OM For The Holidays Cleveland

And we have one more organization to feature in our home for the holidays series today. We're looking at how circle fest changed to be all virtual this year. The Cleveland History Center is sharing holiday traditions from the memorable to the bizarre and even the supernatural. We're looking at ways that we can bring the community'stories, make them come alive in new virtual ways. Hi, I am Angie Lowry. I'm the director of the Cleveland History Center, which is headquarters for the Western Reserve Historical Society. We have opened a new onsite experience we have planned for this holiday called a century of celebrations. We're pivoting quickly to bring that online and make it accessible to everyone at home. The Western Reserve Historical Society has a significant collection representing a variety of end of year celebrations. All of those holiday traditions, as they've been celebrated over time in Cleveland, shopping in the department stores downtown, seeing Mr. Jingling. We bring that whole local connection to it. On December 16th, we are presenting a really fun virtual program called the Ghosts of Christmas Past. It's really a look at around the winter solstice. That time of year is when it's considered to be the thinnest veil between the supernatural and the living. During the Victorian era, there were a lot of traditions and connections with exploring the other side. We'll also look at some really bizarre holiday cards that kind of tie to that kind of creepy, if you will, holiday tradition that are pulled from our home selection. And then other things that how traditions from the Christmas tree to how Santa Claus evolved during the Civil War era. So our role is to preserve those stories and to share those. That's how we do it every day at the Cleveland History Center. Making those connections to the past help us to understand where we are now and help us to stay together as we move forward, building a new future.