Travis Kelce Invests in Cleveland Guardians, Aria Wine Bar Opening, Justin Bibb Talks Data Centers: CLE Daily

☀️  65°; Sunshine

🎢 One Man's Treasure: This Lorian County is collecting artifacts from Ohio's old amusement parks. 

🎞️ One Thing To Do Today: Go see Speech & Debate at Beck Center for the Arts at 7:30 p.m.

☀️ Summer Fun: Whether they’re building robots or chasing home runs, these summer camps keep kids learning, creating and having fun all season long.

ICYMI: Chefs Hedy and Talia Trovato announced they’re pursuing a new opportunity together in Florida and, in so doing, are closing Coppia next month. 

Today's Trivia

What author lived in Cleveland and Elyria before breaking through with a novel fictionalizing his Northwest Ohio hometown?

Travis Kelce has become a minority owner of the Cleveland Guardians.

Sports | By Jaden Stambolia

Cleveland Heights native Travis Kelce has had a busy month of May with Cleveland sports. First, sitting courtside with fiancee Taylor Swift at Rocket Arena during Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals. And now, buying a minority share of the Cleveland Guardians.

Value: The Guardians are valued at $1.7 billion, according to Forbes. The percentage of ownership or the purchase price have not been disclosed.

The New Kids: Kelce may soon be joined by a new majority owner with the Guardians. In 2022, David Blitzer bought 25% of the team with an option in 2028 to buy the controlling stake away from the Dolans.

Trend: This is not the first ownership stake that Kelce has invested in. Last year, the local star became a part of Cedar Point’s ownership, citing his family's trips there growing up.

• His childhood sentiment for the Guardians also played a role in his purchase.

Love for an Era: "There was nothing like Cleveland baseball in the '90s. That's just a core memory for me. Kenny Lofton, Carlos Baerga, Jim Thome, Sandy Alomar Jr., the list goes on."

Photo of the Day: Ahmed Aly wins Heritage Ohio's 2026 Preservation Month Photo Contest.

 Ahmed Aly won Heritage Ohio's 2026 Preservation Month for his image, Preserving Memory: The Cemetery Blitz. His photo is centered on students from the Andrew Jackson Davison Club participating in a “Cemetery Blitz” at the West State Street Cemetery in Athens. 

Talk of the Town

Justin Bibb teased running for a third term as Cleveland's mayor at the City Club of Cleveland on Wednesday. Bibb, who began his first term in 2022, succeeded Cleveland's long-serving mayor, Frank Jackson, who served four terms and 16 years in office. 

Football teams at Richmond Heights and Charles F. Brush High Schools will play on new fields this season, as the Cleveland Browns install high-quality synthetic turf at both schools this spring. Since 2016, the Browns have built 19 fields for local sports teams.

Beachwood is considering taking down the iconic Fairmount Temple, a mid-century synagogue. In its place, the city would build senior housing on the property, reports the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

Since last summer, Northeast Ohio has seen multiple Family Dollar stores close, with five split between the Cleveland and Youngstown areas. Overall, 28 Family Dollar stores have closed in Ohio since last year, reports The Columbus Dispatch. 

Mayor Justin Bibb discusses the nuance of data centers in Cleveland neighborhoods.

News | By Annie Nickoloff

In a far-ranging conversation at the City Club on Wednesday afternoon, Mayor Justin Bibb and WKYC anchor and managing editor Russ Mitchell dove into a variety of major headlines dominating the leader's second term.

• Data, Centered: That included a discussion on data centers in the city, sparked by news of a recent proposal to build a 150-megawatt data center in the city’s Slavic Village neighborhood. The City rejected the proposal.

Mayor Justin Bibb: “When you come at the last minute and want to propose a hyperscale standalone facility without talking about it, without engaging in a thoughtful conversation with the administration, without really talking about the concerns to our environment with rising utility costs, that's a problem."

• Back and Forth: The debate continues around the construction of data centers, which power a global rise in artificial intelligence use. Cleveland City Council is considering a moratorium on building new large data centers in light of environmental and economic concerns.

Mayor Justin Bibb: “There's nuance to this, and so when it comes to zoning, and when it comes to ensuring that we are putting these facilities in places where it needs to be, not in someone's backyard in Slavic Village. That’s a different conversation.”

Read more on what Bibb had to say about data centers.

New wine bar Aria set to open in Little Italy’s La Collina building in July.

Food & Drink | By Douglas Trattner 

The relatively new space in the La Collina building has been home to two wine bars in its brief existence. Aria Wine Bar is to be the third when it opens this July. 

Who's Behind It: Sarah Halko, a level-two sommelier from Youngstown, is the curator of this idea. 

• “I wanted to be part of a really nice community and I felt that what Little Italy has is something that I would love to be a part of.”

The Waiting Room: Rather than be a destination for a meal, Halko wants to be that place where people come before and after dinner on the restaurant-rich strip.

The Menu: On offer will be small plates and shareables like meat and cheese boards, peppers in oil (a nod to Halko’s Youngstown roots), and other wine-friendly fare.

• She is working with an importer to assemble a one-of-a-kind selection of wines that is designed to expand one’s appreciation of varietals.

Read more on Halko's plans for Aria.

Yesterday's Trivia Answer 

What Polish-themed celebration, which involves pussywillows and squirt guns, is held the day after Easter? Dyngus Day

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

Preserving History. Being a history geek, I love seeing people volunteer their time, effort and even money to be able to pass down a story, artifact, recipe or whatever to keep the memory of that alive.

That's why I love our photo of the day. One small thing can mean the world to someone else or even be their last remaining part of this universe. - Jaden Stambolia, Editorial Assistant