Lady of Lourdes National Shrine Celebrates 100 Years: CLE Daily

🌩️ 86°; Sun, Humidity, Thunderstorms

🎻 Orchestra Stars Go Chamber: Cleveland Orchestra concertmaster Joel Link and principal hornist Nathaniel Silberschlag join pianist Dawoon Chung at the CMA tonight for Fauré, Glière and Brahms. Link plays a Guarneri violin dating to about 1710.

🔬 Cleveland Clinic Opens Its Next Big Research Bet: Two new research buildings near East 100th Street and Cedar Avenue are officially open, a $400 million investment adding roughly 300,000 square feet of lab space and nearly 30 labs to Main Campus. The twin buildings, linked by a skyway over East 100th, anchor the $500 million Cleveland Innovation District.

ICYMI: Remember when we told you Cleveland Clinic's next expansion was "starting to take shape" back in April? That expansion just opened. The research buildings above are the first tangible output of a construction boom that's only getting bigger, with a $1.1 billion Neurological Institute finishing later this year. 

If you enjoy our daily newsletters, consider supporting our local journalism with a print subscription to Cleveland Magazine.

Today's Trivia

What Cleveland engineering company, still in existence today, became renowned for its work in stadium construction in the early 1900s?

History: Our Lady of Lourdes National Shrine in Euclid is marking 100 years of pilgrims, prayer and reported miracles.

By Annie Nickoloff

Built in 1926 and modeled after its namesake shrine in Lourdes, France, the Euclid grotto has drawn a century of visitors seeking the same quiet the Sisters of the Most Holy Trinity have tended all along. Water trickles into a small pool beneath a statue of the Virgin Mary, tucked into a hillside park.

A Shrine With Its Own Apparitions: Like Lourdes, Euclid's shrine has its own reported Marian apparitions. Julia Harms, of the family that once owned the land, said she saw a vision of Mary there in 1870, and writer Joseph Geisler reported a similar vision in 1912 that led him to convert to Catholicism.

A Family, and a Book, at 100 Years: Author Jennifer Boresz Engelking and her mother, Joanne Boresz, wrote Our Lady of Lourdes National Shrine of Euclid, Ohio, this year for the centennial, the latest chapter for a family with five generations of ties to the shrine. "I hope it continues well into the future," Joanne says.

More Than Miracles: Not every visitor comes for healing. Jennifer and Joanne have marked marriages, births and deaths at the shrine over the years. "It's a place that we feel drawn to, like a lot of people," Jennifer says.

Worth Noting: The shrine isn't a church, but it holds daily Mass in a chapel through winter, and in the grotto once the weather turns warm.

Read the full story.

Talk of the Town

Cleveland will pay you up to $1,500 toward an e-bike. The city and Bike Cleveland opened applications Sept. 1 for 100 rebates: $500 for any eligible resident 18 or older, $1,500 for households at or below 80% of the area median income. Demand is expected to outstrip supply, so winners will be chosen by random drawing; the application window at EBikeCleveland.com closes in three weeks. 

The largest free writing conference in the country kicks off today at Cleveland Public Library. Literary Cleveland's Inkubator Writing Conference runs virtually today and in person Thursday through Saturday at the Main Library, packing 50 events and 75 hours of programming, including workshops, panels and even a book-themed fashion contest, into four days. Two-time Pulitzer winner Colson Whitehead headlines as this year's keynote speaker. 

A Detroit restaurant the New York Times called one of the country's greatest Mexican spots is coming to Tremont. Vecino, also praised by Esquire and named Restaurant of the Year by the Detroit Free Press, is building out a second location in the Driftwood building, expected to open the first week of November. "I'm really impressed by Tremont," said co-owner Adriana Jimenez, who grew up in Detroit and found her cooking voice after finally visiting her native Mexico as an adult. 

A slice of Cleveland's industrial West Side just changed hands. Investor groups purchased the 340,000-square-foot former Anchor Manufacturing facility on Brookpark Road for roughly $10 million. It's the latest turnover in a stretch of industrial real estate that's seen steady change as manufacturers consolidate or relocate. 

Things To Do: Festivals, music and more in Northeast Ohio this weekend.

By Jeff Niesel

Billy Idol at Blossom Music Center | Music | Sept. 13

Given new life thanks to a documentary film, singer Billy Idol comes to Blossom. Idol first emerged with Generation X, a legit punk band that formed in London at about the same time as the Sex Pistols and Damned formed. He left that group in the early '80s and had a successful solo career thanks in part to the contribution of his talented guitarist Steve Stevens. The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. Singer-songwriter Susanna Hoffs opens. 1145 W. Steels Corners Road, Cuyahoga Falls, 216-231-1111, livenation.com

Inkubator 2026 | Conference | Through Sept. 12

Literary Cleveland's annual Inkubator, a free writing conference that features workshops, craft talks, panel discussions, readings, kicks off on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. with a mixer at Zygote Press. Events continue at different locations through Saturday. Various locations, Cleveland, inkubator.litcleveland.org

Cleveland Oktoberfest at Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds | Festival | Sept. 11-12

The annual Cleveland Oktoberfest returns for a second weekend to the Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds. The fest features more than 15 different types of Oktoberfest-style beers, German and European restaurants, tribute bands, vendors and local artisans. Festivities continue through Sunday. 19201 East Bagley Road, Middleburg Heights, 440-243-0090, clevelandoktoberfest.com

Fresh Fest Cleveland at Rid-All Farm and Otter Park | Festival | Sept. 12

Rakim and Rebirth Brass Band headline this annual event that takes place at Rid-All Farm and Otter Park. The event will also feature food trucks, arts and crafts, health and wellness workshops, and kids’ activities. It all begins at 1 p.m., and it's free. 8129 Otter Ave., Cleveland, 216-961-4646, freshfestcleveland.com

Waterloo Arts Fest at Waterloo Arts District | Festival | Sept. 12

Local bands such as Collin Miller & the Brother Nature, Fox Ears and Frida & the Mann will perform at this annual arts and music festival that takes place at noon in the Waterloo Arts District. The locally based experimental rock band Mr. Gnome opens. Waterloo Road, Cleveland, waterlooartsfest.org

For our full list of things to do, visit clevelandmagazine.com/things-to-do.

Yesterday's Trivia Answer 

This Ohio Bell-sponsored, Cleveland-produced show — first for radio and then TV — shared hundreds of stories about the state’s history, including Island Airlines in Port Clinton, Annie Oakley and a Lake Erie steamboat race. The Ohio Story

Check back tomorrow for the answer to today's question.

From the Editor

It's one of those weekends where seemingly every major festival and event lands on the same handful of days. Between Oktoberfest, Fresh Fest, Waterloo Arts Fest, Inkubator and Studio-A-Rama, I'm getting dizzy thinking of all the things I would like to do this weekend, and how few things I actually will have time for. 

It's a jam-packed weekend in Cleveland. Make the most of it!

— Annie Nickoloff, Senior Editor

What are you getting up to this weekend in Northeast Ohio? Let us know at conversation@clevelandmagazine.com.

Subscribe to Cleveland Magazine in print or daily email newsletters.