RileyCakes Is Bringing Its Sweets to Kirtland Storefront; Swenson's Buns Are Back: CLE Daily

Plus, things to do this weekend in and around Cleveland.

by Ron Ledgard | Oct. 7, 2026 | 5:00 AM

Photograph courtesy RileyCakes

🍔 Swensons Brings Back the Bun: The 92-year-old Akron drive-in tested new buns and toasters; customers made it clear they didn't like the change, and Swensons listened. Its original locally baked Italian buns are back at every location, hand-buttered and toasted in the classic vertical toasters. The chain is also scaling back its monthly specials to focus on classics like the Galley Boy, though the Pumpkin Pie Shake stays for fall.

🎷 Last Call for the Bad Plus: The genre-bending jazz quartet wraps 26 years of rule-breaking with a farewell stop at the Cleveland Museum of Art tonight.

🗼 Should Cleveland Build a 600-Foot Lighthouse? With the Browns leaving the lakefront, a group of local advocates is pitching a "Lighthouse of the Great Lakes" for North Coast Harbor, a 500- to 600-foot monument with an observation deck, restaurant and museum devoted to the five lakes. MVRDV's updated lakefront master plan is expected within a month or two.

🐴 Meet Willie Nelson, the Pony Who Rides Hospital Elevators: The therapy pony from Bath's Victory Gallop visits patients at Akron Children's, UH Rainbow Babies & Children's and Seidman Cancer Center. Before each visit, he gets two baths, a foot scrub and a pair of blue socks.

ICYMI: Remember when Barry Bagels opened in Ohio City? The 50-year-old Toledo bagel chain took over the former Dave's Cosmic Subs space on Lorain Avenue, serving boiled-and-baked bagels, breakfast sandwiches and matzo ball soup daily from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

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Today's Trivia

The National City complex at East Ninth Street and Euclid Avenue used to be the site of which Art Moderne department store?

Openings: A 21-year-old baker is bringing her glitter-covered cakes to a 1950s-style shop in Kirtland.

By Lydia Koszegi

Riley Moodry has spent five years baking custom cakes out of a renovated garage and sharing them with more than 20,000 Instagram followers. In November, her RileyCakes moves into a brick storefront at 7621 Euclid Chardon Road in Kirtland. "Now it's just grown so much to the point where I need extra hands," she says.

Vintage Vibes: Moodry is known for bright, whimsical vintage-style cakes showered in edible glitter, so she and her dad are turning the space into a 1950s diner, complete with a red-and-white counter to show off her creations.

Cake School: The new shop gives her room for decorating classes, where groups each decorate a 6-inch cake, with baking-basics classes to follow. "I think it's something that everybody should know," she says.

Worth Noting: Moodry started selling to friends and family at 16 and still works 16-plus-hour days, sometimes seven days a week. "I'm not burnt out from baking," she says. "I just love it."

Read the full story.

Talk of the Town

Ohio's minimum wage will rise to $11.40 an hour on Jan. 1. A 3.5% bump tied to inflation under a 2006 constitutional amendment will raise the wage for tipped workers to $5.70. Full-time minimum wage pay will still fall $3,600 short of the poverty line for a family of three.

Cleveland's rapid rehousing program has moved more than 225 people off the streets since 2024. A Home for Every Neighbor is now expanding beyond encampments to people sleeping in cars, doorways and bus shelters, even as federal cuts threaten about 400 supportive housing beds in Cuyahoga County.

The Cleveland Jewish FilmFest turns 20 with 39 films from 13 countries. It opens Thursday at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History with a documentary on Woody Guthrie's Jewish influences, and screenings run through Oct. 18 at the Mandel JCC, Cedar Lee Theatre and the Cinematheque.

Holden Forests & Gardens is getting a $1.5 million gift to grow its science center. Larry and Sally Sears' donation will fund a 10,000-square-foot addition with labs and public spaces at Holden Arboretum in Kirtland, and construction is set to start in 2027.

Cuyahoga County Public Library launched a book collection honoring Dolly Parton. The age-by-age reading lists model her Imagination Library, which mails free books to Ohio kids from birth to age 5, and are available in print and on Libby.

Things To Do: Documentary and horror film fests, comedy, pooch parades and other weekend fun.

By Jeff Niesel

World Class Care at Beck Center for the Arts | Theater | Through Nov. 1

Set in a not-so-distant future, where two powerful hospital systems have expanded to control nearly all of Cleveland, this play by local playwright Eric Coble examines what happens when "profit-driven healthcare loses sight of humanity," as it's put in a press release. Friday's performance takes place at 7:30 p.m. at Beck Center for the Arts, where performances continue through Nov. 1. 17801 Detroit Ave., Lakewood, 216-521-2540, beckcenter.org

Chagrin Documentary Film Festival at Chagrin Falls | Film | Through Oct. 11

The 17th Chagrin Documentary Film Festival continues from Thursday through Sunday at various venues in Chagrin Falls. In addition to the screenings, the festival features a number of related events, including opportunities to meet the filmmakers. Check the website for a complete schedule. Various locations, chagrinfilmfest.org

Spooky Pooch Parade at Madison Park | Festival | Oct. 10

Scheduled to take place from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, this annual event includes a festival within Madison Park, a parade and an awards presentation. It’s reportedly the only event of its kind within the region. There will be kids games, food and dog-related vendors, including rescue groups and other nonprofits offering canine-oriented goods and services. The parade commences at 2 p.m. 13029 Madison Ave., Lakewood, 216-529-6650, lakewoodalive.com

Killer Video Presents: The 2026 Akron Independent Horror Short Film Festival at the Akron Civic Theatre | Film | Oct. 10

Expect three hours of independent horror shorts at this special event that takes place at Akron Civic Theatre. Food trucks and film vendors will be on hand as well. It begins at 6 p.m. 182 S. Main St., Akron, 330-253-2488, akroncivic.com

Marc Maron at the Ohio Theatre | Comedy | Oct. 10

This comedian's conversational style enabled him to host a successful podcast for many years. He's now back on the standup circuit and comes to the Ohio Theatre at 7 p.m. 1501 Euclid Ave., Cleveland, 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org

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

Photographed by Annie Nickoloff

Music: Gorillaz performed its first-ever Cleveland concert, and it was great: Review

A troupe of misfit cartoons hovered over the heads of the human musicians at Rocket Arena on Tuesday night. Real and animated alike, they were all valid members of Gorillaz.

"This is our first-ever visit to Cleveland,” said (human) Gorillaz founder and singer Damon Albarn. “This is an entirely new experience to us."

Indeed, despite the band's successful 28 years of music-making, Tuesday marked its debut in Cleveland — and in the state of Ohio, for that matter. Part-art experiment, part-alternative-hip-hop concert, the show thrust the Downtown arena into an expansive 100 minutes of storytelling, energy and beats.

Read our concert review

Yesterday's Trivia Answer

What area college can trace its roots back to 1837, when the Berea Seminary was incorporated? Baldwin Wallace University

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

From the Editor

It's definitely movie season. I just saw Coyote vs. Acme on Monday (it was lovely and so funny!) and before the show, seeing the movie posters and trailers, I remembered just how many great movies are out right now or very soon. I'm particularly looking forward to the two new Lance Oppenheim flicks, Primetime and You Can See Everything.

If you look beyond major theaters, there's even more to get excited about. This weekend's two film fests showcase some really interesting and fun flicks. The Cleveland Cinematheque and The Nightlight in Akron consistently host artsy and quirky releases. In just a couple of weeks, local creatives will debut brand-new sci-fi projects created during the 48-Hour Film Project.

So, turn off the TV. Get out. There's always something good to watch in Northeast Ohio.

— Annie Nickoloff, Senior Editor

Let us know what is on your mind at conversation@clevelandmagazine.com.

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Ron Ledgard

Ron Ledgard is Cleveland Magazine's managing editor and a Pittsburgh native who has made his peace with Cleveland (except on Sundays). He's a University of Pittsburgh graduate, a veteran of The Athletic and the Akron Beacon Journal, and was there for every chapter of LeBron's Cleveland story. After two decades of chasing deadlines and box scores, he's happily landed in magazines. He's a sucker for a long story done right, the kind you save for a Sunday morning (before kickoff, of course). When he isn't editing, he's out on a trail, trying a new restaurant or hunting for the next great thing to do. Sports is his subject of choice, and coffee is his fuel. Most Starbucks baristas in the area greet him like the Cheers crowd greeted Norm.