Holiday Circlefest highlights neighborhood on the hunt: editorial

Posted December 09, 2013 in Articles

Author: Editorial Board

Oh, there will be the usual suspects: Ice carvers, horse-drawn carriage rides, craft fairs, carolers, sled dogs, performances of Peter & the Wolf, balloon twisting with Flower the Clown, a winter holiday photo booth and other right-brain beguilements.

All of it -- and this might alarm logical left-brain thinkers -- for free.

That's right. Today, University Circle Inc. invites children of all ages to an afternoon delight of no-money-down museum-hopping, garden and gallery strolls, upscale resale shopping, food-truck fare, an open-air ice rink, a model train display and ArtSquad CRATEivity Stations that feature the ever-popular Beauregard and Cherry.

Holiday Circlefest officially kicks off at 1 p.m. and concludes with a winter lantern procession -- that's haute monde speak for parade – on Wade Oval at 5:30 p.m.


The celebration of all that is University Circle -- now in its 20th year – also wants to move you. Literally.

It wants to move you from wherever you live now to the fastest-growing residential neighborhood outside of downtown, to the home of hallowed halls of higher learning and the clones of two of the coolest joints in Ohio City and the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood: ABC the Tavern and Happy Dog.


"It's all part of a plan," admitted Chris Ronayne, president of University Circle Inc.

"It's destination marketing of a place," he explained. "You're here, you're having a good time. Why not stay?"

So: Go, enjoy, and keep the left brain alert for subliminal messaging such as Mr. Rogers singing, "It's a beautiful day in this neighborhood/A beautiful day for a neighbor/Would you be mine?"

Given University Circle's status as a trendy, inclusive neighborhood for young, old, immigrants, millennials, homeowners and renters alike, it's not bad messaging.

Original Article: http://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2013/12/holiday_circlefest_highlights.html