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Children learn coping skills while having fun in a beautiful natural setting at "Together We Can." Reservation deadline is July 1.

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For the 15th consecutive year, Hospice of the Western Reserve will host Together We Can, a children’s bereavement day camp, at Red Oak Camp, 9057 Kirtland-Chardon Road in scenic Kirtland.

This year’s camp is scheduled for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, Aug. 6-8, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.  Camp buses will pick up and transport children from the west side to the camp. The following drop off location has been arranged for Rocky River, Fairview Park, West Park and other west side neighborhoods: The Holiday Inn, 4181 W. 150th Street, Cleveland.

Cost for the camp is $25 per camper; scholarships are available. Space is limited. The registration deadline is July 1.

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Sign up for our Summer Reading Program, beginning June 10. To be part of the “Children’s Summer Reading   Program,” come in, register and pick up   your free summer reading kit to start the summer reading fun. Pre-readers can join in, too, and have friends and   family read to them. No reporting is required. Experienced readers may draw a picture, write a summary, or present a brief oral report for every fifth book they read (only five reports total).

All teens in grades 7 through 12 are invited to participate in the “Teen Summer Reading Program.” Sign up at the Reference Desk and receive a free gift. Then start   reading (or listening to audiobooks) and fill out a slip for every title you read. Use those slips to enter drawings for awesome weekly prizes. The more   you read, the better your chances of winning!

Join the Adult Summer Reading Program by stopping by the Adult Reference Desk to register and receive a free gift. Participants who return to record titles they’ve read are entered in weekly drawings for gift baskets. The more you read the more chances you’ll have to   win! Go to readitorweep.org or the library’s Facebook page to check out weekly prizes.

Buyers chose from over 740 plants at the 2012 Perennial Plant Sale.

The Rocky River Beautification Committee is preparing for its Perennial Plant Sale at Don Umerley Memorial Hall, on Saturday, June 1st, from 9:00 a.m. until noon. Most plants will be priced from $2 - $15 so buyers can enhance their garden without overtaxing their budget. Plants remaining in the last 30 minutes of the sale will be discounted by 40% with the exception of specialty items. Admission is free. While the focus of the sale remains perennials, the selection is slated to expand to include vegetables this year.

Rocky River native John O'Brien welcomes Kevin Coster to the Rockport neighborhood.

The Rockport community welcomed Hollywood artists and neighbors Kevin Costner and Jennifer Garner during the filming of Draft Day, a sci-fi fantasy set in the distant future during which the Cleveland Browns contend for a playoff spot.

The actor and Academy Award-winning director's (Dances with Wolves) Cleveland roots extend back to his playing of Cleveland's own Elliot Ness (of Great Lakes Brewery fame) in the Brian DePalma film, The Untouchables.

Rockport Observer publisher LuAnn Leonard and Board of Advisor member John O"Brien were on hand to capture the moments and serve as ambassadors.

Draft Day is an Ivan Reitman production, due in theaters in 2014. For more information on Draft Day, click here.

To view Draft Day photogallery, click here.

Photo by Jessie L. Roberts

Jessie Roberts became a member by taking a walk down the valley, around the Rocky River reservation. And the results are an impressive debut of her aesthetic and her work on our carousel gallery to the right on our front page.

You can likewise do so, too. Claim the carousel for yourself.

This photo carousel presented by TARTINE BISTRO

Attending a track meet or baseball game of a child or a friend? Going to the Fairview High or Rocky River graduation? See some inspiring gardens on your morning route?

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Then take a few photos. Become a member of the Rockport Observer Upload photos. Write up a gallery title and perhaps a couple of captions. And share your eye and artistry with the rest of the neighborhood.

The Rockport Observer is a community media initiative designed to make use of the latest technology - via the Web site, our Facebook page, and our Twitter feed - to create a dynamic interactive platform for the Fairview Park and Rocky River community. It's a virtual podium, front porch, and bulletin board open to all for the purposes of enhanced civic engagement and engaging neighborhood conversation.

The philosophy of and the mission propelling The Rockport Observer is to create a synthesized media experience that serves as a forum for:

Heather Bonsky (right) took first place in the Rotary Club of Lakewood and Rocky River’s annual Four-Way Test Speech Contest and Victoria Sullo placed third.

Friday, April 19 | Rocky River Civic Center

The 2013 Sunrise at Sunset Auction on Friday, April 19 will also raise money for the many Community Service Projects of the Lakewood Rocky River Rotary Club including support of the Lakewood Community Service Center and the Rocky River Assistance programs for needy residents, the North Coast Health Ministry, and student service projects in high schools. International projects of the Club include providing school andgift items for needing children in Nicaragua, clean water wells in Africa, and polio eradication throughout the world.

In addition to the AYF student service auction there will be raffles, silent and live auctions. Entertainment and Sports events tickets, sail boat rides, gift certificates for dinner outing packages, attractive art and gift items, and baskets of food, wine and gift items, and many other valuable items will be featured.

Photo by LuAnn Leonard

Greetings!

During this season of revival and renewal, we are pleased to announce the beginning of Phase II of the Rockport Observer community-media initiative: a printed newspaper along with a community Web site, Facebook and YouTube sites serving the Fairview Park, Rocky River, and West Park area, under the stewardship of LuAnn Leonard, the new publisher of The Rockport Observer.

LuAnn brings energy, enthusiasm, and a personal aesthetic to the Rockport Observer project. She also brings a strong sense of mission and purpose to making the Rockport Observer something to look forward to: a small package of enjoyment and enrichment, neighbors speaking with neighbors, schools and businesses. It’s a community forum in which issues and ideas can be discussed, a way to create conversation and build bridges throughout the Rockport community.

Cleveland Scholastic Rowing Association

Cleveland Scholastic Rowing Association (CSRA) is a co-ed junior rowing program for local 7th-12th graders who do not have a rowing program available to them through their school.  We row out of the boathouse in Rivergate Park on the Cuyahoga River and have 85 athletes from all over the Cleveland area, including several from Rocky River.

We are currently welcoming high school men & women to join us for Winter Conditioning.  No experience necessary.  All sizes welcome.  Walk right on.

Practices are held at the boathouse at 1003 British Street, just over the Columbus Street bridge in the Flats.  CSRA will compete on February 9th at an indoor "Hammer Ergatta" at CSU on rowing machines.  We will hit the water in preparation for our Spring Regatta season starting in March. 

Rowing is growing in popularity and Cleveland is fortunate to have a little known, but tremendous, rowing community.  Besides the obvious health & wellness benefits, rowing provides a great spirit of community, coooperation & teamwork.  Studies have also shown that rowing provides the greatest opportunity for college scholarships for high school athletes.

If you've ever had an interest in crew, want to make a change in your current sport or just thought sports had passed you by, now's the time.  Come check us out and see if rowing is right for you.

For more information, go to www.csrarowing.org

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One of the most exciting moments of 2013 so far was President Obama’s second inauguration on January 21, 2013.  Though many predicted that this year’s inauguration would not live up to the historic day that occurred four years ago, President Obama’s passionate address which dealt with current topics will certainly be remembered for years to come.Hearing the President speak about modern issues was a highlight of the address. 

President Obama discussed popular and somewhat controversial topics from health care to gay rights to sustainable energy.  The President addressed the concerns and issues that are debated amongst twenty-first century citizens and talked about real issues our country is dealing with right now.  He emphasized the importance of working together and uniting as Americans to carry on the work of those men and women who molded the nation into what it is today.  President Obama challenged each citizen to embrace the duty to “carry into an uncertain future that precious light of freedom.”

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For the forth year in a row, members of the Lakewood Rocky River Rotary Clubs have spent the morning before the Lakewood Mayor’s Beck Center fund raising Ball trimming bushes, mowing and raking the lawn, and cleaning out bushes and flower beds around the Beck Center for the Arts building. Led by project coordinator, Sunrise Rotary Club member, Bill Gaydos and his consultant son, Matt Gaydos of Gardens by Gaydos, eleven members of the Sunrise Club and two from the Monday Noon Rotary Club volunteered to impress the quests as they arrived for the annual Mayors Ball.  

Sunrise Club members were Lynda Carter, David Clements, Doug Cooper, Chuck Drumm, Bill Gaydos, Mike Hamed, Todd Kiick, Sharon Marell, Bill Minnich, Dave Schiska. and Bill Wagner.  Phil Ardussi and Jim Harris from the Noon Club pitched in as well.

This is just one of the many community service activities of the Lakewood Rocky River Rotary. Bread donated by Breadsmith Baking Company has been delivered to churches and meal programs around Lakewood and Rocky River and will be added to the Thanksgiving and Christmas food delivery of the Lakewood Charitable Assistance program. Rotary members will also help bag and deliver the food.

Upcoming toy parties by both clubs will provide gifts for children in both cities. Clubs also support international service activities of Rotary. The Sunrise Club buys and annually packages 75 gift boxes for “Children of the Dump” in Nicaragua.

The Rotary Sponsored Interact Club at Lakewood High School helps with many school and Rotary services projects during the year. The Clubs are supporting three Rotary Exchange Students from France, Equator and Russia, at Lakewood High School.  

The Lakewood Rocky River Rotary Clubs meet and the Rocky River Civic Center at Noon on Monday and 7:15am on Wednesday. If you would like to find out how you can be part of the community and international service activities of Rotary contact Kathy Berkshire, sloopyohio@cox.net for more information or just come to one of the meetings.

Larry Faulhaber is the PR Committee Chair for the Rotary Club of Lakewood Rocky River Sunrise.

The next generation of champions learn from the best at Mastick Woods.

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Maybe it's the confluence of Father's Day with the U.S. Open this weekend, but during a recent visit to Mastick Woods and after seeing a foursome of two fathers and sons putt-out for par at nine, it gradually occurred: There's never been a father/son duo with a championship pedigree in professional golf. No namesakes tearing up the PGA. No dynasties or legacies being passed along from one generation to the next. The pro tour is full of missing links, genealogically speaking.

And it continues to perplex. Professional sports is becoming more and more a family business: sons growing up in the club house and on the field with their fathers; life-long apprenticeships that stride into professional success until the progeny make their own marks and stake their own claims in the chosen family trade.