Beautiful home with lots of treasures. They host a gingerbread competition and some of the entries…read morewere impressive. I would love to know more. I will also be attending one of the Open Houses at the McDowell Phillips house during the Christmas season.

Thank you to all who worked so hard to bring an Elvis luau evening. It was a lot of fun! The food,…read moredrinks and community made it a wonderful night. I hope to return for another epic event

Castle Noel, came on a recommendation from a fellow Ohioan at Cleveland Zoo back in December 2022…read more After hearing about Castle Noel, and being someone with being a December birthday, Christmas, love of Christmas movies this was a must. The tour itself was 2 hours, the tour guides on my date August 31, 2025: last tour of the day 2pm, were informative, interactive, and made me feel like I was in Christmas heaven. The tour in my opinion is geared toward for kids 6 and up, and everyone else after that. All of our tour guides, hilighted there areas well. If you ever find you have to reschedule your tour, the staff are more then eager to help with that. Check in through the black doors, at gift shop ; be sure to browse and take home a piece of christmas or other souvenir. Everything about the tour epic, loved it all from Santa squeeze, to Grand Ball room to room with all the toys, restoration room, the slide from Christmas Story, Lord & Taylor clock at the start of the tour, all the Christmas windows. Look forward to returning and seeing all the new additions in future. Cheers to 10 years !!

Nice, intimate theatre space. Saw an independent company perform here, and really enjoyed the…read moreexperience.

Our family just attended the wonderful Clague Playhouse production of Neil Simons' "Lost in…read moreYonkers". The performance was outstanding. Comedic timing was perfection. Sad, happy, laugh out loud funny are some of the emotions felt as we were drawn into this incredible storyline. Elaine Feagler portrayed Bella to absolute perfection. Her performance brought us to great bursts of laughter, and, yes, even tears. Local thespian, Elliot Lockshine (Arty), literally stole the show with his wonderful protrayal of the spunky little brother with the great comedic timing. Such a talented young lad! Meg Parish (Grandma Kurniz) was totally wonderful in her protrayal of a 1930s' Jewish grandmother. She brought to life a lost generation. Chris Bizub (Uncle Louie), Jake Ingrassia (Jay) and Lisa Margevicius (Gert) all gave great performances, as well. Clague Playhouse is a small, initimate theatre, but, this afternoon it became a grand playhouse with a production worthy of Clevelands' Palace Theatre. So, if you want to see an outstanding performance and be totally entertained you need to get to "Lost in Yonkers" at Clague Playhouse for their very next performance.

As an '80s kid who grew up watching A Christmas Story every holiday season, visiting the Christmas…read moreStory House was an absolute must. Walking through the front door felt surreal. It was like stepping into a time warp, and the nostalgic atmosphere brought back so many memories of visiting my grandmother's house when I was growing up. The tour itself is fairly short, and I will admit it's a little pricey for the amount of time you spend there. That said, I'm still glad we went. Seeing the actual house up close was a unique experience, and the museum next door was filled with fun artifacts, memorabilia, and behind-the-scenes items that made the visit even more worthwhile. A special shoutout to our tour guide, who recommended lunch at the Rowley Inn right across the street. We stopped in after the tour, and it was absolutely delicious. It ended up being the perfect way to round out the experience. If you're a fan of the movie, I definitely recommend stopping by both the Christmas Story House and the Rowley Inn. Even with the short tour, the nostalgia alone made it worth the visit!

I had no idea this house was in Cleveland! This block is a must-visit for movie fans in general,…read moreand definitely ones of A Christmas Story. Their family home is the main draw, and it looks exactly as it did in the film complete with the major award in the window. I was told people lived here and eventually gave up due to privacy, now it's available to rent to stay for short times! Next door is the bully's house as well, with a museum and welcome center across the street. Street parking is plentiful, they have a small dedicated lot at the store. There are lots of great restaurants and pubs nearby too.

This event was a lot of fun! Lots of delicious food and it was a beautiful atmosphere. I loved the…read moreChristmas music and the huge tree in the center of the lobby. It really got you in the Christmas spirit. There was a ton of gourmet food to go around all night long. 20 drink tickets was plenty since they were giving pretty good pours on the wine and beer. My only con would be that there was no coat check so we were stuck carrying around our winter jackets. Who knew since the day before it was 75 degrees, only in Ohio right?! Other than that, I had a great time!

I've been looking at all of the drink and food festivals happening around town the next few months…read moreso it was awesome to score tickets for this event. And to be hosted in the State Theatre at Playhouse Square, classy! My friend and I were dropped off and picked up so we didn't have to worry about drinking and driving especially since the snow hit that night, but how fitting for the Winter Fest! Tickets are $55 plus a $6 something fee. You get 20 alcohol samples and no restriction on food samples. Crowd seemed to be in the 30 and up club. Pros: -Lots of food samples and generous portion sizes for most. -Got to try drink and food samples from places I had not been to before. -Generous alcohol samples, they always filled my glass to the top. -Love the huge Christmas tree and other holiday decorations (I'm looking at you Mr. Reindeer man!) Cons: -Music kept getting shut off then turned off completely. Killed the mood a little as all you heard then was the loud humming of everyone talking. -No coat check so you had to hold onto your coat or secretly stuff it behind the Christmas tree and hope no one steals it. -Pretty crowded, lots of people sitting on the steps so you had to be careful squeezing past them. -Not enough high top tables to set your cup and plate on so you could enjoy things. Having to hold everything, try to consume it, and not bump into people was a little rough and awkward. I know for me, this caused some clumsy food spills a couple of times. -Would have preferred more wine options. I think there were only three wine tables? We only used 10 drink tickets because there wasn't much we wanted to try or keep going back to. All in all, glad I got the opportunity to check this event out! But, we ended up leaving before it was over, and unfortunately I would probably check out a different holiday food and drink event next year.

Last night I dealt at the Nautica Charity Poker Festival Pavilion. Basically it's the old party…read moreroom of McCarthy's in the Flats, but painted up and with some cool looking old church windows in it and some quilts. Plus...LOTS of poker tables. Coming in there is the constant click of people playing with their chips and there is some confusion because there is always a new charity hosting. The charity supplies the door person, the main floor manager and dealers for all the tables. The full time staff are the cashier and the floating manager/dealer coordinator who helps train the charity staff. The people who go to Nautica are the same people, night after night. For some of them, it's their job. For others, it's just a good way to spend an evening. Lose, win...and hopefully win some more? The charity's assigned usually run the shop for two days. Considering most of the dealers are poorly trained and rather clueless about poker (ahem...me!), it's a good thing that the tables are understanding and instructive. Apparently you can't become a professional trainer after a 20 minute class...weird, huh!? So to keep this legal, the charity takes a rake after each game. Also many of the tables have set limits to minimize betting. Overall, it's an excellent charity benefit so long as you are SURE that you have enough volunteers. With the particular charity I was working for, there were a lot of desperate last minute calls for people because there were plenty of people to start another table or two but no more volunteer dealers. For real poker players: A lot of these guys (and gals) are regular tourny players. Some of them aren't. It all depends on your table. There is a snack/drink cart moving around and at least the tournament tables are nice and clean. Like I said though, your dealer may not be the most experienced because they're an unpaid volunteer so please be understanding. I fold.

Despite the flaws mentioned in the other reviews, Burning River Fest is worth attending if you're…read moreinterested in beer (specifically Christmas Ale), music, and environmental organizations. The other reviews made a couple valid criticisms: they don't let you bring in your own water bottles (although you could have sneaked in your own utensils to eat - haha), forcing you to buy one of their own, costing $3 (not sure if they could be refilled and if so, their cost): I just downed my water as I walked in, natch. The beer cups, corn-based and compostable, weren't reused. A GLBRF volunteer told me cups aren't reused because they touch the ends of the beer taps. They did have plenty of recycling and compost bins around the fest. There were very few chairs, I stood without complaint. As for paper tickets, it may have not been the most environmentally friendly but the system allowed people to get their beer quicker instead of having to make change and ring up credit cards at each purchase. However, there was no signage that I had to get a wristband to buy alcohol once inside the fest. The lines didn't detract from my experience. I arrived at 6pm, right when it started, bought my admission ticket in advance and most of my beer tickets and wristband for beer as soon as I arrived, and waited no more than 10 minutes in any line although friends who arrived later had waited a bit longer than that. Although there were a few families there, I also wouldn't plan to bring young'uns here. As Steve mentioned, there was not much for kids to do here. The rain put a damper on the crowd and the overall experience. That being said, it's still worth attending if you're interested in hearing some music (mostly generic bluegrass, folk, and traditional country) and enjoying the views of Lake Erie amid friends and other people.

Went with husband last weekend on our weekend trip to CLE. First off, do NOT ask Google to get you…read moreto the location. We ended up walking through some projects, an industrial area and steel bridge to end up on the other side of freight tracks and a barbed wire fence from where we needed to be. Google Maps got us to within 20 yards but the last 20 were impossible. Ended up taking a cab to the access road. We were glad we did not drive as the cab got us much closer to the entrance than if we had to park. Long line to buy admission. Eco friendly festival sold us a paper ticket then took it back at the gate 10 feet away. Long line to get 21+ wristband then ANOTHER long line to purchase beer tickets ($5/beer = 5 tickets -- again, not eco friendly) and on the the NEXT long line for beer. Three choices available only -- Wright Plus, Burning River and Christmas Ale. In July. With 100% humidity. Okay..... Music was kind of lame. Only one of the stages had chairs so if you go, consider bringing one. Food choices were limited. I love the idea of this festival but it could be much better executed.

I purchased 5 wine drinkers tickets ahead of time and while on line it would not let me purchase a…read moredesignated driver ticket for $20 and said to get it a the entry. We walked up and checked in and asked for the "DD" ticket AND they said that they didn't have any and that person could not enter. During my rant at the door people were walking out and people were walking in with children in strollers and dogs on leashes and they told me that it was out of their hands and they couldn't help me and that person would not be aloud in. What a disgrace. I will NEVER PARTICIPATE IN ANY OF GIANT EAGLE MARKET PLACE ACTIVITY AGAIN - what a betrayal on their part. I will not go patronize Giant Eagle from this day forward or any of their vendors participating in the wine fest. What a disappointment. Bad vibes. I asked for the superior advisor and they sent me another person of the same caliber to let me think that I'm talking to someone in charge. Bad management' . Told me the same BS of course. Our DD which was my husband and father of my adult daughter had to wait outside the entire time - it did not turn out to be an enjoyable event.

Great venue to sample beers, wines, and various spirits. All the vendors are knowledgeable and…read moregenerous in their pours.10 tickets.... doesn't matter you can not possibly run low on tickets! I tasted some new tequilas and learned about brewing and vineyards. Music, shopping, and drink is perfect equation for as fun night in the streets of crocker park I only wish there was more food too...i absorb the intake of alcohol. Luckily there are enough restaurants near by to stop after the tasting to be able to p as use and be able to drive home!!