Euclid Beach

Saturday September 21st is going to be an exciting day to volunteer in Euclid Creek Reservation!

Join volunteers for a beach cleanup at Euclid Creek Reservation-Euclid Beach (16301 Lakeshore Boulevard) as we take part in International Coastal Cleanup Day --the world's single largest shoreline cleanup. On Saturday September 21st, thousands of volunteers in partnership with the Ocean Conservancy, Ohio Lake Erie Commission Coastweeks Program, and Alliance for the Great Lakes Adopt-a-Beach(TM) program will clean beaches across the world's oceans and along the Great Lakes, including Lake Erie, to raise awareness about the impact of trash on beach and water quality. Volunteers will not only remove debris, they will also record their findings. The data collected by volunteers is used to educate the public, share with local beach authorities and improve our beaches across Ohio, the Great Lakes and the world.

Volunteers will meet in the Euclid Beach picnic shelter at 10am and should wear pants, close-toed shoes and dress appropriately for the weather--whatever the weather may be (We clean up rain or shine)!  You should also bring bug spray and sunscreen. Children under 10 are required to be accompanied by an adult. Gloves, bags, rakes and trash pickers will be provided but you are welcome to bring your own. Euclid Beach is located at 16301 Lakeshore Blvd. Cleveland OH 44110.

After the beach cleanup, check out the Cuyahoga Soil and Watershed District's Conservation Day over at Wildwood Park(16975 Lakeshore Blvd.)--just a hop, skip and a jump down Lakeshore or on the lake path through Villa Angela Beach. Following a stream cleanup and the dedication of the Euclid Creek Wetlands project, pizza and refreshments will be provided to all participating volunteers between 11:30am and 12pm. 

All beach cleanup volunteers will receive a 1/2 off your meal coupon from Chili Peppers Restaurant (869 East 185th St.) as well as a chance to win tickets to a Jack Johnson Charity Auction Concert in Akron on September 29th.

For more information and to RSVP for the September 21st beach cleanup, attend our facebook event http://goo.gl/533w9y email adopt.euclidbeach@gmail.com or call Stephen Love at 216-571-0685.

You can also check out our Beach Cleanup Schedule for the rest of Fall 2013: Saturday October 26th, 10am-12pm and Saturday November 16th, 10am-12pm.

This year, the Euclid Beach Blast 2013 was truly a blast. For the first time the parking lot hit maximum capacity with an estimated attendance of 1500 people! We jammed and danced to live music from the Hesitations, the Wingtones and Grupo Son Gitano, chowed down on some great eats from B&M Barbeque, Callaloo Cafe, TB's Hot Dogs & Hoagies and got our sweet fix with Real Frut drinks and a scoop or two of East Coast Custard.

They say it takes a village to raise a child. On Global Youth Service Day 2013, Euclid Beach Adopt-a-Beach volunteers learned that it also takes a village to clean and care for our beach, our park and our Great Lake!

The Euclid Beach Feral Cat Project has been practicing TNR (trap, neuter, release) since its inception in 2009. To date, the Project has assisted nearly one thousand cats! The accomplishments of the EBFCP during 2012 include the "TNR" of 129 cats, the surrender of 175 cats to the Cleveland APL, 11 adoptions by the EBFCP itself, and the birth of only 2 kittens in the monitored, feral community! This represents the saving of over 730 cats from the streets of North Collinwood areas including Wildwood Marina, The Euclid Beach Mobile Home Park, the state park pier, and Euclid Beach Villa Apartments. These numbers also reflect the spay and neutering of 233 cats. To give you an idea of how many cats this project is actually saving consider these statistics: The average number of litters a fertile cat can produce in one year is 3. The average number of kittens in a feline litter is 4–6. In seven years, one female cat and her offspring can theoretically produce 420,000 cats. Only 1 in 12 of those 420,000 cats born find a home. These are facts and the work of The Euclid Beach Feral Cat Project cuts down on the numbers in these statistics dramatically.

The primary focus of the Project is the Euclid Beach area where cats and kittens are routinely "dumped". The EBFCP now safely and securely houses and cares, daily, for over 128 - now healthy - residents. The Euclid Beach Feral Cat Project works closely with the Cleveland Animal Protective League to find homes for those friendly enough to be adopted. Those that remain as residents of the Euclid Beach area are strictly monitored, and provided with food, shelter and medical care. The dedication of those that run the EBFCP is overwhelming, unfaltering and constant.

A Look Back, A Look Ahead...

Happy New Year! It's never too late to say it and it's never too cold to think about the beach! At least that's what volunteers of the Euclid Beach Adopt-a-Beach Team say! For the past three years, through monthly beach cleanups, Adopt-a-Beach volunteers have picked up close to 3,500 pounds of trash and recyclables at Euclid Beach State Park in Cleveland!  But there's a lot more to talk about than just picking up trash on the beach!

2012 Highlights:

• Over 250 volunteers from all around the community and the region participated in beach cleanups and park beautification projects at Euclid Beach in 2012!-A HUGE thanks to the entire Swagelok Team and a shout out to Super Volunteer Rhiannon Murkowski! 

• Beautified the parks with over $2,000 in native plantings at Euclid Beach and Edgewater Beach State Parks thanks to support from the Friends of Edgewater, Cleveland Waterfront Coalition, Drink Local Drink Tap and the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District. Special thanks to Key Bank community volunteers for helping with the planting!

• Partnered with Arts Collinwood, Project Pop Up Galleries and Northeast Shores to organize the second annual Euclid Beach Blast festival-an evening of live music, sand castles, art and food to celebrate all things great about our great Lake!

• Partnered with local businesses to support beach cleanups and local business involvement in the community. We are especially grateful for Chili Peppers Mexican Grill commitment to offer burrito gift cards to our volunteers and to Name Brand Paint and Hardware Closeouts for supplying paint for all of the park benches!

Euclid Beach Blast, a community event that explores and celebrates one of North Collinwood's greatest assets-Euclid Beach Park- turns three this year! Mark your calendars and join us Wednesday December 12th from 630pm-800pm at the new Callaloo Cafe (formerly Cafe Arts Collinwood-15605 Waterloo Road) as we officially kick off planning Euclid Beach Blast 2013! We'll even help put you in a summer mood with a spread of scrumptious Caribbean cuisine from the new Callaloo Cafe--the new hot spot on Waterloo Road. The bar will be offering many luscious libations for those who really need to blast into summer.  

It's never too early to start planning... Whether you helped out at last year's event, came to the Euclid Beach Blast last summer or would like to get involved for the first time, we would love to hear your feedback, ideas and suggestions to make this year's Beach Blast even better! 

Need a blast from the past to refresh your memory of all the fun we had at Euclid Beach Park last August? Visit www.euclidbeachblast.com for pictures, videos and more. Check out our Kickstarter campaign page too! You can also read a recap of last year's Euclid Beach Blast in the August 2012 edition of the Collinwood Observer.

If you have any pictures or videos from last year's Euclid Beach Blast, please contact us at euclidbeachblast@gmail.com or post them directly to our facebook page-facebook.com/euclidbeachblast.

So come on out on Wednesday December 12th and help us make Euclid Beach Blast North Collinwood's premiere event on the lakefront! *And mark your calendars for Saturday August 3rd 2013 for the 3rd annual Euclid Beach Blast!*

Stephen Love is Euclid Beach Blast Coordinator and Euclid Beach Adopt-a-Beach(TM) Team Leader.

If you are looking for a fall themed event at Euclid Beach Park, look no further than the Fall Festival! Join us from 1-4 PM on Saturday October 20th at Euclid Beach for a family-friendly haunted hayride, storyteller, games and crafts. For more information, visit http://www.clevelandlakefront.org/NaturalistPrograms.html or contact Park Naturalist Carol Ward at (216) 881-8141 ext. 3001.

Fall is all about the changing leaves, drinking apple cider and carving pumpkins...but most of all it's about beach cleanups! That's right, beach cleanups are still going strong through the end of November at Euclid Beach State Park!

The next clean-up our Halloween Beach Cleanup on Saturday October 27th at 10am

Volunteers will meet in the park pavilion at 10am and should wear close-toed shoes and dress appropriately for the weather-whatever the weather may be!. Refreshments will be available. Euclid Beach State Park is located at 16250 Lakeshore Blvd. in Collinwood.

Our last beach cleanup of the season is Saturday November 17th 10am-12pm. Meet in the picnic pavilion. All beach cleanup volunteers receive a free burrito gift card from Chili Peppers Restaurant! *For more information on beach cleanups, visit facebook.com/adopt.euclidbeach/events, email adopt.euclidbeach@gmail.com or call Stephen Love at 216-571-0685.

Parcs Passion is a non-profit French organization established in 2002 for amusement park enthusiasts. There are many theme and amusement parks in Europe and worldwide. Not everyone can handle organizing the many details of a major trip to a theme park in Europe or another part of the world. Parcs Passion plans trips to amusement parks, making arrangements for transportation, bus or train, and all other details. The association organizes at least two trips per year, a one-day excursion and another which could take two to four days.

Their recent Hyper-Mega AIRTIME 2012 tour brought 39 of the organization's 180 members to America for the first time. They landed in Washington D.C. on August 15 to start the tour of some amusement parks located in the Northeast US. Ten amusement parks were visited including Busch Gardens Williamsburg, King's Dominion, Knobels Amusement Resort, ending with two days at Cedar Point. Before visiting Cedar Point they were in Cleveland, Monday, August 27, the only rainy day of their tour. After spending the morning in downtown they went to the Western Reserve Historical Society. There they were welcomed by Euclid Beach Park Now (EBPN) President John Frato, Vice President Rich Wickens and Secretary Jim Seman. While at the museum, they saw the exhibit for the Euclid Beach Park Carrousel and saw the construction progress for the carrousel pavilion. Jim gave a visual presentation to Parcs Passion on Euclid Beach Park then John talked about the carrousel project. Then it was off to Euclid Beach State Park. There other EBPN board members were present to extend a warm welcome along with Councilman Michael Polensak. Board member Bob MacCallum gave a tour of old Euclid Beach Park from under the protection of the State Park's picnic pavilion as the rain was at times heavy, he pointed out former locations of various rides and attractions.

Before boarding the bus and continuing on to Cedar Point each French guest was given two Humphrey Popcorn balls and a bag of Candy Kisses.

Join volunteers for a beach cleanup at Euclid Beach State Park as we take part in International Coastal Cleanup Day --the world's single largest shoreline cleanup-at Euclid Beach State Park! On September 15th, volunteers in partnership with the Ocean Conservancy and Alliance for the Great Lakes Adopt-a-Beach program will clean beaches across the world's oceans and along the Great Lakes to raise awareness about the impact of trash on beach and water quality. Volunteers will not only remove debris, they will also record their findings. The data collected by volunteers is used to educate the public, share with local beach authorities and improve our beaches across the Great Lakes!

Before you hit up the beach cleanup on Saturday September 15th, don't forget to sign the Ocean Conservancy's pledge to Take on the Trash! Signing the pledge is simple – do what you can to reduce your trash impact, clean up an open space near you and hopefully, join the 27th annual International Coastal Cleanup this September 15th! 

We can all do our part to create clean beaches for everyone to enjoy, cleaner water for fish and wildlife, and healthier Great Lakes for those whose lives depend on it. But it’s going to take all of us coming together to make it happen!

Dear Governor Kasich,

My name is Stephen Love and for the past 3 years, I have organized and coordinated an entirely volunteer Adopt-a-Beach team-(part of a network of Adopt-a-Beach teams throughout the Great Lakes supported by The Alliance for the Great Lakes) at Euclid Beach State Park in Cleveland. Our volunteer group, along with  two other dedicated volunteer groups at Edgewater State Park--The Friends of Edgewater and Drink Local Drink Tap, have had hundreds of people from the community, local schools, colleges and businesses take part in beach cleanups twice a month, picking up thousands of pounds of trash, raising money for trash and recycling bins and signage and creating events and programming that encourage visitors to enjoy and respect our lakefront parks.

On Wednesday July 18th, 65+ employees from the Swagelok Continuous Improvement Team descended on Euclid Beach Park for a volunteer projects day. These guys are all hands-down the best group of volunteers we have ever had at Euclid Beach State Park, period (no offense to all of our other volunteers)! Not even the extreme heat and the threat of thunderstorms deterred them from making improvements to Euclid Beach! Between a well-groomed beach, 30 freshly painted green benches, a cleared Euclid Beach fountain and pier, 150 planted flowers and more, Euclid Beach Park hasn’t looked this good in at least 20 years! 

Euclid Beach Blast 2012 was a great success!  We jammed and danced to live music from the Hesitations, Del Rio Bandits and Son Gitano, chowed down on some great eats from B&M Barbeque, Fired Up Taco Truck, TD's Hot Dogs & Hoagies and got our sweet fix with a scoop or two of East Coast Custard. As if great music and food weren't enough, we built trash mobiles at the Beachcraft table, played with pool noodles and water blobs in the old Euclid Beach fountain, got our faces painted and chalked up just about every inch of concrete! But it wasn't just all fun and games, we also learned a thing or two about beach and water quality, reducing waste, how to become Urban Beach Ambassadors at Euclid Beach and provided input about various redesign plans for the park.

We could not have had such a great event without the help of many dedicated volunteers and artists who spent hours in the hot sun on Saturday keeping everything cool! Thank you to all of our volunteers, artists and workshop participants!  A very special thankyou to all of our Kickstarter supporters who pulled through to reach our $2700 funding goal! Finally, thank you to all of our community partners - Arts Collinwood, Project Pop Up Galleries, Northeast Shores and Councilman Polensek to mention just a few, who help make Euclid Beach Blast what is soon becoming North Collinwood's premiere event on the Lake! Let's show the entire region what a great lakefront asset we have right in our community! Visit www.euclidbeachblast.com to see and share photos and videos of all the fun! We are already looking forward to a bigger and better Euclid Beach Blast next summer!

Dear Friends of Euclid Beach Feral Cat Project,

GOOD NEWS! So far, as of August, 2012, we have only one litter of kittens! The Euclid Beach Mobile Home Park, which is the home for over 100 cats, has NO kittens; Euclid Beach Villa Apts: NO kittens. The Wildwood Marina: NO kittens! The State Pier: 2 kittens. All together, Brian and I are caregivers to over 128 healthy, spayed and neutered cats. Callie, who lives under the State Pier, and her mate, Inky, are NOT S/N and are very trap savvy and we continue to attempt to trap them.

In the last three years, 646 cats/kittens have been taken off the streets of Collinwood neighborhoods for surrender/ adoption (which include Wildwood Marina, the Euclid Beach Mobile Home Park, the State Park Pier, and Euclid Beach Villa Apartments). Plus, 171 + cats have been TNR (trapped, neutered, and released). Our goal is "NO more unwanted kittens." Our primary focus is the historic Euclid Beach area, where unwanted cats and kittens are routinely dumped and left to fend for themselves. Every spring, summer, and fall, people dump their pregnant cats on the beach. These terrified cats hide until their babies are born, bringing into the world countless more cats doomed to a life of hardship.

Last time I checked, littering was illegal. Apparently some visitors to Euclid Beach State Park broke the law on the 4th of July! While walking through the parks on the morning of July 5th, I saw the deplorable conditions firsthand: trash all over the pavilion, trash all over the grass, foil trays and balloons left as if the barbeque was going to pick back up any minute! 

Thankfully, state park maintenance staff was already on the scene taking care of the mess, especially in light of Mark Naymik's recent series of articles in the Plain Dealer highlighting the embarrassing conditions of Euclid Beach and Edgewater State Parks. In fact, since the series of articles, maintenance crews have frequented both parks planting flowers, laying down mulch and fixing benches-all calls from on high in the ODNR to make cosmetic improvements to quiet growing criticism. It's a great temporary improvement but is far from solving the bigger issues at play.

While the question of longterm stewardship, staffing shortages and ownership looms over policymakers and decisionmakers heads (State Parks vs. Cleveland Metroparks), the question we need to be asking ourselves today is does it matter who operates the park if we cannot be our own stewards? 

EUCLID BEACH BLAST 2012 is almost here and we need your help to make it happen!

We need your support for live music, art installations, games, workshops, an after party at the Beachland Ballroom and much more!   

We are now raising money on Kickstarter for the Blast! If you are not familiar with Kickstarter, it is an online grassroots fundraising site with a catch: if we do not raise $2700.00 by August 1st, we do not get any of the money for the BLAST! That's why it is so important to promote the Beach Blast and the Kickstarter campaign to as many people you know. Donating is easy to do and just requires a quick sign up! Kickstarter has a $1 minimum donation requirement and also does not deduct from a donors bank account until the target goal is reached. Donor also get some awesome rewards (see the Backers section of the campaign page)! Again, your direct support is appreciated but spreading the word and promoting the campaign is what will get us to our goal!

If you bike or walk in or just love our lakefront parks and have a few hours here and there to give back to the community then let's talk!

We are looking for Beach Ambassadors at Euclid Beach State Park and this summer 2012! Ambassadors will help make our lakefront parks cleaner, friendlier and more inviting places to visit and encourage park visitors to take pride in our urban parks!What will ambassadors do?
-Walk/ride on the park/bike paths in teams of 2-3 people
-Make people feel welcomed in the parks!
-Talk to people about not littering and a pledge to reduce litter, the iimportance of reducing waste on the beach, not feeding
the birds, ask people what they like/dislike about the parks
-Promote monthly beach cleanups and events
-Picking up trash/a little bit of sprucing up here and there:
-Report/Post maintenance/safety issues/ general concerns to park staff

How often?
-1-2 hours per week to start-we will be flexible and work with you!
-Weekend coverage will be key!

The entrance to Euclid Beach Park just got a facelift! Thanks to an amazing group of volunteers from Key Bank! The volunteers, part of Key Bank's Tiedemann office, spent all of the afternoon on Thursday May 24th fixing up flower beds and planting 50 native plants at the park entrance, the Euclid Beach Carrousel sign and the community board! The plants will come back every year and will be maintained by Euclid Beach Adopt-a-Beach volunteers. So stop by this summer and see the park in full bloom! A special thanks also goes out to The Friends of Edgewater Park, The Cleveland Waterfront Coalition and The Friends of Euclid Creek for their generous donation towards this project.

Looking for something fun to do on Saturday June 16th?  Here's your answer, A Picnic In The Park Beach Cleanup on Saturday June 16th--starts at 10am with a picnic at 12pm! What more could you want?

Adopt-a-Beach(tm) cleanups are in full swing at Euclid Beach State Park after another great cleanup for Global Youth Service Day and Earth Day on Saturday April 21st when over 50 volunteers including middle school students form Univerisity School in Shaker Heights, Accenture, CBCG Incorporated, Case Western Reserve Environmental Law Society and the community braved the cold, wind and rain to collect 150 pounds of trash (an improvement over last month's 226 pound of trash!) and 20 pounds of recyclables!  Most collected were 428 cigar tips and 320 plastic caps/lids. Unique items included a faux Louise Vuitton purse with a diary and sand filled gym shorts! And a huge thank you to Steve Newman, owner of Chili Peppers restaurant for taking 50% off delicious tacos and burritos for lunch after the cleanup!

Mark your calenders for our next beach cleanup on Saturday May 19th from 10am-12pm. We will meet in the park pavilion at 10am! Prizes for the most trash collected will include Chilli Peppers Gift Cards:)

Beach cleanups are from 10am-12pm on the 3rd or 4th Saturday of the month at Euclid Beach Park.

Saturday May 5th from 10am-12pm-BAREFOOT WINE BEACH CLEANUP AND AFTER PARTY AT THE HARP At Edgewater State Park

Saturday May 19th 10am-12pm at Euclid Beach State Park

Saturday June 16th 10am-12pm at Euclid Beach State Park

Saturday July 21st 10am-12pm at Euclid Beach State Park

Saturday August 18th 10am-12pm at Euclid Beach State Park

For more information contact Stephen Love, at adopt.euclidbeach@gmail.com  or facebook.com/Adopteuclidbeach.

The Euclid Beach Adopt-a-Beach Team is looking for people to be Park Ambassadors this Summer! Ambassadors will spend 1-2 hours volunteering every 1-2 weeks (time slots will be flexible) to help make Euclid Beach Park a cleaner and more inviting place to visit.  Some Ambassador duties may include light maintenance and talking to park visitors about not littering, proper waste disposal and litter's impact on beach and water quality. Ambassadors will participate in a training session at the Collinwood Recreation Center (Date TBA-Likely mid May-- check into www.collinwoodobserver.com front page for announcement.) 

If you're interested contact Stephen Love at adopt.euclidbeach@gmail.com or call 216-571-0685.

That's right!  Nulife Fitness (15430 Waterloo Rd. Cleveland 44110) is offering hatha yoga classes every Sunday night at 7pm for FREE! A suggested donation of $5 will go to the Euclid Beach Adopt-a-Beach Team for cleanup supplies and to fund the 3rd annual Euclid Beach Blast (Sat, August 4th 5-830pm)!  So get over to Nulife and stretch for the beach! More info: Contact Ivana Medukic ivanamedukic@yahoo.com, or visit: https://www.facebook.com/events/322598097805284/

Northeast Shores , LAND studio, Lakeshore Merchants Association, Councilman Polensek and the Euclid Beach Adopt-a-Beach Team are working with landscape architectural firm MSI-KKG to develop a plan to re-imagine and Euclid Beach State Park.

On Wed March 14th, Collinwood residents attended an initial public meeting at the Lakeshore Golden Age Center to share ideas, concerns and questions with the design team from MSI-KKG. Community input was solicited through questions and answers as well as through written comments. 

Among the big takeaways so far is the need for a bigger and better park entrance, less fencing around the park perimeter and a new playground. MSI-KKG architects are summarizing the input and will hold another meeting in about a month to present some initial design concepts! 

If you are interested in getting involved or have ideas you would like to submit to MSI-KKG, please contact Denise Lorek, at Northeast Shores Development: dlorek@northeastshores.org (216) 481-7660

At a recent board meeting of Euclid Beach Park Now, the directors approved a proposal to place a second commemorative marker at the site of the former amusement park. A marker featuring Euclid Beach Park’s Grand Carrousel was unveiled last September at the State Park during the organization's annual event held in conjunction with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources at Cleveland Lakefront State Park, "Remembering the Sights and Sounds of Euclid Beach Park." A survey was offered to the attendees as to what ride or attraction should be the subject of the next marker. The overwhelming choice was to feature "Coaster Row," three of the park's four roller coasters that stood adjacent to each other along the main midway. The three coasters were: the Flying Turns, Thriller, and Racing Coaster. The park's fourth roller coaster, the Aero Dips, was located north of the main midway closer to Lake Erie. Half of the funds needed for the marker were raised at last year’s event through donations and a raffle featuring gift certificates to E. 185th street's most popular eateries. Fundraising will go on this summer at all of EBPN’s public events. The new sign will follow the same format as the one which has already been installed and will be unveiled at the State Park event scheduled for September 30, 2012. This year's event has the support of Neighborhood Connections, the Cleveland Foundation’s small-grants program intended to benefit grassroots groups in Cleveland.

The Euclid Beach Feral Cat Project has been in existence for two and a half years.  This project is the result of Ms. Ginger Hannah's desire to assist the large number of unwanted, abused and neglected cats present in the North Collinwood neighborhoods. These neighborhoods include the Wildwood Marina, the Euclid Beach Mobile Home Park, the state park pier, and Euclid Beach Villa Apartments. The main focus in the neighborhood, however, is the historic Euclid Beach area where a shocking amount of cats and kittens are routinely "dumped".  Many of these animals are injured or emaciated.  All are terrified, and a great number of females are abandoned while pregnant.
Ms. Hannah works closely with the dedicated individuals at the Cleveland Animal Protection League.  Together, they are responsible for "saving" 642 cats since 2009.  These cats were spayed or neutered, vaccinated, and, many were placed in loving homes where they now lead a peaceful life safe from harm.  Those unable to be acclimated sufficiently still receive the benefits of safety, food and shelter.  This is made possible by the provision of "kitty condos".  These hand built enclosures provide protection from the elements, and give the animals a feeling of safety.

There is a great deal of work involved in rescuing these animals.  Humane traps need to be acquired, and trapping the cats is a tedious and difficult procedure.  There is then the constant transport of the animals to the APL or to their new homes.  Those adopting these cats need to be screened and the animals need to be "socialized" before they are adopted.  These actions are very time consuming and require extreme dedication and patience.  Fortuantely, kindness, patience and dedication are among the many of Ginger's attributes.  For those not able to be adopted they must receive constant care.  There is no "day off".  The animals need to be maintained on a daily basis with food, water, shelter, and medical attention.  This is a huge undertaking, and one that many of us could not follow through with.  Ginger's dedication is unwavering.  She feels it is her duty and takes her "job" very seriously realizing that, without her, these animals would perish. Not only would they perish they would suffer greatly beforehand.  Sadly, Ginger must constantly monitor the areas to prevent abuse of the cats residing there.  It is not uncommon for animal abusers to prey on the "residents" who have already endured enough abuse.

Euclid Beach became part of the Cleveland Lakefront State Park, under the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, in 1982.  I started working here as the naturalist conducting programs and events in 2001.  About 8 years ago, I had an idea to highlight the history of this park area.  I went to members of the Euclid Beach Park Now (EBPN) group to see if they were interested in bringing some of their memorabilia to the park.  I envisioned a small scale event with historical information and stories shared around the picnic tables of the pavilion.  If you have attended any of our 7 annual events, you have seen that it has developed into much more (see related article by Rich Wickens for details from the 2011 event).

A one day event is great – but what if visitors any day of the year could learn about the history of this park?  What if there were permanent markers scattered throughout the area to share photos and information about some of the larger attractions and points of interest?  Through community partnerships this idea is becoming a reality.

continued.

Sunday, September 25, 2011, at the 7th annual "Remembering the Sights and Sound of Euclid Beach Park" held at Euclid Beach State Park. It is estimated that 2,100 individuals attended the event which ran from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. The event was co-sponsored by Euclid Beach Park Now (EBPN), Ohio Department of Natural Resource (ODNR) Cleveland Lakefront State Parks, and the Euclid Beach Boys.

This year's event wa special for a number of reasons. First, for one day Euclid Beach Park was again "Open For The Season". Second, the Artizan Style "A" 46 keyless band organ that stood and played under the loading platform of The Rocket Ships was present, returning to the park after 42 years. Owned by the Euclid Beach Boys, it was recently restored. A proverbial "basket case" when found, it took two members of the Carousel Organ Association of America (COAA) three years to restore the band organ. Martin Anderson of Pennsylvania with the support of his wife Mary Jane with the assistance of Howard Kast, EBPN board member and resident of Euclid, OH, with the support of his wife Jan. Martin and Howard received advice from members of COAA. Third, a permanent informational marker commemorating the site where Euclid Beach Park's Grand Carousel stood was unveiled (see the related article by Carol G. Ward).

continued.

Hi--my name is LUNA, and I am 4 ½ months old 

 This is the story of why I am such a lucky kitten!

July 29, 2011, was a very hot and humid night.  A mean person took me for a ride to Euclid Beach, and then threw me out of the car like I was a piece of trash!! I hit the ground violently, and realized my right back leg was broken, and my hip might be broken, too. I just cried and cried...

I didn't know that at Euclid Beach, there is a kind lady named Ginger Hannah, who helps the cats who live there. She feeds them every day and provides them with shelter, too. O’my!

Then something miraculous happened! The nice lady, Ginger, and a very kind friend, saw me lying broken in the grass. They picked me up and kissed my forehead. I was so happy, but I was afraid….

They took me to the Kitty Kottage for the night; fed me yummy food, and gave me a warm, cozy bed to sleep in. I was so exhausted!

The next morning, Ginger took me to see the gentle and kind doctors at the Cleveland APL, who fixed me up. I could feel that they really cared about me, and I started to have hope again.  

Ginger's friend who helped to save me is my new daddy.

Life now is wonderful, I'm not in pain, I always have food, and, best of all, I have a loving forever home and three cat brothers to play with. I feel like I am in heaven! I am SOOOOO grateful to the Euclid Beach Feral Cat Project for saving me.  And it makes me purr even louder to know that all the other cats are loved and cared for,  and there is an angel to save them, too.

continued.

At ManorCare Euclid Beach the staff and patients are busy bustling around as fall quickly approaches. As Halloween quickly nears the facility is preparing for their annual “Resident Council Safe Trick-or-Treat.”  This event invites the local community out to encourage safe trick-or-treating for our youth and to encourage interaction with our patients. ManorCare Euclid Beach will offer the public free entertainment, donuts, and cider and welcomes the community with open arms.  We hope to see you on October 27th, at 6:30PM!

continued.

The Euclid Beach Blast! was a great success! All tolled throughout the day there were close to 450 attendees having a blast watching pop up art take shape on "the wall of doors", cleaning the beach (and picking up 200 pounds of trash!), building a sandcastle and catching some rays, watching a jump rope troop hop in all the way from Africa, chalking the sidewalk, learning about watershed preservation, chowing down on a Cuban sandwich from Jibaro World Eats Food Truck, biking and planting gardens around Collinwood and most importantly jamming to some music from 106.5 The Lake, Radio Disney and live performances from Bill Meyer, Andriana Santiago and Grupo Son Gitano!  We could not have had such a great event without the help of many dedicated Euclid Beach Adopt-a-Beach volunteers who spent hours in the hot sun on Saturday keeping everything cool! Thank you again to everyone who came out to volunteer on Saturday! Thank you also to all of our participating pop up artists! You can see the "the wall of doors" or the "Blank Canvas" displayed in the Arts Collinwood Gallery.

The Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District has broken ground on a large construction project that may impact some Collinwood residents. However, this project will impact all of Cleveland’s residents because the project will reduce pollution in our streams and lake, improving our city’s environment.

The Euclid Creek Storage Tunnel is part of a larger network of underground tunnels that are being constructed to considerably reduce combined sewer overflows.

Greater Cleveland’s earliest sewers (primarily within the City and its inner-ring suburbs) are combined sewers. Built around the turn of the 19th century, these sewers carry sewage, industrial waste and stormwater in a single pipe. During heavy rains, there is a dramatic increase of water flowing through the combined sewers. When this happens, control devices may allow some of the combined wastewater and stormwater to overflow into area waterways—such as Lake Erie and Euclid Creek—to prevent urban flooding. This event is called a combined sewer overflow, or CSO, and harms our clean water environment.

cont.

            So how did you get to “the Beach”?

     If you were lucky enough to live here in Collinwood, that’s a no-brainer – you walked! And you did it as often as possible! You’ve shared many tales about walking to the Park, to spend as many waking hours as possible there, even if it was only to fish off the Pier, or sit on a shaded park bench for a while.

            But how did everyone else get there?

            In the earliest days of the Park, it was likely you got there by what were fondly called “the Tubs.” There was actually regular passenger service on boats that traveled from the E 9th St pier to Euclid Beach Park – which was why the Pier was originally built, and why it extended so far out into the Lake. (And how neat would that have been, to land at the end of the Pier and see the beach, Dance Pavilion etc waiting for you? Not to mention hearing people shrieking on the coasters – and knowing you’d soon be shrieking too!)

cont.