PhotoBlogs by Megan Stewart
The lantern festival is true spectacle. It's a great place to take family and friends. My grandmother came along, we were able to rent her a wheelchair, and every lantern and animal exhibit is wheelchair accessible. The lanterns are a brilliant display of Chinese culture, of wildlife, and of craftsmanship. I highly recommend taking the trip out to the zoo!
[Below is taken from ClevelandMetroparks.com]
Asian Lantern Festival is designed for everyone to enjoy – from a family outing, romantic date or coworker get-together. Hundreds of lanterns are placed across several destinations of the Zoo including the Welcome Plaza, African Savanna, Wilderness Trek, Asian Highlands, Waterfowl Lake and more. This year’s festival features more than 40 all-new, large-scaled illuminated displays featuring hundreds of individual and interactive lanterns. These include a walk-through 100 foot long shark tunnel, 30 foot tall giant panda and an expansive display of Chinese pagodas. New live acrobatic performances based on traditional Chinese practices can be seen on the Fifth Third Bank stage each night including contortion, foot juggling, martial arts, dances and balancing and acrobatic acts. Performances will be held nightly at 6:45, 7:45, 8:45 and 9:45 p.m. Each performance will total approximately 15 to 20 minutes.
Dates and Times: Sunday, Jul 21, 2019, 6:30 PM - 10:30 PM Thursday, Jul 25, 2019, 6:30 PM - 10:30 PM Friday, Jul 26, 2019, 6:30 PM - 10:30 PM Saturday, Jul 27, 2019, 6:30 PM - 10:30 PM Sunday, Jul 28, 2019, 6:30 PM - 10:30 PM
PhotoBlogs by Denny Wendell
The replacement of the Queenswood Drive bridge involved removing existing trees to allow heavy construction equipment to access the bridge structure for demolition, removing the road surface and then taking down the underlying concrete tunnel over Sperry Creek.
Temperatures in the upper 70s made for a beautiful day on Saturday, Oct. 14 at the Westlake Recreation Center. The annual event featured hay rides, bouncy houses, face painters, food trucks, plus the Pumpkin Hunt.
PhotoBlogs by Tara Wendell
The Bay High Choraleers and the Bay High Instrumental Carolers visited City Hall on Dec. 18 to entertain city employees with Christmas carols and Christmas music. Photos by Sue Kohl.
Over 50 volunteers from Bay High, the Project Earth club and the city's Green Team removed items of clothing, tires, lawn furniture, golf balls and other trash from green spaces around the city on May 15. They also pulled over 300 lbs. of invasive garlic mustard plants. Project Earth hosted the event and The Village Foundation funded lunch for the volunteers. The city provided trash bags and gloves, and picked up the full bags at the end of the day. Photos by event coordinator and Bay High teacher Eryn Whistler.
PhotoBlogs by Elaine Willis
Westlake Porter Public Library Board President Bob Plantz received the Ohio Library Council's Trustee Award of Achievement in early October. On October 16 the library hosted a reception honoring Plantz.
Fun and ice cream abounded at the Friends of Porter Public Library's annual Ice Cream Social on July 29.
Former Westlake Porter Public Library Trustee Dale LaPorte (left) received the Thomas A. Fox Distinguished Trustee Award from from Tom Fox on Tuesday, April 16. With him is Former Trustee Tom Fox, for whom the award is named. The award is given to a past trustee in recognition of their long-term commitment to the development of library policies and service, community, statewide and/or regional library advocacy, and service as a liaison between the library and the community. LaPorte served on the library's board of trustees from 1979-1995.
Pro Wrestling Ohio wrestlers Gregory Iron (left), Johnny Gargano (center) and Hobo Joe (right) stopped by the Wrestlemania Reading Challenge Kick-Off Party at Westlake Porter Public Library to show off their championship belts, answer the kids' questions about life as a pro wrestler, and encourage them to read.
PhotoBlogs by WBV Observer Staff
Hurricane Sandy swept in across Lake Erie on the evening of Monday, October 29 and left in her wake damage from fallen trees, toppled utility poles , and downed wires in Westlake and Bay Village. Being on the lake, Bay was hit especially hard with over 85% of the homes losing power, leaving close to 5,500 residences without power, some for up to 6 days. Westlake also had a good portion of the community without electricity, were almost 8,700 homes are effected. Westlake service director Paul Quinn detailed some of storm damage at the Thursday, November 1 city council session. He reported that 243 trees had been recorded at that time with the probability of hundreds more yet unidentified in backyards and parks. He also said that sixteen light poles were down, closing a number of streets through the community.
The WBV Observer office in Bay Village was spared the fate of many in our community, as our power was restored several hours after going dark on Monday evening, Oct. 29. Although phone and internet were down for days, we had electricity and the latest issue of the Observer arrived hot off the presses Tuesday afternoon, ready to be delivered throughout Westlake and Bay. We roamed the storm-ravaged streets of the two cities for hours that day, peering in the windows of most of our hundreds of distribution locations in hopes of seeing movement inside. It was a tall order in Westlake; in Bay, an exercise in futility. Just getting around was a challenge in itself, with the darkened streets and unexpected roadblocks due to downed power lines. As each day passed, and we noticed or got word of another location rejoining the power grid, we would scurry over and drop a bundle of papers for our powerless neighbors to take home and read for entertainment or burn for warmth. And little by little, streets and homes began lighting up, stores – especially those selling groceries – filled with shoppers and by Monday night, one week removed from the storm, things were almost completely back to normal. We had managed to deliver papers to almost every one of the community locations that carry the Observer, and shot a number of cool pictures as we traveled around. Here are some of the scenes we – and other members of the community – captured in the days following the storm.
Hundreds of athletes converged on the Bay Village lakefront July 24 for the yearly Huntington Triathlon/Duathlon. Men and women of all ages crashed into the calm morning waters of Lake Erie to kick off the quarter-mile first leg of the triathlon, followed by a 12-mile bike and 5K run through the streets of Bay Village. NCN Racing’s 12th annual event also featured a duathlon, with an equally challenging 5K run/12-mile bike/5K run.
PhotoBlogs by Rick Rowland
View More PhotoBlogs by Rick RowlandPhotoBlogs by Ryan Fenik
A block party was held on Kenilworth Road on 7/10/10. The family-oriented event consisted of food, cornhole, ping-ping, an inflatable bounce-house, and lots of summer fun.
PhotoBlogs by Jim O'Bryan
Each year Observer, Inc. sponsors the WEB SWAT 5K Run, it is truly one of our favorite events each year. The crowds have been growing every year, the participants grow and it all raises money for wives and children of fallen police. All photos are property of Observer, Inc. ©2010
Photos in and around Westlake and Bay Village. All photos property of Observer Inc. ©2008