Soon after graduating from CH-UH High School, Kevin Richards started giving guitar lessons at Dick Lurie’s Cedar-Lee studio. Eventually, Richards opened his own school, the Fairmount School of Music, where he continued to teach, while also playing in rock and bluegrass bands.

On almost every continent there are celebrations planned for May 10, 2008 in honor of World Fair Trade Day. The celebrations aim to “increase the awareness of the campaign for justice in trade.” Fair trade is an alternative way of doing business that ensures the producers earn a living wage. This makes a tremendous impact on the producer communities. Children’s school fees are paid; nutritional needs are met; health care costs are covered; the poor, especially women, are empowered; and the environmental impact of production, sourcing, and transport is mitigated.

I joined the board of Friends of Cain Park (FOCP) in 1994, three years after the group was founded by Chessie Bleick. After a couple of years, I made the mistake of missing one meeting. At that meeting, I was elected president of the board. Now, apparently, I am president-for-life. That has served as a good incentive for other members to attend meetings. But, of course, it’s a worthy endeavor and Cain Park is one of my favorite places in the region.

Look around Cleveland Heights – all over, outside. It’s almost impossible not to notice the proliferation of public art that has been appearing, with increasing frequency, over the past few years. There is the Peace Arch at the Coventry playground; murals on buildings in the Cedar-Lee and Cedar-Fairmount business districts; the whimsical wrought iron fences around all the storefront gardens, and the beautiful benches, both on Coventry Road; the colorful knitted “tree cozies” and sculptures on the road circling Severance Center; and more.

One of the simple ideas behind Heights Arts is that the way our community looks can express the creativity of our residents. Many who live here are trained in the arts, work in the arts, or simply love the arts—so it is natural that our public spaces would be enlivened with creativity. And many of us love our older homes because of the craftsmanship of the moldings, the unique architecture, the extra attention paid to details for purely aesthetic reasons.

The 32nd Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF) was held this past week in the heart of downtown Cleveland. This year’s festival was another great showing and included over 130 features and 160 short subject films. Cleveland Heights has a storied history with the CIFF. In 1977, the first festival was held at our very own Cedar-Lee Theatre. For 24 years, Cleveland Heights was the home for this great event which now attracts thousands of film enthusiasts to Cleveland.

The Heights area is home to a majority of the members of the Cleveland Orchestra and to many other musicians and music educators whose work is centered on University Circle. Over the years, the easy proximity to Severance Hall, the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Music School Settlement, and Case Western Reserve University has helped fill our neighborhoods with talented musicians whose presence offers unique opportunities to enrich the community.