Mentor officials will unveil a new, slightly larger-than-life bronze statue of President James A. Garfield at the Mentor Municipal Center on July 3. The work by sculptor Alan Cottrill will be revealed during a public ceremony followed by a free community picnic at the Mentor Civic Amphitheater, part of the city’s Independence Day weekend schedule.

Euclid and Cleveland’s Collinwood neighborhood are gearing up for The Big Clean, a friendly Earth Day competition to clear litter from streets and waterways. With Euclid defending its bag-count title, volunteers will pick zones, clean up the border area and then head to an eco fair at C.E. Orr Ice Arena, where the city will launch a new food-waste recycling program.

Northeast Ohio families eyeing a structured, high-energy escape in 2026 are increasingly turning to Orlando, where offbeat dining, SeaWorld’s Seven Seas Food Festival, and Disney Springs and Disney World planning tools are shaping vacation decisions. From bundled passes and payment plans to new dining and major attractions, Orlando is being marketed as a value-friendly family destination.

Mentor’s Natural Resources Division is gearing up for its annual Earth Day celebration April 19 at Springbrook Gardens Park. The free event runs 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and features guided wildlife and plant walks, trivia and bingo, a tree planting dedication, a kids scavenger hunt, vendor booths, live steel drum music and food for purchase.

Redfin has listed Rocket Arena on its website, calling it the largest property ever featured on the platform. The unusual listing spotlights the Cavaliers’ home and promotes a public open house and garage sale with rare memorabilia, plus a sweepstakes offering experiences including dinner on the main court.

A night of new klezmer arrives in Cleveland as the Case Western Reserve University Klezmer Music Ensemble performs original instrumental and vocal works by director Steven Greenman. The program spans compositions from 1997 to 2025, drawing on Eastern European Jewish cultural traditions and the evolving sounds of klezmer and Yiddish music.

A free presentation in Mentor will offer a rare, up-close look at life during the American Revolution. Historian and collector Todd Brighton will showcase original artifacts from his private collection, sharing the personal stories of seven Patriot soldiers. The event is May 20, 2026, at 7 p.m. at the Springbrook Gardenhouse.

Dirty Dancing is headed to Severance Music Center with a concert-style twist. A digitally remastered screening will play on a massive screen as a live band and vocalists perform every song from the original soundtrack in sync with the film. An encore party follows, inviting fans to sing and dance along.

Cedar Point is launching Barrels & Bites, a new summer festival running June 5-28, 2026, along the park’s Frontier Trail. The event will feature tasting stations for beer, bourbon and wine paired with dishes created by the park’s culinary team, plus local artisans, limited-edition items and rotating live music. Tastings cost extra, and the festival is closed Tuesdays.

A touring flock of 12-foot-tall “Giant Quackers” rubber ducks begins rolling through Northeast Ohio on March 19, building buzz for the Ohio Rubber Duck Dash Festival in downtown Cuyahoga Falls, April 23-25. The multiday event features a six-story “World’s Largest Rubber Duck,” an All-City Art Walk, food vendors, and a Saturday dash with prizes.

BlueWater Chamber Orchestra continues its 16th season with “Bohemian Rhapsody,” a Prague-themed program at the Church of the Covenant in University Circle. World-renowned pianist Antonio Pompa-Baldi will perform Kabalevsky’s “Prague Concerto,” alongside works by Janacek and Mozart. Tickets are pay-what-you-wish, with multiple parking options nearby.

More than 1,500 students are heading to downtown Cleveland as the 27th annual FIRST Buckeye Regional brings 42 robotics teams to the Wolstein Center. With alliances, rankings and a shot at the FIRST Championship in Houston on the line, the three-day competition highlights the region’s next generation of STEM talent.

For three days in last week, downtown Cleveland transformed into a living, breathing celebration of pop culture as FAN EXPO Cleveland returned to the Huntington Convention Center. Thousands of fans filled the convention halls March 13 through March 15, creating a weekend packed with celebrity appearances, elaborate cosplay, charity outreach, and the kind of spontaneous moments that only happen when comic books, movies, television, gaming and fantasy all collide in one place.

The Cleveland International Film Festival is gearing up for its 50th anniversary, with the main slate opening April 9 and a special retrospective launching first. The 7x7+1=CIFF50 series runs Feb. 17 through April 4, featuring seven programs of award-winning shorts from the CIFF archives, plus a new bonus short made for the 50th season. Tickets are $15.

She got right into the thick of it, reporting live from the expo floor and introducing herself to the Cleveland 13 family. You could hear the genuine excitement in her voice when she talked about why she chose this network as her new home. She’s always been about heart and community, and she told the crowd that the vision behind Cleveland 13 is exactly why she wanted to be back on our screens. It wasn’t just a weather report; it felt like a long-overdue catch-up with an old f

The national tour of Water for Elephants has arrived in Cleveland, bringing aerialists, acrobats and striking animal puppetry to the Connor Palace Theatre. Adapted from Sara Gruen’s novel, the musical follows Jacob Jankowski as he joins a traveling circus during the Great Depression and is swept into a dangerous love story. The show runs through March 29.

Buzzard Day returns to Hinckley Reservation on March 15 as residents gather to spot the first turkey vultures of the season. Cleveland Metroparks will host the official observation from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. at the Buzzard Roost, where visitors may see a “kettle” of 20 or more birds circling on warm air currents.

The Akron Art Museum will be the only Midwest stop for Kent Monkman’s major traveling exhibition “History Is Painted by the Victors,” opening April 11, 2026. The show brings rarely seen loans and large-scale paintings that rework European styles to spotlight Indigenous and queer stories, with a free artist talk and opening celebration on April 10.

FAN EXPO Cleveland is back March 13-15, 2026, bringing major celebrity guests, cast reunions and packed show floors to the Huntington Convention Center. From “Star Wars” and “Star Trek” icons to “Twilight” events and after-hours parties across downtown, organizers say tickets and photo ops are already in demand.

Mentor has finalized the 2026 Mentor Rocks summer concert schedule, bringing national acts like Phillip Phillips and Night Ranger to the Mentor Civic Amphitheater. The free Tuesday night series runs June 2 through Aug. 25, with weekly food trucks, a beer garden and festival-style amenities for crowds across Northeast Ohio.