Arm Wrestling Pumps Up Cleveland: CLE Daily

🌩️ 81°; Sun, humid and thunderstorms possible

🐱 Meet Sue, Ohio's Cutest Construction Crew Member: The National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum unveiled a limited-edition bobblehead of Sue, the two-week-old orange kitten rescued in July from inside an excavator at a Barberton-area job site by RiverReach Construction's Chase Guello. The $30 bobblehead, wearing Sue's signature tiny hard hat and safety vest, ships in February, with 10% of sales benefiting One of a Kind Pet Rescue in Akron.

🎸 Brite Winter Wants Your Band: Brite Winter is opening band submissions for its 18th annual outdoor music and arts festival, set for Feb. 20, 2027. Submissions go before the festival's music selection committee, with performers hearing back this fall or winter. 
🎱 Parma Heights Pool Sharks Bring Home $20K: A local team known as the "Rookies" beat out 695 other squads to win the 2026 APA World 9-Ball Championship at the Westgate Las Vegas last month, taking home $20,000 and bragging rights back at their Cleveland-area poolroom. Team members Ryan Campbell, William McRae, Edward Harbie, Thomas Schofield, Staci Giera, Jennifer Stout, Tina Schofield and Derek Schofield play weekly in the American Poolplayers Association's local league. 

🎷 CJO Announces Season No. 42: The Cleveland Jazz Orchestra unveiled its 2026-27 season, "The World According to Jazz," its sixth year calling the Maltz Performing Arts Center home. Four concerts headline the lineup: percussionist Jamey Haddad in October, a Miles Davis/John Coltrane centennial tribute in November, a Harold Arlen tribute with The Musical Theater Project in April, and a Quincy Jones celebration closing out the season in May. Tickets run $25-$55, with season subscriptions from $90-$195.

ICYMI: Remember when CMSD put 12 surplus school properties up for redevelopment back in June, the fallout from the district's Building Brighter Futures consolidation plan? That same plan is why families now have a four-day window to request a different school for their kids. 

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Trivia Question

This Cleveland native and Playhouse Curtain Pullers alumnus won an Oscar, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe and a Tony as the Master of Ceremonies in “Cabaret.”

Sports: Five guys at the Berea Recreation Center in 2020 have turned into one of Northeast Ohio's most established arm wrestling clubs.

By Alissa Bica Raines

Cleveland Armwrestling Club now draws upward of 30 people to each practice at the Berea Recreation Center, a sport founder Kevin Palko calls "the sport for the common man" — no athletic background required, no age limit, just table time.

From Rock Climbing to Nationals: Palko, a former high school wrestler from Elyria, discovered arm wrestling in 2014 while rock climbing at Lorain County Community College. He won the Arnold Classic Arm-Wrestling Championship in 2021 and another national title in 2022, and is now ranked fourth nationally in his 154-pound weight class.

A Blue-Collar Sport: Co-captain Rich Calero, 52, who moved to Ohio from Puerto Rico, says the appeal is its accessibility. "It's accessible to everyone, not just people built to be in the NBA," he says. "It also doesn't require a lot of money or equipment. You can start in local competitions, work up to state, and then to nationals."

Growing Beyond the Guys: Members Megann Galehouse and Jackie Zeleny are expanding the club's female presence. Galehouse, who came from powerlifting, has been in the sport just four months but is already headed to the 2026 World Armwrestling Championship in India, with a fundraiser at Little Rose Tavern on Sept. 6.

A Place for Everyone: The club's growing para-armwrestling division includes Kevin Hyatt, who is nonverbal and uses a walker after a brain injury, but shows up consistently to build strength.

Worth Noting: The sport carries real injury risk — a spiral fracture of the humerus is one of its most notorious — so the club pairs every newcomer with an experienced member first.

Read the full story.

Talk of the Town

Cleveland families have a four-day window to request a different school for their kids. CMSD's transfer period opens Sept. 8 and closes at 5 p.m. Sept. 11, with requests taken in person at a student's current school, online once the window opens, or at the district's downtown enrollment office. A transfer request doesn't guarantee a spot. Students should keep attending their current school while they wait to hear back, a district spokesperson said. 

Looming Medicaid cuts threaten a Cleveland mental health lifeline for Black men. Even Kings Feel Healing Community, which has served more than 13,000 Black boys and men over the past decade, relies heavily on clients' Medicaid coverage, which is now at risk as $33 billion in federal cuts to Ohio's Medicaid funding phase in starting January 2027.

Cleveland is putting more than $250,000 behind neighborhood small businesses. The city announced Steelyard TIF grants for 24 small businesses and one community development corporation across six neighborhoods, funding expansions, infrastructure upgrades and public art.

Someone's breaking into cars in North Collinwood without setting off a single alarm. Residents say thieves accessed multiple vehicles overnight, stealing cash, medication and AirPods, with no forced entry, no broken windows and no triggered alarms. Police haven't confirmed whether a device was used.

Ray's Sausage has been Cleveland's souse meat king for 74 years and almost didn't survive a case of mistaken identity. The Mt. Pleasant institution, founded in 1952 by Raymond C. Cash Sr., was wrongly blamed for a foul neighborhood odor in the 2000s that turned out to be serial killer Anthony Sowell's victims, a mix-up that cost the family business at least $400,000 and years of lost sales. Now run by the third generation, the company is gearing up to celebrate 75 years in 2027. 

Things To Do This Labor Day Weekend

Great Geauga County Fair at Geauga County Fairgrounds | Fair | Sept. 3-7. Horse shows, a rodeo and a livestock auction headline this Labor Day weekend tradition, running through Monday. 14373 North Cheshire St., Burton, 440-834-1846, geaugafair.com

Made in Ohio Art & Craft Festival at Hale Farm & Village | Festival | Sept. 4-6. This juried festival brings more than 150 Ohio artisans — jewelry makers, potters, woodworkers, glassblowers and more — to Hale Farm, along with local food and entertainment. 2686 Oak Hill Road, Akron, 330-666-3711, halefarm.org

MIX: Island Vibes at the Cleveland Museum of Art | Music | Sept. 4. Locally based reggae singer-songwriter Carlos Jones and DJ Maxafari headline this monthly celebration of reggae music and culture, with themed food and drink. Starts at 6 p.m. 11150 East Blvd., Cleveland, 216-421-7350, clevelandart.org 

4th Annual Hingetown Jazz Festival at Hingetown | Music | Sept. 5. Veteran local jazz acts like Evelyn Wright and John Klayman share the bill with up-and-coming artists and student ensembles from Kent, CSU, Tri-C and Akron University. Free admission, starting at 2 p.m. across the Bop Stop, Jukebox and Saucy Brew Works. Various locations, Cleveland, hingetownjazzfest.org

Read the full list for the weekend.

Food & Drink: Mapleside Farms is celebrating 99 years with a new winery, brewery and eatery — and a corn maze shaped like a bald eagle.

By Lydia Koszegi

Mapleside Farms is opening The Social House this fall, a year-round winery, brewery and eatery on the Brunswick farm's 100-plus acres. "Fall 2026 is going to be a huge season at Mapleside Farms," says co-owner Greg Clement.

Three Rooms, One Vibe: The Social House splits into The Great Room, with open seating and live music; The Press, serving coffee and pastries by day and cocktails and wine by night; and The Library, a dark, luxurious space for private events in the farm's former gift shop.

Grown on the Farm: Many of the wines will come from grapes grown on-site, with the drink program crafted by partner and award-winning brewer Mike Piazza and shareable dishes from chef Rob Romph. "We're taking this idea of craft wine, beer and cider to a new level," says co-owner Kelly Clement.

Pumpkin Village Returns Bigger: The farm's fall festival kicks off Sept. 12 with a new Jurassic Fest featuring more than 40 dinosaur replicas, alongside returning favorites like the corn maze, haystack mountain, duck races and 311-foot slide.

A Maze With a Theme: A new wine-themed corn maze runs Fridays and Saturdays, with wine and beer stations scattered through seven acres cut into the shape of a bald eagle to mark America's 250th anniversary.

Worth Noting: It's all a warm-up act for 2027, when Mapleside Farms turns 100.

Read the full story.

Yesterday's Trivia Answer

What national scholastic competition was started at Case Western Reserve University with 129 participating students in 1974? National History Day

Check back Tuesday for the answer to today's question

From the Editor

There's a changing-of-the-seasons feel running through this newsletter this week, that mix of not-quite-fall and still-summer Northeast Ohio does so well. Berea's arm wrestlers are already in fall training mode, Mapleside Farms is unveiling pumpkin patches and a brand-new winery in the same breath, and this weekend pairs Oktoberfest with summer's last festivals.

Cleveland doesn't really do transitions. It just does everything at once. Enjoy the overlap now before it's just football and cider.

— Ron Ledgard, Managing Editor

Have a story idea? Tell us what we should cover at conversation@clevelandmagazine.com.

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