Potter Village celebrates sixth annual block party

Face painting on Castleton Road. Photo by Michael Litherland.

More than 200 residents attended the sixth annual Potter Village Block Party, held on Aug. 23, on Castleton Road in Cleveland Heights.

According to the leaders of the Potter Village Good Neighbor Association, an organization of residents, it is the largest citizen-run block party in Cleveland Heights.

The 2014 block party featured DJ Freddie James; a potluck dinner; a visit by a Cleveland Heights fire truck and members of the CH Fire and Police departments; a water balloon toss and Hula-Hoop contest; face painting and bicycle decorating; an old-fashioned cake walk; line dancing; and a raffle, with prizes donated by more than a dozen local merchants.

This year’s event organizer, Alicia Burkle, said, “It was so great to see everything come together and everyone enjoying themselves. We all worked really hard to put it together and we couldn't have done it without the support of the entire neighborhood.”

Potter Village, located between Monticello Boulevard and Taylor and Yellowstone roads, comprises seven connected streets—Castleton, Woodridge, St. Albans, Boynton, Radcliffe, Haselton and Edison.

It is named after the Potter family, who ran a large dairy farm on the property in the early 1900s. Horace and Florence Potter, both 1898 graduates of the Cleveland Institute of Art, were jewelers who began making jewelry in their chicken coop.

In 1921 they employed jeweler Louis Mellen, and incorporated the Potter Studio in 1924. In 1928, the Potters opened a store at 10405 Carnegie Ave., which continued to operate in that location until 2004. Mellen, who managed the store, became a partner in Potter & Mellen, which was well-known throughout Cleveland for fine jewelry, silverware, artwork, china and glassware.

After the Potters sold their farm in 1923, the property was developed into a residential neighborhood.

David Hansen

David Hansen is a member of Potter Village Good Neighbor Association.

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Volume 7, Issue 10, Posted 2:47 PM, 09.29.2014