St. Patrick's Day Parade in Cleveland 2022

 The 2022 St Patrick's Day Parade in Cleveland took place after missing 2 years because of the Covid pandemic.

Before the Parade honorees and dignitaries gathered on the steps of the Cosgrove Center including Grand Marshall Tom McManamon, Mother of the Year Rita Lally, Inside Co-Chair Eileem Mangan Stull and Outside Co-Chair Patricia Coleman Lavelle.

Because the 2020 Parade had to be cancelled, the 2020 honorees were also there: Grand Marshall Tom Scanlon, Mother of the Year Kathleen Mangan, Inside Co-Chair Maureen Mohney and Outside Co-Chair Christopher Cooper.

Bishop Edward Malesic and Mayor Justin Bibb

Mayor Justin Bibb, Bishop Edward Malesic and Council President Blaine Griffin were also there.

Jim Kilbane served as MC and Katie Cooper led the Irish anthem in Gaelic and then the US anthem. Watch a video of the ceremony before the Parade:

We have posted photos and videos of the entire Parade broken down in segments.

Main St. Patrick's Day 2022 page 

Start of the 2022 St. Patrick's Day Parade

Irish American Club East Side

Division 1 of the 2022 St. Patrick's Day Parade

West Side Irish American Club

Division 2 of the 2022 St. Patrick's Day Parade

2022 St. Patrick's Day Parade - Photo Page

 

It was a great day and we have some great photos and videos

Alberto Giacometti - Toward the Ultimate Figure - Cleveland Museum of Art

 The latest exhibit at the Cleveland Museum of Art is called Alberto Giacometti - Toward the Ultimate Figure. #TowardTheUltimateFigure

The exhibition Alberto Giacometti: Toward the Ultimate Figure gathers an ensemble of masterpieces focusing on the artist's major achievements of the postwar years (1945-66). Combining all media-sculpture, painting, and drawing-the show of 60 works draws upon the deep resources of the artist's personal collection and examines a central, animating aspect of his oeuvre: his extraordinary, singular concern for the human figure. Co-organized by the Fondation Giacometti in Paris and the Cleveland Museum of Art, the exhibition will also be presented at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Seattle Art Museum; and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City. So we are very fortunate to have it here in Cleveland and first.

If you are expecting typical sculptures of people that look just like them, you will be surprised. Giacometti is best known for the bronze sculptures of tall, thin human figures that often look emaciated. Giacometti once said that he was sculpting not the human figure but "the shadow that is cast".

Here is a short video tour of the exhibit

See more photos and video of Alberto Giacometti - Toward the Ultimate Figure

Rally for Ukraine in Parma

Parma Ohio is a suburb of Cleveland that has a large and strong Ukrainian community including an area known as Ukrainian Village. With the atrocities of the criminal invasion of sovereign Ukraine by the madman Putin, the Ukrainian community, friends and supporters gathered on Sunday February 27, 2022 to show support.

Crowds filled St. Vladimir's Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral to capacity and the standing room only crowd spilled outside.

Rev. Michael Hontaruk 

The event began with solemn prayers for the country and people of Ukraine.

Marta Liscynesky-Kelleher, president of the United Ukrainian Organizations of Ohio, an umbrella group for more than 50 Ukrainian cultural, political and other organizations in the state, served as MC.

After her remarks she introduced speakers including:

• Honorary Consul of Lithuania Ingrida Bublys 
•  American Jewish Committee Cleveland Regional Director Lee C. Shapiro
• Parma Mayor Tim DeGeeter who called up the Parma City Council
• US Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur
• US Senator Rob Portman

Pictures and videos of all the speeches at the Ukraine Rally

Near the end of the ceremony the crowd sang a Ukrainian song wishing 100 years of life and then God Bless America.  

After the ceremony the people gathered outside the Church with signs and sang songs and showed support for Ukraine.

More from the Rally for Ukraine in Parma

Fun with Maps - Ukraine

 We had always planned on doing a Fun with Maps episode about Ukraine but due to the tragic current situation we moved it up in order. People are understandably very curious to know more about the country of Ukraine. And yes it is a country. It is not THE Ukraine; it is the country of Ukraine. Using the term THE Ukraine makes it sound like a region of another country as opposed to a sovereign nation.

Ukraine is the second-largest country by area in Europe after Russia, which it borders to the east and north-east. Ukraine also shares borders with Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the south; and has a coastline along the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea. It spans an area of 233,062 sq. miles with a population of 43.6 million. That makes it the eighth-most populous country in Europe.

We briefly talk about the history of Ukraine including the tragedy at Chernobyl and the Holodomor. We also touch on the great writer Lesya Ukrainka and pysanky Easter eggs.

See more Fun with Maps episodes

Kurentovanje - Slovenian Mardi Gras

The 10th annual Cleveland version of the most popular carnival in Slovenia - Kurentovanje - was a week long event featuring cooking demos, language instruction, a dance party, fun run and more. But the highlight was the annual Kurentovanje parade followed by the festival celebration. Because of Covid concerns the festival was held outside the Slovenian National Home.

That did not dampen the spirit as crowds lined St. Clair for the Parade and then went to the heated tents for music, food and fun. Young and old dressed in costumes to scare away winter. And of course everyone wanted to take a picture with a Kurent or a Krampus character.

See many more photos from the Kurentovanje Festival

Here is a video of some of the highlights of the 2022 Cleveland Kurentovanje Parade beginning with the units lining up and getting ready to march on St. Clair Ave. to the Slovenian National Home. You will see the St. Martin de Porres HS drummers and cheerleaders as well as the scary Krampus characters, various Slovenian schools, the King and Queen of Kurentovanje, Councilman Mike Polensek and, of course, lots of Kurents! .

See lots of photos from the Kurentovanje Parade