Earlier this month, after what’s-his-name chose to sign with the Miami Heat, The Plain Dealer listed “100 reasons we still love Cleveland.”
Readers reacted in one of three ways:
“How nice.”
“How lame.”
“How could you forgot [insert great thing about Cleveland]?!”
So here we are, with a list of another 100 reasons we love Cleveland and its environs. This one includes many suggestions from readers and from the suddenly loud contingent of local librarians (see No. 1).
If we forgot your favorite here, don’t sweat it. We’ll include it on the next list, which we’ll publish when Grady Sizemore signs with the Yankees.
1. Our world-class libraries. 2. Delicious Lake Erie tap water (really). 3. Fresh Lake Erie perch and walleye. 4. You can keep beer cold in your garage six months out of the year. 5. Inexpensive dock space. 6. Chicago, New York, Washington and more — all within driving distance. 7. Front porch culture and community. 8. Shaker Square. 9. The Woollybear Festival. 10. Swenson’s burgers.
11. The Black Keys — this Akron band rocks. 12. The National First Ladies Library in Canton. 13. Strickland’s Ice Cream. 14. The Cleveland Play House. 15. Gary Waters’ Cleveland State University basketball team. 16. Twins Days. 17. The Labor Day Oktoberfest. 18. Mike Holmgren. 19. The Shaker Lakes. 20. Drivers who occasionally wave you into traffic.
21. The Cleveland Marathon, Half-Marathon and 10K — 15,600 runners and growing with a good rep. 22. No hurricanes. 23. No wildfires. 24. No earthquakes (well, no major ones). 25. Sunset over Lake Erie. 26. Picking up friends at the airport in less than five minutes. 27. Great nonprofits and foundations. 28. Les Roberts. 29. The Children’s Museum. 30. Dollar drafts and mixed drinks for less than $5 (good luck finding ’em in New York or Chicago).
31. Wineries. 32. Ted Ginn Sr. 33. Verb Ballets. 34. No lines for changing rooms at stores. 35. Joe Tait. 36. Public Hall. 37. Joshua Cribbs. 38. Mama Santa’s in Little Italy. 39. Strangers say hello to you. 40. No chance of running into LeBron anywhere.
41. Clementine’s in Olmsted Falls — a Victorian restaurant serving traditional high tea at a reasonable price. 42. The rest of Grand Pacific Junction. 43. The USS Cod. 44. Lou’s Sausage. 45. Cleveland’s mounted police unit. 46. Hershey Children’s Garden. 47. The Ohio Derby. 48. Cain Park. 49. Real people without silicone. 50. The Pro Football Hall of Fame.
51. Neighbors who help shovel your drive. 52. Nature centers, including the F.A. Seiberling Nature Realm, the Lake Erie Nature & Science Center and others. 53. Cleveland Institute of Art. 54. The Cargill salt mine under Lake Erie. 55. Annual Hobo Weekend in the Cuyahoga Valley. 56. Tri-C JazzFest. 57. The first warm day in spring. 58. The first snowflakes of the year. 59. Turning old jeans into shorts and not thinking twice about it. 60. Wearing “the curse” like a badge of courage.
61. Dick Goddard. 62. Neighborhood bars. 63. Bragging to out-of-town friends about the snow you’re enduring. 64. Jim Brown — He’s still better, at age 74, than half the backs in the league. 65. The reborn Capitol Theatre. 66. John Adams and his drum. 67. Drivers who (pretty much) know how to maneuver in snow. 68. Pierre’s Ice Cream. 69. The Muni Lot on Sunday mornings in fall. 70. The Seti’s truck — find food heaven parked at East 34th Street and Woodland Avenue.
71. Spelling bee champion Anamika Veeramani. 72. “Steggie” — every Cleveland kid eventually climbs and conquers the dino outside the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. 73. Szalay’s market in Peninsula. 74. The Cleveland International Piano Competition. 75. Nice, affordable public golf courses. 76. Dana Schneider, jewelry maker to the stars. 77. Free, small museums such as the Money Museum at the Federal Reserve and the International Women’s Air & Space Museum at Burke Lakefront Airport. 78. Christmas lights at Nela Park. 79. High school football. 80. Cleveland Institute of Music.
81. The Great Lakes Medieval Faire. 82. Ice Box Cave in the Cuyahoga Valley (it’s 53 degrees in the summer). 83. Hale Farm & Village. 84. The Cleveland National Air Show. 85. Preston’s H.O.P.E. playground in Beachwood — easily the best play area in Ohio. 86. Maple syrup season. 87. The Browns Backers — one of the nation’s largest fan clubs. 88. The James A. Garfield House. 89. Detroit-Superior (Veterans Memorial) Bridge and Subway Tour. 90. The rolling hills of the Chagrin Valley.
91. NASA Glenn Research Center. 92. Lake Metroparks Farmpark — Go ahead, milk a cow. 93. The 2014 Gay Games. 94. The smell of autumn. 95. Modest downhill skiing (that means minimal black-diamond danger). 96. The Free Stamp. 97. The Grog Shop. 98. Carl Monday. 99. Buzzards in Hinckley. 100. The annual Coventry pie fight.
