Swensons Returns to OG Ingredients: CLE Daily

Plus, Game 3 is now a 1 p.m. game and news from in and around Cleveland and Northeast Ohio

by Ron Ledgard | Oct. 15, 2026 | 5:00 AM

Courtesy Swensons

⚾ Today’s ALCS Game 3 Moves Up to 1 p.m.: With bad weather on the way, the Guardians and MLB moved today’s home game against the Rays to a 1 p.m. first pitch, with Progressive Field gates opening at 11 a.m. Tickets for the original time still work, and seats start at $99.

🎃 Trick-or-Treat Times Are Set: With Halloween on a Saturday this year, Cleveland, Lakewood, Cleveland Heights, Euclid, Strongsville and Mentor will all hand out candy Oct. 31 from 6 to 8 p.m., while Akron goes from 5 to 7 p.m. Check the full list for your community, since some towns are trick-or-treating early.
🪩 The Cleveland Pops Turns 30 on the Dance Floor: The Cleveland Pops Orchestra opens its 30th anniversary season Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Severance Music Center with "Disco & Motown: A Night to Dance," joined by symphonic rock group Jeans n' Classics and four guest vocalists. Founded by conductor Carl Topilow and the late Shirley Morgenstern, the orchestra has spent three decades bringing Broadway, film and pop hits to Northeast Ohio. Tickets start at $49.
🕯️ 1,000 Jack-o'-Lanterns Light Up Mansfield This Weekend: Kingwood Center Gardens' Great Pumpkin Glow fills its 47-acre estate with more than 1,000 carved pumpkins Friday through Sunday from 4 to 9 p.m., along with Scarecrow Row, a Fluorescent Forest, a kids' carnival and food trucks. Tickets must be bought in advance.

ICYMI: Remember our list of the best sports bars in Greater Cleveland? From the 27-ounce bloody mary and 1,000-square-foot patio at The South Side in Tremont to the memorabilia-covered walls of Easy Out in Lakewood, there's a spot for every game day.

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Today's Trivia

The intersection of Euclid Avenue and East 55th Street was sometimes called this in the early 1900s, for a close-by railroad station?

Food & Drink: Swensons is undoing its changes after fans pushed back.

By Douglas Trattner

The 92-year-old Akron drive-in is going back to basics, reversing a year of tweaks that customers didn’t like. “Right now, everyone here is focused on getting back to the basics,” says CEO Jeff Flowers.

What’s Back: Buns from longtime Akron supplier Massoli’s Bakery, the classic vertical toasters, and spoons and spreaders in place of squeeze bottles, which had been putting too much sauce on the sandwiches. The cheese, butter and ketchup are back to their pre-COVID versions too. “I learned my lesson once and for all that the cheese at Swensons is here to stay,” Flowers says.
What’s Paused: Monthly collaborations with Ohio brands like Black Cap Hot Sauce and Larder are on hold, though Flowers calls it a slowdown, not a shutdown. Servers will keep taking orders on tablets.

Worth Noting: After tripling to 21 stands since 2017, Swensons closed its Indianapolis location and one in Cincinnati, and Flowers says there are no immediate plans to open more.

Read the full story.

Talk of the Town

President Trump says Cleveland will be home to a new submarine repair center, but few details are known. Speaking at a Youngstown rally, Trump said the U.S. Submarine Component Repair Center is coming to Cleveland. The city says it hasn't received specifics, and the location, job count and operator are still unknown.

The Browns’ Berea campus now has a sports medicine clinic that’s open to everyone. The 9,000-square-foot UH Drusinsky Sports Medicine Institute, right behind a Browns practice field, offers MRIs, X-rays, orthopedic care and a walk-in injury clinic for athletes “from pee wee to pro,” says team physician Dr. James Voos. It’s part of the team’s $180 million Berea expansion, which also includes a hotel, apartments and a 7,000-seat stadium for Berea-Midpark High School.

Cleveland's new crisis response bureau has its first leader. Maureen Malavé, the city's first deputy commissioner for Community Crisis Response, plans to put a social worker in the 911 call center by year's end and have paramedics and social workers answering some mental health calls by next summer, as required by Tanisha's Law.

CWRU's dental school got $15 million to care for patients with special needs. The gift from retired pediatric dentist Bill Cornell and his wife, Chloe, will create the Cornell Center, which starts seeing patients early next year and will treat people from childhood through old age.

The Bail Project is ending new cases in Cleveland. Since 2019, the nonprofit has helped nearly 3,000 Ohio defendants post bail, and 95% returned for their court dates. It will keep supporting current clients, but it cited falling donations for the cutback.

Three of the youngest Holocaust survivors will share their stories in Cleveland next week. Eva Clarke, Hana Berger Moran and Dr. Mark Olsky join Wendy Holden, who wrote about them in her bestseller Born Survivors, Oct. 21 at 7 p.m. at the Maltz Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $21 and include a copy of the book.

Yesterday's Trivia Answer

The Elites, Tate Stars, Hornets and Bears all played in Cleveland in what sport? Negro League baseball

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

From the Editor

There are few places that capture Cleveland sports fandom quite like a packed sports bar.

That feels especially true this week. The Guardians are in the American League Championship Series, the Browns host the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday, even Ohio State football has a big matchup against Indiana. Oh, and don't forget the Cavaliers are starting their season next week.

But the beauty of a good sports bar is that it’s there whether we’re celebrating or commiserating. There’s something about squeezing into a crowded room with dozens of strangers, all cheering at the same TVs, cold drafts in hand and baskets of hot, fried food covering the table. It’s loud, a little chaotic and undeniably communal.

And, of course, the food is half the fun. Wings, onion rings, quesadillas, loaded fries and all manner of deep-fried delicacies just taste better when there’s a game on.

With football season underway and the Guardians excelling in the postseason, there’s no better time to pull up a barstool.

Check out our guide to some of Cleveland’s best sports bars and find your next game-day spot.

— Christina Rufo, Editorial Assistant

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.