Worth The Trip, Geauga County: CLE Daily

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🎸 Legends in Canton: Country star Lainey Wilson headlines the Concert for Legends at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium on Aug. 9, closing out Pro Football Hall of Fame weekend.

🎨 Art on Detroit: The Lakewood Arts Fest returns Saturday, Aug. 1, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., with 170-plus juried artists and live music along Detroit Avenue.

🏈 Best From Cleveland: Hometown super-agent Rich Paul brought a free youth football clinic to Case Western's DiSanto Field — with Ted Ginn Jr. and Bears safety Coby Bryant coaching about 50 kids — for his Klutch Athletics "Best Comes From Cleveland" campaign.

🍻Best Bar: The Florida Delray Beach location of Goodnight John Boy was included in USA Today’s Best Bars in America 2026 by USA Today. The chain, which has six locations, has roots in Ohio and has a Cleveland location in the Flats East Bank that draws in crowds that get down to 70s beats.

ICYMI: What's it like to become a meme? Cleveland Magazine's CLE Connection podcast talked with two internet-famous Northeast Ohioans — Akron's Kyle Craven, whose Archbishop Hoban yearbook prank became the "Bad Luck Brian" meme, and Clevelander Nisha Godfrey, who went viral off a TikTok about her chicken salad lunch. 

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Trivia Question

What East Side venue, which featured regular performances by historic jazz, blues, soul and R&B acts in the 1950s and 1960s, was called by comedian Dick Gregory "the most fully integrated nightclub in America?"

Things To Do: A Clevelander’s guide to Geauga County: 34 must-go spots.

By Julia Lombardo
 

Just 40 minutes east of Cleveland, this cluster of villages and townships hides antique barns, salt caves and one of the world's few certified dark-sky parks along its winding country roads. Our new guide maps out 34 must-go spots. A few to start with:

Look Up: Observatory Park in Montville Township is one of only 200 International Dark Sky Parks on Earth — 1,100 acres and six trails with almost no light pollution, ideal for stargazing practically in our backyard. For daylight, Punderson State Park spreads across 741 acres around Ohio's largest kettle lake, with a manor house for overnight stays.

Sweet Tooth: Geauga is Ohio's maple syrup capital, and Cheshire Creamery in Burton shows off with maple waffle cones infused with local syrup. Chardon adds the bright-pink King Kone stand, Buckeye Chocolate Cafe's namesake buckeyes and Maggie's Doughnuts.

Eat & Drink: Cowboy Food & Drink in Bainbridge smokes Texas-style brisket daily; Chardon's three-story Square Bistro hides a full sushi bar downstairs; and cash-only Guido's Pizza Haven has been slinging family-recipe pastas and pies in Chesterland since the 1960s.

Browse & Unwind: Poke through Novelty Shop Books, a rare-and-used bookstore a bibliophile opened in an old barn in 1984, and downtown Chardon's Vintage Hollow antiques market — then decompress at Salty, a Chardon spa built around a manmade salt cave.

Worth the drive: It's the kind of slow-down day trip that's easy to forget sits right on Cleveland's far East Side.

Read the full story.

Talk of the Town

A last call at Cleveland's prettiest grocery store. The Downtown Heinen's inside the former Cleveland Trust rotunda officially closes today, July 31, after 11 years and more than $18 million in losses. Downtown Cleveland Inc. says finding a new grocer for the landmark domed space is now a top priority. 

A truck ferry across Lake Erie? The Port of Cleveland and Ontario's Milo Harbour have signed an MOU for a cross-lake cargo ferry between Cleveland and Wheatley — up to 300 truckloads a day on a 55-mile, two-to-three-hour crossing that skirts the congested Windsor-Detroit border. Cargo only for now, targeting a 2028 launch. 

Permanent daylight saving? The "Sunshine Protection Act" has passed the U.S. House and now awaits the Senate; Ideastream dug into what year-round DST would mean for Ohioans, from darker winter mornings to sleep and school-safety concerns.

The Senate money race is on. Democrat Sherrod Brown outraised Republican Sen. Jon Husted more than 2-to-1 in the second quarter — $14.1 million to $3.4 million in direct donations — as outside groups line up behind what's projected to become a $749 million contest.

Things To Do This Weekend

By Jeff Niesel

Cherry Release Party at Beachland Ballroom

The local rock group celebrates the release of its new EP with this show Friday at the Beachland Ballroom. No Bullets Til They're Beautiful, MK Ultra and Moravian open. The show begins at 8 p.m. 15711 Waterloo Road, Cleveland, 216-383-1124, beachlandballroom.com

Jukebox Breakdown aka Emo Night CLE at Mahall’s

Over the years, emo, the style of music characterized by noisy guitars and emotional and introspective lyrics, has been through a number of phases. The roots go back to the Washington D.C. hardcore scene of the '80s and extend to more recent years, as bands such as Hawthorne Heights, Silverstein and the Used play some version of emo. Expect to hear music from different time periods at Friday's Jukebox Breakdown that takes place at 10 p.m. at Mahall's. 13200 Madison Ave., Lakewood, 216-521-3280, mahalls20lanes.com

Music in the Garden at Ben Franklin Community Park

These free concerts featuring local bands take place on the first and third Saturdays throughout the summer at the Ben Franklin Community Garden. John Orsini Jazz Quintet performs on Saturday. The show begins at 6 p.m. You can bring a lawn chair, and admission is free. 1905 Spring Road, Cleveland, 216-459-1000, benfranklincommunitygarden.org

Schumann’s Second Symphony at Blossom Music Center
Conductor Kazuki Yamada leads the Cleveland Orchestra as it takes on Schumann's Second Symphony, a piece written during a personal crisis. The concert begins at 7 p.m. Saturday at Blossom. 1145 W. Steels Corners Road, Cuyahoga Falls, clevelandorchestra.com

Men at Work, Toad the Wet Sprocket and Shonen Knife at Cain Park

Three very different musical acts affiliated with the '80s and '90s bring their summer tour Sunday to Cain Park. Men at Work delivered a number of quirky pop hits in the '80s while Toad the Wet Sprocket take more of an indie and alt-rock approach and broke through to the mainstream, thanks to college radio. The concert begins at 7 p.m. 14591 Superior Road, Cleveland Heights, 216-371-3000, cainpark.com

Find more great events at our full guide of things to do this weekend.

Give the local style scene some love by voting for your favorite shopping spot in Cleveland Magazine's Best of Cleveland. Fashion boutiques, spas, hair salons, gift shops, markets and more are taking the stage, as the spots that received the most nominations face off in final voting. Other categories include restaurants and entertainment.

But we're all winners for simply living in Cleveland, right? Cast your vote now through today. 

Find the ballot here.

Yesterday's Trivia Answer

Radio announcer Ron Penfound was better known as what TV host, dressed like a railroad engineer and showing cartoons and Three Stooges shorts in the 1950s and 60s? Captain Penny.

Check back tomorrow for the answer to today's question

From the Editor

Football season is underway. Training camp opens to the public today, and even though every session this summer is sold out, that tells you something: good news or bad, these fans show up.

And the yearly tradition continues — who's the quarterback? Deshaun Watson (remember him?) is back and healthy. Shedeur Sanders is back. Dillon Gabriel is still around, too. It's the biggest call new coach Todd Monken has to make this summer.

This will also be the first time the Browns take the field without Myles Garrett since the 2017 draft, so keep an eye on that — and on how Jared Verse fits in. 

We'll check in on the Browns all summer. Enjoy.

— Ron Ledgard, Managing Editor

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

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