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Local Culture Corner July 2016

Cleveland, is having a moment!

Cleveland, a bruising, brawling Rust Belt community in – The Heart of it All - has transformed itself in recent decades, recapturing the buzz that made it a Midwest cultural capital. On the heels of a long awaited NBA Championship, a Calder Cup Championship, and currently hosting the boisterous 2016 Republic National Convention, Cleveland is ready to shine.

The city’s colorful history dates to its settlement in 1796. Its prime location on the Great Lakes made Cleveland an ideal manufacturing and transportation hub.

Now let’s fast forward to the year 2000 – this office was The Heart of IMAGINiT! The Cleveland office was the first Autodesk reseller acquired by Rand Worldwide. Do you know that there are still nine of those employees with IMAGINiT? Bruce Bindas, Jeff Catalucci, Doug Dragich, Lori Haynes, Len Horowitz, Tom Logar, Cindi Meier, Gladys Melvin, and Paul Roszak were all part of the original acquisition. This all happened on April 1, 2000 – No Joke!

Local Culture Corner July 2016

Through the years, more people have joined the Cleveland office fun. In addition to the original nine, Dennis Casamatta, Dionna Appling, Dominic Cheff, Elizabeth King, Elvis Sverko, Jim Parhamovich, Laura Drippon, Linda Primuth, Melissa Biermann, Michael Cacolici, Pat Feleppelle, Rachel Roberto and Tom Finkle call this office home. That’s 22 of us.

We have some ‘honorary’ IMAGINiT Cleveland employees who join us during the school year. Through the year, we support our local career high school by giving students an opportunity to experience a workplace environment. The students are a big help with inventory, organization, and file disposal. We sorely miss them in the summer months.

Living in Cleveland, Ohio with a vibrant arts and theatre scene, an emerging dining destination, a rejuvenated downtown, numerous watersports on , monster roller coasters, and 5 professional sports teams, we remain amused, happy, and busy. There’s more than enough here to keep anyone entertained!

Local Culture Corner July 2016

The Cleveland Cuisine

One of Cleveland’s most famous chefs was Ettore “Hector” Boiardi, you might know him as Chef Boyardee – yes, he had a real Italian restaurant in Cleveland before he started putting it in a can.

Our most famous Chef today is Iron Chef, Michael Symon. You can’t turn on the Food Network without seeing Symon on a variety of shows. In Cleveland you can sample his cooking at one of several restaurants including Lola, Lolita, Mabel’s BBQ, or enjoy a burger at The B Spot. This might sound cheesy, but if you’re a vegetarian, you might join Adam Richman in a Man v. Food challenge with Melt Bar & Grill’s Monster Grilled Cheese sandwich featuring 13 different cheeses, 3 slices of grilled bread and a pile of hand-cut fries & slaw.

Don’t hold the mustard - mustard, both Stadium and Ballpark brand mustards originated in Cleveland and are served at ball parks all over the country!

Local Culture Corner July 2016

Culture Stops

Not to brag, but we’ve got some pretty great cultural stops around town. Just to name a few, The is among the top five best orchestras in the world, and performs annually outdoors at Blossom Music Center for the 4th of July. The holds over 900 exhibits, includes art from ancient civilizations to modern day abstract pieces.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is a sight to behold with more rock and roll memorabilia than any other city in the world. Why Cleveland? It was originally planned to open in New York. A group of Ohioans lobbied for Cleveland, touting the city’s major music milestones.

Local Culture Corner July 2016

Performing arts center , the second largest theater district in the world behind Broadway, hosts over 1,000 Broadway shows, dance, comedy, musical concerts and special events annually.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame is a football fantasia! Visitors can reminisce about defining moments in football history; gaze adoringly at the bronze busts of the HOF’s inductees; design their own rings; or peruse the jerseys, helmets, footballs, programs, rule books and other unexpected memorabilia accumulated over the more than 120-year history of pro football.

Local Culture Corner July 2016

The Active Set … Recreation and Parks

Cedar Point Amusement Park is described with a variety of superlatives – biggest, fastest, longest – and keeps visitors coming back. This phenomenal park contains 17 roller coasters, second-most in the world. In 2013, the park opened GateKeeper, a wing-style coaster that freaks out visitors coming through the park’s front gates. In 2015, Cedar Point premiered Rougarou, a dynamic roller coaster featuring floorless trains.

The system, known as “The Emerald Necklace,” consists of 23,000 acres of parks that surround the city. The system includes 12 separate reservations and the , all within 15 minutes of downtown. There are six separate park facilities on the shore of Lake Erie in the area. In the city itself, the largest is Edgewater Park, which has 900 feet of beach. There are over 200 public and private golf courses and 35 bike trails in the area. Cleveland inventor Coburn Haskell is credited with inventing the modern golf ball.

Local Culture Corner July 2016

Lake Erie is 241 miles long and 57 miles wide at its largest points. It is fed by Lake Huron and Lake St. Clair via the Detroit River (in the west) and drains into the Niagara River and Niagara Falls in the East. Other tributaries include (west to east) the Maumee River, the Sandusky River, the Huron River, the , and the Grand River. The Cuyahoga River, which runs through Cleveland, is known as “the river that caught fire.” Since 1868, at least 13 fires have been reported on the river. One of the top local beers is called “Burning River” by Great Lakes Brewing Co.

Many activities are enjoyed on and around Lake Erie – water sports including fishing, swimming, paddle boarding, jet/water skiing, sailing, hiking, etc. And during the winter months - skiing, tobogganing, sledding, ice fishing, etc. For the slower pace we have cruising on the Cuyahoga River and Lake Erie aboard Cleveland's largest sight-seeing vessel -The Goodtime III, which is the largest quadruple-deck 1,000 passenger luxury ship on the Great Lakes.

Local Culture Corner July 2016

Ahhh … the Night Life

Nightlife that turns into early mornings? Cleveland is here to deliver on that promise. The city with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum has a night life that rocks.

There’s something for everyone – we have a huge selection of comedy clubs, sports bars, country bars, karaoke bars, wine, martini, and tango bars, night clubs, speak-easies, and even a chocolate bar.

Local Culture Corner July 2016

Sports Town

The great city of Cleveland is also known for its sports teams and best fans in the “Land.” We are fortunate to have 5 professional sports teams – the (Major League ), (National Association), Cleveland (), Lake Erie Monsters (), and the ( League). After over half a century without a championship the city embraced the slogan “ALL IN” and on June 19, 2016, the Cleveland Cavaliers, defying all odds, made history and claimed the 2016 NBA Championship.

This championship was celebrated with the 6th largest parade in U.S. history – 1.3 million fans converged in . The party included the Lake Erie Monsters, our 2016 Calder Cup Champions, as well as , the legendary Hall of Fame , of the 1964 championship team. Former , and former running back Ernest Byner also represented the Cleveland Browns aboard parade floats.

Local Culture Corner July 2016

1.3 million Dedicated

Cleveland Fans … EPIC!

Local Culture Corner July 2016

On July 13, 2016 the Cleveland Cavaliers kept their winning streak alive and were honored with seven 2016 Espy awards.

Could our beloved Indians be next?

The Tribe is in 1st place in the American League Central with back to back sweeps of Detroit and Atlanta, and are currently 16 games over 500 ball. This town is already talking World Series!

And now … about those Cleveland Browns. It’s been a rough rebuilding since the team came back to us in 1999. Although “Wait Till Next Year” has been our mantra, we’ve got a new coach and all of our picks signed. Watch out Steelers and Bengals, this could be NEXT YEAR!

Go Browns! Go Cavs! Go Gladiators! Go Indians! Go Monsters!

We hope you have enjoyed reading up on Cleveland, should business or pleasure bring you our way, please feel welcome. Stop in and visit with us.