Cleveland Yuppie

It’s Labor Day weekend, which means there is A LOT going on in the CLE today-Monday. There is no excuse for boredom this weekend, my friends.  Need a nudge? Here are some suggestions:

Weekend Festivals

Taste of Cleveland (Friday-Monday)

I really enjoyed the Taste of Cleveland when I went last year.  This event takes place at the Tower City Amphitheater, 11-11 Friday, noon-11 Saturday and Sunday, noon-8 on Monday. Admission most days is $8, but only $5 if you have a Giant Eagle card, and only $1 on Monday. More than 30 local restaurants will be at the festival serving some of their best/most popular dishes, including Crepes de Luxe, the Peirogi Place, Das Schnitzel Haus and Souper Market.  There are also cooking demos throughout the weekend, where local chefs teach the crowd how to make a particular dish and then offer samples of it.

Bands perform each day (included with admission), namely Peter Frampton at 9:15 on Friday, Lita Ford with awesome local 80’s cover band The Breakfast Club at 9:15 on Saturday and local music education project The Paul Green School of Rock at 2:30 on Monday. (There are some others, too, but these are the ones I’d want to see. You can see the rest of the lineup, and get more information on the festival at the Taste of Cleveland Website.)

Octoberfest (Friday-Monday)

As a beer lover, I have to mention Octoberfest at the Berea Fairgrounds, taking place Friday 5-midnight, Saturday & Sunday noon-midnight and Monday noon-9, with general admission tickets costing $8.  Friday-Sunday, there’s going to be a Best Octoberfest Microbrew Competition, with local bands (including The Breakfast Club and The Spazmatics) performing in the Bier Garden.  On top of the beer, plenty of German food will be available from several vendors.

Cleveland Air Show (Saturday-Monday)

For some Clevelanders, Labor Day weekend is synonymous with the Air Show. This annual event takes place at the Burke Lakefront Airport, 9-4:30 Saturday-Moandy. Tickets are $19 in advance or $21 at the door. Basically, you just hang out and watch people fly planes and do air acrobatics. Pretty neat stuff.

A good tip if you’re broke-ish — find a friend that lives downtown and has roof access. You can see a lot that way.  If you’re really ambitious, you can also try to get a spot at Edgewater, but you might have to show up at like 6:00 in the morning.

Other Events

Studio-A-Rama (Saturday)

Case Western’s radio station, WRUW, is hosting a free outdoor concert this Saturday from 2-midnight on the Case Campus.  This day-long show features 9 bands, with headliners Mission of Burma at 10 PM.  See the entire lineup and schedule.

So… if you sit at home and do nothing this weekend, clearly it’s your own damn fault. Go and enjoy the last of the summer festivals… before it stars snowing.