Celebrate community, diversity, and the arrival of fall at the University Heights Fall Fest
By Mary Malik
On Sunday, October 2, from noon until 5 p.m., the city of University Heights cordially invites all to attend its Fall Fest at Walter Stinson Community Park. A day filled with music, food, arts and crafts, neighbors and family fun, Fall Fest is a celebration of this beautiful season in Northeast Ohio—and all that University Heights has to offer its residents and visitors.
Fall Fest 2022 will feature more than 75 vendors selling crafts, jewelry and artwork, specialty T-shirts, food carts, live music and much more. MetroHealth will also have a booth at the festival with staff to greet community members and share information about their increased presence in the community with an addition to their facility at nearby Severance Circle.
“Fall Fest is a great celebration for us and an opportunity to bring people together in this community,” says University Heights Mayor Michael Dylan Brennan. Growing up in Geneva, they have the Grape JAMboree to celebrate the fall harvest. We want to share and celebrate the great pride we have in University Heights with both our residents and visitors from all over.”
Walter Stinson Community Park, known as “The Walt,” was developed in 2016 for the purpose of providing people with a place to gather and foster a feeling of community.
“University Heights is a welcoming, vibrant place to live,” says Mayor Brennan. “With our beautiful neo-colonial and mid-century homes along tree-lined streets, we’re also just minutes from the cultural center of Cleveland that is University Circle and the I-271 corridor. There are so many reasons to live here, and Fall Fest is just one more way for us to showcase those reasons.”
Life in University Heights includes walkable neighborhoods, the highest standards of education, local colleges and the longstanding diversity of this community.
“With Fall Fest, we’re saying goodbye to summer and welcoming the beauty of the fall season with a fun, family-friendly event,” says communications and civic engagement director Mike Cook. “We’ll have pumpkin painting, the balloon twisting and magic of Balloons by Blake, jugglers, comedians and magicians from the Wizbang Circus and much more.”
The featured bands at Fall Fest include Carlos Jones and the P.L.U.S. Band, which always brings an upbeat and positive message. The powerful vocals of gifted guitar player Diana Chittester will be returning to University Heights, a popular headliner from last year’s Summer Concert Series.
Other specialty vendors include Pop Culture CLE popsicles, Yummy Cart hot dog cart, Milk and Cookies quarter-pound cookies and Odd Dog Coffee. Food trucks include the vegan fare of The Manna Truck and Cajun food from The Dawg Bowl.
“Fall Fest was our biggest event during our first year of serving coffee in University Heights,” says Mike Hancock, co-owner of Odd Dog Coffee. “Since then, it has more than doubled in size and become a staple event we look forward to every year. University Heights does a terrific job planning it.”
Grab the kids and get ready to have some fall fun, and even get a little pre-holiday shopping done. Shopping at the Fall Fest is a great way to support local artists, and it’s all right here in beautiful University Heights.
For more information about Fall Fest, visit UniversityHeights.com and follow University Heights on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.