Cleveland Street Streetscape Updateprovided by the City of ClearwaterWork on the Cleveland Street Streetscape is substanitally complete. Crews are finishing up details and punch list items and will have the street ready for its grand opening this weekend. The public is invited to three gala events to celebrate the completion of the $10-million project. The official opening of the Cleveland Street District, as the newly-completed project will be known, will be "unwrapped" as the city's holiday gift Friday, Dec. 14 from 5 to 8 p.m. Cleveland Street will be closed to traffic from Garden to East Avenues for this event near the historic U.S. Post Office building. A ribbon cutting and the unveiling of a new logo and brand for the Cleveland Street District at 5:30 p.m., followed by adult refreshments and musical entertainment, will highlight the ceremony. Clearwater officials plan to pull out all the stops on Saturday, Dec. 15, beginning with a Holiday Parade at 11 a.m. As many as 100 entries in the popular annual event will march down Cleveland Street from Crest Lake Park to Myrtle Avenue, the entrance to the new Cleveland Street District. Marching bands, floats, specialty entries and Santa make this an enjoyable spectacle for the whole family. When the parade concludes, the Cleveland Street District will debut with a grand opening street festival. Santa will also preside at this family-oriented event from approximately noon until 4 p.m. The district will be filled with craft vendors, food, soft drinks, adult refreshments and the sounds of multiple bands and musical entertainment groups. Activities will include interactive crafts; a climbing wall; a moonwalk; petting zoo; and pony, wagon and Rocketship Car rides. A scavenger hunt and other games for adults will provide chances to win valuable prizes. Visitors to the holiday family fun festival are asked to bring in canned goods or a new, unwrapped toy to donate to charity. Donations will go to Religious Community Services, Toys for Tots and Mason Dixon's Christmas Wish Fund. Cleveland Street from Myrtle Avenue to the bluff will be closed to traffic from 3 p.m. Friday, Dec. 14 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 15 for these events. Parking will be available in the Municipal Services Garage on East Avenue, County Parking Garage on Osceola Avenue, City Hall and Harborview Center lots and the Garden Avenue Garage. Admission to all events is free. For more information, call 562-4800 or visit the city's website at www.myclearwater.com/downtown. |