The standard for festivals in Cleveland is set by Cleveland’s beloved Puerto Rican community. Each year in the summer months the festival offers the most wonderful display of national pride in the form of visual arts, music, food, and dance.

Although Cleveland SGS has fond memories of the days when the event was located on W 14th, we feel the added space and privacy of its current location ensures a devoted and sincere crowd. All who attend come with purpose. Their participation in the festivities creates an intense and inviting atmosphere for three consecutive days.

Cleveland SGS salutes the Puerto Rican community for a wonderful annual event that is free and open to all. From what we witnessed this year we are convinced that the sentiments of Manuel Fernández Juncos live on today:

“La tierra de Borinquen
donde he nacido yo
es un jardin florido
de magico primor…”
–La Borinquena

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The Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Italian Festival has been a neighborhood tradition for the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood for 82 years. For those who are not familiar with this summer event it can be summed up in one word, humble. It’s a place where clergy, parishioners, carnies, and partygoers, all have the shared experience of modest living. A community whose sole aim for the weekend is to offer carnival comforts to all who attend. For the uninitiated it can be an awkward yet eye opening experience. People of all races join together in relative harmony for gaming, carnival rides, and Italian cuisine. This festival is a mystical trinity of entertainment that frees us from that all that is savage.To see the video in full Flexi-Color please visit our video corner.

G.W. Thompson was a man dedicated to the alleviation of hemorrhoidal discomfort. We here at ClevelandSGS salute his courage, determination and steadfast loyalty to the profession of rectal medicine. Thank you G. W. Thompson for leaving no pile untreated. ClevelandSGS found this advertisement from 1933 promoting Thompson’s services. His office was located on East 9th and Euclid in the Schofield Building.

This was a fertility calendar (for finding fertile and sterile days) that was on sale at Cleveland drugstores in 1937. Although it was billed as Scientific, Safe, and Moral it most certainly wasn’t tamper proof. This device most definitely gave a great many couples the blues. If only controlling your family was this simple.

Fannie Lewis ran for Cleveland City Council four times before she was finally voted into office in 1979. Hough resident Ernie P. Flagstaff loaned ClevelandSGS this early piece of election literature from one of her initial runs at office.

Please click here if you would like to see other SGS scans of Fannie Lewis or check out our historical Cleveland political collection.