Cleveland

Clevelanders are proud of our city, and happy to introduce our home to those participants and visitors coming to The 2014 Gay Games presented by the Cleveland Foundation who might not be familiar with the area. Located on the southern shores of Lake Erie – one of five Great Lakes, the largest group of freshwater lakes in the world – Cleveland enjoys the full benefits of all four seasons. We’re green in spring, almost tropical in summer, golden in the autumn and white with snow in winter. We’re Midwestern (United States), we’re genuine and we love to show visitors a good time. Here are just a few of the great things Cleveland has to offer. To learn even more about visiting Cleveland, go to Positively Cleveland, the city's tourism bureau.

Fine Sports Facilities

Every year, the 20,500-seat Quicken Loans Arena hosts approximately 1.5 million visitors attending nearly 200 events. In 2014, Gay Games participants will join those numbers as they march in the opening ceremony. The arena is host to sports, such as Cleveland Cavaliers basketball, as well as an assortment of concerts and performances to suit a broad variety of audiences.

Created especially for Cleveland Indians baseball, Progressive Field is a fan friendly urban ballpark and Cleveland landmark. It’s a world-class ball field with an intimate feel and beautiful views of the downtown landscape.

First Energy Stadium, home to the Cleveland Browns professional (American) football team, is an open-air venue with more than 73,000 seats. It features private suites, broadcasting facilities, concessions and merchandising areas, generous parking and convenient access to public transportation.

Not far from Cleveland’s downtown are some superb suburban sports facilities, like North Ridgeville’s Victory Sports Park, a 67-acre outdoor complex, featuring 18 athletic fields (eight baseball/softball fields, nine internationally sized soccer fields and four volleyball courts), a 700-car parking lot and an on-site restaurant. To the east of the city is Lake County’s Classic Park, one of the most intimate and fan friendly parks in baseball’s minor leagues, and home of the Lake County Captains.

The Cleveland State University Wolstein Center is accessible to approximately 4.5 million people within a 100-mile radius, making the multi-purpose facility a great venue for many types of event programming and touring attractions.

The Global Center for Innovation (Cleveland's new convention center) offers more than 375,000 square feet of exhibition space, which can be arranged to accommodate more than 1,500 individual exhibits. It also includes a performing arts area and more than 21 meeting rooms capable of handling groups from 10 to 1,000.

We Love our Arts and Culture

If big-budget musicals without big-budget ticket prices are your thing, Playhouse Square – the second largest theater complex in the U.S. – offers its Broadway Series, with professional touring shows. Playhouse Square is also a great destination for one-off concerts, plays and comedy. And “culture” in Cleveland doesn’t mean snooty. In fact, arts organization in our region make an effort to open their doors to as much of the public as possible. Our Cleveland Museum of Art offers free admission to its permanent collection, considered one of the tops in the nation. And the Museum of Art has some cool neighbors in University Circle, including the Cleveland Orchestra, the Botanical Garden, the Museum of Natural History and the Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum.

Cleveland’s LGBT community is strong, proud and part of the city's fabric. We know LGBT travelers prefer travel destinations that are culturally diverse, and Cleveland definitely fits that description. Aside from a thriving downtown area, visitors will enjoy exploring historic and ethnically diverse neighborhoods, such as Ohio City, Tremont, Gordon Square, Coventry and Little Italy.

Cleveland totally fits the bill.

Gay or straight, Cleveland welcomes you with enthusiasm

And there’s more: Cleveland’s LGBT Community Center is nearly 35 years old and we've been formally celebrating our Pride celebration for more than two decades. Case Western Reserve University, located in Cleveland’s thriving University Circle area, was one of the first universities in the U.S. to sponsor an LGBT student organization. The residents of the City of Cleveland Heights actually voted for a domestic partner registry as opposed to a city council legislating a registry - one of the very first! The city of Cleveland itself began offering domestic partner benefits to its employees in July 2011.

We look forward to sharing our home with you, as you visit us for The 2014 Gay Games presented by the Cleveland Foundation.