On Wednesday, April 16th Lakewood Public Library employee Dan Slife joined attorney Thomas Corrigan and former world traveler turned substitute teacher Paul Dalalau to judge this year's student poetry contest at St. Cyril & Methodius School...

“When I’m in my uniform, people are always assuming I’m a flight attendant,” says pilot and Lakewoodite Lynda Meeks. “Many people are surprised when I tell them that I am a professional pilot. Most people don’t know that women have been flying since 1910, and there are more and more girls getting their pilots’ licenses every day.”..

When playing jazz the term “playing in the pocket” refers to playing perfectly in time. It has also been described as an almost spiritual experience where musicians are taken to a place where they allow the music to take control. Find out what being in the pocket is all about when Duo in the Pocket performs for Lakewood Public Library’s “Sunday with the Friends” series on Sunday, May 4 at 2 p.m. in the auditorium. The program is free and open to the public...

Living in Ohio, it’s hard to overlook our state’s strong connection to the Underground Railroad. Placards abound in hundreds of towns, dedicated to folks who broke the law and opened up their homes to runaway slaves. And yet, for all the trees in this forest, it’s difficult for us to appreciate the breadth and depth of this secret social network...

Twin sisters and two brothers pick, pluck and strum traditional American instruments, including fiddle, mandolin, guitar, bass, carpenter’s saw, banjo and dancing board for a heaping helping of old-time country music. Soaring voices in close harmony make them the Waxwings. On Sunday, April 27 at 2 p.m. come watch The Waxwings Old-Time Stringband perform for Lakewood Public Library’s “Sunday with the Friends” series at 2 p.m. in the auditorium on the lower level...

Patrons of all ages of Lakewood Public Library have a truly special evening to anticipate on Saturday, April 26, 2008. Spring will be upon us, the renovation continues in its final phase of collection restoration and the Saturday Night Family Music and More Program will return from its long absence with a performance by one of Northeast Ohio’s most celebrated and beloved family entertainers and a Parents’ Choice Award recipient, Foster Brown...

Philosophical consultant Kerry Tobin uses her training in philosophy to help people solve their everyday problems. She is bringing her skills to Lakewood Public Library where she will guide people through a Socratic dialogue that will try to answer the questions, “What is fellowship?” and “What is unity?” You can come to one or both of these programs which will take place in the Main Library Auditorium on Saturday, April 5 and Saturday, April 12 from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Through collective thinking, people can find out what they have in common by exploring their own experiences. Participants will also discuss how unity and fellowship are can be applied to the Lakewood community...

It still stands as the greatest weather-related disaster in the history of the state—Ohio’s Hurricane Katrina.

 

Commonly referred to as the Great Dayton Flood, many people have forgotten that the entire Midwest from Pittsburgh to St. Louis was nearly washed away as well. Three months of rain fell in four days and the lowlands of Ohio became a veritable inland sea. The locks of the old canal systems had to be dynamited for flood relief and were lost forever. Damage was estimated at $100,000,000 (in 1913 dollars.) And 65,000 people from Dayton alone were forced to flee their homes...

Sunday with the Friends

Ohio’s Katrina: The Great Easter Flood of 1913

They called it the Great Dayton Flood, but the entire Midwest from Pittsburgh to St. Louis was nearly washed away. Three months of rain fell in four days, turning the lowlands of Ohio into a veritable inland sea. Local author, Trudy E. Bell, recounts the whole story from the first drop of rain to the innovations in flood-control technology and disaster relief that followed. The author will have books to sell to interested audience members. Cash only, please...

Cleveland native Oliver Buck will bring his sound, a mixture of Country, Blues, and Folk, to the Lakewood Public Library Auditorium at 2:00 p.m., Sunday, March 9th. Buck, a talented singer, songwriter, guitarist mixes in covers and standards with his own original songs to reflect life in the “heart of the great American Rust Belt.”..

The Lakewood Historical Society presents Hank Mallery as he leads his audience through a collection of toe-tapping songs and stories in the Main Library Auditorium on Thursday, March 6 at 7:00 p.m. A historical interpreter for the Cleveland Metroparks, Mallery evokes the history of Ohio's Canal Era through songs and stories passed down over the years and through his original creations inspired by canal life...

Irish vocalist and Celtic harpist Elise McKnight will begin her Monday St. Patrick’s Day celebration with a Sunday concert at the Lakewood Public Library. Everyone is invited to sing along when they know the words. Lesser-known ballads will also be sprinkled in to give celebrants a chance to sit back and enjoy the depth of the beauty of Irish culture. And because it’s a party, light refreshments like Irish soda bread baked by the performer herself will be provided. “Irish Songs to Melt the Heart” takes place at 2:00 p.m. in the New Main Library Auditorium on Sunday, March 16...

Because of the generous work of the Friends of the Lakewood Public Library, the library is able to offer Lakewood residents a home delivery service. The Friends of the Lakewood Public Library have provided a van to the library that is used to deliver library materials to patrons who live in Lakewood and are unable to leave their home on a temporary or permanent basis...

Being in a theatre just as the movie begins is like stepping onto a magic carpet. In mere seconds, the audience is whisked into the realm of someone else’s imagination, artistry and creativity...

Have you ever had your sleep interrupted because in the middle of the night you remembered something you forgot to do? Well, rest assured if one of those things is renewing your library materials, you still have time even after the library is closed...

In S. Joseph Krause’s new novel, Falling Out and Belonging: A Foot-Soldier’s Life, readers are taken on a vivid, gritty, and historically accurate journey into the life of a young infantryman during World War II. Thanks to the sponsorship of the Columbia University Club of Cleveland and the Friends of Lakewood Public Library, Lakewoodites will have a chance to meet the author in person and listen to him discuss his experiences writing the book and surviving World War II on Saturday, March 1 at 2:00 p.m. in the New Main Library Auditorium...

What happens when government oversteps the bounds of its power and infringes upon the rights of citizens? This question will be examined in a one act play at the Lakewood Public Library auditorium on Monday, March 3 at 7 p.m...

Christopher J. Dawson is Lakewood’s man of steel. His grandfather was a steel worker in the Ohio Valley. His fascination with factories began when he was a child. A formally credentialed historian with degrees from Bowling Green State University and Cleveland State University, he is now the Development Officer at University Hospitals. Having once served as curator of Urban and Industrial History at the Western Reserve Historical Society, he was the essential steward who cultivated relationships with people and institutions to ensure the acquisition and preservation of the LTV Steel Collection...

If you have not yet been initiated as a fan of the graphic novel genre, there is no reason to wait another second. No matter what styles, themes or character types you enjoy, you are guaranteed find something you’ll love in our collection...

As someone who grew up during the 1960s I can attest to the fact that the music of that era was incredible. Hearing both Bob Dylan and the Beatles for the first time before the age of 13 was a huge influence on my life. Musically the 1960s were filled with groundbreaking, innovative sound, starting with the folk revival in Greenwich Village in 1960 to the British invasion in 1963-64 and the emergence of rock music...