Downtown Farmers Market Lessens Loss of Grocery Store: CLE Daily

🌤️ 82°; Humid

🏀 Tip-Off Time: The Cavaliers just dropped their 2026-27 schedule. The Wine & Gold open Oct. 22 at Philadelphia (ESPN) against the Sixers and LeBron James and host the Nets in the home opener Oct. 24 at Rocket Arena, with 17 national TV dates, a New Year's Eve matinee against the Clippers and an MLK Day tilt with the Pistons. They're in East Group B for the Emirates NBA Cup, with the season finale at home against the Hawks on April 11. 

🍺 Cask Party: Ohio City's newest pub pours its first pint today at Anthology Cask House (1526 W. 25th St.), which opens in the former Bookhouse Brewing space from Noble Beast's Shaun and JoLyn Yasaki. Four hand-pulled beer engines dispense English golden ale, bitter, dry stout and a Belgian lambic, with 16 more taps devoted to European imports. Bonus history: Baehr Brewing brewed on the site starting in 1866.

☕ Bloom Service: Dahlia Coffee opens in Old Brooklyn on Sunday, Aug. 16, the latest addition to a neighborhood that keeps quietly stacking up good reasons to leave the house before noon.

🛼 Roll Models: Elbows out as Ohio's roller derby scene is growing, with eight teams now in the Women's Flat Track Derby Association, from Cleveland's own Burning River Roller Derby to Columbus. Rising rink rental costs are the sport's toughest blocker, but audiences keep growing.

ICYMI: VHS is back, and so is the corner video store — Cleveland is logging off in a growing analog movement, from Akron's Killer Video horror archive and Lakewood's Way Cool Video to Parma record shop The Current Year and the CRT-television installations of Cleveland's Ladybug A/V Club.

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Trivia Question

This Cleveland native started work at his father’s restaurant in the Arcade before developing a chain of restaurants and expanding into a frozen food line that can still be found in stores today.

Food & Drink: Downtown gets a farmers market just as it loses its grocery store.  

By Mark Oprea

Fresh produce is coming back Downtown. Starting Tuesday, Sept. 1, the popular North Union Farmers Market will set up on Mall B every Tuesday from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. through Oct. 6 — a city-backed effort to put more grocery options in the heart of the city.

• The timing: North Union's arrival comes just weeks after Heinen's closed at East 9th and Euclid, leaving Downtown without a full-service grocery store for the first time in more than a decade.

• What to expect: Local farmers, food producers and small businesses will fill out the vendor list, with bands and chefs on hand, too. "This market is about bringing fresh food directly into the heart of the city," said NUFM board president Harriette Watford Lowenthal.

• Not the only one: It's Downtown's second weekly market — Downtown Cleveland, Inc. began hosting a Public Square Farmers Market every Thursday at 4 p.m. earlier this summer.

• A trial run: The city is treating the six-week stint as a test. If it clicks, HR director Matt Cole said, Cleveland could expand it into "a longer-running market in 2027."

Worth Noting: Six Tuesdays, one central lawn — an easy lunch-break stop for Downtown workers, residents and visitors looking to shop local while the city figures out its grocery gap.

Read the full story.

Talk of the Town

Two shelters open their doors. The rebuilt Norma Herr Women's Center on Payne Avenue officially opened Wednesday, trading 175 congregate beds for 203 non-congregate ones plus individual bathrooms, a computer lab and a courtyard — the payoff of a $31 million county-city-EDEN investment. Portage County's 10-bed Tommy's Place in Ravenna opened Thursday. Ohio counted 12,196 homeless residents in 2025, up 3.7% in a year.

The Centennial's clock reads Aug. 30. Millennia Companies has lined up a new project team — Mayfield Village's Panzica Construction replacing Marous and Gilbane — for the roughly $500 million reinvention of 925 Euclid Ave. The receiver says Millennia told him financing is in place, but the company still has to repay $40.1 million by the court's extended deadline to keep the vacant Union Trust Building out of a court-run sale.

Akron council hits pause on its own appointment rules. A proposed charter amendment requiring public engagement before City Council fills a vacant seat failed on a 5-6 vote, leaving Akron's current appointment process in place for now. 

License-plate cameras draw new scrutiny in Ohio. Abortion-rights advocates testified in Columbus this week that Flock's street cameras could be used to track patients traveling to Ohio for legal abortion care. Columbus left the national Flock data-sharing network in July but still shares with 400-plus agencies; Gov. Mike DeWine says the tool shouldn't be scrapped over misuse.  

Data centers become a governor's-race issue. Both candidates for Ohio governor have now called for restrictions on the data center boom — and whoever wins appoints all five PUCO members who set utility rates and the terms data centers operate under.

Things To Do This Weekend

Guardians vs. San Diego Padres at Progressive Field | Sports | Aug. 14-16

The Padres, one of the National League's tougher teams, come to Progressive Field for a three-game weekend set. First pitch is 7:10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 1:40 p.m. for the Sunday matinee. 2401 Ontario St., Cleveland, 216-420-4487, mlb.com 

Cuyahoga County Fair at Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds | Festival | Through Aug. 16

The Midway rides are back this year, along with arts and crafts, beer and wine gardens, bee-keeping exhibits, a demolition derby, dog shows, a draft horse pull, fireworks, harness horse racing and a livestock auction. The fair runs through Sunday. 19201 E. Bagley Road, Middleburg Heights, 440-243-0090, cuyfair.com

Speak in Tongues Book Release Day at Visible Voice Books | Books | Aug. 15

A day-long sendoff for the now-shuttered indie rock venue, marking the release of a new book about it. Local indie artist Uno Lady performs at 3 p.m. at Visible Voice, followed by a panel discussion. Proof Public House hosts an afterparty at 6 p.m., and at 9 p.m. Happy Dog hosts a concert with Harriet the Spy, Beckett and Friends, Brian Straw and Applejuice. 4601 Lorain Ave., Cleveland, 216-961-0084, visiblevoicebooks.com

Violent Femmes at Cain Park | Music | Aug. 15

The folk-punk band released two classics — 1983's Violent Femmes and 1984's Hallowed Ground — shortly after forming. The lineup has shifted over the years, but singer-guitarist Gordon Gano and bassist Brian Ritchie remain constants. The 45th anniversary tour hits Cleveland Heights at 8 p.m. 14591 Superior Road, Cleveland Heights, 216-371-3000, cainpark.com

Beachland Flea at Beachland Ballroom | Shopping | Aug. 16

Local vendors turn out with vintage clothes, vinyl and rock memorabilia starting at 10 a.m. 15711 Waterloo Road, Cleveland, 216-383-1124, beachlandballroom.com

Read the full event list for the weekend.

Yesterday's Trivia Answer

Bratenahl, Parma Heights and Burke Lakefront Airport were among the eight Cleveland-area sites for what anti-aircraft weapons during the Cold War in the 1960s? Nike missiles

Check back tomorrow for the answer to today's question

From the Editor

One thing that is not on our to-do list this weekend is watching the Browns. But they do play at 1 p.m. Saturday in Chicago against the Bears.

It is the first game under new coach Todd Monken, with plenty of other changes on the roster and the sideline to get your first look at. It will be a chance to see the quarterback derby and how Jared Verse is fitting in, replacing Myles Garrett. It will be a quick dress rehearsal for some. For others, this will be their only chance to shine and to force their way into the NFL.

It should be intriguing. You can find it on your screens on WEWS Channel 5 or the NFL Network.

— Ron Ledgard, Managing Editor

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