Laurel Larson Brings Midwest Touch and Values to the Fashion Influencer Realm
Cleveland’s waterways have welcomed back river otters
Will Hollingsworth’s Journey From Broke Bartender to Controversial Restaurateur
Find the Right Community for Your Family With Our Guide to 100+ Private Schools
Meet 40+ of the cutest, creepiest, crawliest and most captivating creatures that call Northeast Ohio home.
At our July 30th event, we partnered with Maker’s Mark to have a cocktail competition with over 200 attendees and 17 local restaurant participants. CLEVELAND CHOP’S cocktail won best cocktail of the night voted on by our attendees. Created by Nick Davis and Chloe Bella Caronchi, the cocktail included their house-made honey vanilla simple syrup. Their inspiration started with the local honey used in the syrup to showcase the “hard-working, Mid-west mentality” according to the pair.
FIRST PLACE WINNER CLEVELAND CHOP THE HONEYCOMB
SUMMER COCKTAIL WINNING RECIPE CLEVELAND CHOP THE HONEYCOMB
CREATED BY NICK DAVIS & CHLOË BELLA CARONCHI
FRESH MUDDLED ORANGE
2 OZ MAKER’S MARK 46
1 OZ ST-GERMAIN ELDERFLOWER LIQUEUR .75 OZ HOUSE-MADE
HONEY VANILLA SIMPLE SYRUP SERVED ON THE ROCKS
BEST DECORATED TABLE LAGO
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSOR
SECOND PLACE WINNER METROPOLITAN AT THE 9 STRAWBERRY FIELDS
AND THE FOLLOWING PARTICIPATING RESTAURANTS,
All of these students have something in common:
They are Lawrence School students. All schools educate kids, but it’s the WAY we educate at Lawrence that changes our students’ lives.
For more than 50 years, Lawrence School has delivered academic excellence to Northeast Ohio students with dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, and ADHD.
The list of celebrities, athletes, business titans, well-known scientists, and creative leaders who identify as dyslexic seems to be ever expanding. LinkedIn recently added dyslexic thinking to their lineup of valuable professional skills. The strengths of the dyslexic mind are being discussed everywhere from The New York Times to NPR to TikTok. And right here in Ohio, the Department of Education just published their Dyslexia Guidebook, which lays a foundation for public schools to better support every child’s journey to becoming a reader. For these reasons and many more, the word dyslexia is popping up in conversation quite frequently. But what is dyslexia, really?
Neuro-biological in origin and often hereditary, dyslexia is most simply defined as unexpected struggles with reading and spelling.
Functional MRI technology shows dyslexic individuals process language in a different area of their brain, weakening their ability to connect speech sounds with letters and words.
Schools and private psychologists identify dyslexia, also referred to as a specific learning disability or reading disorder, when a student’s reading skills don’t align with their level of intelligence and they exhibit a pattern of weakness with the phonological component of language.
According to the Yale Center for Dyslexia & Creativity, dyslexia affects 20% of the population, which means every classroom in every school has dyslexic learners sitting at its desks. Yet, many children are still not properly diagnosed and misconceptions persist.
There is no correlation between dyslexia and low intelligence or low motivation. A hard-working student with a high IQ can still face reading struggles. Simply seeing letters and words backward is another popular myth—dyslexia is based in the brain, not the eyes.
While dyslexia isn’t something a person outgrows, the brain is malleable. Parents and educators who notice signs, which can vary in presence and severity, should be proactive. With early identification and a heavy dose of specialized instruction, dyslexic students not only learn to read, but read well!
Lawrence School’s Schafer Center for Learning
Differences offers 60-minute reading screenings for kids in grades K–3. This community service helps parents understand if their child would benefit from more intensive literacy instruction.
SCAN TO LEARN MORE:
IT ISN’T JUST A BEAR. It’s a break.
For the child receiving a Speedy Bear, it’s a break from the days, weeks or even months of being bored and scared, especially when that bear is delivered by a NASCAR driver in their firesuit. For the parents, it’s a break from the raw fear that’s crowded out every other emotion.
“One mom said to me that us visiting her son made them all kind of forget,” says NASCAR Foundation vice president and executive director Nichole Krieger. “Just to have someone who wasn’t a doctor or nurse coming in…It meant the world to have a little bit of a respite from that.”
That’s the heart of The NASCAR Foundation, which has supported more than 1.7 million children in tough situations since it was founded in 2006. And it’s why LeafFilter founder Matt Kaulig jumped on board to help after starting his own NASCAR racing team in 2016 — and is now the biggest backer of the Speedy Bear Brigade.
“Matt puts not only his money but his time and effort behind what we do,” says Krieger. “A lot of people can write a check, but Matt also likes to be involved in what we do.”
Speedy Bear comes in a little cardboard house that can be colored and is stuffed with goodies like Jenga blocks, playing cards and toy cars. About 5,000 bears are given out each year on or around Sept. 9, which is National Teddy Bear Day, by a team of volunteers.
“As a dad who’s had a daughter in the hospital, it’s the worst place to be as a kid, these bears are just a little thing we can do to deliver cheer, positivity and comfort,” says Kaulig. “Each year, we try to grow bigger and better with our onsite presence at the hospitals.”
At Akron Children’s, the Kaulig team works with director of special events Machelle
Syx to make the day as special as possible. It starts when the kids hear the sound of drums, trumpets and cymbals coming down the street, look out the window and see The University of Akron’s marching band.
Their response, says Syx, is written across their faces: Wow! This is for me?
Playing the university’s fight song, the band marches right into the hospital to launch a day of fun, including ice cream carts, crafts, coloring and special appearances by NASCAR mascots. The Kaulig team always goes big. Whenever possible, drivers from Kaulig’s NASCAR team join the march.
As a minority owner of the Cleveland Guardians and the co-host of a monthly WKYC 3 and Fox 8 segments on local nonprofits making a difference, Kaulig is the bigger name in town. But that’s not how the kids see it.
“When drivers show up in their firesuits, that’s an indicator to the kids that a superhero has arrived,” says Krieger. “They’ll sit and spend a little time with the kids, answering their questions. It’s a homerun.”
The day is just as much for siblings as it is for the kids in the hospital.
“We have babies who have been in the hospital for over a year before they go home,” Syx says. “They don’t understand why they’re spending every day in the hospital with their new little brother or sister.”
While Matt and his wife, Lisa, are big supporters of both Akron Children’s and The NASCAR Foundation, giving isn’t as simple as it may seem. Kaulig Companies supports more than 300 mostly local nonprofits — and it’s critical to Kaulig that any money given has a direct impact on children and families.
That’s where Stacey Langal comes in. As the vice president of philanthropy for Kaulig Companies, it’s her job to vet every group seeking funding. She meets with Matt and his
wife, Lisa, as well as a few other key players each week to decide which groups they’ll fund.
“Matt doesn’t like the giving to be transactional,” she explains. “He likes to be in situations where we’re building and giving and interacting.”
Sometimes, that means handing out a cuddly bear to a sick child. But it also means building playgrounds, packing weekend food bags, teaching basketball to children with special needs, providing comfort to kids entering foster care, helping pregnant mothers in need, teaching disadvantaged youth how to interview for jobs and much, much more.
LeafFilter has grown from Kaulig’s basement into one of the largest home improvement
companies in the world. Kaulig was inducted into Cleveland Magazine’s Cleveland Business Hall of Fame in 2022, received the Harvard Business School Entrepreneur Award in 2023 and became the presenting sponsor for the Kaulig Companies Championship at Firestone Country Club in 2023.
Besides his family, his time and money spent helping others bring him the most joy.
“This year efforts mark the biggest to date with over 100 hospitals participating in race markets across the United States, Mexico and Canada.” says Kaulig. “All of us should share the goal of impacting the communities we love by helping children in need live happier, healthier lives.” For the child receiving a Speedy Bear, it’s a break from the days, weeks or even months of being bored and scared, especially when that bear is delivered by a NASCAR driver in their firesuit. To date Kaulig and The NASCAR Foundation have distributed over 20,000 Speedy Bears.
If you’re interested in making a $25 donation to provide a Speedy Bear to a sick child, visit nascarfoundation.org/speedybear.
50 ANIMAL HOUSE Bats and otters and bears, oh my! Meet dozens of Northeast Ohio's most fascinating creatures, and learn how conservationists and organizers both protect and celebrate them. Edited by Annie Nickoloff
Photographed by Greg Murray
Photo edited by Jason Feiler
42 THE BUILDER Buildings and Food owner Will Hollingsworth has become one of the city's most happening restaurateurs with success and controversy following his path of expansion. By Dillon Stewart
61 PRIVATE SCHOOLS Find our guide to Northeast Ohio's private education, and read about some of these schools' thriving students. By Kristen Hampshire
14 FROM THE EDITOR 15 CONVERSATION
LAY OF THE LAND
20 MIDWEST MOM Clevelander Laurel Larson found a massive online audience for her unique style videos on social media.
24 INCLUSIVE WATERS Right here in Cleveland, you can find the country's only predominantly Black-run yacht club that sits on its own body of water.
FOOD & DRINK
32 TOP DAWG Get some tips (and a couple of tasty recipes for paprikash and pierogies) from one of Cleveland's true Browns tailgaters.
35 TAKE A SIP Take to the vineyards of Northeast Ohio and explore some of the region's best wineries.
& GARDEN
107 ALL GROWN UP A children's study room ages out of its former purpose and transforms into a sophisticated blue bar in this Shaker Heights home.
112 LOOK BACK Cleveland played an important role in the space race with a rocket testing facility to help the country learn more about out-of-this-world exploration.
Denise Polverine publisher Dillon Stewart editor
managing editor Ron Ledgard senior editor Annie Nickoloff
associate editors Jala Forest, Julia Lombardo
editorial assistants Danny Cunningham, Christina Rufo
contributing writers Vince Guerrieri, Kristen Hampshire, Allison Jack, Lynne Thompson, Annie Zaleski
editorial interns Paris Mather, Salvatore Rocco, Julia Soeder, Olivia Szmania
art director Erin Stinard
associate art director Abigail Archer
contributing artists Jeani Brechbill Photography, Matthew Chasney, Jason Feiler, Greg Murray, Chloe Zola
intern Melissa Mintz photography intern Alister White editorial@clevelandmagazine.com advertising
president Paul Klein
Desmond, Tiffany Myroniak
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Roberts
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Mary Bjorksten, Jessica Thomas adsales@clevelandmagazine.com
managing
Vazzano
director Jenny Perdue
Megan Rosta
Alyson Moutz
Jacquie Chakirelis
Klinzing
Camille Ross
NO ONE KNOWS why something goes viral. But lately, we’ve been working to explore why certain local figures have entered the internet crosshairs.
This month, we profiled Will Hollingsworth, founder of hospitality group Buildings and Food. Hollingsworth became the target of social media outrage when he abruptly closed his flagship bar, The Spotted Owl, because he was “bored of cocktails.” The decision read as job loss to satisfy the whims of an owner. The controversy spilled into real life when another local cocktail bar hosted a sarcastically pointed party to raise money for the former employees, many of whom say they were victims of abusive management practices. The company has adamantly denied most of these claims, though it’s steadfast that boredom drove the decision.
Hollingsworth is not the only businessman in town accused of unsavory
behavior, proven or not. So, why do we shun some and ignore others? In Contagious: Why Things Catch On, author Jonah Berger says it all goes back to Aristotle. Viral sensations are rooted in the same three elements that comprise all great storytelling: ethos, pathos and logos. Put simply, they appeal to our ethics, emotions and logical reasoning.
Any intriguing piece of content has at least one of these things, but to catch fire, you need all three. A story of small business vendors who were mistreated or restaurant workers who were unexpectedly laid off hits the ethical note. The logical point is defined as factual proof or statistical evidence, but for readers, logos also plays to our desire to understand or be in the know. The share that adds to the viral nature gives the sharer a social currency.
“Your ability to pass it on and riff on it shows that you understand,” says Berger. “It’s the ultimate, subtle insider signal: I know without yelling that I know.”
Emotion may be the most important element. These situations play on our emotions. Online news headlines invoking anger, sadness, happiness or fear are opened at a higher rate. The average consumer interacts much closer and more frequently with and feels more passionately for the people behind their favorite restaurant, media outlet, bar or flea market than they do with, say, a plumber or an electronics manufacturer or an insurance provider.
Follow Will Hollingsworth’s journey from bartender to restauranteur on Page 42
You won’t find a declaration of hero or villain from our writer on page 42, but you will find our best attempt at giving you the facts you need to decide.
SPEAKING OF VIRAL, the Northeast Ohio animals that we’ve profiled this year have been the breakout stars of Cleveland Magazine’s digital coverage. Though these stories of resilience, conservation and natural wonder play to our sense of ethos, these stories could make the argument that “cuteness” could be added to Aristotle’s list.
Since our readers seem to be flocking to our profiles of bears, bobcats and owls, we decided to bring these fascinating stories to our print offering on page 50. I hope these tales of lake, land and sky give our readers a newfound appreciation for our wild, wonderful corner of the world.
Dillon Stewart, editor stewart@clevelandmagazine.com
In the spirit of all things critters this September, we found some very weird, yet very real, Ohio laws about animals:
1953 Ohio Revised Code Section 959.18: It is illegal to capture and kill a carrier pigeon marked with the name of its owner.
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2006 Ohio Revised Code Section 2927.21: Owners of a wild animal must report to authorities within an hour if it escapes.
2023 Ohio Revised Code Section 925.62: It is illegal to dye rabbits and chicks.
City Limits: Long ago in Bay Village, it was illegal to walk a cow down Lake Road. Now, per Ordinance 505.03, keeping any farm animals in the city is illegal.
As local readers continue to show love for our latest issue, one felt the impact all the way from High Desert State Prison. The inmate was able to receive Cleveland Magazine monthly, and he recently shared his gratitude in a handwritten letter to the editor.
“I wanted to write to thank you for all of the pleasure and happy memories that you’ve brought me over the years with Ohio and Cleveland magazines. I read each issue cover to cover and even shared them with two friends from Ohio. In what is often a dark place, you have brought us a lot of light and happiness. Thank you for the blessing.”
—WILLIAM O. SMITH, HIGH DESERT STATE PRISON
Sunday, October 20 @ 10am - 1pm Monday, October 21 @ 6pm - 8pm
on the Harbor!
July 21, 2024
Terrestrial Brewing Company
The 2nd annual Dog Days of Summer Doggy Brunch, co-hosted by Cleveland Magazine, made a real splash at Terrestrial Brewing Company on July 21, adding a fun, poolside vibe to the summer festivities for both pups and their humans. The dogs dressed to impress for the pool-themed costume contest and parade, showcasing their best aquatic and tropical-themed outfits. Prizes were given for the most creatively dressed dogs, making for a scene of irresistible cuteness and friendly competition. The event also featured treats from Spoiled Dog Boss and aquatic activities for the canines to cool off in and enjoy.
Maker's Mark, in partnership with Cleveland Magazine, hosted Cleveland's first ever Summer Cocktail Competition on July 30 at The Aviator. Guests were treated to an array of innovative cocktails crafted by 17 of the city's top bars and restaurants, each perfectly paired with a spread of delicious hors d'oeuvres provided by The Aviator. As attendees enjoyed these exceptional drinks and appetizers, they cast their vote for their favorite cocktail of the evening. Cleveland Chop prevailed as the inaugural winner, followed by The Metropolitan at the 9 in 2nd place.
July 30, 2024
M U S I C
“BABY, DON’T YOU THINK WE OUGHT TO live a little bit before Gabriel blows his horn?” The Polish Village Tavern in Berea hosted a listening party for Zach Bryan’s new album The Great American Bar Scene on June 24, ahead of its July 4 release. The countryadjacent singer-songwriter chose 23 “small town bars” across the country to preview the album ahead of its release. Why did Bryan, who played Ohio Stadium on June 22 and 23 in Columbus, choose this obscure corner bar in Cleveland? Because it was his girlfriend Brianna LaPaglia’s favorite watering hole when she attended nearby Baldwin Wallace University. Bryan has been known to discretely frequent the bar; however, to the chagrin of the faithful, this was not one of those nights.
In an era of staged media, pressing beauty standards and aging remedies, Laurel Larson is the light at the end of our feed.
As a mom, Laurel Larson’s days are packed with bagged lunches, school pickups and part-time work as an art therapist. Her evenings: snack time, story time and tucking her sons into bed. When she finally gets a moment to herself — clocked out, kids asleep and a house unstirred — she pulls out her phone and starts editing videos to post to her nearly 96,000 Instagram followers and 200,000 TikTok followers. In 2020, amid a global pandemic and seemingly endless quarantine, many were left to their own devices, and Larson started using hers to entertain others with online fashion content.
It started as a joke. “There’s this creator I follow,” Larson says. “Millions of followers. She’s built like your standard model. Everything is designer. I was like, ‘Wouldn’t it be funny if I followed her formula, but I’m mid-sized, wearing Gap and Old Navy?’ And the rest is history.”
Larson’s videos caught traction with a post on Feb. 22, 2022. “My outfit is not a good outfit,” Larson laughs, “A flannel, jean skirt, Doc Martens and a weird hat. That was the magic formula.” She still wears the outfit every Feb. 22, to commemorate this new lifestyle.
Her tagline, “Middle Aged Midsize Mom from the Midwest,” speaks for itself. “I’m not used to seeing bodies like mine, size 14 in your 40s,” Larson says. “And it turned out others felt the same way. I hope this gives women the permission to style themselves authentically.”
Larson’s regime began with what’s known as “Get Ready with Me” videos. She films from her home in Lakewood.
She aims to remain authentic for her family, too. Larson says that her husband, Matthew, is her “biggest cheerleader,” and that her three sons love seeing what she does.
In an age of polarizing media, Larson hopes to set an example. “I refuse to let this take away from time with my family,” she says. “I’m still working on it, but it’s hard.”
She’s transparent about the reality that content creation is a taxing job, between filming, editing, maintaining promotions, following tends and tracking engagement.
“This has allowed me to be creative in a way that I think I was searching for,” Larson says. “But you’re basing your income on an algorithm. There’s no rhyme or reason to it, so I’m just enjoying the ride right now.”
With school districts facing post-pandemic bus driver shortages, we sent a writer behind the wheel to find out just how tough it is to pilot the big yellow.
Even in this era of big trucks and sport utility vehicles, there’s still something daunting about driving a school bus. It’s the size, sure, but also the knowledge that you’re carting around a bunch of children. There’s little margin for error driving; there’s even less when it’s a school bus. It really does take a special kind of person to drive one.
And those people are becoming harder and harder to come by.
Driver shortages have persisted since school districts resumed inperson learning after the COVID-19 pandemic, and that’s led some districts in Northeast Ohio to get creative in hiring drivers. Avon Lake, Brunswick and Highland school districts have all
offered a chance to drive a school bus. Avon Lake Transportation Supervisor Sue Cole says the idea came from the similar events in the area.
“There are a lot of people who say, ‘I don’t think I could drive a school bus,’” Cole says. “I tell them it’s not as hard as you think.”
But it’s very easy to sit in the driver’s seat and feel intimidated. The familiar manual handle to open and close the door has been phased out following repetitive stress injuries. And there’s an array of buttons on the dashboard that take some getting used to, including how to turn on the flashing lights, which automatically opens the doors.
It’s an automatic transmission, so you don’t have to know how to drive manual. All in all, it’s not a particularly
terrifying experience — as long as you’re moving forward. Going in reverse can be tense.
Ned Lauver, director of operations for Avon Lake Schools, says there are 28 routes covered daily by the district — and they are mostly covered, but he knows that makes the district lucky in terms of a shortage.
“We’re really only short with substitutes,” he says. “But that means we have mechanics and administrators driving, and that makes us short in the garage. But that still makes us luckier than a lot of other districts.”
Cole noted that people think they need a commercial driver’s license to drive the nearly 40-foot machine. That’s true, but they need a Class B CDL. Tractor-trailers require a Class A CDL. Buses, dump trucks and other large vehicles that don’t carry a trailer require the easier-to-obtain Class B.
But Avon Lake offers training to hires, Cole says, and when they emerge, they’ll have their Class B CDL as well as their Ohio Department of Education certification to be a district school bus driver.
At University School, boys thrive in an environment with the freedom to explore, create, and innovate. They think deeper, embrace challenge, and discover new passions. Visit US to find out why we are the #1 Private School in Ohio! www.us.edu/visit
Each year, the Jarvis Scholar Program awards up to ten fully-funded, four-year merit scholarships to students entering the ninth grade. The application for fall 2025 admission is now open.
Since 1968, Cleveland’s only predominantly Black yacht club has built a community on Lake Erie that is more inclusive than boating’s often elitist culture.
IN THE HEART OF CLEVELAND METROPARKS’ 58-mile Emerald Necklace sits Intercity Yacht Club. The gathering space is decorated with plaques of achievement, small knick knacks and IYC memorabilia. The collection of five docks joins Gordon Park on Marginal Road. The space may be modest, but it has important stories to tell about Cleveland’s nautical history, says Thomas Adams. “Boating was something that Black folks wasn’t supposed to be able to enjoy,” he says. “We weren’t supposed to afford it.” Today, Intercity is the only predominantly Black-run yacht club in the United States that sits on its own body of water. Founded in 1968, the organization is designed to create an inclusive community of boaters amongst African Americans and blue-collar workers.
In the ‘60s, James Parks had dreams to make boating inclusive. At the time, Black boaters in Cleveland weren’t allowed to dock their boats or fuel up at local yacht clubs. These enthusiasts had to travel nearly 70 miles to Sandusky to dock their vessels.
Tired of rejection and racism, Parks and an ambitious group petitioned the state of Ohio for a piece of land to call their own.
What was once an unkempt piece of land is now a mecca of culture that holds a rich but overlooked history.
Adams began coming to Intercity in 2010, after a member of his motorcycle club introduced him to boats. He was amazed to see people who looked like him find joy in the world of boating.
“I was just blown away,” he says. “One day I was sitting on a boat, and I said to myself I’ll never be able to afford that. But this place was designed for people just like me.”
Adams served as Intercity’s commodore for four years. He now sits on its board as an advisor to the commodore. He is also the second Black commander in the 85-year history of the Greater Cleveland Boating Association.
The club paved a path for boaters who weren’t represented, says Ryan Weekes, Intercity’s current commodore.
Weekes is from Barbados, where boating is prominent. Although the majority of Barbados’ population is Black, boating and yacht clubs are predominantly white and elitist. “Black people that are at the marinas are there to wash boats or change oil,” Weekes says. “So [being IYC’s commodore] is a big accomplishment for me personally.”
Most that belong to IYC share the pride that comes with being a member — a pride that goes beyond oneself.
“For me to be here,” Weekes says, “it means a whole lot.”
With 250 bedpans in all different sizes and makes, this Bay Village collector is flush but not finished.
On the surface, Eric Eakin’s Bay Village basement looks rather normal, between the laundry facilities, a Frank Zappa poster on the wall and a well-loved workbench. But step into a small room off the main space, and you’ll find something unexpected: an extensive collection of bedpans.
More precisely, the 72-year-old retired writer for a labor union estimates that he owns 250 bedpans, spanning from the early 19th century to the present day, made of materials such as metal, ceramic and plastic.
A sizable number of bedpans are stacked carefully on shelves, and others are organized in a colorful, jumbled pile on the floor. Some are plain-colored and utilitarian, like ones you might find in a hospital; others have printed designs. A few bedpans have political messages, including a homemade one with “Free Jim Traficant” spelled out in puffy paint and a ceramic one with a Richard Nixon figurehead. One version is made from recycled newspapers, and atop the pile is even a gorgeous bedpan hand-painted with intricate folk art.
just kept going.”
Eakin started collecting bedpans somewhat accidentally. During a longago trip to England, his mom was gifted a hefty ceramic white bedpan made by the British pharmacy chain Boots as a joke. She hauled it back to the U.S., and Eakin inherited it after she died.
After getting married, he and his wife, Cynthia, had started collecting antiques and visited stores and shows hunting for treasures. Eakin kept seeing chamber pots and bedpans for sale — and decided to focus on collecting the latter since they were less collectible.
“There’s a collector for everything,” he says. “I just happen to be the bedpan guy … and, you know, most of them I get for free. I mean, who’s gonna buy these but me?”
“When I had 20, I thought it was a big deal,” Eakin says. “And then 30 and then 50 and then 80. You know, it
Over the years, Eakin has become somewhat of an expert in the evolution of the bedpan, and he enthusiastically (and drolly) talks about the history and culture surrounding the object. “The most I’ve ever paid was $85 at an antique show outside of Philadelphia,” Eakin says.
Accordingly, he’s only run into a few other dedicated bedpan collectors,
most notably a nurse from Alaska with whom he’d get into eBay bidding wars. He’s also amassed a side collection of ephemera from the bedpan extended universe; in this category, prized possessions include a urinal mat with Art Modell’s face he bought for $5 at a ’90s Browns game.
Eakin says his pace of collecting has slowed, though he still has a couple of Holy Grails for which he’s searching, including a rolling urinal dating from the Victorian era.
The bedpan collection reflects Eakin’s sense of humor and joie de vivre. And like any passionate collector, he realizes he needs to make plans for its future — he floats the Dittrick Medical History Center as a potential destination — so his bedpan legacy remains secure.
“At some point, this collection of 250 bedpans is going to have to go somewhere,” he says.
Ever a writer, he playfully suggests a snappy stinger: “How does he relieve himself of this?”
Dining expert Douglas Trattner breaks down Terry Francona’s new Tremont steakhouse and the other food news you need to know this month.
“WE NEED A TRENDY STEAKHOUSE, something that’s affordable but cool,” says Jason Beudert, who is partnering with Terry Francona (yes, that Terry Francona!) to open a flashy new steakhouse in the former Parallax property in Tremont. STEAK Cleveland is the latest addition to the Hangry Brands family, which includes Geraci’s Slice Shop and Lionheart Coffee in Downtown and The Yard on 3rd in Willoughby. Beudert and his partners are banking on demand for a steakhouse that plugs the gap between budget brands like Outback Steakhouse and swanky white-tablecloth chophouses. For the low, low price of $35, diners can enjoy steak, salad, unlimited waffle-cut fries and unlimited popcorn. That steak is a USDA Prime coulotte, also referred to as the top sirloin cap or picanha. Diners can elect to upgrade to a more expensive ribeye or 32-ounce tomahawk chop.
Turning a Corner. Business owners have a newfound sense of optimism on East 185th Street thanks to the completion of years-long infrastructure projects. The buzziest among them is Charter House Grille, which opened in August. After purchasing the former Bistro 185, owner Chris King transformed the space from a woodsy tavern to a sleek urban bistro serving elevated and playful American fare.
Full Steam Ahead. In its quest to dominate the Downtown food and beverage scene, Forward Hospitality has just opened the doors of its newest venue, Hi 5, a casual sports bar-themed spot. “As the area evolved, we kept debating what else it needed,” says Forward principal Bobby Rutter. “We wanted to create a spot that’s neighborhood focused — kind of like the Cheers of the Flats.”
Good for What Ails You. “There’s this huge sober-curious movement going on,” explains David Kovatch. “A lot of people are looking for an alternative.” Kovatch should know; he’s been at the forefront of the “functional beverage” scene for years. In 2022, he opened Sacred Waters in North Olmsted, Ohio’s first kava bar. He has since added a second location in Lakewood. Next up is Ohio City, where Kovatch is opening Sacred Vortex Teahouse and Kombuchery in the former Platform Beer space, which has been idle since that brewery ceased operations in early 2023.
As Northeast Ohio’s only independent and Catholic school, Gilmour creates endless possibilities for students to not only learn about the real world, but how to positively impact it.
These Chardon sisters both opened their own scoop shops, accidentally making ice cream a family business.
As children, Gail Hewitt and Lydia Chambers’ mother told them, “Your dessert room is an entirely separate room in the house,” meaning no matter how full you were, you could always make room for a sweet treat.
They both happened to take that quite literally.
Thirteen years ago, Hewitt was working at a contracting business in Chardon. Her neighborhood scoop shop, King Kone, was up for sale. Hewitt had no experience in the food industry; she didn’t even know how to pipe a softserve ice cream cone. Nonetheless, she loved desserts enough to buy the shop and make it her own.
“We looked at it sort of as an investment,” Hewitt says. “We’re constantly trying to do new things. I love sauces, toppings; the ice cream is, like, the side part of it.”
Six years later, Chambers had a love for baking, with no place to put it. So, she traveled from her home in Columbus to Michigan, to buy a mail truck
that would become Little Ladies Soft Serve, per, to her disdain, the guidance of her sister.
“I’m not the type to listen to my older sister,” Chambers says. “But enough stuff failed that I was like, ‘OK, I’m going to take this advice.’”
Today, ice cream is suddenly a family business. So, when the sisters, born and raised in Chardon, are quizzed about the importance of desserts in their childhood, they laugh.
“I would say our mother deprived us of desserts,” Hewitt says.
A trick question, surprisingly.
However, this restriction wasn’t forever. They break off into a separate conversation for a moment, trying to pinpoint when things changed.
“Probably when you came back from Europe, Lydia,” Hewitt decides. Chambers concurs.
“Each of us went on one cruise with our grandparents,” Hewitt begins.
“I was 13,” Chambers continues. “It was unlimited food, and about halfway through, I discovered the midnight buffet. I came back wanting whipped
cream with waffles every day.”
“She was so enthusiastic about the desserts that I think my mom had no choice but to give in,” Hewitt says.
Since then, Chambers’ enthusiasm never faltered, now crafting the array of toppings on Little Ladies’ sundaes, including a lemon cornflake crunch and maple-bourbon caramel sauce.
The Chardon- and Columbus-based scoop spots have both a truck and a storefront.
Raised on Oreo Blizzards and bubblegum ice cream from local joints like Carriage House (formerly in Painesville and Kirtland), neither have lost their knack for creative concoctions.
“The ‘No Name’ is our most popular,” Hewitt says of the ironically named sundae covered in chocolate, caramel and crushed pretzels.
Speaking on Little Ladies Soft Serve, Chambers favors the “Lola,” her rendition of a key lime pie sundae.
“I do still crave Oreo Blizzards sometimes,” Chambers admits.
If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.
That’s why the sisters both say they don’t plan on rapidly expanding their shops, wanting to keep the familyowned businesses manageable, just in case their children ever decide to continue the legacy.
RECIPE
Eric Barr, co-founder of the Top Dawgs tailgate group, which is known for some of the best food in The Pit, helps us up our parking lot grub game.
CLEVELAND SPORTS FANS ARE DEDICATED, but none quite like Eric Barr, who moved 500 miles from Connecticut to Berea with nothing but his car and a dream to watch the Browns. “The hospitality, offering stuff to strangers, that was the beginning of it all,” says Barr. Attending Browns tailgates since
2001, he co-piloted his own alongside Dan Brezovec under the bridge at West Third Street and Summit. Top Dawg is known its City Dogs charity events, restaurant-grade meals and lots of flip cup. “I do it for the love of it,” Barr says. “If you’re not in it for the fun, then what’s the point?”
TOP DAWG’S SLOVAK CHICKEN PAPRIKASH (Serves 4)
INGREDIENTS
- 1-2 Vidalia onions
- Olive oil
- Butter
- 2 pounds of chicken
- Flour
- Salt to taste
- Pepper to taste
- Paprika to taste
- 1 box of chicken stock
- 2-4 cups of sour cream
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Dice Vidalia onions. Simmer in a pan with olive oil and butter for 20-30 minutes until caramelized.
2. Cut boneless chicken into small pieces, and coat with flour. Add to the onions, and season with salt, pepper and paprika. Cook for 5-7 minutes before flipping. Season and cook for another 5-7 minutes.
3. Prepare chicken stock in a pan over low heat. Transfer the cooked chicken to the stock. Loosen the onion mixture with water before adding to the stock.
4. Cook on low for 4-6 hours. Add sour cream before serving.
(Makes 30)
INGREDIENTS
Filling:
- 1 pound of russet potatoes
- 2 tablespoons of butter
- 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt
- 1/2 teaspoon of pepper
Dough:
- 2 1/2 cups of bread flour
- 1 teaspoon of baking powder
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 1 cup of sour cream
- 1 egg and 1 egg yolk
Toppings:
- 1 onion, minced
- 4 tablespoons of butter
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt
INSTRUCTIONS:
“We’ll do almost 1,500 pierogies by hand. Dan’s got a team of volunteers that make the mixture. With the paprikash, it’s very Europeanflavored.”
— ERIC BARR, CO-FOUNDER OF TOP DAWG TAILGATE
1. Peel russet potatoes and slice into 1-inch pieces. Boil in salted water for 15 minutes.
2. Mash the potatoes with butter, cheddar cheese, salt and pepper. Chill the filling.
3. Mix bread flour, baking powder, salt, sour cream and eggs until an elastic dough forms.
4. Roll out the dough until it’s 1/8-inch thick.
5. Cut out 3-inch circles. Fill each circle with 1 tablespoon of filling. Fold and pinch the edges to create a pierogi.
6. Place the pierogies on a tray with floured parchment paper and freeze.
7. In a pan, combine minced onion with 4 tablespoons of butter and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Let it simmer for 20 minutes. Use water to loosen the mixture.
8. Boil the pierogies in salted water for 5 minutes. Combine with the onions and serve.
WHY WE LOVE IT: The family-run 2019 winery combines a rustic wood-beamed interior with bright flowers and vineyards outside. Feel right at home cozying up to the sounds of weekly live music beside an indoor fireplace. TRY THIS: Start with a glass of the fan-favorite white Blushing Squirrel ($8), a unique combination of four wines that brings together a sophisticated, tropical semi-sweet flavor. While you’re unwinding, munch on an appetizer from the small list of charcuterie and baked goods, like the basket of pepperoni rolls and marinara ($7). 7918 Pettibone Road, Chagrin Falls, 216-210-4946, blindsquirrelwinery.com
BY ALLISON JACK
WHY WE LOVE IT: Just minutes from the shores of Lake Erie, this winery is home to an elegant boutique B&B with four guest suites, each with a private jacuzzi and a private patio with views of the 13-acre property. TRY THIS: Across a selection of cool-climate wines, the Rogers 15 variety semi-sweet Agawam ($6) is exclusive to Buccia. Bred in Massachusetts in 1856, it’s naturally orange in color, crisp and light-bodied. Pair with the War Pig Flatbread ($18), topped with house-made chili oil, belly ham, mozzarella and a sunny side up egg. 518 Gore Road, Conneaut, 440-593-5976, bucciavineyards.com
WHY WE LOVE IT: Owned by nearby Debonne Vineyards, complex European varietals grown locally with modern methods, and a unique calendar of nightly events, are the stars of the show. TRY THIS: With its own globally inspired delicatessen, the charcuterie board ($30) — featuring assorted meats, cheeses, grapes, nuts, seeds, fruit, chocolate, pickles, dips and spreads — is a must-have. 7259 Warner Road, Madison, 440-307-9586, cask307.com
WHY WE LOVE IT: After a full revitalization this fall, the indoor tasting room will have space for 30 guests with plans to expand the wine varietals and food menu as well. The spacious fan-cooled covered patio is home to events like the Musician’s Afternoon Jam or Yoga on the Patio. TRY THIS: Among a menu of light bites, we recommend the Italian flatbread pizza margherita ($9.99) topped with traditional tomato sauce, cheese and basil. 19583 Hunt Road, Strongsville, 440-879-1099, carsorossowinery.com
WHY WE LOVE IT: Transforming vacant lots into lush green space and an upscale winery, while providing job opportunities to those who are formerly incarcerated, Mansfield Frazier's concept was a game-changer. “It’s an opportunity for people to visit a vineyard in their community and learn a little bit about the grapes,” says manager Brenda Frazier. “They gain an appreciation for something so many of us are far removed from.” TRY THIS: With space for up to 10 people, reserve a slot for a full tasting of eight vintages, complete with charcuterie and other activities ($30). 1650 E. 66th St., Cleveland, 216438-0964, chateauhough.com
WHY WE LOVE IT: The restored 1800s farmhouse, situated on a tree-lined campus with its own lake, sets the tone for relaxation. The 55-acre space is complete with three restaurants, a Tuscan-inspired boutique inn, indoor and outdoor bars, and a spa. TRY THIS: With meat and fish specialties, pizzas and more, the food lives up to expectations. The house-made mushroom ravioli ($27) at The Bistro is crafted with taleggio cheese, blistered tomatoes, sherry reduction and truffle oil. 1700 55th St. NE, Canton, 330-497-1000, gervasivineyard.com
WHY WE LOVE IT: While some have sights set on soon retiring to the country in their 50s, Destiny Burns decided it was the perfect time to start a winery with a neighborhood feel. “I always tell my employees we’re really not in the wine business,” says Burns. “We’re in the relationship business. That’s what I put the focus on.” A former auto garage in the Cedar-Lee neighborhood sees its 1920s charm come back to life with playful neon
graffiti murals that accent metal, concrete and steel beams on the ceiling. TRY THIS: Start the night with a cheese and charcuterie plate ($16), which is complimented by cookies and crackers, and finish with the Buckeye Blackberry Merlot ($10), a favorite of the many wines made on-site. The red’s balance of light, fruity and smooth flavors earned double gold in the 2023 Ohio Wine Competition. 2180 Lee Road, Cleveland Heights, 216-417-8313, cleurbanwinery.com
WHY WE LOVE IT: Just outside of Cleveland, you’ll discover a small red barn complete with its own petting zoo and boutique winery. Grab a spot on the deck’s expanded piazza as you drink Cleveland wine made from California grapes, or venture near the pond and meet the three resident ducks, Lila, Thelma and Louise. TRY THIS: Of its eight wines, the aptly named Kool-Aid is the sweetest, while the cabernet sauvignon reigns the driest. 4103 Memphis Ave., Cleveland, 216-650-9877, vinoveritascellarswinery.com
WHY WE LOVE IT: After experimenting with recipes for leftover wine, Jimmy Conti’s line of “Cleveland Jams” blossomed into his tasting room, offering Crooked River Wine’s own Ohio- and
American-grown wines. TRY THIS: For something sweet, the peach wine ($7) gives off a luscious crispness. You can also opt for a Cabernet Franc ($8) with a deep black cherry nose, voted Best of Ohio Red Wine in the 2021 Ohio Wine Competition. The charcuterie tasting board ($18) is perfect for sharing, and add a jar of Cleveland Jam ($8) for the full experience. 13200 York-Delta Drive, North Royalton, 440-628-9900, cle-jam.com
WHY WE LOVE IT: The winery of wineries, Debonné Vineyards is the largest estate winery in Ohio with 175 acres of vines and a 15-barrel brewhouse. Considered a must-visit on any tour of Ohio’s wine country in the Grand River Valley, the winery goes back four generations in the Debevc family. TRY THIS: With 40 varietals, try a soft black cherry and blackberry flavored pinot noir
($7) to complement the signature wine burger ($14), featuring house-made red wine bacon-onion jam on a pretzel bun. 7840 Doty Road, Madison, 440-466-3485, debonne.com
WHY WE LOVE IT: Starting in 1937 in Cleveland's Collinwood neighborhood, today's Geneva winery bears both local and international accolades. Inside, you’ll find robust production facilities that process the results of the 40 acres of manicured vineyards. TRY THIS: Pair a classic Rosso ($7.50), a sweet red blend of grapes vinted Old World style, with the casa lasagna ($18), showcasing traditional layers of meat, ricotta, Romana, Parmesan and mozzarella cheese baked in a hearty marinara sauce. 5585 State Route 307, Geneva, 440-466-8466, ferrantewinery.com
Meet Ruffing’s exceptional faculty, talk with our Head of School, explore our beautiful and spacious classrooms, and discover for yourself why so many of your friends, neighbors, and colleagues have fallen in love with Ruffing and made it the school of choice for their children.
Visit ruffingmontesssori.net or call the Admissions Office at 216.321.7571 to schedule a personal tour or register for Ruffing’s Fall Open House.
WHY WE LOVE IT: Built in 1880, this is one of Ohio's oldest wineries, and the original cellar is still used today to produce wine made from locally grown grapes. The winery boasts awardwinning labels including 1880 Estate Reserve, Firelands, Mon Ami, Lonz and Mantey brands. TRY THIS: Create a flight of four Firelands domestic reds ($12): cabernet sauvignon, cabernet France, pinot noir, Mantey Blue Face or Mantey Fifty-Fifty. 917 Bardshar Road, Sandusky, 419-625-5474, firelandswinery.com
KLINGSHIRN
WHY WE LOVE IT: Not far from Lake Erie, you’ll find this mom-and-pop winery and farm dating back to 1935, perfect for intimate wine sipping in its quaint tasting room filled with historic knick knacks. TRY THIS: The Cardinal Delight ($6) is a semi-dry red with notes
of robust berry, and one of the 2023 Ohio Wine competition medal-winning wines. Also try the riesling ($6), a semidry white varietal with a lasting body, fermented in stainless steel at cool temperatures. 33050 Webber Road, Avon Lake, 440-933-6666, klingshirnwine.com
MAIZE VALLEY WINERY & CRAFT BREWERY
WHY WE LOVE IT: Sharing its space with a corn maze and farmers market, engage in a vast array of seasonal events while sampling on-tap selections. TRY
THIS: While we love a signature wine like the Mad Cow ($7) here, beer drinking companions are happy to oblige your winery choice with the 16 brews on tap. The flagship IPA Hopnesia ($7), a bright, citrusy American IPA that hails from the first craft brewery in Stark County, is a crowd pleaser 6193 Edison St. NE, Hartville, 330-877-8344, maizevalley.com
MICHAEL ANGELO’S WINERY
WHY WE LOVE IT: A baker and winemaker, Michael Angelo Ciocca opened the hybrid winery and eatery in 2018 with his brother, Matt. The top-selling 2022 blanc de blanc ($11), a dry sparkling white wine noted with apple, vanilla and spice, made big waves with a double gold in the San Francisco Chronicle wine competition in 2024. “They always question what you can do in Ohio, and that’s something that we did well enough,” Ciocca says. TRY THIS: Ciocca recommends the rigatoni a la vodka ($19.50). "We sell so much that people keep on coming back for it,” he says. It’s made with a house eggless rigatoni and coupled with tomato cream sauce, prosciutto, peas, Parmesan and ciliegene mozzarella. 5515 Broadview Road, Richfield, 440-552-2815, michaelangelosbakery.com
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216-987-6000
WHY WE LOVE IT: Inside Geneva’s first fire station, the interior showcases an eclectic collection of fire paraphernalia. Aside a meandering patio, it has its own Ferris wheel. The iconic 1956 Erieview Park Ferris wheel, known as #5 Big Eli, offers majestic skyline views of the Lake. TRY THIS: Of its 18
wines, start sweet with the Pink Catawba ($5.49) rosé. You can also go dryer with the classic chardonnay ($5.49). Beer lovers can grab a pint of the signature Backdraft Pilsner ($5.49), atop a fullservice menu offering "firehouse comfort food." 5499 Lake Road E., Geneva, 440-4669300, oldfirehousewinery.com
WHY WE LOVE IT: A sister property of Sapphire Creek Winery & Gardens, enjoy a standout meal in the cottage-like space, or venture to the winery’s base-
ment for the members-only Never Ordinary Bourbon Society. “As soon as you walk through the mirror, it completely changes the vibe into a very modern Italian decor. It feels like you time warped from Aurora to L.A. or New York,” says owner Kathleen Dangelo. TRY THIS: Guests love the eggplant parmesan ($19) with marinara, mozzarella and herbed linguine. The Orchid House’s Red Blend ($11) is a top wine, combining cabernet sauvignon, merlot, syrah and petit syrah. 155 Treat Road, Aurora, 330-5629245, orchidhousewinery.com
WHY WE LOVE IT: While the official description of this winery would boast “awardwinning Ohio wines,” the experience feels like an escape to Napa Valley. Find historic architectural details situated against panormaic views of the estate vineyard. TRY THIS: Choose from numerous estate-grown varietals, like the 2021 cabernet sauvignon ($12), which recently won gold in the Texas International Wine Competition. 4599 S. Madison Road, Madison, 440-296-9175, laurentiawinery.com
Plan your visit today:
Early Childhood, Lower, and Middle School
Wednesday, 9/25/24, 9:00 am, Parent Visit
Thursday, 10/17/24, 9:00 am, Parent Visit Toddler – Grade 8 | Lyndhurst Campus
Birchwood School
Sunday, 10/20/24, 2:00 pm, OPEN HOUSE Preschool – Grade 8 | Cleveland-West Campus
Upper School
Tuesday, 9/17/24, 6:00 pm, Parent Visit (Virtual) Tuesday, 10/9/24, 9:00 am, Parent Visit
Grades 9 – 12 | Gates Mills Campus
Mastery School
Tuesday, 9/24/24, 9:00 am, Parent Visit
Wednesday, 10/16/24, 9:00 am, Parent Visit
Grades 9 – 12 | University Circle Campus
WHY WE LOVE IT: A spread of picnic tables offers spots for casual meet-ups over Bavarian pretzel sticks ($9.25) and a cheap tasting flight ($1 per sample) at this harbor town winery. Named after Ella Fitzgerald’s song "It’s Only a Paper Moon," the space lives up to its name with live music year-round. TRY THIS: Try the Silver Lining Dry Riesling ($7.25), a semi-dry floral pick, or Sailors Red ($6), a dry, estate-grown Chambourcin and Marquette blend. 2008 State Road, Vermilion, 440-967-2500, papermoonvineyards.com
WHY WE LOVE IT: “The architecture and gardens are unlike anything else in Northeast Ohio,” says owner Kathleen Dangelo. "People get real Napa vibes when they come in." An elegant barn structure with exposed beams, posh light fixtures and massive fire and water features keep the vibes chic inside and out. TRY THIS: Among a menu of American-style land and sea fare, the cabernet braised short rib ($38) is a recommended pick, served with
WHY WE LOVE IT: Delight in a guided vineyard tour, via hike or shuttle, or a wine tasting in the tasting room. Join in fan-favorite events, such as Cork & Crafts or Cookie Dough and Wine Tastings. Enjoy live music every Friday and Saturday. TRY THIS: Order a meat and cheese tray ($15) to pair with your libation of choice. One Fifty Five Rosé ($7) is made with Regent & Chambourcin grapes that taste of cherry blossoms with tart cherry and citrus in the finish. 9050 W. Old Lincoln Way, Wooster, 330-804-9463, lincolnwayvineyards.com
mashed potatoes, roasted carrots, red wine bordelaise sauce and orange gremolata. For wine, try the chenin blanc ($11), a bright white with tones of pear and quince, or a Reserve Pinot Noir Anderson Valley ($18), a complex medium purple red with both fruity and smoky aromas 16965 Park Circle Drive, Chagrin Falls, 440-543-7777, sapphire-creek.com
WHY WE LOVE IT: One of the country's only wineries located in a national park, founders Margaret and Michael Lytz named the space after their daughter, who passed away at a young age. “When I was very young, I came in for the first time, and it really stuck with me," says manager Sarah Altieri. "The love [the owners] have for each other, and for Sarah, shines through.” TRY THIS: The Cuyahoga Valley Reserve ($8) is a rich red zinfandel grown in California’s Sierra Foothills. Altieri recommends trying the margherita pizza ($18) and upgrading it with her secret touch by adding balsamic glaze. 1204 W. Steels Corners Road, Cuyahoga Falls, 330-929-8057, sarahsvineyardwinery.com
WHY WE LOVE IT: Housed in a 1892 Methodist Episcopal Church, it's one of the largest vinifera growers in the area. The stained-glass-windowed haven is complete with the original pews, wainscotting and flooring. TRY THIS: Enjoy church-inspired wines like the 2018 Trinity ($8), a dry red blend with flavors of cassis, or a semi-sweet 2018 Creation ($8). 6062 S. River Road W., Geneva, 440-466-6676, southrivervineyard.com
WHY WE LOVE IT: From grape to bottle, guests can witness the magic of “globally sourced, locally produced” winemaking in the production facility, which houses its own oak barrels. Driving wine with a mission, a portion of proceeds from their signature Muddy Paws label goes back to the Geauga Humane Society’s Rescue Village. TRY THIS: Favoring red wines, the Chilean Carmenere exhibits a velvety blend of
chocolate and spice, and the cabernet sauvignon brings a full-bodied cherry flavor. 37484 N. Industrial Parkway, Willoughby, 440306-8660, urbanvintner.net
Check out more recommendations at clevelandmagazine.com/food-drink
written by dillon stewart
photographed by daniel lozada
will hollingsworth is next in cleveland’s lineage of charismatic, brash, ambitious, controversial restaurateurs. as his portfolio grows to include some of the city’s most beloved institutions and forward-thinking restaurants, is the budding businessman hiding dark practices or is he simply the last of a bygone era?
WWill Hollingsworth is in the last booth on the left. The burly 6-foot-4 man with barely graying black hair is draped over a church pew booth across from his company’s vice president of marketing Heidi Rolf, a free-spirited 30-something with tattoos and an effective, stylish social media campaign. Dressed in black jeans, a black zip-up sweatshirt and a black T-shirt, the owner of La Cave du Vin sips a glass of white wine at his newest bar, an underground hideaway in the basement of a 100-yearold former religious publishing house in Tremont.
The basement bar, now illuminated with red light bulbs and string lights, is simultaneously Hollingsworth’s oldest and newest haunt. Opened in 2014 as The Spotted Owl, this is the space where the cocktail bar he built on a shoestring bartender budget became one of the city’s and, according to Esquire magazine, country’s best.
Since then, he’s swiftly built one of the region’s most important hospitality groups. Since 2021, Buildings and Food has acquired Eastern-Euro classic Prosperity Social Club, burger joint Good Company and Lakewood’s Griffin Gin & Cider House, which it plans to open next year with a “fallen palazzo” concept. Old 86 is a recently opened metal dive bar in Gordon Square run by local creative Aaron “OK Pants” Sechrist, and Good Company added an Akron location this year. Eventually, the company hopes to revive the home of Michael Symon’s Lolita, which perished in a 2016 fire.
But along the way, The Spotted Owl founder has ruffled some feathers.
Hollingsworth's May 2024 announcement that his company would revive the beloved La Cave, the former Coventry Village wine bar, set off a social media firestorm, with embers still burning today. Once revered for his treatment of employees during the pandemic and for his scrappy craft cocktail lounge, the internet mob branded Hollingsworth as a tyrant who treated his employees as disposable means to his ambitious ends.
He hasn’t talked about it much, other than to the mirror and his closest confidants, which include his
executive team of Rolf, vice president of operations Kathleen Sullivan and vice president of development Sin-Jin Satayathum. But the event occupies his mind constantly — even in front of La Cave's charcuterie board of imported meats and cheese.
“You want to hear the full story?” says Hollingsworth, who sits forward and begins to bounce his leg. “I’ll tell you.”
i i
Born in Southern California, Hollingsworth moved to Oregon when he was young. His parents were high school dropouts who told great stories and better jokes. They always kept books in the house, and eventually, Hollingsworth saw them both earn GEDs and college degrees.
In 2008, Hollingsworth graduated from St. John’s College in Santa Fe, New Mexico, a rigorous and progressive school of just a few hundred students where he studied philosophy and liberal arts. He wrote his senior thesis on Sir Francis Bacon’s 1682 novel The New Atlantis, which depicts the creation of a utopia. He went on to work in politics, first for a liberal think tank and then for Barack Obama's presidential campaign. When he hit a rut in Washington, D.C., he hit the road with a friend who needed a ride to San Francisco.
A roundabout trip down the East Coast, across the country and back to the Midwest ended with his 1991 Nissan Pathfinder sputtering into Cleveland, where a friend promised to bring it back to life. He liked the spirit of the city. So, he decided to stay. With less than $1,000 to his name, he rented “a death trap of an apartment for $400 a month” in Tremont and got by working on motorcycles.
One night, he visited a friend at Greenhouse Tavern, the newest restaurant on East Fourth Street, which would propel chef Jonathon Sawyer to a James Beard Award. The innovative take on American cuisine and the fast-paced atmosphere were intoxicating. He had to work there. Only, someone with next-to-zero hospitality experience doesn’t just decide to work at the best restaurant in town. So, Hollingsworth parsed out his last few dollars to eat and loiter at Greenhouse Tavern until he was hired as a food runner. From there, he graduated to bus boy, dishwasher, daytime bartender (where he mostly served “weird hippie Diet Cokes”) and then, finally, bartender. He loved the gig but got fired after about a year. He landed softly as a bartender at Lolita, the arguably cooler sister restaurant to Michael Symon’s fine dining Lola Bistro on East Fourth Street.
below : Kathleen Sullivan and Sin-Jin Satayathum have been loyal to Will Hollingsworth since their time at Lolita. Satayathum is the interior designer behind The Spotted Owl, Old 86, La Cave du Vin, Good Company Akron and Greenhouse Tavern.
Lolita is also where he met Satayathum and Sullivan. Satayathum had designed Greenhouse Tavern, but most of the time, he was a bartender. Sullivan was a server who had managed a Papa Johns through her teens. Surviving the trenches night after night built comradery. After each battle, partying at the Tremont bars with other hospitality friends nursed their wounds before the war waged on the next day. The atmosphere in both kitchens was exciting but not easy. Pans flew. Chefs screamed and swore. But each kitchen taught him lessons he’d carry through his future projects.
“Sawyer’s talent and charisma was so overwhelming. I learned how electrifying this business could be,” Hollingsworth says. “From the Symon organization, I learned about toughness and competence and systems and organizational infrastructure and middle management and how to do things really, really well.”
After four years, he was ready to apply that knowledge to his own endeavor. After 11 months of business planning, defaulting on his student loans and raising capital, he bought an abandoned 2,225-square-foot basement on Jefferson Avenue. Accessed through a gate and an overgrown courtyard, the former stable for livestock had dirt floors. Through the dank dust, Hollingsworth and Satayathum envisioned greatness.
“Sin-Jin and I would close down Lolita, and then we’d go to Lava Lounge and close down Lava Lounge,” says Hollingsworth. “Then, we would come down here with flashlights and headlamps, when it was a dirt floor, and be like, ‘This is where the banquette should be. This is where the bar will be.’ We did that for months and months.”
Led by Satayathum, construction took just under
a year. In 2014, the duo finally flicked on the lights at The Spotted Owl. Then, Hollingsworth went home to find his own electricity had been turned off.
“I put every penny I had into this business,” he says. “I put it all on black.”
A crowd of regulars followed Hollingsworth and Satayathum to The Spotted Owl. Sullivan joined six months later. Still, initial reviews were mixed. Craft cocktails were still new to Cleveland. Velvet Tango Room opened in 1997 as a place to dress up and sip a Manhattan or Negronis. Opened a year before The Owl, Porco Lounge & Tiki Room hung their decorative umbrella on history and Instagrammable decor and products. The Owl focused its attention on detail, quality and storytelling, with themed menus and the Cocktail Wheel Experience, which would help guests pick a drink based on their mood. But the high-low concept, mixologists who also serve High Life, remained a tough sell to the working-class, shot-and-a-beer crowd.
“It sucked to be New York City’s favorite bar in Cleveland,” says Hollingsworth. “That was cold comfort. We were broke as shit.”
The acclaim that would come later was hardearned. Margins were tight. Hollingsworth and Sullivan, who made the jump to The Owl from Lolita a year after it opened, drove the staff hard. Drinks that didn’t meet the standard got sent back.
“When people talk about the early days, yeah, dude, I wasn’t a big, soft sweetheart,” says Hollingsworth. “Our only path forward was to put out a better product than everybody else, so yeah, I was intense. If you’re dedicated to excellence, it’s not always a slumber party.”
Taurell Bush poured one of the first drinks at The Spotted Owl. It was slower than his previous high-volume bartending gigs at Barrio Tacos and Melt Bar and Grilled, which continued to supplement The Owl's low pay. The stakes were always high. Pressure weighed on the bartenders. Still, Bush calls it a “family environment.”
“I never gave a damn as much as I did when I was there,” he says. “Will allowed me a place to have a stage and hone my craft. I really dove into it there.”
Not everyone remembers their time as fondly. Cleveland Magazine spoke to several former employees who described a culture of mistrust and verbal abuse. One, who requested they be referred to as “former beverage director,” described being a “wide-eyed cocktail enthusiast,” who arrived an eager 21-year-old. Red flags arose as they moved
opposite :
Since starting
The Spotted Owl 10 years ago, Will Hollingsworth has grown a company of more than 100 employees and seven brands, with others on the way. Bottom left: Hollingsworth serves as the officiant for the wedding of Kathleen Sullivan and Sin-Jin Satayathum, his closest friends and colleagues.
up through the ranks. Hollingsworth looked at employees “pragmatically,” they say, overworking them while they were “extremely underpaid.” They described trends of manipulation, impulsivity and alcohol-fueled rage over two years of working there. Today, the former beverage director studies restaurant psychology. Inspired by their time at The Spotted Owl, the endeavor is an effort to combat a toxic culture that still exists across the industry.
“That wasn’t the first time I’d experienced something like that in this industry, but it was definitely the most intense,” they say. “I was working, like, 90 hours a week. I had a goal in mind, and I think they saw that and took advantage of it.”
Hollingsworth concedes that he was tough on people but stops short of saying any of the behavior crossed a line.
“I’ve made mistakes. I’m not trying to absolve myself of that,” says Hollingsworth. “Was I abusive with people? Absolutely not. Was I some wrathful monster? Absolutely not.”
A spirit moved Bonnie Flinner the first time she entered the building that she would five years later turn into Prosperity Social Club.
“I understood that it was a special place with history,” she says. “I’ve always felt the space had a soul of its own.”
The brick structure on Starkweather Avenue doesn’t look much different than it did 85 years ago, when Stanley Dembowski opened as Dempsey’s Oasis. Vintage light-up beer signs hang on wood-panel walls above a checkerboard tile floor. Liquor bottles clutter the shelves behind the wood bar, where the mechanical cash register has been replaced by a touchscreen credit card reader. The old-school bowling machine blinks and dings and rolls in favor of those who know its subtle slopes. Pierogies and beer-battered Haddock still swim out of the kitchen, though it’s doubtful that Dempsey’s served the heart of palm vegan alternative.
In 2005, after the previous owners let the building fall into disarray, Flinner jumped at an opportunity to purchase it. She worked to clean up the space without changing things too much. Any added decor needed to look like it’d been there forever.
“This was our dream place,” says Satayathum. “It’s where we all went after work. Bonnie did a great job of figuring out what worked there. I mean, they did fish fries in the ’30s, and she brought it back and made it a staple.”
In 2019, Flinner felt burned out by the restaurant
industry and was ready to move on, but passing the torch during a pandemic didn't feel right. One day during a takeout-only fish fry season, Hollingsworth burst in the back door declaring, “I’m going to buy this bar!” (That wasn’t public, but rumors move quickly among hospitality workers, Flinner says.) At first, she passed on some lowball offers, which showed Flinner Hollingsworth's cutthroat side. In 2021, she agreed to sell.
Over the following months, the new owner made some updates to the 80-year-old building, mostly behind the scenes, such as fixing the HVAC and nudging the bar forward a few feet to create more space for bartenders. But the restaurant remains largely unchanged.
“I don’t want to us to be the kind of people who go see what’s popular in f------ Denver and then build it in Cleveland,” Hollingsworth says. “I want us to be the people who try to protect classic hospitality experiences, like Prosperity.”
When the sale went through, Flinner didn’t know Hollingsworth had ambitions to expand. She’d never heard of Buildings and Food.
“If I would have known his future business growth, we might have had some conversations about what type of management he really needs to have in place,” she says. “I thought he was going to be more hands on, but I can’t fault him for fulfilling his dream and vision. I don’t regret selling it to him. I think he’s a great operator.”
Today, Flinner mostly lives in Bristol, Virginia, where her husband runs a boutique recording studio, The Earnest Tube, which preserves country music history and records direct to lacquer. In the news release Flinner sent out announcing the transition, she said that she’d still be a regular. But more than two years later, she rarely goes back.
“It’s hard,” she says. “There are just so many memories.”
The Spotted Owl's push for perfection continued through 2021, but Hollingsworth’s heart was no longer in cocktails. A PPP loan helped him survive the pandemic while paying his employees through the shutdown. The team tried a patio concept and new menu after new menu, but nothing seemed to revive his spark.
An itch to rework The Spotted Owl wouldn't subside. He pictured a dark room with cool music. Elevated, not stuffy. Definitely focused on wine. Dude, you’re just describing La Cave du Vin, he thought.
For 23 years, La Cave was a ramshackle
basement oasis in Cleveland Heights’ Coventry Village, perfect for an intimate first date or a place to just disappear. Erich Lasher served as the bar’s wine and beer expert. When it closed in 2018, he thought he was done. But the prospect of collaborating with Hollingsworth pulled him back in.
“I’m not very social,” he says. “But when I’m here, I’m a butterfly.”
Over six months, Buildings and Food built La Cave du Vin 2.0. Lasher curated the wine list. Sullivan and Hollingworth honed the front-of-house experience. Satayathum designed the red-hued lair. Rolf rolled it all into a stylish marketing campaign. At first, planning took place behind the scenes, but eventually word started getting out. The company did not formally present the idea to The Spotted Owl staff. Some were told directly. Others say they hadn't received specifics. Buildings and Food says they'd all already been offered new jobs.
On May 8, Hollingsworth laid off general manager Bryan Tetorakis, who had just returned from five weeks of paid paternity leave, for undisclosed reasons. Tetorakis, acclaimed for his work in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., propelled the bar to its most profitable year ever. The company says he was to be rewarded with a raise when Old 86, which he was also going to manage, opened three months later. He spoke openly — as did bartender Dan Watson — about leaving to start his own cocktail bar. (Tetorakis will soon open Bad Medicine, and Watson opened Never Say Dive last year.) When it came time for a review, the new father requested that raise come quicker, "an unreasonable ultimatum," the company says. After a discussion with Hollingsworth, they parted ways with Tetorakis. “He wasn’t being honest with us,” Hollingsworth says.
The Buildings and Food team quickly told the staff that the transition to La Cave would be announced soon. The Spotted Owl would be sent off over the next few months with one last menu called Education of Cyrus, an ode to an early fan-favorite menu. Employees could take severance or find new jobs in the growing company. The night before the announcement, an employee texted Hollingsworth saying that most of the staff planned to walk out in solidarity with Tetorakis.
That weekend, Sullivan had to bury her dog and grandfather. Hollingsworth was a groomsman in a wedding. With no one to work the bar, The Spotted Owl closed without a hoot.
The announcement the next day looked intentional but hasty. Rumors spread quickly. A flippant remark from Hollingsworth in a Cleveland Scene story — a dig at an art form that practitioners
see as no less valid than painting — angered the cocktail community.
“The Spotted Owl just wrapped up its best-ever year, both in revenue and profit,” Hollingsworth said in a news release. “But I’m bored. I’m bored with cocktails right now — but I won’t be forever. I love bars. I never get bored of bars, especially my bars. I love The Owl, I love what we’ve accomplished there, and I am proud of every bartender, barback, server, cocktail and mug of beer. But we’ve gotten to a place, as a company, where we can change things when we get bored. One of Buildings and Food’s values is that we never play defense. We’re not beholden to revenue, or to profits — we want to be engaged in our work, we want to do new things, we want to take risks. That’s what The Owl has always been, because that’s who we are. We’re bored with cocktails, and we want to sell wine. We want to talk about wine, we want to get people excited about wine. And La Cave was always the coolest place in Cleveland to drink wine.”
Workers enduring hardship to solve an owner's boredom isn't often well-received. Within hours, hundreds of comments on Instagram and Reddit determined that Hollingsworth was a villain: The employees found out via the Instagram post that The Owl was closing and being changed to a wine bar. No notice, just booted the whole staff.
They found out on Thursday, ahead of the weekend, where they make all their money.
I’m boycotting harder than I boycott Townhall. Will is a known practitioner of violating any good faith with his staff.
F--- Hollingsworth and f--- his company, Buildings and Food.
“At my grandfathers funeral, people were coming up to me asking what happened with The Spotted Owl,” says Sullivan. “Nobody was oblivious to the fact that we were going to close.”
A May 2023 party called “Angry Birds” thrown by Lakewood cocktail bar LBM solidified the narrative. Designed to raise money for the now-jobless bartenders, LBM promoted the party using The Spotted Owl's logo and a tagline reading: “a boring cocktail pop-up.” More than 600 drinks were poured. The bar sold out with a line stretched around the block. Restaurants such as Cordelia, Soho Chicken & Whiskey, Thyme Table and Salt donated food. Many of the restaurants, attendees and commenters were — and some still are — friends of the Buildings and Food staff.
“All of the people who brought food to the party that LBM threw without doing any due diligence legitimized it and supported this fairy tale,”
above :
Left to right:
The Buildings and Food team consists of vice president of marketing Heidi Rolf, founder and CEO Will Hollingsworth, vice president of development SinJin Satayathum and vice president of operations Kathleen Sullivan.
says Hollingsworth. “No one called us to ask what actually happened. That wound is still very fresh. I still feel very alone.”
Six months after our first meeting, the waitress at Sichuan Hot Pot sees Hollingsworth and asks, “Do you need a bigger table?” “No,” he says, placing an order of string beans, fried rice, hot and spicy crispy fish and sliced beef with hot pepper. “She knows I order a lot of food,” he says with a smirk.
Hollingsworth seems different than the first time we met. Timid and reserved, he’s replaced his black shirt with a navy blue one. For months after the La Cave du Vin announcement, the Buildings and Food executive team went on a social media blackout. While Rolf is back to posting silly quotes and karaoke selfies, she “had a total mental breakdown,” she says. Hollingsworth, who once said “if you hurt my people, I’ll come after you,” now tells me he’s been looking inward and “doing the work.” After his rapid ascent, he’s finally slowing down, reflecting on what’s happened and confronting “the bad feelings that I have worked hard to avoid my entire life.”
He doesn’t want to fight like he has over the past year and change. Even the company’s most recent acquisition — the former Griffin Bar and Cider, another announcement that was met with vitriol — was more than just expanding into Lakewood. The building on Madison Avenue is directly next
door to LBM — a real-life version of what the HBO show Curb Your Enthusiasm calls a “spite store.” Any doubts of that were put to rest by a sarcastic news release that read: “My whole team and I are excited to be next-door neighbors to our dear friends and colleagues at LBM, who have always treated us with so much kindness and generosity of spirit.”
“I can’t be somebody who goes to war every time he gets f----- over,” he says. “I have become aware of this black thing in me, and I have to work to get rid of it.”
Revenge isn’t driving Hollingsworth anymore. He also isn’t looking for vindication, he says. He’s simply trying to move forward. He wants to “continue to build cool shit.” But most important, he’s dedicated to keeping Buildings and Food alive for his more than 100 employees and, especially, Sullivan and Satayathum, who have been constants in his life. Last year, they got married in Ireland. Hollingsworth served as the officiant.
So if he doesn’t crave revenge or vindication and, more and more, ambition seems like a crutch, what drives him to keep on building?
“Ultimately, my gig is to make sure this f-----thing continues to work,” Hollingsworth says. “I’m being very genuine when I say this: When I get run out of town, I’ll go somewhere else and do it again. I’ll be fine. Heidi has an incredibly marketable skill set. So does Sin-Jin. So does Sully. They’ll be fine, too. But it won’t be as cool as what we’re doing right now.”
Walking through the winding paths of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History’s Ralph Perkins II Wildlife Center & Woods Garden, we meet the moon-eyed snowy owl, the distinguished bald eagle, a pair of sunbathing bobcats and even a waddling skunk. But the main stars of the space are, without a doubt, the river otters.
The animals swirl through the water, as kids eagerly crowd around, peering through the museum’s glass-walled enclosure. The river otter, Cleveland Magazine’s September cover star, is, yes, cute — and it turns out that it’s also a symbol of remarkable conservation success that was accomplished through coordinated efforts in the state.
- Edited byANNIE NICKOLOFF
It’s this journey, and a collection of tales and tidbits about 40 other creatures, that make up our September cover feature. After all, telling the story of Cleveland means more than recounting the humans who live here. Jim Nemet, CMNH’s director of wildlife, would know.
“Animals are part of our natural history,” Nemet says. “They’re part of our landscape. They’re part of our environment.”
Here, he corrects himself — and gives us an important reminder: “We are part of their environment.”
In this issue of Cleveland Magazine, take a walk on the wild side of Greater Cleveland, and meet some of the most unique critters that call Northeast Ohio home.
- COMEBACK CRITTERS -
Formerly endangered or entirely pushed out of Ohio, some animals have had remarkable rebounds in the state, thanks to conservation efforts. By
Paris Mather
FORMERLY EXTIRPATED
You’ve probably seen adorable photos of otters playing and floating on rivers, but these cute creatures have a larger story to tell. With a life expectancy of 10-15 years and an appetite requiring them to eat almost a quarter of their body weight in food each day, otters need a hospitable environment to ensure a good life. By the early 1900s, otters were extirpated from Ohio due to unmitigated hunting and poor water quality. The 1969 Cuyahoga River fire led Cleveland to prioritize revamping its environment in the latter half of the century. “In Southern states, otters are so popular they’re actually considered pests,” says Jim Nemet, director of wildlife at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. “In 1986, 123 otters were displaced from Southern states to Ohio’s rivers and streams.” Four watersheds were chosen for the otter’s careful reintroduction: Grand River, Killbuck Creek, Stillwater Creek and Little Muskingum River. “Only those that met various criteria regarding water quality and associated wetlands were deemed suitable for the otters,” says Katie Dennison, a wildlife biologist for Ohio Division of Wildlife. These efforts have come to fruition with the otter being removed from Ohio’s endangered animal list in 2002. Sightings of the creature continue to occur today — including in Cleveland Metroparks. They are best observed from a distance, though, as they are understandably territorial and shouldn’t be unnecessarily sought out.
FORMERLY ENDANGERED
Today the bald eagle — the United States’ national symbol — have a high density in Northwest Ohio, in Ottawa, Sandusky and Erie counties. You’ll see plenty in Northeast Ohio and the rest of the state, too. “Based on our 2024 breeding survey, there’s an estimate of
BOBCAT
Though bobcats are commonplace in many different areas, that isn’t quite the case in Northeast Ohio. Luckily, the animal is returning to the region again, with recent sightings in both Summit County Metroparks and Cleveland Metroparks.
841 nests in the state,” says Laura Kearns, a wildlife biologist for Ohio Division of Wildlife. These numbers prove a great rebound, considering there were only two active nests at one point in the 1970s. Back then, bald eagles were threatened by the loss of wetland habitats and pesticides like DDT getting into water that eagles consumed. “This caused their eggs to be too soft, which prevented chicks from being successfully hatched,” says Tim Jasinski, Lake Erie Nature & Science Center’s Wildlife rehabilitation expert. In the 1970s and ‘80s, a captive breeding program by the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, Ohio Division of Wildlife and the Cleveland Museum of Natural History gave eggs from captivity to adult wild eagles so they could hatch. Additional support for eagles comes from the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which gives federal protection to migratory birds, as well as increased conservationmindedness of humans. Now, bald eagles fly free in Ohio, and according to Jasinski, it would be rare to be near Lake Erie and not see one soaring by.
EXTIRPATED
While there are only a few dozen fishers around, it’s likely that they will continue to reproduce and once again have a home base in Ohio. Part of the mustelidae family, these large weasels often live and travel alone. “Female fishers, though, will often establish den sites high in hollow trees when birthing and raising young,” explains Katie Dennison, a wildlife biologist for Ohio Division of Wildlife. These lesserknown cousins of otters are forest-dwelling carnivores that can swim, run and climb trees. Spotting a fisher in Ohio was a very big deal in 2013, considering the previous two known records of them living in the state were from 1838. “It’s likely that the fisher was extirpated in Ohio in the mid-1800s. In addition to unregulated harvest, loss of habitat was a major cause of their local extinction when Ohio lost large portions of forest after European colonization,” says Dennison. Luckily, recent fisher reintroduction programs in Pennsylvania and New York caused the animal to move westward into Ohio. “As of February 2024, there are 40 confirmed observations across nine Northeast Ohio counties, with two-thirds of those sightings happening in the last three years,” says Jon Cepek, a Cleveland Metroparks wildlife ecologist.
Despite being known for their graceful elegance, swans have a turbulent history. “Early settlers drained many natural wetlands needed for survival, and trumpeter swans were almost completely gone from Ohio by the 1900s,” says Jon Cepek, a Cleveland Metroparks wildlife ecologist. Regulations like the Migratory Bird Treaty
Endangered at the state level, black bears have had a major comeback in Northeast Ohio and beyond, with sightings in 55 of Ohio’s 88 counties — primarily, in Ashtabula, Geauga and Trumbull counties.
On the decline due to the destruction of Ohio’s wetlands, the threatened Blanding’s turtle is the focus of an extensive reintroduction project between six governmental and conservation partners.
Act and Cleveland Water Act and incubation efforts through the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo created safer environments. “From 1996-1998, the Ohio Trumpeter Swan Restoration Program collected eggs from Alaska and flew them almost 4,000 miles back to Ohio for incubation,” says Tiffany Mayo, the trumpeter swan species survival plan coordinator for the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Incubators mimicked an adult swan’s body temperature and humidity. After hatching, the cygnets were released into Ohio marshes, and now, more than 800 trumpeter swans live in the state. Success has only continued, with a 2022 sighting of the first natural nest in the county, seen in the Cleveland Metroparks. “This was a pivotal moment in Ohio’s swan restoration story, and a testament to the importance of Cleveland Metroparks in providing critical habitats for local species,” says Mayo. In April 2024, another victory: The trumpeter swan was finally removed from Ohio’s threatened species list.
Held in Conneaut every September, this festival features delicious perch dinners paired with local craft and domestic beers, live music and family-friendly activities. This year, some proceeds go toward a scholarship fund for Conneaut High School students. “The community loves a good festival,” says Wendy DuBey, executive director of the Conneaut Area Chamber of Commerce. “We have a lot of perch fishermen going out of our harbor.” Free, September, 480 Lake Road, Conneaut, perchandpilsner.com
Northeast Ohio has a rich biodiversity — and a rich scene of festivals that celebrate everything from birds, to amphibians, bugs and unique backyard animals. Better yet, often these parties benefit animal rescue organizations and fund community resources. By Christina Rufo
Kent State University students celebrate the school’s unofficial mascot at Black Squirrel Festival. During parent’s weekend, the event showcases the students’ experience. Not inherently native to the area, black squirrels were brought to Kent State in 1961 by Larry Wooddell, the grounds’ superintendent at the time. “Flash is our main mascot, but there is still a lot of affinity to the black squirrels. I think our community is very unique,” says student activities coordinator Austen Shipley. Free, September, Risman Plaza and Student Green, Kent
Valley City’s annual Frog Jump started in 1962 when residents found inspiration in Mark Twain’s “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County ” to plan a family-friendly event for Liverpool Township’s 150th anniversary. The contest has a 60-by-60-foot ring stretched out as a target. “You take your frog out to the center, and once it leaves the small center circle, you get to motivate that frog any way you want, but you cannot touch them,” says Dave Smallwood, president of Valley City Community Group. All frog (and toad) species are welcome to join the contest. Free, July, 1200 Maple St., Valley City, valleycity.org
North Ridgeville’s annual SkunkFest fundraises for Skunk Haven, one of the few legally licensed pet skunk rescues in the world. For a fee, attendees can pet or take photos with naturally different colored skunks such as lavender, champagne and apricot — all of which have their scent glands removed. Event organizer and Skunk Haven founder Deborah Cipriani created the nonprofit in 2000 shortly after her first pet skunk became deathly ill. “Because of that, I started Skunk Haven,” she says. “I didn’t want people to feel like I did all those years ago.” Free, September, 7565 Avon Belden Road, North Ridgeville, skunkhaven.net
Woollybear Festival draws in over 100,000 spectators annually for a parade, caterpillar races and the crowning of the Woollybear king or queen. Sandy Coe, executive director of the Vermilion Chamber of Commerce, has helped run the festival since her mother co-founded the event decades ago with former Fox 8 meteorologist Dick Goddard. “What started off as a folklore of the Woollybear Festival prefacing the winter forecast has turned into a love of the animal, as well as a reminder to be kind to all animals,” says Coe. Free, September, 5495 Liberty Ave., Vermilion, vermilionohio.com
than a century later. Buzzard Day festivities include crafts, a carnival and, of course, the chance to see a live buzzard in person. Free, March, 1586 Center Road, Hinckley, hinckleyohchamber.com
Eyes to the sky: Every year a natural phenomenon happens in Hinckley, like clockwork. Around the second week of March, herds of buzzards naturally swarm into Hinckley Township, as they have since the 1800s. “Way back when Hinckley was started, there was a great hunt,” says Mark Staron, president of Hinckley’s Chamber of Commerce. “The people got together and shot a bunch of animals, and the buzzards’ sighting day started coming in on March 15.” The community still celebrates, more
OK, it’s not exactly in Northeast Ohio, but this one’s worth the relatively short drive to Ohio’s Maumee Bay Lodge, if you’re into birdwatching. Featuring over 230 recorded species, the Biggest Week In American Birding typically offers sights of 36 warbler species (including the blue-winged warbler, orange-crowned warbler and mourning warbler) during the expansive 10-day event. The BWIAB aims to raise support and awareness for bird habitat conservation. “We all know that people care the most about the things that they love, and so for us, we just want to h›elp as many people as possible come together and fall in love with birds and birding and then send them back filled with joy and optimism,” says Kimberly Kaufman, executive director of Black Swamp Bird Observatory. Free, May, Maumee Bay Lodge and Conference Center, 1750 State Park Road #2, Oregon, Ohio, biggestweekinamericanbirding.com
Zebra mussels are an invasive species brought to the Great Lakes on cargo ships. These critters attach, forming conglomerates that can fracture infrastructure and clog boat pipes.
It’s a bird. It’s a plane. False alarm: They’re mayflies and midges. Swarms appear on weather radar, says National Weather Service CLE meteorologist Rick Garuckas. “You typically will see them in the evening, at sunset, when they go up into the sky and make swarms or big clouds of them.”
The all-white “lucky stones” used in some local artists’ creations, like Jenn Brewster’s mosaics, are actually ear bones of the freshwater drum fish, a large swimmer also known as sheephead.
Before they were tokens from a beach trip, these shells were home to the sharp hornsnail. “Their shells can vary from brown to grayish colors. And the swirls on them just depend on how old they are,” says Hayley Rinearson, the education and outreach coordinator for Lake Erie Nature and Wildlife Center.
By Julia Soeder
5
FRESHWATER JELLYFISH
Lake Erie can have jellyfish. Craspedacusta sowerbii exist as hydras and can, in poor water quality, turn into umbrella-shaped jellyfish, with a harmlessto-humans sting.
6
In clear Lake Erie waters, you can find tiny (less than one-inch diameter) freshwater sponges along the rocky bottom.
If you see a flock of seagulls descending on a mass of dead fish, it might be gizzard shad. Huge populations of this sensitive fish can die at once due to suddenly dropping water temperatures in the fall, winter and spring seasons.
These little bloody red crustaceans are mysids, not actually shrimp — and they can be found in all of the Great Lakes. They have brood pouches to carry their young in — sort of like their namesake opossums.
The stuff of nightmares: Few Lake Erie creatures are as creepylooking as the invasive, parasitic sea lamprey, which uses its 100-plus teeth to kill 40 pounds of fish per year in Lake Erie.
By Annie Nickoloff
Ohio’s state animals all play important roles in biodiversity — and the local economy. “More than six out of every 10 dollars spent in 2022 on wildliferelated recreation came from wildlife watchers,” says Jamey Emmert of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. By Olivia Szmania
REGION: From Southern Canada through Central and South America.
FUN FACT: Ohio’s state tree, the Ohio buckeye, is named after deer, because it is dark brown with a light spot, resembling the shape and color of a deer’s eye.
REGION: Mainly eastern and southern Ohio, but also Northeast America going partially into the South.
FUN FACT: Black racers are excellent climbers and can climb up to 10 feet high, moving at speeds of up to 10 mph.
REGION: Eastern and Central North America.
FUN FACT: Cardinals get their red tint from carotenoids found in their food.
REGION: All of North America.
FUN FACT: One ladybug can eat up to 5,000 insects in a lifetime.
REGION: Eastern United States and Southeastern Canada.
FUN FACT: Spotted salamanders can live up to 30 years.
REGION: North America, mainly eastern.
FUN FACT: The bullfrog’s deep call can be heard half a mile away.
Like clockwork, some birds and insects travel through Northeast Ohio while on grand journeys to their warmer winter abodes. Look for these regular visitors when they arrive in the region. By Annie Nickoloff
MIGRATION MILEAGE 19,000 miles
These shorebirds make one of the longest journeys of any migrating bird, moving from their Canadian nests to shores south of the equator. “Every once in a while, there’s a red knot or a group of red knots here or there, and usually it’s in Lake Erie marshes,” says Jim Tomko, the president of the Audubon Society of Greater Cleveland.
MIGRATION MILEAGE 4,000 miles
At just the weight of a penny (one-tenth of an ounce), these tiny birds cross the Gulf of Mexico every year. “They’re the only hummingbird we have native to this part of the country,” Tomko says. “Most of them leave the U.S. for their winter.”
MIGRATION MILEAGE 13,000 miles
“Like little colored jewels,” Tomko says warblers are highly sought-after by Ohio birdwatchers. The blackpoll warbler, with a black cap pattern, travels 1,800 miles over open ocean in its annual migration.
MIGRATION MILEAGE 6,000 miles
More muted than the Baltimore oriole, these orioles briefly come to Northeast Ohio’s suburban brush. “They’re here in the summer, but they’re really not, because they’re only here for about two or three months,” Tomko says. “It’s one of the shortest stays I know of any songbird in this area.”
MIGRATION MILEAGE 6,000 miles
Snowy owls appear from November to February and are active at all times of day. That reflects their lives in the Arctic, with periods of 24-hour darkness or sunlight depending on the time of year. “They don’t care if it’s light or dark,” Tomko says. “They’re an easy owl to see during the daytime because of the fact that light doesn’t bother them.”
MIGRATION MILEAGE 2,500 miles
Predictably fluttering through Cleveland each September, the monarch butterfly relies on plants like milkweed to lay eggs for future generations to continue its migration path. “They’re such delicate insects, and they migrate all the way from Canada to Mexico,” Tomko says. “That’s just astounding.”
“It’s just astounding that they’re so able to find this place where they need the winter, it’s the same place as last year, and then come back through all those same barriers and find a place for the summer where they nested the year before.”
—JIM TOMKO, AUDUBON SOCIETY OF GREATER CLEVELAND PRESIDENT
More than 130 animals are listed as endangered in Ohio, and many conservationists work to reestablish their populations across the state. By
Vince Guerrieri
Cuyahoga Valley National Park had one Indiana bat sighting more than 20 years ago, says biologist Ryan Trimbath — but the bat’s population is so threatened that it affects federal policy. “They’re so rare, and we know they might be here, so
they affect the way we operate,” he says. Like other endangered species, it’s due largely to habitat loss. Its population further depleted with the arrival of white nose syndrome. In fact, the northern long-eared bat — a species more commonly seen at Cuyahoga Valley National Park — has also been recently put on the endangered species list. Bats’ fragility prompted the park to close Ice Box Cave, a habitat for them, to the public.
Just three venomous snakes are native to Ohio: southern Ohio’s timber rattlesnake and northern copperhead; and northern Ohio’s Massasauga rattlesnake. The local
In 1988, the Karner blue butterfly was declared extirpated in Ohio. Four years later, it was added to the federal endangered species list. As larvae, the bug feeds on blue lupine, a native-to-Ohio flowering plant that’s viewed as invasive in some states. The flower is in decline in Ohio, and so the butterflies are, too. “A lot of grasslands have been degraded with urban sprawl,” says Moni Bowman Bell, a wildlife communications specialist for the Ohio Division of Wildlife, “and a lot of people don’t like wildflowers.” Efforts to reintroduce the butterfly have gone on since 1998, largely in Northwest Ohio parks.
The eastern hellbender — North America’s largest salamander — requires cool, fast-moving and clean water. And in Ohio for many years, that was a tall order. “Hellbenders breathe through their skin, and if they’re breathing in toxic chemicals, they can’t really breathe,” says Moni Bowman Bell, a wildlife communications specialist for the Ohio Division of Wildlife in Akron. (Young hellbenders have gills, and adults have lungs.) The Columbus Zoo has worked to hatch hellbender eggs and release them in Southeast Ohio. Their populations can be difficult to monitor, Bell says, because they live under large, heavy rocks. That problem led to the creation of the “hellbender hut,” a large precast concrete hut that has an opening to peek into for nests and eggs.
rattler lives in wet meadows, which were plentiful in the rural landscape when it still consisted of subsistence farms, says Garrett Ormiston, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History’s manager of preserve operations. As agriculture declined and meadows got plowed under for development, the population declined. The museum is trying to reverse that with preserves in the Grand River watershed, including Windsor Woods in Trumbull County and Grand River Terraces in Ashtabula County. “We’re in the business of preserving biodiversity,” says Ormiston. “Losing one species can have an impact on others. Everything is connected.”
BY KR STEN HAMPSH RE
Maxwell Carfagna, 10, wanted to make sure his golf game was accurate — plus, prevent others on the course from cheating when measuring a shot’s distance. After three years in University School’s entrepreneur club, with weekly meetings to imagine, tinker, prototype, test and try again, he looks at life’s problems (including the bother of drying off after a shower) with an innovator’s perspective.
“How can I fix it?”
The solution: a golf cart equipped with a control panel and circuitry that he created himself. It connects to a sensor-activated camera. Golf balls bear QR codes. Swing, ding, land, capture the stats; that’s how it goes.
Carfagna was runner-up in the school’s annual Boyce Award for Student Innovation for this prototype of a tricked-out buggy. “With the first project, my 3D printer wasn’t working because the filament wouldn’t load correctly,” he says. “I made a feeder so it would not get stuck.”
The shower fan was year two. Towelling off can be labor intensive, Carfagna points out. He designed a prototype of a pint-sized blower that suctions to the shower wall, so once he’s clean and the spigot is off, on goes the fan and out with the towel.
“He likes to create useful things and keep himself busy — he’s very handy,” says his mother, Joanna Carfagna.
Learning by doing, unstructured tinkering along with reteaching the steps to someone else, cements complicated concepts. According to a study by the National Training Laboratories Institute, students retain 75% of what they learn when they practice it, and 90% when they teach someone else and repeat the process immediately.
“You remember concepts a whole lot better when you’ve had to do them and not just read about it,” says Jessica Dragar, senior manager of outreach and engagement for University School and the Young Entrepreneur Institute.
For many students, hands-on experiences fuel classroom academics.
“We have boys who might have been looking out the window, wondering what else was happening, not completely focused — then their eyes hit you with, ‘I heard what you said and that is what I want
to do!’” Dragar says. “When you see that light bulb click, and all of a sudden they get it and realize they are capable of doing so much more than they ever imagined, it’s wonderful to watch.”
In a course that feels like a truncated MBA program, Mati Barker’s students compete in a food truck competition that involves concepting, menu creation, marketing, graphics and a business plan. “This class gets the wheels turning,” says Barker, the director of the Institute for Business & Entrepreneurship at Lake Ridge Academy.
As juniors and seniors, students engage with a choice of three capstone projects. One is an industry survey examining challenges and opportunities. Another is a business examination deep dive. And lastly, an executive summary. All include assisting with two new stores that opened on campus this fall. One is a cafe selling the usual coffee shop fare. The other is a swag stop offering spirit wear.
The on-site businesses hatched in 2022. Students were involved in every phase of the planning. A board member overseeing
The Longs had an eye on Gilmour Academy’s Catalyst Program since their daughter, Kendall, was in middle school.
“She always picked up on science, and we wanted to make sure she had opportunities to explore careers,” says Ed. Kendall landed in a Case Western Reserve University lab working on genetics research.
“As a parent, it was amazing to watch her grow and develop and have all the supports right there,” he says. Tanisha adds, “They are learning to become students for life.”
SPEAKING UP.
Reviewing research results, tweaking experiments, writing journal notes — all of the analysis that this program offered helped develop a maturity in the way Kendall can now communicate with professors and professionals, the Longs say.
FAILING ISN’T AN ‘F.’
Students feel a lot of pressure to be sucessful, which is why this program teaches them how to fail. “In this day and age, getting students to understand that it’s OK to fail and to keep trying is very difficult to teach,” says Tanisha. “But what the program does for those students who are ready to embark on deeper learning through self-actualization is they grow, find their voice and find a path.”
GROWING KNOWLEDGE. With early lab experience, Kendall has become “seasoned” as only a sophomore at Howard University, where she is building layers of real-world research. “The program propelled her for greater success and she is now able to approach projects on an even deeper level,” Tanisha says.
Elizabeth Russell
A.P. PSYCHOLOGY TEACHER, LAKE RIDGE ACADEMY
Student-generated activity stations designed to test child development concepts taught in the classroom give Russell’s advanced placement psych group an eye-opening perspective. “Students design interactive, fun activities that test where kindergarten and first graders are developmentally,” she explains of the upper-lower school collaboration.
The concept of convservatin is a classic milestone when kids move from kindergarten to first grade, Russel says. Students set up activities to see how young learners grasp the concept. “We might have two glasses of water — one that is tall, one that is short and squat,” she says. “We pour the same amount of water in each glass. If kids have achieved an understanding of conservation, they will say it’s the same amount of water. If not, they generally say the taller glass has more water.”
Sometimes the best way to learn is by doing. That’s why Lake Ridge Academy’s advanced placement students guide younger pupils through the activities. The program also helps the students build communication skills. “They are giving instructions, helping if a task gets difficult, offering suggestions and also collecting data,” she says.
Projects like the studentgenerated activity stations keep teaching fresh, says Russell, who is intentional about soliciting suggestions from students to keep them engaged. “My students do goal setting at the beginning of units and at the end, I ask, ‘What is something you or I could do to help you master the skill better?’” she relates.
“This gives me a chance to take into account changes that would benefit all students.”
A deer-in-headlights look is how Neena Goel describes students’ first days in a graduate-level or professional research lab as participants of Gilmour Academy’s Catalyst Program. They are tossed into the middle of a scientific project without any sort of debriefing.
The initial culture shock and information overload is a good thing, Goel says. “The outcome is that students learn to understand what they observe and have to find out how and why on their own,” she says of the inquiry-based program that takes students out of their comfort zones and inspires critical thinking and independent study.
construction gave kids a behind-the-scenes tour of the work in progress.
“They walked through the schematics, how to read architectural plans, how to work with contractors and make sure they follow through with requirements — how to have difficult conversations between construction companies and third-party vendors,” Barker says.
The owner of Slow Train Coffee in Oberlin was instrumental in the project, Barker says of menu design and vendor sourcing. “We gave the students a ground-up buildup to the opening,” she says.
At first, the cafe will be open during drop-off, lunch periods and while the class meets as they rotate “on the clock.” Barker says they’re starting small with basic drinks and plan to add frozen drinks — plumbing was arranged in the plans.
“The idea is, as it grows and each new class of students comes through, they have an opportunity to expand and grow the businesses to leave their stamp on it,” Barker says.
“Students find out that science is not a linear process,” Goel adds, speaking of its trial-and-error nature.
Ed and Tanisha Long’s daughter, Kendall, completed a Catalyst experience at Case Western Reserve University, following her interest in genetics after she took a science class in middle school where she learned to construct and deconstruct DNA and RNA, which store and read genetic information in cells.
Kendall realized after the lab project that genetics is her jam. Now, she is at Howard University studying biology with a minor in chemistry. “The program propelled her toward greater success in college to be involved in a highly selective program,” says Tanisha Jackson-Long.
Jackson-Long is a teacher at Cleveland Municipal School District and focuses on entrepreneurship
Now an industrial design major at Syracuse University, Celia Heisey discovered a career passion at the intersection of design and build in the makerspace at Saint Joseph, where she took engineering courses and an independent study to hone life and lab skills.
A PROJECT WITH PURPOSE
OWNING IT.
and skills-based training. She says of the handson learning advantage, “We understand and remember by applying what we learn. This type of program takes classroom projects into a real-world experience where Kendall was in a lab getting actual outcomes.”
“One of the hardest things for our young ladies is throwing away something they worked on,” says Saint Joseph Academy science teacher Bryce Ormiston. But “back to the drawing board” is a way of life they’re learning to manage.
Ormiston was a practicing engineer for 13 years before joining St. Joseph’s staff. “I really try to reinforce, I teach a skill, and it’s the students’ job to teach the next person, and we do that right from the start,” he says. “Then, you establish a natural collaboration, which is super important in engineering.”
An all-together brain dump and problem-solving mindset is not just an essential engineering skill, it’s a skill for life. Related to engineering, Ormiston says, “Everything is collaboration.”
Slipping feet into all those shoes in an immersive lab experience changes perspectives.
The younger you learn to fail and regroup, the better, Ormiston says. This summer, he ran a camp in the makerspace with sixth to eighth graders. Fifteen students tinker around the lab, doing their thing. Ormiston jokes, “Guess how much I have to do? Pretty much nothing. They learned to be confident
Saint Joseph collaborates with occupational therapists and community organizations to learn what projects might help their causes. In this case, Heisey made a cool school tool that can be expanded upon and inspired additional maker space projects, including lightboard templates the following engineering class made to complement it. “It was really cool to leave my mark on the school, and even though I’m not there anymore, the project is and students are really enjoying it,” Celia says.
An independent study during which Heisey designed, prototyped and constructed an expansive Lite-Brite panel began with really no boundaries. “At some points, that was daunting,” she admits. “It was all on me and what I made of it, so I had to develop the criteria and test different concepts. That really helped set me up for college.”
LEARNING BY DOING.
It wasn’t success but trial by error that helped Heisey gain confidence in the makerspace. “At first, I ran into a lot of problems using the different machines in our makerspace,” Heisey relates. “So, I was learning as I went along, figuring out how to size pegs made out of acrylic rods in different dimensions,” Heisey relates.
and know if a 3D printout didn’t work, they don’t come back to ask me, ‘What should I change?’ They just try something else.”
Parents Matt Heisey and Julie Trott-Heisey speak of the experience their daughter, Celia, had in delving into her love of graphic design and innovation combined with making-by-hand. She constructed a whiteboard-sized version of Lite-Brite as a creative learning tool to give to the school, figuring out its capabilities to be expandable and adaptable.
Trial, error, admitted frustration and unhinged trying resulted in a hands-on masterpiece that will leave a legacy at the school. Julie says access to programs like the school’s makerspace, along with rowing in crew, “have allowed her to become a very independent, hardworking woman.”
The leg up during college application and tour time was tangible. Celia is now a freshman at Syracuse University.
“When we were touring the industrial design building, we ran into the coordinator of the makerspace and he invited us to tour the lab,” Matt says. “It was so amazing to witness from a parent perspective. He was impressed that she had all the hands-on learning experience coming out of her high school career.”
FIRST BAPTIST CHRISTIAN SCHOOL
11400 Lagrange Road, Elyria, 440-458-5185, fbcs-elyria.org
ALL SAINTS SCHOOL OF ST. JOHN VIANNEY
28702 Euclid Ave., Wickliffe, 440-943-1395, allsaintssjv.org
CLEVELAND
MONTESSORI SCHOOL
12510 Mayfield Road, Cleveland, 216-421-0700, clevelandmontessori.org
COMMUNION OF SAINTS SCHOOL
2160 Stillman Road, Cleveland Heights, 216-932-4177, communionofsaintsschool.org
CORPUS CHRISTI ACADEMY
5655 Mayfield Road, Lyndhurst, 440-449-4244, corpuschristiacad.org
GESU CATHOLIC SCHOOL
2450 Miramar Blvd., University Heights, 216-932-0620, gesu.com
GILMOUR ACADEMY
35001 Cedar Road, Gates Mills, 440-473-8000, gilmour.org
HOLY FAMILY
CATHOLIC SCHOOL
7367 York Road, Parma, 440-842-7785, holyfamilyschoolparma.org
HOLY FAMILY SCHOOL
3163 Kent Road, Stow, 330-688-3816, holyfamilyschoolstow.org
HOLY TRINITY SCHOOL
2610 Nagel Road, Avon, 440-937-6420, holytrinityavon.org
IMMACULATE
HEART OF MARY
2859 Lillis Drive, Cuyahoga Falls, 330-923-1220, ihm.com
INCARNATE WORD ACADEMY
6620 Pearl Road, Parma Heights, 440-842-6818, incarnatewordacademy.org
JULIE BILLIART
SCHOOL (AKRON)
380 Mineola Ave., Akron, 234-206-0941, juliebilliartschools.org
JULIE BILLIART
SCHOOL (LYNDHURST)
4982 Clubside Road, Lyndhurst, 216-381-1191, juliebilliartschool.org
JULIE BILLIART
SCHOOL (WESTLAKE)
3600 Crocker Road, Westlake, 440-471-4150, juliebilliartschools.org
LAKEWOOD CATHOLIC ACADEMY
14808 Lake Ave., Lakewood, 216-521-0559, lakewoodcatholicacademy.com
MARY QUEEN OF PEACE SCHOOL
4419 Pearl Road, Cleveland, 216-741-3685, maryqueenofpeaceschool.com
MATER DEI ACADEMY
29840 Euclid Ave., Wickliffe, 440-585-0800, materdeiacademy.us
METRO CATHOLIC SCHOOL
2810 W. 54th St., Cleveland, 216-281-4044, metrocatholic.org
NOTRE DAME
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
13000 Auburn Road, Chardon, 440-279-1127, ndes.org
OUR LADY OF THE ELMS
1375 W. Exchange St., Akron, 330-836-9384, theelms.org
OUR LADY OF THE LAKE
175 E. 200th St., Euclid, 216-481-6824, olleuclidschool.org
ST. ALBERT THE GREAT 6667 Wallings Road, North Royalton, 440-237-1032, saint-albert.org
ST. ALBERT THE GREAT AT ASSUMPTION ACADEMY
9183 Broadview Road, Broadview Heights, 440-526-4877, assumptionacademy.org
ST. ANGELA MERICI PARISH SCHOOL
20830 Lorain Road, Fairview Park, 440-333-2126, samparish.org/school
ST. ANTHONY OF PADUA LORAIN
1339 E. Erie Ave., Lorain, 440-288-2155, stanthonylorain.org
ST. AUGUSTINE SCHOOL
195 Seventh St. NW, Barberton, 330-753-6435, staugschool.net
ST. BARNABAS SCHOOL
9200 Olde Eight Road, Northfield, 330-467-7921, sbcatholicschool.com
ST. BENEDICT CATHOLIC SCHOOL
13633 Rockside Road, Garfield Heights, 216-662-9380, stbenedictohio.org
ST. BERNADETTE SCHOOL
2300 Clague Road, Westlake, 440-734-7717, stbern.net
ST. BRENDAN
4242 Brendan Lane, North Olmsted, 440-777-8433, stbrendannortholmsted.org
ST. CHARLES BORROMEO PARISH SCHOOL
7107 Wilber Ave., Parma, 440-886-5546, saintcharlesschool.org
ST. CHRISTOPHER SCHOOL
1610 Lakeview Ave., Rocky River, 440-331-3075, scsrr.org
ST. DOMINIC SCHOOL
3455 Norwood Road, Shaker Heights, 216-561-4400, stdominicschool.net
ST. FRANCIS CLEVELAND SCHOOL
7206 Myron Ave., Cleveland, 216-361-4858, stfranciscleveland.com
ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI SCHOOL
6850 Mayfield Road, Gates Mills, 440-442-7450, sfaschoolgm.org
ST. FRANCIS DE SALES PARISH SCHOOL
4009 Manchester Road, Akron, 330-644-0638, stfparishschool.org
ST. FRANCIS XAVIER SCHOOL
612 E. Washington St., Medina, 330-725-3345, sfxmedina.com
ST. GABRIEL SCHOOL
9935 Johnnycake Ridge Road, Mentor, 440-352-6169, st-gabrielschool.org
ST. HILARY SCHOOL
645 Moorfield Road, Fairlawn, 330-867-8720, st-hilaryschool.org
ST. IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
10205 Lorain Ave., Cleveland, 216-671-0535, stignatiusofantioch-school.online
ST. JEROME SCHOOL
15100 Lake Shore Blvd., Cleveland 216-486-3587, stjeromecleveland.org/school
ST. JOAN OF ARC SCHOOL
498 E. Washington St., Chagrin Falls, 440-247-6530, stjoanofarc.org
ST. JOSEPH PARISH SCHOOL (AMHERST)
175 St. Joseph Drive, Amherst, 440-988-4244, sjsamherst.org
ST. JOSEPH PARISH SCHOOL (AVON) 32946 Electric Blvd., Avon, 440-933-6233, stjosephparishschool.org
ST. JUDE SCHOOL
594 Poplar St., Elyria, 440-366-1681, stjudejaguars.org
ST. MARK
15724 Montrose Ave., Cleveland, 216-521-4115, stmarkwestpark.com
ST. MARY (AKRON)
750 South Main St., Akron, 330-253-1233, stmaryakron.com
ST. MARY SCHOOL CHARDON 401 North St., Chardon, 440-286-3590, stmaryschoolchardon.org
ST. MARY SCHOOL (ELYRIA) 237 Fourth St., Elyria, 440-322-2808, stmarycatholicschoolelyria.com
ST. MARY OF THE ASSUMPTION SCHOOL
8540 Mentor Ave., Mentor, 440-255-9781, stmarymentorschool.org
ST. MARY BYZANTINE CATHOLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
4600 State Road, Cleveland, 216-749-7980, stmarybyzantine.com
ST. MARY OF THE FALLS 8262 Columbia Road, Olmsted Falls, 440-235-4580, stmaryofthefallsschool.com
ST. MARY OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION
2680 Stoney Ridge Road, Avon, 440-934-6246, stmaryavon.org
ST. MICHAEL CATHOLIC SCHOOL
6906 Chestnut Road, Independence, 216-524-6405, stmichaelschoolinfo.com
ST. PASCHAL BAYLON CATHOLIC SCHOOL
5360 Wilson Mills Road, Highland Heights, 440-442-6766, saintpaschal.com
ST. PATRICK
127 Portage St., Kent, 330-673-7232, stpatskent.org
ST. PETER SCHOOL (LORAIN)
3601 Oberlin Ave., Lorain, 440-282-9909, stpeterlorain.org
ST. PETER SCHOOL
35749 Center Ridge Road, North Ridgeville, 440-327-3212, stpeterschoolnr.org
ST. RAPHAEL SCHOOL
525 Dover Center Road, Bay Village, 440-871-6760, saintraphaelparish-school.com
ST. ROCCO PARISH SCHOOL
3205 Fulton Road, Cleveland, 216-961-8557, saintroccoschoolcle.org
ST. SEBASTIAN PARISH SCHOOL
500 Mull Ave., Akron, 330-836-9107, stsebastian.org/school
ST. STANISLAUS SCHOOL
6615 Forman Ave., Cleveland, 216-883-3307, saintstanislaus.us
ST. THOMAS MORE SCHOOL
4180 N. Amber Drive, Brooklyn, 216-749-1660, stmschool.com
ST. VINCENT DE PAUL
PARISH SCHOOL
17 S. Maple St., Akron, 330-762-5912, stvincentelementary.com
STS. ROBERT AND WILLIAM SCHOOL
351 E. 260th St., Euclid, 216-731-3060, srwschool.cc
SETON CATHOLIC SCHOOL
6923 Stow Road, Hudson, 330-342-4200, setoncatholicschool.org
BETHEL CHRISTIAN ACADEMY
12901 W. Pleasant Valley Road, Parma, 440-842-8575, bcakids.org
CORNERSTONE
CHRISTIAN ACADEMY
2846 SOM Center Road, Willoughby Hills, 440-497-0733, ccacornerstone.com
CUYAHOGA VALLEY
CHRISTIAN ACADEMY
4687 Wyoga Lake Road, Cuyahoga Falls, 330-929-0575, cvcaroyals.org
PARMA HEIGHTS
CHRISTIAN ACADEMY
8971 W. Ridgewood Drive, Parma Heights, 440-845-8668, phcawarriors.com
RAMAH CHRISTIAN ACADEMY
4770 Lee Road, Cleveland, 216-581-2626, ramahchristianacademy.org
VALLEY CHRISTIAN ACADEMY
1037 East Blvd., Aurora, 330-562-8191, valleychristian.com
SUMMIT CHRISTIAN SCHOOL
3313 Northampton Road, Cuyahoga Falls, 330-762-3382, summitchristianschool.net
FUCHS MIZRACHI SCHOOL
26600 Shaker Blvd., Beachwood, 216-932-0220, fuchsmizrachi.org
GROSS SCHECHTER DAY SCHOOL’
27601 Fairmount Blvd., Pepper Pike, 216-763-1400, grossschechter.org
HEBREW ACADEMY OF CLEVELAND 1800 Warrensville Center Road, Cleveland, 216-382-3300, hac1.org
JOSEPH AND FLORENCE
MANDEL JEWISH DAY SCHOOL
26500 Shaker Blvd., Beachwood, 216-287-5958, mandeljds.org
THE LIPPMAN SCHOOL
750 White Pond Drive, Akron, 330-836-0419, thelippmanschool.org
BETHANY LUTHERAN SCHOOL
6041 Ridge Road, Parma, 440-884-1010, bethanyparmaschool.org
HOLY CROSS LUTHERAN SCHOOL
4260 Rocky River Drive, Cleveland, 216-941-2770, hclcas.org
LAKEWOOD LUTHERAN SCHOOL
14560 Madison Ave., Lakewood, 216-221-6941, lakewoodlutheranschool.com
LUTHER MEMORIAL SCHOOL
4464 Pearl Road, Cleveland, 216-749-5300, lmslancers.org
MESSIAH LUTHERAN SCHOOL
4401 W. 215th St., Fairview Park, 440-331-6553, messiahfairview.org
REDEEMER CHRISTIAN SCHOOL
2141 Fifth St., Cuyahoga Falls, 330-923-1280, redeemerlutheran.us
ROYAL REDEEMER
LUTHERAN SCHOOL
11680 Royalton Road, North Royalton, 440-237-7988, rrls.org
ST. JOHN NOTTINGHAM
LUTHERAN SCHOOL
1027 E. 176th St., Cleveland, 216-531-1156, stjohnnottingham.org/school
ST. PAUL WESTLAKE
27981 Detroit Road, Westlake, 440-835-3051, stpaulwestlake.org
ST. THOMAS LUTHERAN SCHOOL
21211 Detroit Road, Rocky River, 440-331-4426, stcr.org
ANDREWS
OSBORNE ACADEMY
38588 Mentor Ave., Willoughby, 440-942-3600, andrewsosborne.org
BIRCHWOOD SCHOOL OF HAWKEN
4400 W. 140th St., Cleveland, 216-251-2321, birchwoodschool.org
HANNA PERKINS SCHOOL
19910 Malvern Road, Shaker Heights, 216-991-4472, hannaperkins.org
HATHAWAY BROWN SCHOOL
19600 North Park Blvd., Shaker Heights, 216-932-4214, hb.edu
HAWKEN SCHOOL
5000 Clubside Drive, Lyndhurst, 440-423-4446, hawken.edu
HERSHEY MONTESSORI SCHOOL
10229 Prouty Road, Concord Twp., 440-357-0918, hershey-montessori.org
HUDSON MONTESSORI SCHOOL
7545 Darrow Road, Hudson, 330-650-0424, hudsonmontessori.org
LAKE RIDGE ACADEMY
37501 Center Ridge Road, North Ridgeville, 440-327-1175, lakeridgeacademy.org
LAUREL SCHOOL
1 Lyman Circle, Shaker Heights, 216-464-1441, laurelschool.org
LAWRENCE LOWER SCHOOL
1551 E. Wallings Road, Broadview Heights, 440-526-0003, lawrenceschool.org
THE NEST SCHOOL
27390 Center Ridge Road, Westlake, 440-835-2929, thenestschool.com
OLD TRAIL SCHOOL
2315 Ira Road, Bath Twp., 330-666-1118, oldtrail.org
RUFFING MONTESSORI SCHOOL
3380 Fairmount Blvd., Cleveland Heights, 216-321-7571, ruffingmontessori.net
RUFFING MONTESSORI SCHOOL
1285 Orchard Park Drive, Rocky River, 440333-2250, ruffingmontessori.org
SOUTH SUBURBAN
MONTESSORI SCHOOL
4450 Oakes Road, Brecksville, 440-526-1966, ssmsmontessori.net
SPRING GARDEN
WALDORF SCHOOL
1791 Jacoby Road, Copley, 330-666-0574, sgws.org
UNIVERSITY SCHOOL
20701 Brantley Road, Shaker Heights, 216321-8260, us.edu
URBAN COMMUNITY SCHOOL
4909 Lorain Ave., Cleveland, 216-939-8330, urbancommunityschool.org
VALLEY CHRISTIAN ACADEMY
1037 East Blvd., Aurora, 330-562-8191, valleychristian.com
ARCHBISHOP HOBAN HIGH SCHOOL
1 Holy Cross Blvd., Akron 330-773-0436, hoban.org
Founded by the Brothers of Holy Cross, Hoban is a Roman Catholic, coeducational, college-preparatory school built to nurture the hearts and educate the minds of its students.
BEAUMONT SCHOOL
3301 N. Park Blvd., Cleveland Heights 216-321-2954, beaumontschool.org
Beaumont School is an all-girls Catholic high school in the Ursuline tradition that educates women for life, leadership and service.
BENEDICTINE HIGH SCHOOL
2900 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, Cleveland 216-421-2080, cbhs.edu
A Catholic high school in the tradition of St. Benedict that shapes a diverse group of young men into leaders.
ELYRIA CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL
725 Gulf Road, Elyria 440-365-1821, elyriacatholic.com
Elyria Catholic is the only coed Catholic high school west of Cleveland. Students are surrounded by an engaged community which strongly supports them both inside and outside of the classroom.
GILMOUR ACADEMY
34001 Cedar Road, Gates Mills 440-473-8000, gilmour.org
Gilmour is an independent Catholic school. It is coeducational, collegepreparatory and based in the Holy Cross tradition. Its mission is rooted in educating both the mind and the heart of every student.
HOLY NAME HIGH SCHOOL
6000 Queens Highway, Parma Heights, 440-886-0300, holynamehs.com
Based in Parma Heights, Holy Name is a coeducational, Catholic high school that promotes excellence in education through a challenging college-prep curriculum.
LAKE CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL
6733 Reynolds Road, Mentor 440-578-1020, lakecatholic.org
Lake Catholic is a Roman Catholic, coeducational college-preparatory high school located on a 35-acre campus in Mentor providing an environment that emphasizes a commitment to excellence with a spirit of respect and compassion.
MAGNIFICAT HIGH SCHOOL
20770 Hilliard Blvd., Rocky River 440-331-1572, magnificaths.org
Founded by the Sisters of the Humility of Mary, Magnificat is a Catholic all-girls, college-preparatory high school in Rocky River.
NOTRE DAME-CATHEDRAL LATIN SCHOOL
13000 Auburn Road, Chardon 440-286-6226, ndcl.org
Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin is a coeducational, college-preparatory high school sponsored by the Sisters of Notre Dame and located on a 75-acre campus.
OUR LADY OF THE ELMS
1375 W. Exchange St., Akron 330-836-9384, theelms.org
The Elms is the only all-girls, faithbased school grades 1 - 12 with a coed pre-school and kindergarten in the Cleveland Diocese.
PADUA FRANCISCAN HIGH SCHOOL
6740 State Road, Parma 216-650-1569, paduafranciscan.com
Padua is a coeducational, Catholic college-preparatory school based on the Franciscan tradition.
ST. EDWARD HIGH SCHOOL
13500 Detroit Ave., Lakewood 216-221-3776, sehs.net
St. Edward is a college-preparatory, same-sex Catholic high school in the Holy Cross tradition that serves students from various communities in Northeast Ohio.
ST. IGNATIUS HIGH SCHOOL
1911 W. 30th St., Cleveland 216-651-0222, ignatius.edu
Founded in 1886, St. Ignatius is a same-sex, Catholic Jesuit high school with a 23-acre, 19-building campus in Ohio City rooted in Ignatian spirituality.
ST. JOSEPH ACADEMY
3470 Rocky River Drive, Cleveland 216-251-6788, sja1890.org
St. Joseph Academy is the only allgirls Catholic high school in Cleveland. Since its founding by the Congregation of St. Joseph, the graduate of St. Joseph Academy is a woman who lives unifying love through empathetic justice, service to the dear neighbor without distinction, personal integrity and emerging wisdom.
ST. MARTIN DE PORRES HIGH SCHOOL
6202 St. Clair Ave., Cleveland 216-881-1689, saintmartincleveland.org
St. Martin de Porres is a Catholic, college-preparatory high school for students with limited economic means.
ST. VINCENT-ST. MARY HIGH SCHOOL
15 N. Maple St., Akron 330-253-9113, stvm.com
St. Vincent-St.Mary is a STEMcertified, Catholic Marianist high school in Akron.
TRINITY HIGH SCHOOL
12425 Granger Road, Garfield Heights 216-581-5757, ths.org
Trinity High School is a coeducational, college-preparatory high school with a pre-professional internship program in Garfield Heights supported by Franciscan values.
VILLA ANGELA-ST. JOSEPH HIGH SCHOOL
18491 Lakeshore Blvd., Cleveland 216-481-8414, vasj.com
Located on the Lake Erie shore in Cleveland, VASJ is a Catholic, comprehensive, college-preparatory school based on the Ursuline and Marianist traditions.
WALSH JESUIT HIGH SCHOOL
4550 Wyoga Lake Road, Cuyahoga Falls 330-929-4205, walshjesuit.org
Walsh Jesuit is a Catholic, coeducational, college-preparatory high school in the spirit of St. Ignatius located in Cuyahoga Falls.
CORNERSTONE CHRISTIAN ACADEMY
2846 SOM Center Road, Willoughby Hills 440-943-9260, ccacornerstone.com
Cornerstone Christian Academy’s mission is to provide a quality education based on God’s truth, resulting in Christ-like students who will impact their world for the glory of God
CUYAHOGA VALLEY
CHRISTIAN ACADEMY
4687 Wyoga Lake Road, Cuyahoga Falls 330-929-0575, cvcaroyals.org
CVCA is a college-preparatory, interdenominational Christian middle and high school (grades 6-12) in northern Summit County. CVCA is committed to academic excellence in a supportive, distinctively Christian environment.
LUTHERAN HIGH SCHOOL EAST
3565 Mayfield Road, Cleveland Heights 216-382-6100, lutheraneast.org
Lutheran East is a Christian, coeducational, college-preparatory high school located on a 12-acre campus in Cleveland Heights offering a faithbased community, academic programs, competitive athletics, arts and an Honors Academy.
LUTHERAN WEST
3850 Linden Road, Rocky River 440-333-1660, lutheranwest.com
Lutheran West is a Christian, coeducational, college-preparatory high school located on a 17-acre campus in Rocky River.
FUCHS MIZRACHI SCHOOL
26600 Shaker Blvd., Beachwood 216-932-0220, fuchsmizrachi.org
Fuchs Mizrachi School is a Modern Orthodox Jewish Day School dedicated to Torah values, religious Zionism, fostering leadership skills and helping each child reach their highest potential.
HEBREW ACADEMY OF CLEVELAND
1800 Warrensville Center Road, Cleveland Heights, 216-382-3300, hac1.org
The Hebrew Academy of Cleveland is a nationally recognized Jewish day school with dual Judaic and college-preparatory curriculums located in Cleveland Heights.
ANDREWS OSBORNE ACADEMY
38588 Mentor Ave., Willoughby 440-942-3600, andrewsosborne.org
Andrews Osborne Academy is a private, coed, college-preparatory school offering pre-K through 12th grade. Andrews Osborne Academy strives to prepare students for higher education and empower them to be successful leaders.
GRAND RIVER ACADEMY
3042 College St., Austinburg 440-275-2811, grandriver.org
Grand River Academy is a collegepreparatory boarding and day school serving young men grades 9-12 that sets students up for success in college and life beyond.
HATHAWAY BROWN SCHOOL
19600 N. Park Blvd., Shaker Heights 216-932-4214, hb.edu
Hathaway Brown is an independent K-12 day school for girls. Hathaway Brown’s Learn for Life signature approach inspires girls to take ownership of their education, rise boldly to challenges and achieve their utmost potential.
HAWKEN SCHOOL
12465 County Line Road, Gates Mills 440-423-4446, hawken.edu
Hawken is an independent, nonsectarian, coeducational school located on two campuses on Cleveland’s East Side, one on the West Side and a campus in University Circle.
HERSHEY MONTESSORI SCHOOL
11530 Madison Road, Huntsburg 440-357-0918, hershey-montessori.org
Hershey Montessori School serves elementary to high school students on two campuses: Concord and Huntsburg. The high school campus in Huntsburg has a working farm and offers boarding.
LAKE RIDGE ACADEMY
37501 Center Ridge Road, North Ridgeville 440-327-1175, lakeridgeacademy.org
Lake Ridge is an independent, nonsectarian day school offering coeducational classes on a 93-acre campus in North Ridgeville.
LAUREL SCHOOL
1 Lyman Circle, Shaker Heights 216-464-1441, laurelschool.org
Laurel School is a nationally recognized, college-preparatory, independent day school for girls, kindergarten through grade 12, with a coeducational Early Childhood program for children 18 months-prekindergarten.
UNIVERSITY SCHOOL
2785 SOM Center Road, Hunting Valley 216-831-2200, us.edu
University School is a same-sex, college-preparatory day school with two campuses — one for high school and one for elementary school — in Hunting Valley and Shaker Heights.
WESTERN RESERVE ACADEMY
115 College St., Hudson 330-650-4400, wra.net
Western Reserve Academy is an independent, coeducational boarding and day high school located on 58 acres in Hudson.
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The City of Beachwood, Beachwood City Schools and the Beachwood Chamber of Commerce are delighted to welcome you to the 2024 edition of Discover Beachwood Magazine!
This issue highlights how innovation and technology are reshaping the business landscape in Beachwood. From the city’s advanced health care facilities to being a home base for national and global headquarters of light manufacturing companies, business in Beachwood is thriving. Beachwood is also a community dedicated to the evolving needs of business leaders. New and exciting projects are reinvigorating our community’s existing businesses and attracting new ventures to our area. These projects are gaining recognition far beyond our city — the latest is the new, state-of-the-art Porsche of Beachwood.
The partnerships and collaborations between the city, school district and chamber of commerce create a business infrastructure dedicated to future growth. The Beachwood Chamber of Commerce hosts vital networking events
for young professionals, women and business owners, providing a platform for growth and learning. This fall, a new Business Expo and Women’s Entrepreneur Summit will showcase many of Beachwood’s strongest companies, offering opportunities for collaboration and expansion. Beachwood City Schools students are eagerly building skills to fill the growing
regional opportunities emerging in new industry clusters. A newly established Community Improvement Corporation aims to catalyze community rejuvenation and foster creativity amidst emerging land development opportunities. These focus areas are all transforming the possibilities for Beachwood’s future, promising a bright and prosperous tomorrow.
BY KELLIE INNES
The Beachwood Community Improvement Corporation is ready to serve. After a few years of brainstorming, this organization began its work in May of this year, with the goal of enhancing economic development efforts around the community. Including pooling resources and bringing together partnerships and collaborations, the corporation is intending on playing a key role in commercial revitalization.
“We’re focusing on attraction, retention and expansion of businesses and industries here in the city,” says Beachwood Economic Development Director Cathy Bieterman. “It really serves as a catalyst to more focused economic development initiatives in our community.”
One of the main facets of the corporation is its Revolving Loan Committee. This team is responsible for reviewing all loan requests that come into the city supporting new employment opportunities, commercial revitalization and sustainability.
“The Revolving Loan Fund has the ability to leverage financing to support business growth in Beachwood,” Bieterman shares. The program is structured to support multiple financing programs, including a loan program for emerging cluster industries and revitalization efforts as well as a link deposit program, partnering with local banks and financial institutions to buy down the interest on a company’s commercial loan.
The corporation is also in the early stages of implementing an Innovation Committee that would work on connecting networks in the community and the region. They will do this by building and strengthening Beachwood’s relationships with the larger institutions and colleges and universities in close proximity to Beachwood.
“We want to support and cultivate the growth of new ideas that are emerging in our existing companies here and those looking to come into our community,” says Beachwood Mayor Justin Berns. “We’re here to support our companies in all stages of growth.”
BY KELLIE INNES AND ANN-MARIE VAZZANO
At Beachwood City Schools, preparing students for the workforce takes a combination of both knowledge and hands-on experience. For some students, this means attending a partnering vocational program for pursuits such as culinary school, marketing or education. Other students, though, can hone and develop their real-world skills right in the classroom.
“From a curriculum perspective, we are focusing on providing students with opportunities through experiential learning to interact with and engage with people from different professions and interests,” says Linda LoGalbo, director of curriculum and instruction.
Take, for instance, the STEM Program at Beachwood City Schools, which helps kids learn skills such as problemsolving and collaboration. Middle school and high school students utilize a state-of-the-art engineering lab to design, create and build projects using advanced equipment such as 3D printers, laser and vinyl cutters, a CNC router and woodworking machinery. In 2022, the school district expanded this program to include elementary children, who build robotic kits similar to LEGOs.
“Our young kids love those classes with the design and engineering because they are very curious and natural learners,” LoGalbo says. “They are very excited about the opportunity to create and build and integrate the technology.”
While STEM challenges and tasks start young, students interested in health care careers can look forward to the Beachwood Medical Academy in high school. The program prepares teens for competitive pre-med programs through advanced coursework and hospital immersion experiences. Highlights include a three-day camp, hosted in partnership with University Hospitals Ahuja Medical Center, which combines lectures with hands-on activities such as dissecting a cow’s heart and practicing suturing techniques. Students also have the opportunity to participate in an anatomy lab hosted by the Case Western Reserve University Physician Assistant Program.
“This is an interactive experience where students get an opportunity to be in a hospital setting and to learn from physicians,” LoGalbo says. “We really tap into the global hub for medicine in Northeast Ohio to get physicians of all specialties to speak to our students.”
A recent addition to the Medical Academy is a day with the Cleveland Food Bank, where students learn about the effects of poverty on health care and spend the afternoon volunteering. This approach to career development reflects the school district’s mission statement of nurturing and guiding students to be intellectual entrepreneurs with a social conscience.
“Intellectual entrepreneurship is about learning and getting as much information as you can, and the social consciousness is about applying
the information to be helpful,” LoGalbo shares. “We really encourage kids to think about what kinds of problems in this world need to be solved and then how can they apply their knowledge to come up with solutions for that.”
In the last few years, the health care industry has been one of the most rapidly changing fields. To navigate this, the nursing program at Tri-C has doubled down on emphasizing foundational principles that ensure students are prepared to go out and serve.
“No matter what changes happen in health care, our approach with students remains the same,” says Wendy Batch-Wilson, dean of nursing at Tri-C. “We give them the foundational principles that allow them to be nimble and adapt to changes.”
challenging, because you are entrusted to care for people’s well-being and their lives.”
It helps that a lot of the faculty at Tri-C are practitioners in the field. They are well suited to share their knowledge and experience of what it means to be on the front lines of health care.
In addition to critical thinking, clinical judgment and patient advocacy, one of the most important skills that Tri-C instills in its students is a commitment to work. While career stability and earning potential are certainly positives of a profession in health care, sustaining a long and fulfilling career requires grit and perseverance.
“You have to be committed,” BatchWilson says. “The education and the work are
“Our faculty bring that expertise to the classroom, skills lab and clinical setting so students are ready when they enter the workforce,” says Batch-Wilson. “And then we are in continuous contact with our health care partners to understand their needs so we can incorporate that into our curriculum.”
This approach helps students continue on to earn their bachelor’s degrees after they complete
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their associate program at Tri-C, as well as climb from State Tested Nurse Aid to LPN to RN. Tri-C’s four campuses spread across Cuyahoga County also position students to transition into health care facilities and hospitals throughout the region, including in Beachwood.
“More than 85% of our graduates live and work in Cuyahoga County,” says BatchWilson. “We connect students with health care partners to serve all facets of the health care sector in Northeast Ohio.”
Students enrolled in John Carroll University’s (JCU) engineering physics program aren’t just learning textbook science. They’re delving deep into a well-rounded curriculum that equips them with the adaptability to succeed in an ever-evolving field.
“Engineering physics is an interdisciplinary field of engineering that emphasizes foundational modern physics and its application to 21st century materials and technology,” explains John Carroll Professor of Physics Jeff Dyck. “The coursework, culminating in a significant yearlong engineering design, has been envisioned to allow stu-
dents to be prepared to enter a wide array of engineering fields.”
The program has been developed by faculty made up of both physicists and engineers working together to create the curriculum, which focuses on fundamentals that provide “broad adaptability.” In other words, graduates aren’t pigeon-holed into one facet of engineering.
Because of JCU’s liberal arts foundation, students are taking an array of classes that help them hone the communication and reasoning skills that employers seek. “Today’s engineering problems require much more than just science and math, but also ethics, communication and much more from the humanities,” Dyck says.
Ohio is a great place for graduates to launch their careers, too. Dyck points to the new Intel facility coming to the state, as well as the plethora of opportunities right here in
Northeast Ohio. Think NASA, UH, Cleveland Clinic and local biotech firms, to name a few.
JCU also has an alumni panel, which has created a mentoring program that helps grow relationships with local companies. A connection with Beachwood’s MIM Software is just one example. “We’ve had people from MIM come visit our department, helping with our professional development program, which is a required course to know how to compete for an internship and how to be prepared,” Dyck says.
Also exciting for JCU is the plan to seek ABET accreditation after the school’s first cohort of students graduate this spring. ABET is the “official accrediting body for engineering programs,” explains Dyck. “ABET accreditation signals to prospective students and employers that we are meeting the high standards and expectations of the engineering profession with our program, and our graduates will be prepared to excel.”
Take the next step at Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C®).
Gain in-demand job skills or earn an affordable, transfer-friendly degree.
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Knowledgeable instructors and advisors will help you create a customized plan that puts you on the fast track to your dream job, a four-year degree or whatever your next step in life is.
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BY LISA GALEK
Tucked away in Commerce Park, Beachwood boasts several cutting-edge manufacturing companies. These businesses aren’t just keeping up with the latest trends — they’re setting them. From building better roads to making renewable energy a reality, Beachwood’s businesses are at the forefront of innovation. With its prime location and dedication to being business friendly, the city attracts forward-thinking companies shaping the future of manufacturing across the globe.
Eaton has deep roots in the Cleveland area. The company is known for its intelligent power management systems. Eaton caters to a wide range of industries, including data centers, utilities, industrial, commercial, machine building, residential, aerospace and mobility markets.
“We’re dedicated to protecting the environment and improving the quality of life for people everywhere,” says Kelly Jasko, vice president of corporate communications at Eaton. Change and innovation are hallmarks of the Eaton business model. Initially a truck axle company in the 1920s, Eaton eventually expanded its product range to include automotive components. Between the 1970s and 1990s, the company diversified into the industrial, electrical and aerospace markets. Today, Eaton operates in 160 countries, employs nearly 94,000 people and reported revenues of $23.2 billion in 2023.
At its core, Eaton is dedicated to enhancing sustainability and efficiency. “Our work is helping to power the world’s transition from fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy,” says Jasko.
Eaton’s innovative products are part of the move toward a more environmentally friendly future. By providing solutions to give customers
We’re dedicated to protecting the environment and improving the quality of life for people everywhere.
— KELLY JASKO
the ability to manage power safely and sustainably, Eaton plays a crucial role in lowering carbon emissions and curbing global warming. “Our products and solutions are enabling our customers and stakeholders to achieve their sustainability goals,” Jasko adds.
People are also part of what drives new ideas at Eaton. The company’s emphasis on inclusion creates a workplace where varied perspectives and talents thrive, sparking creativity and innovation. “We’re continuing to create an inclusive and engaging workplace where every employee has an opportunity to learn, grow and thrive,” says Jasko. This inclusive culture not only attracts top talent but also nurtures a collaborative spirit, pushing the company toward groundbreaking ideas and solutions.
Beachwood is an ideal home for a global corporation like Eaton. With easy access to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, global travel and worldwide connectivity are always within reach.
“Beachwood offers excellent amenities such as top-notch dining, shopping centers and health care facilities to our employees and visitors,” adds Jasko.
With headquarters in Beachwood, Helix Linear Technologies specializes in linear motion products. The company manufactures items like lead screws, ball screws and linear actuators. Unlike the fasteners available at hardware stores, which are designed to secure or prevent movement, Helix’s products are engineered to do one simple job — they help objects move more precisely.
Helix’s innovative products cater to customers who need to ensure accurate movements. “Our products are used anywhere that precise motion is required in a clean and compact solution,” says Chris Nook, CEO of Helix Linear Technologies.
Without knowing it, you may have come across a Helix product in your daily life. The company’s components are essential to some medical devices and laboratory automation equipment. For instance, Helix screws are used for raising and lowering hospital beds and operating patient tables in MRI machines.
Our products are used anywhere that precise motion is required in a clean and compact solution.
— CHRIS NOOK
Helix Linear Technologies serves thousands of customers worldwide, offering both custom-designed and off-the-shelf products. One of its clients is working to automate the blood-drawing process, demonstrating the advanced applications of Helix’s technology. Additionally, the company’s products play a crucial role in 3D printers, some of which can print human skin or tissue cells.
The aerospace sector is another area where Helix is driving innovation. Helix components can be found in drone wing flaps
and commercial and business aircraft seating mechanisms. In July 2024, Helix showcased its advancements at the London Air Show.
“The people we meet with there are building aircraft,” says Nook. “They would come to us for an actuator that might lock a door or open up doors on landing gear.”
As technology changes, Helix has also modified its workspace to meet market demands. One of the latest trends is increased automation in manufacturing. Collaborative robots, also known as cobots, are designed
to work safely alongside humans but can also handle monotonous or repetitive tasks. With customers across North and South America and Europe, this automation helps Helix stay competitive.
Despite global pressure to reduce costs, Helix remains committed to maintaining high quality. “We are one of the few companies left in the United States that do this type of work,” says Nook. “There are some lower-cost manufacturers around the world, but those are for applications that don’t
require as much precision as our customers do.” The supportive business environment in Beachwood has enabled Helix to expand and innovate continually, reinforcing its position as a leader in the linear motion industry.
Did you know concrete is the world’s most widely used artificial material? Master Builders Solutions, a supplier of specialty admixtures, is not only a leader in technological advancement in the concrete industry but also a global influencer.
Admixtures are formulations added into the concrete mixture during the mixing process to enhance its specific properties. For example, a builder might need concrete that hardens very fast or can withstand a lot of applied load. In the design of One World Trade Center in New York City, the engineers needed concrete that would be fluid for a considerable amount of time to allow it to be pumped all the way to the top of the 1,776-foot tower. Master Builders Solutions provided admixture technologies and expertise to make that possible.
Founded in Cleveland in 1909, Master Builders Solutions moved to Beachwood
Master Builders Solutions developed the first waterreducing admixture for concrete back in the 1930s. It was then used in the construction of the Hoover Dam.
— BRUCE CHRISTENSEN
in 1980. This global company operates 13 manufacturing facilities across the U.S. and Canada. While not a manufacturing site, the Beachwood location is a hub of innovation. Over 200 patents have been granted for inventions created on-site at Beachwood.
These cutting-edge products have not only revolutionized the industry but have also left their mark on some of the world’s most well-known projects. “Master Builders Solutions developed the first water-reducing admixture for concrete back in the 1930s,” says Bruce Christensen, president of Master Builders Solutions in the U.S. and Canada. “It was then used in the construction of the Hoover Dam.” More recently, in 2018, the company’s waterproofing admixture was used at the International Space Station to evaluate concrete mixtures at zero gravity.
Master Builders Solutions’ products have been used in iconic structures such as One World Trade Center in New York City, Pier 27 in Toronto and the Willis Tower in Chicago. Locally, its state-of-the-art admixtures have been used in many of Cleveland’s highways, bridges, sidewalks, skyscrapers and underground tunnels. They have also
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been used to construct landmarks like the Key Tower, Great Lakes Science Center, the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame & Museum.
Construction projects have a major environmental impact, and Master Builders Solutions is at the forefront of the movement to develop products that promote sustainability. “For anybody building today, an important objective is to reduce the carbon footprint of the project,” says Christensen. “All efforts are to eventually get to net zero carbon.” Master Builders Solutions has unique admixture technologies
that help significantly reduce the embodied carbon in concrete.
Other products enable the beneficial use of leftover concrete. One admixture allows fresh concrete to be recycled for reuse, while another transforms leftover concrete into road base material.
In addition to innovative research and design, the Beachwood facility serves as the headquarters for U.S. and Canadian operations. Including towering skyscrapers and critical infrastructure, the products developed locally by Master Builders Solutions are helping to build the cities of tomorrow.
BASF, a multinational company with over 150 production and research and development sites across the United States, includes
a research and development location in Beachwood. Known for developing and producing a diverse array of chemicals such as solvents, amines, resins and glues, BASF also stands out because it invests more in research and development than any other chemical company in the world — over $2.1 billion.
In 2002, the company acquired its Beachwood location, which is home to about 75 fulltime employees. The facility plays an essential role in the research and development of new cathode-active materials, with a focus on serving North American customers. These materials are used in lithium-ion batteries — the type found in electric vehicles.
Scientists at the Beachwood location contribute to global research efforts. Their work includes creating new battery materials and enhancing the existing battery products in BASF’s portfolio.
With the growing interest in electric vehicles, BASF is leading the way in developing cutting-edge technologies for the EV market.
“Through industry-leading research and development platforms and a tradition for innovation, BASF’s battery materials unit develops unique solutions for customers,” says Rob Prunchak, site manager at BASF in Beachwood. BASF has invested heavily to develop innovative lithium-ion battery recycling processes, reinforcing its commitment to environmental stewardship.
Like many in the manufacturing field, sustainability trends are significantly influencing BASF. The company’s chemical catalysts are essential for the chemical and energy industries. These products speed up chemical reactions, helping customers increase yields, reduce energy consumption and enhance competitiveness.
The chemical industry’s drive to use more renewable feedstocks such as biomass also requires new and robust catalysts to deal with their unique and variable characteristics, such as oxygen and water content. Using a biomass solution can help companies reduce the amount of CO2 emissions they put into the environment.
Another notable innovation is the company’s liquid nitrogen gas (LNG) pretreatment
technology, which effectively removes impurities from natural gas before it enters the liquefaction section of an LNG plant.
“The drive toward renewable energy and the need to reduce greenhouse gases are critical trends influencing BASF,” says Prunchak. By leveraging its technological expertise, BASF aims to develop sustainable solutions that address the most challenging needs of its customers.
A new addition to Beachwood’s manufacturing community is Millennium Control Systems, a cutting-edge company shaping the future of manufacturing with innovative automation solutions.
Founded by a team of engineers, the company has evolved from a small startup at a kitchen table to a robust company with nearly 100 employees. Today, clients include Fortune 500 businesses such as Georgia Pacific, First Solar, Novelis and Guardian Glass.
The company’s impact is evident at Goodyear’s tire plants in Oklahoma and North Carolina, where control systems have been upgraded to improve efficiency and reduce downtime.
Millennium Control Systems is also heavily
focused on the growing EV industry, particularly emphasizing the power and energy sectors. The company is working with partners to enhance the lifespan and efficiency of EV batteries, which can be costly to replace.
At the end of this year, the company will open a new headquarters in Beachwood. This new, 115,000-square-foot facility will accommodate about 75 employees and help centralize operations and provide access to a wider talent pool.
“We are very excited to start the next chapter of our journey with the move of our headquarters to Beachwood and enjoy all the amenities and synergies of Beachwood,” says Joe Chuhran, Millennium Control Systems president and CFO.
BY LISA GALEK
Here’s a look inside three thriving local companies deeply rooted in Beachwood
Beachwood is more than just a wonderful place to call home — it’s an ideal location for growing businesses. The city is home to nearly 2,500 companies and over 25,000 employees. With access to an educated workforce, proximity to universities, highways and airports, and a vibrant retail and commercial area, Beachwood offers excellent resources for expanding companies.
One example is Ionbond, a company specializing in advanced coating technologies. “You know the gold color on drill bits? That’s what we do,” says Mike Greenwell, plant manager at Ionbond. This coating is applied through a process called physical vapor deposition (PVD), which enhances the strength and durability of the parts. While PVD is a common technique, Ionbond in Beachwood is one of very few coating suppliers in the United States to use chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The process is similar to PVD but operates at much higher temperatures, around 1,800° F.
Ionbond serves a wide range of customers, including the aerospace industry and forming and molding industry. The company’s process coats dies that are used in machines that produce aluminum siding and in manufacturing equipment that shapes and seals aluminum cans. “Our coating interfaces with probably every beer or pop can in Northeast Ohio,” says Greenwell.
Ionbond has been in Beachwood for over 50 years and has seen substantial growth over time. In 2002, the company expanded its facility by 33%, and this year, it is adding another 800 square feet. The Beachwood plant, which spans 23,000 square feet, houses five CVD and PVD
machines. “We’re bringing in new machines and updating a lot of the technology, and so we just need to expand that out,” says Greenwell. The latest update includes a utility room that will serve as an exhaust/ neutralization area for the machinery and as storage, ensuring the company continues to innovate and grow.
Another business with deep roots in Beachwood is Helix Linear Technologies
The company specializes in manufacturing lead screws, ball screws and linear actuators used to automate various types of precision machinery. All the product design, engineering and manufacturing happens at the Beachwood location.
Chris Nook was formerly the CEO of his family business, Nook Industries, which was founded in Beachwood in 1969. Together with
his father, he founded Helix in 2011. The initial focus was on providing products for the growing medical device market, such as hospital beds or machines that handle blood samples.
Starting with just three or four employees, Helix now has 70 employees in its 40,000-square-foot facility. The company recently expanded to lease an additional 10,000 square feet of space in Commerce Park. While Helix started with a focus on medical devices, the company is moving more into the aerospace industry. The new space will be used to assemble and produce products for aerospace clients.
Nook highlights the strong relationship with the city of Beachwood, noting that the city has been very supportive of the company’s growth. “Sometimes, it’s hard to believe that we’ve grown to 70 employees, and we work with customers all around the world,” says Nook. “That wouldn’t happen without our great team of people.”
When it comes to the chemical industry, BASF is a global leader. “Chemistry plays an important role in our everyday lives. Chemistry is all around us. In buildings we live in, shoes we wear, asphalt we walk on,” says Rob Prunchak, site manager at BASF in Beachwood. BASF provides chemicals for a wide variety of items including automobiles, skincare products and building materials.
At the Beachwood location, BASF employees research and develop chemical catalysts, adsorbents and cathode-active materials for lithium-ion batteries. The facility houses an advanced analytical laboratory, supporting BASF’s research and development activities. The site is expanding to include additional support for the adsorbents business, with specific projects in liquid natural gas pretreatment and CO2 purification.
In 2002, BASF acquired its Beachwood location as part of the acquisition of Engelhard Corp. “Beachwood is a great location with access to high-quality universities and major industries,” Prunchak says.
The 80,000-square-foot Beachwood facility has about 75 fulltime employees. In 2015, it underwent a major upgrade to enhance its research and development capabilities for cathode active materials.
Looking ahead, BASF plans to expand its research and development capabilities, including building a new warehouse and laboratory. This expansion highlights BASF’s commitment to strategic growth in Beachwood as the company works to support sustainable development within the chemical industry.
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Business to Business Expo and Women’s Entrepreneur Summit
The Beachwood Chamber of Commerce will be hosting a business to Business Expo and Women’s Entrepreneur Summit on Wednesday, Oct. 9, 1–6 p.m., at Tri-C Corporate East. Sponsorships and vendor opportunities now available!
THIS EXPO AND SUMMIT WILL PROVIDE ACCESS TO A WEALTH OF RESOURCES, INSIGHT, AND OPPORTUNITIES TO ENHANCE PROFESSIONAL GROWTH. BENEFITS OF BEING A SPONSOR OR VENDOR INCLUDE:
• Networking with fellow business owners Access industry experts
• Discover new business opportunities
• Participate in empowering break-out-sessions
• Listening to inspiring stories from female entrepreneurs
• Accessing mentors and support
• Becoming involved in our community
• Celebrating the Beachwood business community
Visit www.beachwood.org today to become a sponsor or to secure a vendor booth. Booth space is limited. The early bird booth price for members is $150, through Sept. 9. After that date, the price will be $250.
BY ANN-MARIE VAZZANO
Porsche of Beachwood isn’t your typical car dealership. The brandnew, $45 million, state-of-the-art complex, located at 3750 Orange Place, promises an experience.
“It’s called Destination Porsche, and it’s a lifestyle,” says General Manager George McCarley. “We want the dealerships to feel like you’re in a very luxurious, high-end sort of nightclub.”
Or, for more seasoned clientele, “They may feel like they’re in a Ritz Carlton,” says McCarley.
Natural light pours through skylights, and sleek furniture welcomes customers to sit and relax.
Porsche curated a 33-hour playlist of music, which is piped through the dealership to create ambiance that changes throughout the day. “It starts off really soft in the morning, and then it ramps up as we go into dinner,” McCarley explains. “It’s not just 33 hours of the same music — it’s constantly being updated by Porsche in Germany.”
The Beachwood dealership, which encompasses some 60,000 square feet, is owned by Penske Automotive Group, the largest Porsche franchiser in the U.S., and is Penske’s first Generation 5 Porsche dealership. It’s not uncommon for racing icon Roger Penske himself to pop in unexpected. During one
surprise visit just after the grand opening, Penske signed the underside of the hood on a sales representative’s classic Porsche that was on display in the showroom. McCarley says the video of Penske signing the car, which was posted on the dealership’s Facebook page, racked up 1.7 million views in two days.
Two buildings comprise the dealership — one housing the showroom and service center and the other featuring three detail bays, a large carwash and a photo studio equipped with special lighting to help capture images of the luxury cars.
The new facility also allowed the service department to expand, going from 11 service bays to 19. “That’s a huge number of cars that we can get through the shop,” McCarley says. “So instead of being three weeks or four weeks out for a maintenance appointment, now we can probably get you in next day.” For bigger jobs, McCarley anticipates no longer than a week’s wait.
McCarley adds that the service technicians are always on top of the latest technology. In fact, many of them go away for a week at a
time several times a year to learn about new technology and how to work on the latest cars. “Our guys are second to none,” he says.
While internal combustion engines are still Porsche’s bread and butter when it comes to sports cars, hybrid and electric technology is making its way into the fleet. In particular, a new electric Macan coming to market soon is expected to draw significant interest. The gas-powered version of the small SUV is one of the dealership’s bestsellers.
To accommodate the forthcoming electrification, the facility will include several fast chargers that will be able to charge vehicles in 20 to 30 minutes, according to McCarley.
As for the location of the new dealership, McCarley says they couldn’t have found a better spot. “It just made sense to get this location and put it right next to Pinecrest, and also in Beachwood, where we have a massive client base and a very loyal client base,” he says. “It was perfect.”
Driving into Crestmont Cadillac’s service department, you’ll know whether you need a wheel alignment or air in your tires before anyone even looks at your car. A machine measures all of it, and your tire tread depth, too. “You probably wouldn’t even notice you’re driving over it,” Crestmont President Alex Park says of the sensor equipment. “We used to have people who would do that manually. It was pretty laborious.”
This technology is all part of the dealership’s commitment to innovation, which is nothing new. Crestmont has been on the cutting edge for a long time. Park points to the Cadillac dealership’s collision center, which, a decade ago, was one of the first body shops in the area to switch from an oil-based paint to an eco-friendly water-based alternative. “Our business, just like every other service business, is always having to evolve,” Park says.
More recently, the transition to online transactions has been a focus for the Crestmont dealerships, which include Crestmont Cadillac and Crestmont Buick in Beachwood, as well as Crestmont Hyundai and Genesis in Brunswick.
Through new technology implemented over the last three years, customers can transact in any department — sales, collision or service — 100% online, without ever setting foot in the dealership. This includes valet pickup and delivery service in addition to receiving real-time text message and/or email updates about vehicle status from the service department. After an inspection, customers receive a message outlining the recommended services, which they can choose to accept or decline. They then receive an invoice when the service is complete, which can be paid online, and they can schedule a time to have their car delivered back to them.
As Crestmont’s president, Park says his most important job is keeping the company culture intact. This culture revolves around the core values of understanding that associates are the business’s most important asset, staying positive, effort, accountability and continuous im-
provement — attributes that all of Crestmont’s employees strive for. “We are very lucky to have great people, and great people make my job easy,” Park says.
Last year, Crestmont Cadillac, the company’s flagship, celebrated its 50th anniversary. “And that’s all because of our associates and the people in our community,” Park says. “Most small businesses don’t make it that long.”
Crestmont shows its appreciation through partnerships with the city, including sponsoring fireworks shows and supporting programs through the high school. “Our community is very important to us,” Park says, adding that he and his sister both reside in Beachwood. “We love the community; we love the city services.” Park also appreciates the convenience of the location. “You can’t hear the highway from my backyard, but I could be on I-271 in five minutes,” he says. “It’s perfect.”
BY KELLIE INNES
If you explored Beachwood this summer, you might have noticed some new, towering, bright blue flowers that cropped up near the Beachwood Community Center. The new flora are part of the community’s brand-new playground, which opened May 31.
“There are lots of shady spots, way more shade than there was previously,” Community Services Director Derek Schroeder says. “Shade is probably the most important thing for me when considering playground designs.” Along
with the shade flowers, the new playground has a 26-foot-tall tower, ziplines, a rock-wall mound, slides and a giant sandbox. Additionally, there are several musical components, as well as open turf spaces where children can play games or families can have picnics.
“We put together what we believed to be a unique, one-of-a-kind playground design and then engaged the community with a survey to ensure that the project would meet their needs,” Schroeder says. “There’s not a playground in
Shade is probably the most important thing for me when considering playground designs.
— DEREK SCHROEDER
Northeast Ohio that can compare to it. You simply can’t put into words that moment when we cut the ribbon in May and hundreds of kids rushed out to be the first to play.”
The Community Services team also wanted to focus on accessibility and safety when finalizing the playground. The ground surfaces are rubber for smooth access, and the playground is fenced in to alleviate fears of children running into parking lots. There is also a unique wheelchair swing that fits two people so that children with disabilities can still play with their buddies.
“You can swing with your friends or with your mom and dad instead of swinging by yourself, which is what most wheelchair swings are,” Schroeder says.
The playground is the latest development in the area after six pickleball courts and two sand volleyball courts debuted last summer. These additions, along with the existing pool, tennis courts and community gardens, have transformed the block into a hub for Beachwood.
— DEREK SCHROEDER
“It’s a gathering space,” Schroeder says. “This whole area has created these mini multi-generational communities that are so cool to see.”
“We couldn’t be happier with the product as well as the installers. Very kind, professional, and clearly very knowledgeable. Extremely respectful of us and our property. From start to finish, this was a great experience.” - Vicky
B.
President Cameron Maneri, Cleary Bros. Landscaping
Executive Director Sandy Munley
Associate Director Rick Doll
For advertising information, please call 216-377-3693.
On the cover:
Image courtesy of Ground Works Land Design
Th e Ohio Landscape Association is thrilled to reveal the winners of our prestigious 27th Annual Landscape Ohio! Landscape Enhancement Awards Program. Each year, we celebrate the exceptional landscapes that elevate property value, expand living spaces and enhance environmental quality.
T his year’s competition was fierce, with projects undergoing rigorous evaluation by a panel of highly esteemed industry professionals. We are proud to announce that 40 remarkable landscapes were honored at our Awards Gala, held at the stunning Windows on the River in June.
In the pages that follow, you will find a showcase of some of Ohio’s most impressive landscapes. We hope these examples inspire you as you plan your own landscape project .
You can find a member of the Ohio Landscape Association to plan, install and maintain your landscape on our website ohiolandscapers.org on the “Find A Professional” page.
Respectfully,
Cameron Maneri, 2024 OLA President
Rob Cruise BELGARD HARDSCAPES
Doug Frank FRANK BROTHERS LANDSCAPE SUPPLY
Hillary Henry EASTSIDE LANDSCAPING
Brian Knauer THE PATTIE GROUP
Chris Kronenberger VALLEY CITY SUPPLY
Becca Lanning VIZMEG LANDSCAPE
Brian Mauer BRIAN KYLES
Bill Nettling OBERFIELDS
Teal Rickards LAND CREATIONS
Rosemary Spena SPENA LANDSCAPE CONTRACTORS
Kimberly J. Sayers earns the OLA Lifetime Dedication and Contributions to the Landscape Industry Award.
Each year since 1992, the OLA Board of Directors selects a deserving individual to receive the Lifetime Dedication and Contributions to the Landscape Industry Award. This year, the OLA recognizes Kimberly J. Sayers as the 33rd recipient of this prestigious award.
Kim was born to Arthur and Norma Jean Todd in Wooster. She is the youngest of her siblings, Jim, Vickie and Jeff. She was raised on land about 10 miles west of Wooster that was part of her grandparent’s farm — where her mom was born.
Strong work ethic and helping others was the Todds’ way of life. They had a garden
that was big enough to feed their family of six year-round.
Kim graduated from Triway High School and went on to the College of Wooster, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology. She then attended The Ohio State University earning a master’s of arts degree in college student affairs and higher education administration.
Kim graduated from the College of Wooster in May of 1987, and married her husband, Jeff, on August 8th that same year. They moved into their first home: an apartment in Morrill Tower, right beside Ohio Stadium, best known as ‘The Shoe.’
In 1989, Kim was hired as Continuing Education Coordinator at ATI and several years later transitioned to director of Business Training & Educational Services.
In her early years, there was very little support for this non-traditional entity. In fact, there was quite a bit of opposition to the idea of non-credit classes, offering training off-campus and, at times, outside of the traditional college schedule.
Kim worked diligently to gain the support of a handful of faculty members who were key influencers on campus. Gradually, more and more faculty and staff were willing to try something outside of their comfort zones, and almost 35 years later she is still there bringing industry and education together.
the mid ’90s,
showed up in Kim’s office one day and said: “I want to bring the ALCA Certified Landscape Technician Test to Ohio. Kim agreed to help.
Kim became the Ohio Test Administrator — and for more than 20 years she kept the program on track, managing the test site, the registration, housing for judges, the volunteers and countless other details needed to put on the test. She did this all as a volunteer.
Kim was key in making Ohio one of the top tests in North America and was instrumental in establishing a strong community centered around the test. The national association recognized Kim and Ohio’s efforts and referred other states to call her for help and to visit its test site to learn how to be successful.
She is an active member of numerous organizations and functioned as a leader in every group, serving in roles such as president, vice-president, chairperson, invited speaker, board member and more.
COMMERCIAL MAINTENANCE
A Environmental Management Inc.
The Grandview Yard in Columbus
RESIDENTIAL INSTALLATION, CATEGORY I
B Lifestyle Landscaping Inc.
A Residence in Bay Village
RESIDENTIAL INSTALLATION, CATEGORY V
C KGK and Company
A Residence in Hudson
RESIDENTIAL INSTALLATION, CATEGORY VI
D Green Impressions
Landscaping
A Residence in Avon
COMMERCIAL INSTALLATION, CATEGORY II
E KGK and Company
Highfields Event Center in Hudson
WATER FEATURES
F The Bremec Group
A Residence in Moreland Hills
LANDSCAPE LIGHTING
G Northern Territory Lighting
A Residence in Hinckley
GARDEN STRUCTURES/ PAVEMENTS, CATEGORY II
H Rice’s Landscapes
Redefined
A Residence in Green
GARDEN STRUCTURES/ PAVEMENTS, CATEGORY III
I Landscapes by Terra
A Residence in Dublin
GARDEN STRUCTURES/ PAVEMENTS, CATEGORY IV
J Sasak Landscaping Inc.
A Residence in Richfield
RESIDENTIAL MAINTENANCE
1 Rice’s Landscapes
Redefined
A Residence in Lake Township
RESIDENTIAL INSTALLATION, CATEGORY I
2 KGK and Company
A Residence in Cuyahoga Falls
RESIDENTIAL INSTALLATION, CATEGORY II
3 The Bremec Group
A Residence in Shaker Heights
4 Lifestyle
Landscaping Inc.
A Residence in Strongsville
RESIDENTIAL INSTALLATION, CATEGORY III
5 Ground Works
Land Design
A Residence in Westlake
6 The Bremec Group
A Residence in Novelty
RESIDENTIAL INSTALLATION, CATEGORY IV
7 Exscape Designs
A Residence in Chesterland
RESIDENTIAL INSTALLATION, CATEGORY V
8 Ottawa Landscapes
A Residence in Dublin
9 Rice’s Landscapes
Redefined
A Residence in Lake Township
RESIDENTIAL INSTALLATION, CATEGORY VI
10 Green Impressions
Landscaping
A Residence in Westlake
11 KGK and Company
A Residence in Hunting Valley
12 Rice’s Landscapes
Redefined
A Residence in Poland
COMMERCIAL INSTALLATION, CATEGORY I
13 Suncrest Gardens Inc.
The Summit County Developmental Disabilities Board in Akron
14 #1 Landscaping
Quadax Inc. in Middleburg Heights
COMMERCIAL INSTALLATION, CATEGORY II
15 Environmental Management Inc.
The Easton Urban District in Columbus
16 Environmental Management Inc.
University Square at 15th & High in Columbus
WATER FEATURES
17 Sasak Landscaping Inc.
A Residence in Cuyahoga Falls
LANDSCAPE LIGHTING
18 #1 Landscaping
A Residence in Wadsworth
19 Landscapes by Terra
A Residence in Dublin
SPECIALTY GARDENS
20 Blooming Designs The Greenlawn Cemetery Columbarium in Akron
GARDEN STRUCTURES/ PAVEMENTS, CATEGORY I
21 Weidner Creative
A Residence in Elyria
22 McCaskey Landscape & Design
A Residence in Chardon
GARDEN STRUCTURES/ PAVEMENTS, CATEGORY II
23 Executive Landscaping
A Residence in Poland
24 Landscapes by Terra
A Residence in Dublin
GARDEN STRUCTURES/ PAVEMENTS, CATEGORY III
25 Landscapes by Terra
A Residence in Columbus
26 #1 Landscaping
A Residence in Wadsworth
GARDEN STRUCTURES/ PAVEMENTS, CATEGORY IV
27 Ground Works
Land Design
A Residence in Westlake
28 Landscapes by Terra
A Residence in Dublin
BEST USE OF COLOR
29 KGK and Company
Highfields Event Center in Hudson
30 #1 Landscaping Quadax Inc. in Middleburg Heights
• Alvord’s Yard & Garden
• Bedford Glens Garden Center
• Belgard Hardscapes
• Bigfoot Landscape Supply
• Botson Insurance Group
• Century Equipment, A Jerry Pate Co.
• Chagrin Valley Nurseries
• Cleveland Magazine
• Davis Tree Farm & Nursery
• Earth ‘N Wood
• Emmett Equipment Co.
• Frank Brothers Landscape Supply Inc.
• Great Big Home & Garden Show
• Green Vision Materials
• Kurtz Bros. Inc.
• Lake County Nursery
• Lowe’s Greenhouse
• M.H. Eby
• Oberfields
• Petitti Family of Farms
• R.A.K. Sales
• Rusty Oak Nursery
• Schill Grounds Management
• SiteOne Landscape Supply
• Unilock Ohio Inc.
• Valley City Supply
• Vermeer All Roads
• Willoway Nurseries
• Wolf Creek Co.
N O V A T I ONS
NO ONE KNOWS EXACTLY HOW the architect of the 1928 neo-Georgian intended the tiny first-floor room to be used. But the current owners of the 5,000-square-foot Shaker Heights residence saw it as an early 20th-century version of the bonus room, one they turned into a study for their four children. The 14-by-12-foot space was near the kitchen, a location that made it easy for the couple to watch as the kids did their homework. The children, however, gradually migrated to their bedrooms to do their assignments. By the time the oldest went to college, it was obvious that the room needed a refresh, particularly after Shaker Interiors founder and principal designer Nikki Pulver and general contractor/ partner Gerald Kazmir finished redecorating the neighboring family and living rooms.
The owners relied on patience and the design team to transform the children’s study into a stunning bar. A project that was tough to tackle.
More vexing was installing the cabinetry needed for storing glasses, barware and liquor — it was complicated by a large window and a radiator on one wall and sets of double doors on all the others. Pulver managed to tuck an abbreviated bank in each corner of the room.
One under-counter stretch cleverly conceals a new radiator behind doors with front grilles. The cabinets on the other side of the window are just as shallow. “Because of the door swings, we couldn’t give them full depth,” Pulver says.
Notches in the standard-size lower counterparts on the interior wall allow doors to open all the way to the walls. One houses a Sub-Zero beverage center, refrigerator drawer and pull-out trash receptacle, the other a square hammered-brass sink and Scotsman ice machine that produces a specific type requested by the man of the house.
“He said, ‘If we’re doing this as a bar, all I want is nugget ice like I can get at Chik-fil-A,’” Pulver says.
The cabinetry, like the walls, were painted cerulean and topped with a honed Carrara marble that offsets the shine of high-gloss paint and antique-mirror door fronts added to “bounce the light around,” as Pulver puts it. The material was also used for backsplashes and corbels that appear to support overhead cabinets.
“[The clients] love to entertain, with the size of their family,” Pulver says. “And with the nature of where this is located in the house, it just was such a natural space for a bar.”
The conversion presented obstacles that could drive a designer to drink.
Just painting the room took a month. Painters applied six coats of cerulean,
a deeper shade of blue incorporated in the family and living room decors that gave the bar a moodier, sexier feel. The task required sanding the walls after each coat dried.
“To do a high-gloss wall treatment, you need the walls so smooth,” Pulver says. “Otherwise, with the gloss, they project every imperfection.”
“We just didn’t want to do polished marble,” she says. “I just thought it would start looking like Vegas.”
Pulver ordered the original brass door hardware replated, a finish repeated on the hardware of a Visual Comfort light fixture composed of bubblelike glass globes. She outfitted the window in a deep blue-and-green verdurepatterned London shade trimmed in beaded fringe and covered the floor
with an antelope-patterned wool carpet. Furnishings were limited to an antique-mirror-topped brass table flanked by two stools upholstered in a blue-, green-and-cream flame stitch.
“We kept the middle of the room open for traffic,” Pulver says. “Even though there is that center table, it is very easy to get through.”
Pulver credits her clients with showing the patience necessary for contractors to execute her vision for the room. She concedes that it is the most difficult project, inch per inch, that she and Kazmir have tackled.
“But it was worth it,” she declares. “It’s our little jewel box.”
MANY HOMEOWNERS install a bar as a place to display their liquor. Whole walls are devoted to specially designed shelves exhibiting rare or collectible bottles of favorite libations. In this bar, however, everything is behind closed doors.
“It’s such a small room,” says Nikki Pulver of Shaker Interiors. “[The clients] didn’t want to detract from the beauty of the space.”
She adds that stashing liquor, along with glassware and barware, in cabinets is more practical.
“They don’t have to worry about what their shelves look like; they don’t have to worry about dusting them,” she notes. “Everything stays pristine in a cabinet.”
1) Buyers and Sellers s�ll both need professional representa�on.
2) Sellers are s�ll able to offer compensa�on to a Buyer’s Agent.
3) In Northeast Ohio, commissions have always been nego�able.
1) Before viewing a property, Buyers will need to sign a “Buyer Representa�on Agreement.” �hese can be signed for a single property, a single day, for mul�ple proper�es or for any de�ned period of �me. �hey will also s�pul ate the amount of compensa�on the Buyer’s agent will receive � which is s�ll nego�able.
2) Buyers may sign as many successive “exclusive buyer agreements” as they wish.
3) Buyers will be asked to make up the difference between what the agreement states and what various Sellers or Brokers may be offering.
4) Seller’s agents are no longer allowed to publish the compensa�o n amount in the MLS that their Seller is offering . �Agents will need to call for that informa�on.� ����m ���e� �he m��e th���s �ha��e� the m��e they stay the same.
Any questions? Call me any time. I’m still here to help you “win” as you navigate this new Real
WORLD WAR II WAS WAGED unlike any war before. Battles were fought not just on the land and at sea, but in the air. German rockets bombarded England. And the war ended with the use of the most destructive weapon the world had ever seen, the atomic bomb. World War II gave way to the Cold War, which soon saw another front: outer space.
Russia’s launch of the first human-made satellite, Sputnik, in 1957 prompted Congress to create the National Air and Space Administration in 1958. Before that, the National Advisory Council on Aeronautics provided research and testing on air travel, including the development of the jet engine. A NACA facility was in Cleveland, so it was natural that when NASA was formed, it, too, would have a presence in Northeast Ohio.
Lewis Research Center (named for George W. Lewis, the longtime head of NACA) was dedicated in 1958, and its mission was to research and develop rocket fuel and propulsion systems. The campus at Hopkins International Airport included the $2.5 million (in 1950s dollars) Rocket Engine Test Facility, which would become crucial in the development of the United States’ space exploration. Engines that propelled Apollo rockets — the first to land on the moon — as well as the space shuttles were tested here.
The facility’s value was so great that it was put on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. Unfortunately, its proximity to the airport had threatened its existence dating to the 1970s, and finally, in 2004, it was torn down for a runway expansion.
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We specialize in audit, accounting, tax and consulting services that ensure our clients have the most accurate information to determine their financial health and make critical decisions.
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