The Hooley is a Kamm’s Corner neighborhood festival with a Irish kick. Booths are hosted by local organizations, artists and vendors and it helps festival goers see what the area has to offer. Other festival perks include live entertainment ranging from bagpipes to rock and a nice amount of activities for the kids.
2023 DATE: June 10, 2023
Location: 17407 Lorain Avenue, Cleveland
Website: https://www.facebook.com/TheHooley
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This post documents my experience on May 10, 2014.
At the corner of Rocky River Drive and Lorain Ave., you can see this clock marking Kamm’s Corners, named after grocery owner of long ago Oswald Kamm.
This is the center of West Park, a neighborhood named after early settler John West. It was originally just a wooded area of isolated homes, until Kamm’s grocery store (opened in 1875) helped create a commercial center that led to the founding of West Park Township (1900).
Made up of 4 sub-neighborhoods (Warren-Munn, Jefferson, Riverside and Puritas-Bellaire-Longmead) and being an area of 12.5 square miles, West Park was the last large neighborhood to become part of Cleveland in 1922.
Today, the area has an estimated 57,000 of the city’s residents…
…many of which take part in the homecoming festival, known as The Hooley.
Irish slang for “party” or “celebration”…
…the Hooley name was likely selected with its businesses in mind.
Not only did this open the door for great festival merchandise…
…and border-lined blasphemous marketing ideas (not that I’m to judge after drinking holy water in Dublin, Ireland for two days myself)…
…it also opened the door for Irish shirts…
…Irish egg rolls (P.J. McIntyre’s)…
…Gaelic Football Club info…
…Irish music (Pipes and Drums of the Cleveland Police)…
…and a fair share of Catholic schools.
In fact, possibly because it was a community festival…
…there were many kid-related elements at the festival…
…including a nice activity tent…
…with games, balloons and free caricatures (Adam Pate)…
…pony rides (Pony Tales Farm)…
…face painting…
…free bike helmets (Cleveland Clinic)…
…and games (Langholz).
Adults could inform themselves about the local farmers market…
…learn about services at area businesses (West Park Massotherapy/Kamm’s Corner Dental Group)…
…shop at vendor booths…
…invest in art found at Fine Art Alley…
…and discover what their future had in store.
Entertainment stages stood at each end of the festival area…
…with plenty not-to-miss performances…
…as various food vendors with pizza (Dante’s), Reuben wraps (West Park Station)…
…and funnel cakes were scattered about.
My mom, Max and I walked the festival grounds, trying to figure what to eat…
…deciding on some asparagus salad and beef briskett (AMP 150)…
…before devouring a few decadent donuts from Love, Peace and Little Donuts.
Of course, we also brought home an awesome souvenir.
Thanks, Adam!