A Day in Cleveland – From, Madison

As a young professional in Cleveland, Ohio – there’s one thing I can say – I never get bored. As the summer comes to a close and the chill of fall creeps in, I’ve been soaking up the sun both in a professional and personal way. So, let me tell you all about a recent day I had!

But first, let me tell you a little bit about me… My name is Madison Brennan. I grew up in Cuyahoga Falls and graduated from Ohio University in 2016. I am currently an experienced and passionate Senior Marketing Specialist at a law firm in Independence. I recently joined the Marketing Committee for Engage! Cleveland – an organization that I have admired for years through their networking events and their mission to attract, engage, and retain emerging, diverse talent to Greater Cleveland.

I have also been a local musician for years – having released two original albums and playing venues across the state – concerts, events, festivals, and sometimes just for friends & family. Music is my ultimate passion project – to learn more about this side of me, you can visit my website here!

Now, after that shameless plug… let’s get back to it. After graduating college, all of my friends were moving up to Lakewood. Not knowing how much I would love this city, I moved as well – thinking “maybe I’ll hang out for a couple of years and move on to someplace else”. It’s been nearly ten years, and I never want to leave. I found incredible professional opportunities, met the love of my life, and continue to be surprised by what this city can bring to my day-to-day life.

Lakewood, Ohio is filled with friendly neighbors & families, a unique local music scene, diverse restaurants and venues, scenic parks, exciting events, and a ton of heart.

This particular day I want to share was a Thursday in August where I visited downtown Cleveland and several bustling neighborhoods nearby.

The weather was perfectly sunny with a few clouds in the sky. I woke up at my usual time – 6:30 a.m. After getting ready, I headed to one of my favorite local coffee shops in Lakewood – Caffeine – where I got a large crème brulee latte with skim milk and an extra shot of espresso (since I knew I had a big day ahead of me). I pulled out my laptop and started checking emails and connecting with my marketing team. The atmosphere in Caffeine is

relaxed and casual, with a cozy fireplace nearby – the perfect setting to start my remote workday.

After a few hours, I headed back home to get ready for a performance I had scheduled – another great thing about living in Lakewood is that it’s a 12-minute drive to the heart of the city. I packed up my car and headed towards the One Cleveland Center Plaza where I performed for Downtown Cleveland’s Truck Stop Thursday – part of the Downtown Cleveland Food Truck Series. This series has a rotating lineup of food trucks every weekday at lunchtime across 5 downtown parks and plazas. Each of these events features a local musician – and today was my day! I pulled up with my parking pass to an already set up tent – I unloaded and started tuning up.

This show lasted from 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. I sang and played guitar while I saw people from all walks of life come out of their tall buildings and cross streets to meet me in the plaza where they had set up picnic tables and lawn chairs. All so the community could relax, get some tasty, local food, and listen to live, local music on their Thursday lunch breaks.

Some people only stayed a minute, some for the whole time. I met some lovely people between songs who would stop by and leave a tip, ask where I’m from, take a business card, and say hello. Others simply walked by, in too big of a rush, but some gave me a thumbs up as I nodded back since my hands were full playing the guitar.

After I ended my set, I headed to the food trucks for some lunch – the options were hard – this particular day they had three options – Piccolo, Brothaz Custom Kitchen, and Good Eats. I decided on Piccolo to get a chicken Caesar salad wrap. As they made my order, I packed up my guitar and speakers in my car. When I came back to pay, they said “this one is on us – we gotta stick together out here!” That is Cleveland for you.

I ate my lunch (which was delicious) and got back into “work” mode… well, a marketing-work-mode as opposed to a music-work-mode. I took my laptop to Visible Voice Books in Ohio City to finish my day and check in with the firm. I got myself a cold brew coffee from their extensive café and found a big comfy chair to settle into. I was surrounded by tons of Clevelanders doing the same. For a few more hours, I worked on a blog for our website, a social media post, and started mapping out our company’s monthly newsletter. From Visible Voice, I headed down to Great Lakes Brewery to meet my husband who works there as an accountant. We sat on the patio, ordered a pretzel, and tried their new drink – aSplash: a crafted citrus long drink. This was the perfect ending to a long, but wonderful workday. Sitting in the heart of Ohio City right by the West Side Market, sipping on a

refreshing new, local drink, enjoying the last days of summer, and all with my husband’s work discount? Score.

And still, the day was not over. I grabbed my bag from my car and changed into workout clothes in the brewery’s bathroom, because we were headed to Whiskey Island for their Sand Volleyball League. This recreation league is where I met my husband over 7 years ago, and we’ve played every summer since. Whiskey Island has a huge place in my heart – a beautiful view of the lake and downtown Cleveland – perfect for friends to get together after work and blow off some steam.

Our team, “the Denim Diggers”, competed against a team named “Hit it and Quit it”. We ended up winning 2 games to 1 – Go, Diggers! The volleyball courts on Whiskey Island are right on the lake – a breezy, beautiful sunset was the perfect ending to my day in Cleveland, Ohio.

To watch a video following me on this day, feel free to visit Engage! Cleveland’s TikTok account here – and don’t forget to follow!

 Authored by: Madison Brennan