CLEVELAND — Cleveland is set to celebrate its 227th birthday on Saturday!
This year, a birthday celebration is taking place to honor The Land's big day.
Cleveland's Birthday Bash will take place from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday at Cleveland Public Square and Tower City Center.
The following events will happen inside Tower City Center throughout the day:
Midway-style games
Putt Putt
Bumper cars
Rock climbing
Free cotton candy, popcorn and snow cones
DJ and Fusion Stage Shows with games and giveaways
Balloon twisting
Face painting
Henna artist
Roaming magician
Visits with Cleveland's own superhero and friends!
At 7 p.m. Tower City Center will have the "birthday countdown" with free birthday hats, buttons, cupcakes and noisemakers.
Between 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the following events will be taking place in Public Square:
Summer Splash pad
Free popcorn and snow cones
Connect 4 basketball game
My Little Farm adventure (for toddlers)
Stilt walkers
Juggler
Aerialist rope dancers
FREE Euclid Beach Rocket Car rides
45-foot carousel with 20 horses
87-foot Super Fun Slide
Additionally, the Early Settlers Association will hold its annual ceremony in front of the Moses Cleveland Statue from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
3News wants to know what you love about Cleveland! Text us at 216-344-3300 to share your favorite thing about Cleveland. We will share answers during our Sunday GO! newscast.
Here is what some viewers say they love most about The Land:
- "Playhouse Square!" - Marianne from Elyria
- "I love the diversity of culture in Cleveland. A person can eat their way through our town and experience other cultures. We are a foodie town." - Keith Albert from South Hills
- "My favorite thing about Cleveland is Edgewater in the summer, walking distance to Battery Park and beers on the beach, Happy Birthday, Cleveland." - Roger from Mayfield
In 2021, Cleveland City Council shared how the city of Cleveland came to be:
The founding of Cleveland is quite a story. Arriving at the mouth of the Cuyahoga on July 22, 1796, General Moses Cleaveland believed that the location “where river, lake, low banks, dense forests and high bluffs provided both protection and shipping access, was the ideal location for the ‘capital city’ of the Connecticut Western Reserve.”
Cleaveland had served in the Revolutionary War in a Connecticut Continental Regiment. Resigning his commission in 1781, he practiced law. As one of the founders of the Connecticut Land Co., and one of 7 directors, Cleaveland was sent out in 1796 to survey and map the company's holdings.
His surveyors plotted a town, naming it Cleaveland. In Oct. 1796, Cleaveland and most of his party returned to Connecticut, never returning to the Western Reserve.
It would take 40 more years for the city of Cleveland (the letter "a" was dropped in 1831) to become incorporated on March 5th, 1836. It was an exciting year; it nearly erupted into open warfare with neighboring Ohio City over a bridge connecting the two communities.
More information can be found HERE.
