Local Foods Week - Oct. 4th 2010

Join us on October 4th to kick-off Local Foods Week

Join the Local Food Cleveland Network on Monday, October 4th at the Great Lakes Brewing Company Tasting Room as we kick-off Local Foods Week 2010.

We'll learn more about exciting Local Foods Week events including farm tours, potlucks and restaurants dinners. We'll also get an update on local food happenings from the second Sustainable Cleveland 2019 Summit. And together we'll explore how we can engage more people in the local food economy and how to spread this action.

Register Today!

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Local Foods Week 2010 Kick-Off

Local Food Cleveland Network Event

Monday, October 4, 2010 - 5:30pm to 8:30pm

@ Great Lakes Brewing Company Tasting Room (Directions)

Register for this event

Agenda

5:30 - 6:15pm Registration and open networking

6:15 - 7:45pm Program

7:45 - 8:30pm More networking!

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Take the Local Foods Week "Eat Local Challenge":

1. Eat at least one local meal each day of the week and post photos and recipes on Local Food Cleveland

2. Attend at least one Local Foods Week event

3. Support your local farmers markets, restaurants and retail shops

Take the challenge!

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10 Events to Celebrate Local Foods Week 2010:

1. Local Food Cleveland Network Event - Monday, October 4th
   Join the Local Food Cleveland Network on Monday, October 4th at the Great Lakes Brewing Company Tasting Room as we kick-off Local Foods Week 2010.
   Register here >>
2. Taste of Autumn - Monday, October 4th
   The annual Coit Road Farmers’ Market Benefit hosted by Fred Griffith of Good Morning Cleveland features live music and the taste of the local harvest from area farmers prepared by ten of the region’s finest chefs. View event details >>
3. Growhio Launch Party - Tuesday, October 5th
   Growhio is throwing a launch party in Ohio City to showcase its new website, designed by thunder:tech. Join us for site features, food, drink, music, memberships, merchandise and more. View event details >>
4. Food Policy Coalition Meeting - Tuesday, October 5th
   Join the Food Policy Coalition and learn about the need for infrastructure - including food processing and distribution - that can support the expansion of the local food economy. View event details >>
5. Restaurant Night - Wednesday, October 6th
   Get out and support the restaurants that support local farms! For one night only local restaurants will feature special dishes from local farms. Participating restaurants and menu details coming soon! View event details >>
6. Movie Night and Potluck - Thursday, October 7th
   Watch a movie about local foods followed by a community potluck featuring dishes made with local ingredients. More details and location coming soon.
   View event details >>
7. Lunch Mob - Friday, October 8th
   Pack a local lunch and join other local food enthusiasts for a spontaneous pinic in the park! This event will take place in centrally located city park, but the location will not be revealed until Friday morning. Stay tuned to LocalFoodCleveland.org and check your e-mail! View event details >>
8. Support Your Local Farmers Market - Saturday, October 9th
   Visit one of Northeast Ohio's amazing farmers' market this Saturday morning.
9. Ohio City Farm Open House and Tour - Sunday, October 10th
   Get a guided tour of the Ohio City Farm from 1pm - 4pm. Stop by the farm and meet the farmers including Central Roots, The Refugee Response, Great Lakes Brewing Company and CHMA Rivertower growers. Festivities will include local food bites, live music, educational displays and more! View event details >>
10. Slow Food Terra Madre Harvest Dinner - Sunday, October 10th
    Reserve your seat at the Flying Fig for cocktails and dinner as we celebrate the fall harvest and say “buon viaggio” to Slow Food Northern Ohio’s 2010 Terra Madre delegates as they prepare for this year’s event in Turin, Italy. Tickets to the dinner - which will feature ingredients from local and urban farms - are $35 and include wine. Call the Flying Fig today for reservations: (216) 241-4243. View event details >>
    
    
    Local Food Cleveland.org

AIA Ohio takes Northeast Ohio for a Ride

west 65th and detroit ave.

In a stunning (but not wholly unexpected) display of remaining completely out of touch with reality AIA Ohio recently awarded Robert Maschke Architects a 2010 Merit Award in the New Buildings, Renovations and Restoration Catagory for the Gordon Square Bus Shelters in Cleveland, Ohio.

The "shelters", which have been modeled in Sketchup for your pleasure, is constructed of a panel of perforated stainless steel "folded" to form both the "canopy" and bench seat and have obviously been purposed in absence of waiting for a bus in inclement weather. I admit, the form is handsome, almost sculptural however the function is completely ridiculous. I will bullet point for clarity.

• There is room on the "bench" for only one person due to the angle of the adjacent wall. Unless you have a kid with you or are a series of nesting dolls (in which case you could really decrease your space needed if you just "nested").
• The only area to stand under the canopy is perforated, which lets in rain, snow, goose poop, etc.
• The sides are either open or perforated which does nothing to stop rain, snow, road spray, etc.
• The material is amazingly hot in summer and extremely cold in winter. In fact it acts like a radiator panel sapping your body heat in cool weather.

Point of fact, as a shelter this piece of work is an abhorrent failure. So why did AIA bestow an award to the future President of the Cleveland Chapter? Most likely because AIA has a hinky definition of what architecture is. Despite the modernist rhetoric about "design for (the) people, or the explanation of "creating habitable space" the only proof in the pudding so to speak is the ever vacuous and subjective definition of beauty which has only as much value as a lazy person will give it until said beauty affects your day to day. While TOD (transit oriented design) and "bus shelters" are continuously designed by people who don't or probably never will take public transit to save their life we are going to end up with sculpturally pretty but realistically pointless expensive crap littering our landscape, making a mockery not only of the profession but also further alienating the public whose tax dollars fund our little follies and who actually are faced with the tenacious burden of using said spaces.

I was vehemently informed by a project defender that one of the goals of the piece is to further the conversation about architecture and design. For those of you nodding and stroking your chin this is one of those bullshit knee jerk responses when everyone knows that a horrendous mistake has been made but instead of admitting it and moving on we force a faux scholarly debate to hide the mistake to pretend/hope it has some value. You know what? Every piece of shitty design furthers the conversation. So does every decent piece of design, in fact most things done with public funding "further the conversation" in that people talk about them and their value. Hell, if the region/city/area has a culture of design then EVERYTHING furthers the discussion simply because you have people wanting to talk about it. On one side there is the pragmatic "save our money" argument, on the other the "you get what you pay for" argument.

I think we are owed some serious change. I mean, this sort of mess is embarrassing.

the locals have already bestowed their opinion.

William McDonough Lecture - Kent State - Oct 12th

William McDonough Lecture

Tuesday, October 12th

7.30pm

Cartwright Hall, Kent State University