One month ago, I posted this Cleveland Pride article and I have great news to add. The CLE chalk cloth and Burlap Pub Mats are for sale at Salty Not Sweet Boutique near the West Side Market. Salty is chock full of awesome gifts made by local artists.
I took a stack of 10 and dropped them off on Wednesday. Several are made from new burlap, but I am more excited about the ones made from repurposed coffee sacks that we picked up last weekend at The Depot at Gibson Mill last weekend in Charlotte, NC. I bought two of these large burlap bags and cut them into squares for the pub mats and love the look – and the idea of repurposing.
April 3, 2013
Spring is slowly crawling into Cleveland, Ohio. Yesterday morning, snow fell pretty aggressively and then melted when the sun appeared in the afternoon. Still temperatures didn’t make it out of the thirties. Hardly baseball weather, although the Cleveland Indians opened last night out of town with a 4-1 win over the Toronto Blue Jays. That win and a promise that temperatures will be in the fifties later in the week fill Clevelanders with hope – hope for late blooming spring flowers and a winning season.
I have been thinking about creating a pride of Cleveland creation for a few weeks, and came up with this State of Ohio shaped, CLE monogrammed chalk cloth and burlap pub mat. With enough room to write Go Tribe, Go Browns, Go Cavs – or Welcome Home, Happy Birthday or Break a Leg – this placemat highlights the city I have called home my whole life.
The news is good for Cleveland. Yesterday this article, Why You Should be Hot for Cleveland was posted several times by friends of mine on Facebook. I should add, these friends are in their 20s and one has moved from the southern suburb where he grew up, into a new town home near the city. My niece, another 20-something, recently moved into an apartment in an old bank building in Ohio City. Cleveland is hip again! Young people have discovered downtown hot spots new and old. On a recent Saturday – when temperatures were teasingly springlike – we met friends at the West Side Market and it was packed with shoppers. On the street, people were spilling out onto the sidewalks in front of Great Lakes Brewing Company and Market Garden Brewery. A new hostel has opened near the market with shared and private rooms, wi-fi, and bike rental. Restaurants and local businesses are bringing people my age back downtown, and teenagers like my daughter, who took public transportation to her first St. Patrick’s Day Parade with friends, are discovering the city on their own terms.
I ran my first photos of this project past my son, who left home for a job in the South a few years ago. He gave it two thumbs up. Anything with an outline of the State of Ohio on it is cool, he said. I can eventually make OSU, OU or Cincy versions if I want, but for now, I’m proud of CLE – even if the sun isn’t shining today.