🥟 Your Cleveland Festival Game Plan Is Here

Good morning, Cleveland! This is The 216 Scoop: Twenty-five years ago, an old auto factory became an ambitious idea. Today, 78th Street Studios is one of the city's creative landmarks 🎨🖼️

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John Petkovic & Jude Perez

Ah, the good old days – when grubby serfs toiled for gruel; knights battled in crusades; hordes perished from the Black Death.

Hear ye, hear ye!

It's the Great Lakes Medieval Faire.

It rolls out  wizards, wenches, knights, tomato-hurling clowns, crazy puppets, mystical dragons and patrons gnawing on turkey legs – to go with a song, food and crafts-filled marketplace. 

Saturday and Sunday. (It runs through Aug. 23 and is located in Rock Creek, 48 miles east of Cleveland.) Info.

It’s a hoot and one of many fests this weekend:

Cain Park Arts Festival: One of the summer’s top art soirees boasts 150 artists – to go with food, folk, bluegrass and jazz. Cain Park in Cleveland Heights. 3-8 pm Friday; 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Saturday; 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday. Info.

Pierogi Palooza: The celebration of the doughy dumpling rolls out polka, competitive eating, a kid zone, and contests for the best pierogi. Noon-8 p.m. Saturday, 1-8 p.m. Sunday, Veterans Memorial Park in Parma. Info.

Sazón Latin Food Festival: Food from the Caribbean, Central, and South America – to go with music and drinks at the Yard on 3^rd in Willoughby. Noon-5 p.m. Saturday. Info.

There are many challenges to making a movie.

Cleveland filmmaker Tommy Nickoloff never imagined this would be one of the biggest when he embarked on a documentary about Lorain musician and indie icon Jason Molina.

“When I started making it, a 4TB hard drive was around $250, and now they’re as high as $1000,” he says. “You need to back everything up three times – so now I’m hunting people down, like ‘You know that footage I sent you in 2024?’I need my hard drive back.’”

Memory storage is expected to rise 100% next year – and has already resulted in Apple raising prices on all devices by 20%. Games, computers and all smartphone manufacturers have also announced price increases.

Forget food and gas – AI is unleashing in a new wave of inflation.

The gentrification of Tremont and the Warehouse District started. The rents shot up. And  the squeeze was on for the artists and galleries.

Luckily, real estate developer Dan Bush stepped in when he saw opportunity in a West Side warehouse in 2001.

Built in 1905, it has housed everything from the Baker Electric Motor Company to American Greetings.

Bush had another idea when he bought the 170-square behemoth complex of five interconnected buildings… A home for 80 artists and galleries.

In 2007, he launched Third Friday Art Walk – which has become a staple in the scene.

Twenty five years later, West 78th Studios is considered the largest arts and design complex in Northeast Ohio.

On Saturday, the complex will celebrate its silver anniversary with an outdoor party that features live music, food and drink vendors, activities, and art displays. Info.

FRIDAY

The Harder They Come: It’s a reggae party at the Happy Dog with music from the Jah Messengers Reggae Band and Es Ska Go – to go with several XCSB DJs. 6 p.m. Info.

Funny Marco: His celebrity interviews and mock NBA post-game press conferences are pure send-up – a mix of deadpan humor, disarming earnestness and irreverence. 7-9:30 p.m. at Funny Bone. (Also performs Saturday.) Info.

Mean Girls: The musical – adapted from the epic high school flick about high-heeled cattiness run amok – opens its run Beck Center for the Arts. 7:30 p.m. (Runs through Aug. 9.) Info.

SATURDAY

GardenWalk Cleveland: The tours hits hundreds of gardens in 13 Cleveland neighborhoods, from West Park to Ohio City, Slavic Village and Collinwood. Each walking tour targets a specific neighborhood. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Also Sunday.) For neighborhoods and times, go here.

SUNDAY

Lakeview Cemetery Summer Concert Series: The home of Cleveland legends hosts live music by Horns & Things. Listen to tunes, stroll the boneyard. 5-6 p.m. Free. Info.

👉 View Listing on Zillow

When the going gets weird, the weird get going.

Step right up, you freaks and geeks. World Oddities Expo is hitting Huntington Convention Center for a weekend of weirdness. Saturday and Sunday.

It’s a macabre traveling circus loaded with sword swallowers, fire breathers, supernatural performers and lovers of all things strange.

Back for its 4th year, WOD rolls out contortionists, clowns, tattooed wonders, mystics, animal anomalies and ghoulishly weird jewelry and get-ups. Info.

Opened in 1898 above Rocky River valley, Puritas Springs Park was the city’s first West Side amusement park. It also features featured one of the city’s most popular rides, the 80-mph Cyclone. It closed in 1958.

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79 °F 🌡️ 71 °F | ☁️➡️☀️ (AM Clouds, PM Sun) | 24% | 💨 ↑ ≈ 8 mph WNW (≈ 7 knots)

79 °F 🌡️ 68 °F | ⛅ (Partly Cloudy) | 9% | 💨 ↑ ≈ 13 mph NE (≈ 11 knots)

80 °F 🌡️ 68 °F | ☀️ (Sunny) | 3% | 💨 ↑ ≈ 13 mph NE (≈ 11 knots)

_{Please note that weather conditions can change rapidly. For the most up-to-date information, consider checking a reliable local weather service.}

Away vs. Pacers, 4:30 PM July 10 (Friday) — NBA Summer League

Away vs. Pistons, 4 PM July 12 (Sunday) — NBA Summer League

Away vs. Marlins, 7:10 PM July 10 (Friday)

Away vs. Marlins, 4:10 PM July 11 (Saturday)

Away vs. Marlins, 1:40 PM July 12 (Sunday)

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