Food is available, but not gonna lie, it's not great food, at least not within the Festival Village itself ... It's typical "fair food". There's a decent lo mein stand; outside of that, I personally don't think there's anything of particular note down there. I think this was a real missed opportunity to expose visitors to our culinary scene with more plentiful food truck operations. But you should still walk down :D

 

Bummer!  I was hoping for food trucks since I am deprived working in Akron!  We do really want to go, so we may just suck it up and get fair food.

 

And I agree - that is a completely missed opportunity.

I've been watching the posts on the GG9 official Facebook page with so many positive comments.  Found this posted:

 

http://www.thetattooedbuddhist.net/blog/my-experience-at-the-gay-games

 

Not to mention great comments about the city itself on the Facebook page.

MTS, that was a fabulous post. I can't to hear about the rest of the week.

What, no pictures? OK forget about it raining outside or it's raining men inside! I want to see some pictures of all this Cleveland activity!

I just posted photos from the opening ceremony: http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,29532.0.html

Thanks, those pics are great!

Thanks for sharing that with us Mayday!

Good article worth sharing, I thought. From Freshwater Cleveland:

 

 

while sports are fun, gay games will leave a positive legacy long after closing ceremony

ERIN O'BRIEN

 

As the 2014 Gay Games (GG9) play out with eclectic events such as DanceSport at the Renaissance Cleveland Hotel to Figure Skating at Serpentini Arena, the engine behind it all is a frenetic ant farm populated with members from Northeast Ohio's private and public sectors. Uniting beneath a banner touting inclusion, collaboration and unity, their lofty goal is to establish a spirit that will endure long after the lights have dimmed and the last athlete has left the track.

 

Read more:

 

http://www.freshwatercleveland.com/features/gaygameslegacy081414.aspx

I went on Sunday. I watched some Basketball games, then walked to the Festival Village. It was really nice; lot's of people and the weather was beautiful. The city looked gorgeous when the sun started setting into the lake. I went to Bounce one night for my first time (about to be 24, but never made time to go!) and a lot of people from the games were there. It's been really cool to see so many people walking around downtown, and from what I've heard and what my friends have been saying, a lot of out-of-towners have been pleasantly surprised with the reality of Cleveland vs. it's reputation/portrayal in the media. My only regret is that I haven't been too successful at meeting any nice dudes. :-P

OK....another update.

 

I went back to NYC and Thing 1 had been in at my apartment.  He's been to Cleveland but always with me.  Over the week he experienced SS as a resident and said he understands why I love my neighborhood.  He said he liked to sit and watch the trains roll past the apartment in the morning.  He described it as a "niche little Westchester town inside the city".  He took a good look at the architecture on Shaker Blvd., N & S Moreland and some block in between and like how SS is the heart of the entire area.  He also laughed every time my cousin or brother came to my apartment to "shop" in my closet for something to wear.  He thought I was exaggerating on how much my cousin is like me.

 

When the train went out, he was a little freaked on how to get back to SS from Downtown, as there are very few public address systems or electronic notification at stations.  So he took the Cleveland Rapid and the 48.  He was fascinated by Baldwin reservoir.  He couldn't understand why such a magnificent structure was closed off to the public.

 

Since he is a huge foodie, he went to a lot of restaurants with my Mom, my moms two sisters and cousin plus my next door neighbors from LA.  On occasion my uncles wife would join for lunch.  He dubbed them, "The real housewives of Cleveland".  He laughed as my mom telling my dad, "I need to go run an errand or pay a bill" turned into lunch, lots of drinks and "bonchinche".  He said it was like a smash up of the real housewives, minus the fighting, the sex in the city and girlfriends.  He knew I had 30 cousins but my LA next door neighbors were over whelmed by meeting so many.  But they got to eat a lot of good food.  He thought Cleveland Heights, was very reminiscent of Long Island mansions. 

 

Thing 1 is a HUGE FOODIE so "The Girls" or some member of my family took him to the following restaurants or he explored on his own:

L'Albatros

Food Fire & Drink (he and his partner went there)

Bodega

Tommy's (when he explored Coventry on his own)

Grums

Zoss bakery

Coquette

Club Isabella

Cowell & Hubbard

Blue Point

Mallorca

San Souci

Parallax

Fahrenheit

Ricon Criollo

 

Yes, they went to every French restaurant in Cleveland, thanks Mom!

 

They went to the west bank en route to Wendy park and visited the aquarium.  The the "kidnap" house, I don't know why he wanted to see that.  But he said there were other on lookers there.  They've been to Cedar Point, Mentor Headlands, Edgewater Park, GLSC.

 

The negatives

Why are there no apartments along the river?

Why is it so hard to get to the beach?

Beachwood mall is NOT upscale!

 

So when explained the history of our river/lakefront it made sense to them.

 

My next door neighbors from LA FAB U LOUS!  They are the lesbian equivalent of me!  I tried to prepare people for the lack of shopping in advance.  The people from NYC, Boston, Philly, CHI and MIA didn't understand no shopping on Euclid or major streets downtown.  I said it before, the gays would spend if there were stores.  Since they are staying with my parents this week, my mom and Aunt "ran an errand" and they were like, Beachwood is joke.  My friends from MIA/FLL, DC, Houston, Dallas, were underwhelmed by beachwood and I couldn't say anything considering the two Gallerias and Bal Harbour are the BEST malls in the US.

 

Over all people have had a great time and have spent lots of money in the city.  The negatives have been few, such as "no centralized gayborhood" and "terrible (retail) shopping options".

 

The biggest complaint I have is the media has not cover the GG as an actual sporting event, but more like a circuit party!  There are no scores, stats or pictures in the PD.  WHY?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The biggest complaint I have is the media has not cover the GG as an actual sporting event, but more like a circuit party!  There are no scores, stats or pictures in the PD.  WHY?

 

 

 

Quite honestly, because most people don't care. There isn't really a standard for athletic competition for the GG, so it's not like it's bringing together world renowned athletes. Yes, the actual sporting events are an important part of the games, but the cultural aspect of it is much more significant.

 

The biggest complaint I have is the media has not cover the GG as an actual sporting event, but more like a circuit party!  There are no scores, stats or pictures in the PD.  WHY?

 

 

 

Quite honestly, because most people don't care. There isn't really a standard for athletic competition for the GG, so it's not like it's bringing together world renowned athletes. Yes, the actual sporting events are an important part of the games, but the cultural aspect of it is much more significant.

Actually you are wrong.  This is a fact I learned at the Chicago games in 2006.  In some Olympic level sports, there are gay Olympians.  Most are out some are not. 

 

There is a particular sport, not very popular in the states but popular in Europe, where the the best/top ranked competitors are gay.  These top ranked people compete in the GG, so the non gay competitors compete just so that they can compete against the best.

 

For instance the diving competition garnered a lot of attention due to so many current divers coming out.

 

This is a sporting competition, not a rave or circuit party.

 

The biggest complaint I have is the media has not cover the GG as an actual sporting event, but more like a circuit party!  There are no scores, stats or pictures in the PD.  WHY?

 

 

 

Quite honestly, because most people don't care. There isn't really a standard for athletic competition for the GG, so it's not like it's bringing together world renowned athletes. Yes, the actual sporting events are an important part of the games, but the cultural aspect of it is much more significant.

Actually you are wrong.  This is a fact I learned at the Chicago games in 2006.  In some Olympic level sports, there are gay Olympians.  Most are out some are not. 

 

There is a particular sport, not very popular in the states but popular in Europe, where the the best/top ranked competitors are gay.  These top ranked people compete in the GG, so the non gay competitors compete just so that they can compete against the best.

 

For instance the diving competition garnered a lot of attention due to so many current divers coming out.

 

This is a sporting competition, not a rave or circuit party.

 

 

No, I'm not wrong. I did not say that there are no high caliber athletes performing at the Gay Games. The vast majority of the athletes though are not Olympians. I can't blame the local media for not giving significant coverage to the results of the sporting events themselves. If the PD published the results of each event, I was reading through it, I would have no idea who any of the people were. The masses only care about sports when it is the best athletes playing against each other. Just in the same way that the media never covered the results of my college's division III football team.

 

That's not to say I'm criticizing the Gay Games. I think it's a great event and I've enjoyed them being in Cleveland over the last week. I also hope that it can put us on the map as a destination for more LGBT people.

 

The biggest complaint I have is the media has not cover the GG as an actual sporting event, but more like a circuit party!  There are no scores, stats or pictures in the PD.  WHY?

 

 

 

Quite honestly, because most people don't care. There isn't really a standard for athletic competition for the GG, so it's not like it's bringing together world renowned athletes. Yes, the actual sporting events are an important part of the games, but the cultural aspect of it is much more significant.

Actually you are wrong.  This is a fact I learned at the Chicago games in 2006.  In some Olympic level sports, there are gay Olympians.  Most are out some are not. 

 

There is a particular sport, not very popular in the states but popular in Europe, where the the best/top ranked competitors are gay.  These top ranked people compete in the GG, so the non gay competitors compete just so that they can compete against the best.

 

For instance the diving competition garnered a lot of attention due to so many current divers coming out.

 

This is a sporting competition, not a rave or circuit party.

 

 

No, I'm not wrong. I did not say that there are no high caliber athletes performing at the Gay Games. The vast majority of the athletes though are not Olympians. I can't blame the local media for not giving significant coverage to the results of the sporting events themselves. If the PD published the results of each event, I was reading through it, I would have no idea who any of the people were. The masses only care about sports when it is the best athletes playing against each other. Just in the same way that the media never covered the results of my college's division III football team.

 

That's not to say I'm criticizing the Gay Games. I think it's a great event and I've enjoyed them being in Cleveland over the last week. I also hope that it can put us on the map as a destination for more LGBT people.

 

Having said that do you know most Olympians?  Or only the Olympians that are in mainstream sports?  Do you know a water polo player?  Volleyball player?  Rugby Player?  Badminton?  Field Hockey?  Cricket?  Weight Lifter?  Judo?  Rhythmic gymnast?

Take the interrogation to PM or take some time off.

I forgot to add

 

Booking restaurants has been very very hard.  Most restaurants only have late, late (10pm) bookings.  I had a few friends want to come in for this weekend and could only find hotels in Akron or motels out by the airport.  By booking, I mean directly with the hotel, not third party or opaque bookings engines.

 

I forgot to mention the Casino has been a bigger draw than I would expect, as the bars close and people have been going there to continue the fun.

 

Slymans has been the only place they haven't hit.

 

There was no doubt what event was taking place this past week

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nice pics...Damn our city is looking good!

Just for fun, go back and read the first couple of pages of this thread.  Besides the doubt that we would that we had any business even bidding in the games, there was worry if we could pull it off well.

 

I think the city and the event were AWESOME

I wanted to go to SOHO kitchen, but the bitch wasn't open.  Major league pissed about that!  WTF?! 

 

Sorry to hear that - it's my sister's joint.  I think you caught them between lunch and dinner on saturdays.  Incidentally, they told me they had a great week! Although, someone did steal their Ohio City Pride flag, the jerks!!  I hung out last night at a friend's house in Cleveland Heights who were hosting one of the Russian athletes.  A bunch of Russian and a couple french were there.  It sounds like overall everyone had a good experience, although one guy told me on the bus he was called fag, which made me upset and I did my best to explain to him that wasn't indicative of the majority of us Clevelanders.

Just for fun, go back and read the first couple of pages of this thread.  Besides the doubt that we would that we had any business even bidding in the games, there was worry if we could pull it off well.

 

I think the city and the event were AWESOME

 

I think this event and its success caused a lot of people (including Cleveland's LGBT community) to rethink their terms about our city. Everyone I talk to - there's a sense of "did we just pull that off, and it wasn't just okay, it was awesome on so many levels?!?". :-) Like you said Punch - in 2008 I poo-poo'd the idea of the Terminal Tower lighting going all "disco rainbow". Fast forward to 2014, on Friday night before the opening ceremony when the tower was lit normally, I'm calling in (texting) a favor for what? Yep... one of those times where I stand corrected and couldn't be happier.

 

So to what degree was everything "picked apart"?  That information will be invaluable, IMO.

It sounds like overall everyone had a good experience, although one guy told me on the bus he was called fag, which made me upset and I did my best to explain to him that wasn't indicative of the majority of us Clevelanders.

 

Also heard from a group of guys who had a passing car throw water on them as they were walking to Mean Bull. The overwhelming response I've heard (and overheard) has been tremendously positive, but those isolated incidents are a reminder that we have a ways to go before we achieve true equality ... Even in a generally progressive city like Cleveland.

 

Also with the "fag" comment, I wonder what bus line it was. There's a clearly mentally ill man that rides the Health Line who uses that slur a lot ... He's used it with me twice on the bus and once when I crossed his path walking down St. Clair Avenue. Not to say that that kind of slur is excusable, but if it's the man I'm thinking of, he's CLEARLY got mental health issues, which further reiterates the point that he's out of the mainstream of attitude and behavior in greater Cleveland. That being said, on both incidents I had on the bus, no one on the bus said a word to him (myself includded). So even in the absence of people running around using slurs like that, there's also the complicity of inactivity and standing up against this kind of thing.