CLEVELAND METROPARKS NEEDS YOU! BE PART OF THE 'YOUR PARKS, YOUR STORIES' MEMORIES PROJECT

December 4, 2013

Make your special memories of Cleveland Metroparks a part of the new oral history project for the Park District's 100^th anniversary celebration in 2017. Over the next two years, the Oral History team will travel to many Park District special events and facilities collecting stories about how Cleveland Metroparks has touched the lives of Greater Clevelanders.

The Oral History team will conduct pre-scheduled 15 - 20 minute interviews on December 21, 23, 24, and 27 from 10 a.m. to noon at Brecksville Nature Center coinciding with several �Hand Feed A Chickadee� programs. The team will record the verbal stories and would like to see, and perhaps scan, any photos interviewees would like to share that capture Cleveland Metroparks through the years. Call the historical interpretation office at 440-786-8530 to schedule an interview. Walk-ups will be accepted if time slots are available.

�For nearly 100 years, Cleveland Metroparks has been a part of the lives of Northeast Ohioans. Now it's your turn to share with us how you have been a part of Cleveland Metroparks life story,� explained Judy MacKeigan, Cleveland Metroparks Historian and Archivist. �We are looking for unique and interesting stories about family traditions or memories including multiple generations or heartfelt accounts of a particularly special moment spent with family or friends in Cleveland Metroparks.�

Perhaps you have a great story about how grandpa proposed to grandma under a sycamore tree in Rocky River Reservation or a narrative of how, still to this day, you and your high school friends swim in Wallace Lake on the hottest day of summer, or perhaps it's the time dad helped his 9-year-old daughter land her first rainbow trout along the banks of the Ohio & Erie Canal.

Ultimately, the recorded stories will be used in various forms to commemorate Cleveland Metroparks 100th anniversary. The recorded stories may be transformed into printed books with photographs, or used in the creation of a video log or �vlog,� or produced into mini-documentaries which may be shown on a loop during park special events or at the nature centers, and finally some stories may be turned into presentations which can be shared with the general public at community-wide events.

Brecksville Nature Center is located off Chippewa Creek Drive off Route 82 in Brecksville Reservation in Brecksville.

Help Cleveland Metroparks tell its 100^th anniversary story by sharing your own stories about Cleveland Metroparks - Discover, Enjoy, Protect!

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MEDIA CONTACTS:

SUE ALLEN - 216-635-3338, sja@clevelandmetroparks.com

HOLLY KECK - 216-635-3253, hak@clevelandmetroparks.com