mark Cole. It was great to have Mark Cole at the preview, so that we could ask questions about the paintings and learn some art history of the time period represented by this exhibition of Alex Katz's work.
We also met Diana K. Tuite, the Katz Curator from the Colby College Museum of Art.
To celebrate Earth Day, most years, we attend the Earth Day Coalition's EarthFest, and have written blog posts about our experiences at the event the past two years.
Earth Day 2017 was different -- out of some very negative things happening in our country, a very positive movement to take action grew! We mean, of course, the national March for Science in Washington D.C.!
The same day that it was announced that the national March for Science would be held on Earth Day, April 22, 2017, we learned to our delight that there would also be a March for Science in Cleveland!
The good people of Northeast Ohio came out in force! Congratulations to the March for Science Cleveland for this grand success!
Thank you to my great co-writer and wife, Julie Smith! I always enjoy sharing the journey with her.
Since my first Hello, World! My First Blog Post! on March 8, 2012, I have expanded what I have written about as Julie and I are in our fifth year of blogging. Please take a moment and scroll through and view the topics of the 36 blog posts from 2016, and the seven posted so far in 2017, that you will see at the bottom of this post! As I wrote last year: "It brings me joy to look at the blog posts we did this past year -- great memories of fun times, plus the anticipation of a new year full of possibilities!"
This was the third year that we were invited to attend the PlayhouseSquare Launch Party for the KeyBank Broadway Series. Thank you, Digital Marketing Coordinator Alyssa Brown for inviting us to attend this great PlayhouseSquare event on Tuesday, February 28, 2017!
It was an evening of fun and anticipation as each show of the new season was announced. For the past two years, the Launch Party announcements took place at the 2,800-seat Connor Palace Theatre, but this year, the event sold out the 3200-seat State Theatre!
In 2015, we learned that Cleveland draws the largest audiences in the country for these touring Broadway productions. This year, the Launch Party audience was the biggest ever for the event, so it will be exciting to find out if this will lead to the largest attendance in the history of PlayhouseSquare's KeyBank Broadway Series.
Record high temperatures at Brite Winter 2017!
On Saturday, February 18, 2017, Mother Nature did not deliver the normal sub-freezing temperatures that we have come to expect at Brite Winter. This year, we had record high temperatures across the area.
Unfortunately, Julie was not able to attend this year, so I went just for some of the evening activities this year with my son. Congratulations to the Brite Winter leadership on their eighth successful year!
Another full house for PechaKucha Akron!
On February 3, 2017, PechaKucha Akron had another huge and very successful event, this time taking place at the Akron Urban League facility. When we arrived, we were surprised by the large size of the venue, but not surprised when 415 attendees arrived. We knew that PechaKucha Akron is a must-attend event in Akron, and we knew to come early to get good seats.
This blog post contains the official PechaKucha Akron descriptions of the talks, and videos from the event, as well as tweets in which attendees shared information and photos.
January 18, 2017 - Biomimicry!
This is the third blog post we have written about a Cleveland Museum of Natural History Think & Drink with the Extinct event. Each event has been a unique experience.
We did not know that the very first Think & Drink with the Extinct that we would attend, with our brand-new membership, on January 18, 2017, would feature the University of Akron Biomimicry Fellowship Ph.D. candidates we had already written about in our blog twice! We were excited to learn of their new product based on biomimicry principles, and meeting some of the other students. It is great that the museum gives the opportunity for many people to learn about the unique ideas being developed at Akron University's Biomimicry Fellowships!
We have really enjoyed attending the North Coast Harbor Ice Fest in the past, but normally only came to the event in the evening to see the final ice sculptures. If you have never seen the beautiful carved ice lit up at night, you really should.
This year, the Ice Fest took place on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Monday, January 16, 2017. It was combined with the annual free admission to two great Cleveland institutions for the MLK holiday -- Great Lakes Science Center and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum -- that are located on North Coast Harbor.
We were really excited when we saw the Cleveland Foundation Center's tweet announcing that the Cleveland Public Library and NASA Glenn Research Center would be sponsoring the program NASA From Hidden Figures to Modern Figures on Saturday, January 14, 2017. Having attended and having written previous blog posts about tech events at the Cleveland Public Library and about NASA Glenn Research Center, we knew we needed to clear our calendars to attend this event.
It was a good year for us. We have many people to thank for all the activities and events that we attended in 2016. This blog post includes our year-end thank-you tweets, and the list of all our 2016 blog posts.
As we have done for the past two years, we have created this blog post to remind us of the fun we had this year, and to show our appreciation. There are many people/organizations that we did not have a chance to mention -- to you all, we want to also say thank you!