West Side Market Centennial Birthday Weekend!

West Side Market

We’ve had the Ice Cream social and the Parade around Ohio City, but the West Side Market had its final parties to mark the 100th birthday this past weekend. Starting with the People’s Party on Friday night at Crop Bistro, over 1,000 people came out to try foods from over 40 vendors and dance the night away!

Then the celebration continued on Saturday with the biggest bash of the year- the West Side Market Centennial Gala! The Market was transformed into an upscale party with a mix of local and Nationally renowned chef’s such as gala co-chairs Michael Symon (Lola, Lolita, abc’s The Chew) and Jonathan Sawyer (The Greenhouse Tavern, Noodlecat). There were tons of food, dancing and the debut of Great Lakes Brewing Company’s Butcher’s Brew beer! Mayor Frank Jackson spoke about the legacy of the Market and how important this milestone is. Councilmen Joe Cimperman, Matt Zone and Kevin Kelly also spoke about the importance of the West Side Market, the history of it and the people who support it. A champagne toast was given and then they had a live auction to raise more money for the Market. The official amount raised has not been determined yet, but officials estimate the combined donations should add more than $250,000 to the Market’s Capital Campaign to help pay for renovations to the building.

Reporter Leah Haslage with Chef Carla Hall (Top Chef, The Chew) and with Mayor Frank Jackson
Mayor Frank Jackson, Councilmen Joe Cimperman, Matt Zone and Kevin Kelly

It was a touching and historical weekend for Cleveland. To see our full coverage of these events stay tuned to TV20 next week, and check out reporter Leah Haslage’s full account of the events on her blog life-with-leah.com!