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| - Underneath the sprawling Innerbelt bridges in the Cuyahoga River Valley, there lies a small park surrounded by the decaying industry that deserves more attention. As I walked to Brite Winter Festival and heard the music in the background, I was hoping for a great experience.
The concept was great: get people outside in the winter to a festival. The price: free....This is becoming more appealing to me....Concessions from festival organizers and Gypsy coffee had hot cocoa, coffee, cookies, smores, for very reasonable prices, only $1-3. There was decent attendance.
What did Brite Winter Festival miss outside of a great location, cheap prices, and people : actual activities. Granted, I came alone. However, most attendees were huddled around 3 bon fires. Besides standing around a bon fire, there were a couple free activities: a large version of skee-ball [using a soccer ball], a cool DIY wooden claw machine to snatch coffee mugs and stuffed animals, make your own drawings on an overhead projected onto side of the Innerbelt bridge, a couple 10x10 foot chambers [alas, I didn't go in them - unfortunately, I missed my chance to be reborn without going to a fundamentalist church], a stage with a band, Putt-Putt [I couldn't find this, although it was mentioned on the website], 2 small tables of people selling t-shirts. A person or 2 walking around with bongos. Sounds like a lot, but it wasn't that much. After an hour, I ran out of things to do, listened to the band some more, and people-watching, including all of those photographers there.
The MC was comically bad. Stoned, he mumbled 'and there's stuff to do....' over the PA. I know it can be more difficult than it appears but he couldn't even explain or list the activities [I have done it plenty of times too, and maybe have been as bad as he was].
With its location, price, and few other outdoor winter events in Cleveland like this, Brite Winter Festival has great potential, but it needs more activities [a sledding hill, trucked in snow for snowmen! perhaps], displays, and exhibits. Very high 2 stars; don't worry, I'll hold on my hope for next year on this instead of the cavs for my winter entertainment.
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