The Villager Newspaper Online Your Community News – Cleveland's Westshore
The following is the story about the “Walk the Westside” event: a 20-mile walk from Cleveland to Avon Lake that took place in October. The walk was a charity fundraiser for City Dogs Cleveland and Laura’s Home Women’s Crisis Center. The event successfully raised $9,000, and the writer is already planning a bigger event next year.
By Tony Briggs
What started as a fun side project turned into something much bigger than we ever expected.
My wife Jodie and I launched The Westside Buzz to help neighbors stay in the know about what’s happening from Ohio City to North Ridgeville. We like to cover new businesses, community stories, and local events worth showing up for. One year later, with nearly 40,000 Westsiders following along, we felt it was time to give back to the community that helped us grow.
We were inspired by the wild challenges popping up on social media—people biking across countries or swimming the English Channel. We weren’t ready for that level of insanity, but we were craving an adventure. So we asked ourselves: what if we experienced our entire coverage area in a single day and turned it into a charity fundraiser?
We asked our audience to help choose the cause, and the response was overwhelmingly clear and encouraging. At this point, Walk the Westside was born: a 20-mile walk from downtown Cleveland to Avon Lake, raising money for City Dogs Cleveland and Laura’s Home Women’s Crisis Center.
On a crisp fall morning at 8 a.m., we set off from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with sun shining, feet fresh, and nerves buzzing. Approximately 10 hours and 45,000 steps later, we arrived at Veterans Memorial Park in Avon Lake, exhausted, sore, and incredibly proud.
Along the way, we were able to look at our community through a tourists eyes. Downtown Cleveland on a quiet Sunday felt peaceful and quietly energetic. The Detroit-Superior Bridge delivered postcard-worthy views. At Brewnuts, we fueled up on coffee and handed out donuts to strangers, including one unforgettable “Hell yeah!” from a Tesla driver we offered a candy apple donut to.
Strolling along Lake Avenue through Edgewater and Lakewood was golden. A cold domestic light beer from Around the Corner hit at exactly the right time. Friends, family, and readers popped up unexpectedly—some offering encouragement, two walking with us, and others delivering life-saving sandwiches when lunch plans fell through.
We finished the day watching the sunset at Veterans Memorial Park, a place we’d never been before, surrounded by homecoming teens and a feeling that this was exactly how the day was meant to end.
Thanks to our incredible community and support from the Community West Foundation, Walk the Westside raised $9,000. It was a great way to spend a Saturday—and we’re already planning to do it again, bigger and better.
