10 Things To Do This Week­end In Cleve­land: Labor Day 2021

Watch jets slice the clouds, hear the extra­or­di­nary bari­tone of Lester Lynch and feel steam roll from a his­toric loco­mo­tive this Labor Day week­end in Cleveland.

65^th Hun­gar­i­an Fes­ti­val at Ger­man Cen­tral Park
Dive into Hun­gar­i­an cul­ture at the largest Hun­gar­i­an fes­ti­val in Ohio. While a soc­cer match, live ani­mal shows and arti­sans are the big attrac­tions, the soul­ful wail of a vio­lin, bil­low­ing accor­dion and cot­ton-tick­led cim­balom that make up the live music of Walt Mahovlich and Har­mo­nia will prime the air with sen­sa­tion­al thrills. Become a part of the sound with free Hun­gar­i­an dance lessons. After wear­ing out your soles, sit down for a deli­cious dish of authen­tic chick­en paprikash. Free-$7, Sept. 5, 9:30 a.m.- 7 p.m., 7863 York Road, Par­ma, csbk​.org

Cars in the Park at Crock­er Park
There’s noth­ing like sun­light melt­ing like but­ter across the body of a new­ly waxed car. Along the brick inlays of pic­turesque Crock­er Park, more than 50 lux­u­ri­ous and rare vehi­cles will be on dis­play. The show is pre­sent­ed by Rafih Auto Group, with ben­e­fits going toward the Amer­i­can Can­cer Soci­ety Hope Lodge. Free, Sept. 5, 11 a.m. – 4 p.m., 189 Crock­er Park Blvd., West­lake, 440−835−9343, crock​er​park​.com

Cleve­land Nation­al Air Show at Burke Lake­front Air­port
A com­mer­cial air­craft grants enough won­der as it scales clouds far above roofs, steeples and sky­scrap­ers. Imag­ine the glo­ry of a jet, cut­ting through the air like a scream­ing, metal­lic fal­con. All eyes will be on the skies when six Thun­der­bird demon­stra­tion pilots climb into the cock­pits of F‑16 Fal­con jet fight­ers and take off for a 50-minute chore­o­graphed per­for­mance at 500 miles per hour over Burke Lake­front Air­port. Planes on dis­play for an up-close look include the WWII-era B‑25 Mitchell Bomber, a KC-135 Stra­totanker used in the Viet­nam War and Oper­a­tion Desert Storm and MH-65 Dol­phin Heli­copter used for Coast Guard res­cues. $20-$40, Sept. 4 – 6, 9 a.m., 1501 N. Mar­gin­al Road, Cleve­land, 216−781−0747, cleve​landair​show​.com

Cleve­land Okto­ber­fest at the Cuya­hoga Coun­ty Fair­grounds
Whether one comes for the beer, cos­tumes or to see cute, dressed-up wiener dogs trip and scram­ble to the fin­ish line in a race, there’s so much fun to be had at this year’s Cleve­land Okto­ber­fest. So much so, it’s been extend­ed to anoth­er week­end. The fes­ti­val boasts more than 100 ven­dors with Bavar­i­an col­lectibles, 20 kinds of beer and 15 Euro­pean restau­rants. The Cleve­land Glock­en­spiel — the largest of its kind in the Unit­ed States — will be in full oper­a­tion, with per­form­ers ral­ly­ing the crowd each hour. $15-$75, Sept. 3 – 6 & Sept. 10 – 11, Fri. 4 p.m.-midnight, Sat. & Sun. noon-mid­night & Mon. noon‑8 p.m., 19201 E. Bagley Road, 440−781−5246, cleve​landok​to​ber​fest​.com

Elyr­ia Labor Day Con­cert at Ely Square
On Sat­ur­day evening, Elyr­ia Town Square will swell with the bright, gor­geous bari­tone voice from one of its own, Lester Lynch. The Elyr­ia High School and Bald­win Wal­lace Uni­ver­si­ty alum has per­formed on stages across Europe as well as the Unit­ed States, his voice breath­ing life into the role of Verdi’s title char­ac­ter “Rigo­let­to” and Scarpia in Puccini’s “Tosca.” Per­form­ing along­side him will be the live­ly Cleve­land Pops Orches­tra. With selec­tions rang­ing from Broad­way tunes to Queen’s great­est hits, it’s sure to be a night for any heart in love with music. Free, Sept. 4, 7 p.m., 400 Broad St., Elyr­ia, 216−765−7677, cleve​land​pops​.com

Made in Ohio Art & Craft Fes­ti­val at Hale Farm & Vil­lage
Per­haps it’s a com­bi­na­tion of Rust Belt deter­mi­na­tion weld­ed with pas­toral cre­ativ­i­ty, but Ohio is filled with inge­nious minds and impec­ca­ble tal­ent. Hale Farm & Vil­lage will be cel­e­brat­ing more than 150 arti­sans from the Buck­eye State this week­end in its juried arts & crafts fes­ti­val. Jew­el­ry, pot­tery, glass, soap, wood­works — you name it, Ohioans make it. Sand­wich­es and sal­ads will be avail­able by The Hale Cafe as well as favorites from oth­er local food trucks. Live music by likes of Tole­do folk artist Russ Franzen and a vis­it from Curi­ous Crit­ters fur­ther expand the hori­zon of tal­ent. $10-$12, Sept. 3 – 5, Fri. noon‑5 p.m., Sat. & Sun. 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., 2686 Oak Hill Road, Bath, 330−666−3711, wrhs​.org

Salute to John Williams at Blos­som Music Cen­ter
Even if John Williams isn’t a house­hold name, his com­po­si­tions float through fam­i­ly rooms across the coun­try, as icon­ic and time­less as the films they give life to. Whether it’s Jaws, Har­ry Pot­ter, Star Wars or E.T., we have Williams to thank for the scores ingrained in our cul­ture. Under the con­duc­tion of Richard Kauf­man, the Cleve­land Orches­tra will be per­form­ing a salute to John Williams this week­end. Patrons 17 and under are eli­gi­ble for free admis­sion on the lawn sec­tion at this event. $26-$121, Sept. 4 & 5, 7 p.m., 1145 W. Steels Cor­ners Road, Cuya­hoga Falls, 216−231−1111, cleve​landorches​tra​.com

Steam in the Val­ley at Cuya­hoga Val­ley Scenic Rail­road
A king of steam is return­ing to the Cuya­hoga Val­ley. Trudg­ing through the fiery autumn leaves comes a 404-ton, 15-foot-tall iron horse glad­i­a­tor, Nick­le Plate Road Steam Loco­mo­tive No. 765. Cuya­hoga Val­ley Scenic Rail­road has its part­ner­ship with Fort Wayne Rail­road His­tor­i­cal Soci­ety to thank for the extra­or­di­nary expe­ri­ence await­ing all who dare to climb aboard. The his­toric engine will roll into both the Rock­side and Akron North­side Sta­tions, offer­ing two-and-a-half to three-and-a-half hour rides and spec­tac­u­lar pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties. $25-$65, Sept. 3, 10 – 12 & 17 – 19, var­i­ous times, 27 Ridge Avenue, Akron & 7900 Old Rock­side Road, Inde­pen­dence, 330−439−5708, cvsr​.org

The Great Geau­ga Coun­ty Fair at Bur­ton Fair­grounds
A step into the Geau­ga Coun­ty fair­grounds is a step into his­to­ry. As Ohio’s old­est con­tin­u­ous fair, it has a lot to live up to in its 199^th year. But through­out its 150-acres, there’s some­thing for every­one, from heart-rac­ing grand­stand enter­tain­ment — includ­ing demo­li­tion der­bies and trac­tor pulls — to the child­like won­der of hot air bal­loons deck­ing a hal­cy­on blue sky. Grab that cov­et­ed pulled pork or sausage sand­wich at your favorite stand before you leave, gaz­ing with nos­tal­gia into the rearview mir­ror at the Fer­ris wheel lights illu­mi­nat­ing one of the last junc­tures of sum­mer. Free-$10, Sept. 2 – 6, 9 a.m.-midnight, 14373 N. Cheshire St., Bur­ton, 440−834−1846, geau​gafair​.com

Verb Bal­lets at Cain Park
Through the sum­mer, Verb Bal­lets has been grac­ing North­east Ohio with its tal­ent, artis­tic vision and inspir­ing ded­i­ca­tion to the arts resid­ing in each of us with free per­for­mances. As the sea­son winds to a close, Verb Bal­lets will be tak­ing to Cain Park for yet anoth­er mag­i­cal night of dance. This spe­cif­ic show­ing is a gift from board mem­bers James D. Gra­ham and David M. Dusek, who will be open­ing their home for an After­glow Par­ty. While the per­for­mance is free, the par­ty will require RSVP and a $75 tick­et, the pro­ceeds of which go to Verb Bal­lets. Free, Sept. 3, 8 p.m., 14591 Supe­ri­or Road, Cleve­land Heights, 216−397−3757, verb​bal​lets​.org

Source: cleve​land​magazine​.com