78th Annual One World Day in the Cultural Gardens

On Sunday, August 25, Cleveland will celebrate the 78th One World Day along MLK Jr. Boulevard (which will be closed to car traffic for the Day). For the first time, we will be able to welcome hundreds of visitors to the recently-dedicated French Garden.  Please plan to join us and invite as many friends and family members as possible. It is always a GREAT day and will be even better this year because the Parade of Flags will start near the French Garden and we have organized lots of activities in the Garden.

French Cultural Garden in Cleveland
1520 Martin Luther King Blvd
(Near Wade Park Avenue Bridge)
Cleveland OH 44108

The schedule for the day will be:

• 10:00 AM-6:00 PM: Parking at the VA Hospital garage and along the streets near the French Garden.  Shuttles and handicapped parking are also available near the French Garden, if needed.  Leave plenty of time to find parking and to make your way to the French Garden.
• 12:00 noon: The "Parade of Flags": You, your family, and friends are invited to join us in the parade and to help us carry the French and the Normandy flag. The parade will begin at the Ethiopian garden, very close to the French Garden, and conclude near Centennial Plaza. 
• After the parade, we invite you to get a Passport to the Gardens at Centennial Plaza and visit some of the cultural gardens, who will stamp your passport and offer some food, music, and products. Make your way back to the French Garden, where we will have plenty of space (and some tables, if needed) available for a picnic. You can drop off a cooler or picnic basket at a monitored tent in the French Garden before the parade, if you want to picnic with us there in the afternoon. Lots of flat, shady space in our Garden for a picnic! We will sell water bottles for $1 each. Feel free to bring wine or other beverages you desire in your coolers.
• All afternoon: We also will have two music and dance presentations in the Garden. and have organized a few other fun games and events on our Hexagon Terrace.
•  “Cleveland is My Paris“ “ will be selling t-shirts and other souvenirs at the French Garden.
• And we have Fluffy Duck Cafe food items for pre-sale.

Deadline for orders...end of day, Wednesday, August 21. Register above to pre-order your Fluffy Duck items.

For any questions regarding food ingredients, please contact Fluffy Duck Cafe, http://fluffyduckcafe.com/

Morning Service (Delivered at 11:00 a.m.) at the Culinary Tent at the French Garden (before the Parade of Flags):

• Large Croissant: $5
• Pain au Chocolat: $6
• Raspberry "Danish":  $6
• Ham and Cheese Croissant: $7
• Water: $1

Picnic Service (Delivered at 1:30 p.m.) at the Culinary Tent at the French Garden (after the Parade of Flags):

• Ham and Brie cheese baguette, chips:  $11
• Veggie and Portabella Mushroom baguette, chips: $11
• Chocolate chip cookies: $4
• Water for $1
• Feel free to bring other beverages of your choice

I invite you to consider the following way of being supportive of the event:

• Spread the Word: First and foremost, please mark your calendar for the event and invite as many people as possible to join us for the afternoon. It is one of the most enjoyable and well-attended days in Cleveland every year. Help us to invite hundreds of people to visit the French Garden. Please use social media and what other communications are convenient for you to spread word about the event. Feel free to forward this message to anyone you think might be interested in our event.
• Volunteer: Between 10:00 a.m. and Noon, we will need some help setting up the tents, tables and chairs, to watch the picnic cooler station, etc. After the Parade of Flags, volunteers will be needed to greet guests, stamp passports, and help with some of the activities
• Sponsor a Tent: We have ordered five small tents, each with a table and 10 chairs. the cost of each tent for the day is $125.  We would be delighted to have five individuals or companies sponsor a tent.  Each tent will be marked with the name of its sponsor.
• Donate:  We will install one of four bike racks that are in the form of a Tour de France rider before one World Day.  This first one will be yellow in color (see photo below), reminiscent of the Yellow Jersey worn by winners of the Tour de France stages. The total cost of purchase and installation will be $2,000.  If you know any individuals or companies who love biking or France and would like to contribute toward this bike rack, please let me know via email or make a contribution directly at our Go Fund Me site https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-french-cultural-garden-in-cleveland-ohio?qid=64ab30529a24f2b955476b72e411d182

For more information about One World Day itself, click on this link: https://www.clevelandoneworldday.org/2024/