Summertime is official festival time but events do happen all year. Here are our staff's picks for annual festivals and events that are so unique that every newcomer should experience them in their first few years in town. Most of them have no admission charge, are family friendly and a great way to explore your new hometown.
Spring
Buzzard's Return to Hinckley - On the Sunday after March 15th the buzzards (aka turkey vultures) return to roost for the summer. The Metroparks celebrate this first sign of spring with a buzzard sighting festival and pancake breakfast which encourages everyone to shake off their winter hibernation and return to the parks for a hike.
Dyngus Day - The Monday after Easter this Polish festival celebrates the end of the observance of Lent and the Easter holiday by extending the weekend one more day with live polka bands and a pierogi eating contest. It's a testament to the fact that Cleveland has many descendants of Eastern European roots. Held in the Gordon Square Arts District.
Cleveland Asian Festival - Held in Asia Town the weekend before Memorial Day. This outdoor festival features food, music and art of a dozen different immigrant groups, attracting close to 50,000 visitors for the festivities.
Cleveland International Film Festival - The largest film festival in Ohio, this ten day movie-goers paradise runs in late March and early April featuring 200 independent films and attracting 100,000 visitors. It's home is Playhouse Square with the addition of movies and events happening in neighborhoods all over the region in conjunction with the festival.
Summer
Blossom Time Festival - Features a hot air balloon glow, a parade, live bands, a pie-eating contest and carnival rides. This festival is a kick-off event for the summer. Held Memorial Day weekend along the banks of the Chagrin River.
Burning River Fest - Created by the founders of Great Lakes Brewing Company, the name of this festival plays on Ohio's major impact on the environment. After the river burned we helped create the 1972 Clean Water Act. It's held along the Cuyahoga River at Wendy Park featuring live music, food and, of course, Great Lakes Brewing Company beer!
Cleveland Airshow - On Labor Day weekend at Burke Lakefront Airport in downtown Clevelanders flock to one of the nation's oldest airshows. It features the Navy Blue Angels or Air Force Thunderbirds as the headliners. Thousands of boaters head out on Lake Erie and enjoy close-up, free viewing of the air show.
Duck Tape Festival - Held in Avon, the home of ShurTech, the maker of Duck brand duct tape, every June. This three-day festival features a duct tape fashion show and celebrates all things sticky. We all joke that duct tape is the go-to fixer upper item in a toolbox, but it can also be used to create a prom dress, make a Halloween costume or become costume jewelry and this festival shows you how!
Father's Day Antique Car Show - One of the oldest car shows in America is held at Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens in Akron. This home was built for the founder of Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company. It's a magnificent setting for more than 300 classic, antique and collector cars on display, all manufactured between 1896 and 1978. It's a perfect way to spend a Sunday with car-lovers.
Greek Festival - On Memorial Day weekend, Annunciation Church, the mother church in Cleveland for the Greek Orthodox community, celebrates the food, music and dance of Greece with a four-day festival on the church grounds in Tremont. All the food is hand made by the parishioners.
Lakewood Arts Festival - Local artists, musicians, community groups and vendors have lined Detroit Road for this popular event for 43 years.
Feast of the Assumption - Locals call it "The Feast" where the aroma of garlic, Chianti, pasta and pastries turn Little Italy into a pedestrian-only food festival in early August. It includes carnival rides, live music and all things Italian!
Larchmere PorchFest - Located in the Larchmere neighborhood for over 12 years, live music of all genres comes to dozens of porches in this eclectic neighborhood close to Shaker Square in Shaker Heights.
Star Spangled Spectacular - A few days prior to the Fourth of July, the Cleveland Orchestra provides a free concert on Public Square in downtown Cleveland followed by spectacular fireworks and a lights and laser show upon the Terminal Tower. People begin arriving at 5 pm to set up lawn chairs and blankets. The restaurants and bars have their sidewalk patios in full swing and every patriotic song you can think of is played in beautiful style by one of the best symphonies in the world. It's a magical night.
Sunflower Wine Festival -Rocky River, the festival sponsored by Prayers For Maria, takes over Rocky River's Old River Road shopping district with wine tasting, beer garden, and live music. The proceeds go towards research, treatment and prevention of childhood brain cancer.
Parade the Circle - Held in June in University Circle this festival brings together local and national artists, school groups, families and community groups to create the most unique parade in the country. It features a spectacular display of bright costumes, giant puppets, stilt-dancers, masks and colorful floats without the use of power. Those in the parade work on their projects in secret for months prior to the unveiling them at the parade, often causing gasps wonder from the spectators.
Pro Football Hall of Fame Festival - In August the NFL celebrates inductees into the Football Hall of Fame. It's a football fan's fantasy weekend, offering chances to rub shoulders with current and former stars, a giant tailgate party and a rib cook-off.
Rubber City Jazz & Blues Festival - Held in August this music festival is the efforts of Open Tone Music, an Akron based non-profit dedicated to bringing jazz and blues to underserved children and adults.
Summer Solstice - Held every other year on the Saturday closest to the summer solstice (mid-June), this over-the-top event at the Cleveland Museum of Art attracts several thousand to an all-night party that spills into every conceivable space at the museum, both in the galleries and outside in the gardens. Food, drink, art, light shows, live performances and bands represent genres of music from all over the world and make this part dance party, part see and be seen event and attracts attendees ages 21+.
TwinsFest - The largest gathering of twins in the world (triplets welcome too!) is held in August in Twinsburg, named for twin brothers Moses and Aaron Wilcox. The highlight is the Twinsday Parade on the Sunday of the festival where 2,500+ sets of twins march down the street in matching outfits. It's definitely a bucket list item!
Wade Oval Wednesdays - The green space in University Circle is known as Wade Oval. Every Wednesday evening in the summer it turns into a giant picnic party for all ages with live bands, outdoor movies, people watching, art activities and food trucks if you don't pack your own food.
WonderStruck - Formerly known as LaureLive this music festival is our awesome version (but way smaller, easier to get to and family friendly) of Lollapoolza. Headliners are as big as Cheryl Crow and multiple stages with up and coming bands mean there are many concerts going on at once. You can sit down on the lawn and enjoy one or roam and get a taste of every genre of music while enjoying great food and beverage trucks and art stands all around.
National Hamburger Festival - As the story goes, the Menches brothers, from Akron, ran out of sausage at an outdoor fair in Buffalo, NY in 1885 and quickly substituted beef. The crowd loved it so much they opened up Menches Brothers Original Hamburgers in Akron. Now, every August the city pays homage to the "inventors of the hamburger" with a festival at Lock 3 Park where restaurateurs fight for the title of America's best hamburger. The burgers range from deep fried to covered in crazy toppings to vegetarian options. It's worth it to bring at least four people so you can all have just a bite of each burger and judge for yourself!
Fall
Chalk Festival - Held in September on the sidewalks around the Cleveland Museum of Art, participants buy a sidewalk square and a box of chalk with eight colors and begin drawing for fun or to compete in various categories. Enjoyed by toddlers barely old enough to hold chalk all the way to professional artists sharing their love of art.
Crocker Park Wine Festival - A weekend long festival featuring wine, beer, local food and music that benefits University Hospitals Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospitals.
IngenuityFest - A festival of art and technology held in a unique, super-cool, hidden venue every year, Ingenuity celebrates passionate and engaged people and whatever they are interested in presenting. More than 40,000 visitors make this an annual pilgrimage to experience edgy and interesting performances, demonstrations and installations while enjoying live music and festival food.
Designer Dress Days - A shopping extravaganza organized by the National Council of Jewish Women and held every October. Donated new and gently used designer clothing, outerwear, purses, jewelry, etc. is collected all year and then a mini department store is set up at The Mandel JCC in Beachwood. The Friday Preview Day is put on the calendars of hundreds of people as soon as it is announced to try to get first dibs on a Louis Vuitton purse or a Chanel jacket at a fraction of the original price.
Wooley Bear Festival - Legend has it that the thickness of the Wooley Bear caterpillar's coat can predict the severity of the upcoming winter (probably just as accurate at Punxsutawney Phil predicting the arrival of spring). Legendary Cleveland weatherman, Dick Goddard, created the family friendly festival held every fall in the lakefront community of Vermilion.
Winter
Brite Winter Festival - Held in Ohio City in the middle of winter, this music festival features cool acts you wouldn't have ever known unless you attended this festival. It attracts 20,000 visitors to four outdoor and six indoor stages as Clevelanders fight off cabin fever in February.
WinterFest - On Saturday after Thanksgiving at Public Square, this festival kicks off the holidays for all ages with live music, a parade of carriages with lanterns, food vendors, spectacular fireworks and the official "flip the switch" moment to light up the city with Christmas lights.
Holiday CircleFest - Experience all of the cultural treasures in University Circle in one afternoon for free. It takes place on a Sunday in early December. More than a dozen institutions are open for a family festival including the Botanical Gardens, Natural History Museum, Art Museum, Western Reserve History Center and the Children's Museum. Activities including crafts for kids, live animals, a gingerbread house competition, ice skating on Wade Oval and a winter lantern parade with horses and carriages offer a wonderful way to get into the holiday spirit!
Photo Credits
All courtesy of Margy Judd and friends
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