Parading the [University] Circle

University Circle is the heart of the city in a way Downtown Cleveland is not. While the cultured urban, refined living feeling thrives in University Circle, Cleveland's downtown feels more like a business district than a cultural district. But anyone who has sampled everything from Parade the Circle -- happening this weekend -- to the plethora of museums and cultural institutions knows that University Circle is the heart... it's just a little off center and to the east.

Eastsiders have it over Westsiders even though the drive across the Cuyahoga River and past downtown to Wade Oval is only half an hour. Eastsiders can much more easily take a water pencil class at the Botanical Gardens, watch a foreign film at the Cinematheque, participate in a Cleveland Orchestra concert, or wander around the Art Museum on a Saturday afternoon. Their children take drawing classes at the Art Museum, music lessons at the Music School Settlement, and explore the natural world through hands-on youth programs at the Natural History Museum. University Circle is in their neighborhood.

Whether you’re an Eastsider or a Westsider, play at University Circle whenever you get a chance. It’s big green space (488 acres) at the end of Euclid Avenue where Victorian millionaires escaped to the countryside. University Circle was settled in 1799 when Doan’s Tavern was the center of the area known as Doan’s Corners. In the 1880s, Western Reserve University moved to Euclid Avenue and was joined by Case School of Applied Science in 1885. Old timers attended either Case or Western Reserve before the schools merged in1967, and when industrialist Jeptha Wade donated a tract of land to the City of Cleveland adjacent to Western Reserve University, he required that it be used as a public park with an art history. Thus, University Circle began with that donation in the 1872.

Parade the Circle, a free community arts parade, leads one of Cleveland’s most spectacular festivals. It kicks off the end of the academic year and welcomes summer into our lives on June 13. The parade begins at noon and Circle Village is open from 11 until 4. Parade the Circle is a family event sure to wake up and tire out the little ones, with its colorful display of costumes, stilt-dancers, masks, and floats. [Parade The Circle rehearsal pictured].

University Circle, Inc., an outgrowth of University Circle Development Foundation, supports orderly growth and a unified and beautiful environment and is the sponsor of Circle Village, which includes activities, entertainment and food. After attending Parade the Circle, one of your favorite photos could be your daughter’s smiling face painted like a rainbow with a clown on stilts in the background.

While at University Circle, drive or walk to the cultural landmarks. Across Euclid Avenue, the Cleveland Children’s Museum provides programming to enhance the lives of young children through play. Explore space together in the Blast Off exhibit or climb the two-story Splish!Splash! structure to learn about the water cycle. The museum has numerous hands-on activities, including those in the Big Red Barn. http://www.ClevelandChildrensMuseum.org/exhibits.htm.

Severance Hall, which opened as The Cleveland Orchestra’s home in 1931, was given by John Severance as a memorial to his wife Elisabeth. The architectural firm of Walker & Weeks designed the building in a transitional period between the Georgian and Neo-classical styles. To its east is Wade Park Pond, picturesque with floating ducks, weeping willows falling over the water, and ornamental statues. Wade Park joins the southern end of 200-acre Rockefeller Park and extends south along East Boulevard. Rockefeller Park extends from Gordon Park on the lakefront to Shaker Heights along Doan Brook on Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive. It’s home to the Cultural Gardens, picnic areas, walkways, playgrounds, and the Greenhouse.

Across the Wade Park Pond, the original 1916 Art Deco building of the Cleveland Museum of Art stands majestically. Further along the Circle are the Natural History Museum and the Cleveland Botanical Gardens where one can discover the size of Tyrannosaurus Rex or draw orchids. Beyond the museums, the Western Reserve Historical Society is sometimes missed, but it was one of the first cultural institutions on the Circle when it moved from Public Square in 1898. Its antique cars and special exhibits like Millionaire Row keep Cleveland history alive.

University Circle beats out a new rhythm at Parade the Circle. Spend the day on University Circle and be at the heart of Cleveland’s culture and history. Our culture and history will become part of who you are.

Learn more about Parade the Circle at www.CleMusArt.com. Learn more about University Circle at http://www.UniversityCircle.org.

From Cool Cleveland contributor Claudia J. Taller ctallerwrites@wowway.com
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