If past Meeting of the Minds (MOTM) confabs are any indication, the eleventh installment of the annual conference is sure to be an inspiring conversation-starter about all things urban innovation—especially since this year's chosen setting is Cleveland.

Cleveland’s most notable food institution is enjoying a renaissance. In mid-September, the West Side Market welcomed eight new retailers, bringing the market to 94 percent occupancy.

Melt Bar & Grilled seems to be on a much-deserved roll. Not only has the restaurant recently been named to the Inc. 5000 list and opened its 10th location, but chef Matt Fish also made an appearance today on the new daytime talk show "Pickler & Ben" (which airs locally on WEWS, as well as CMT). Fish showed former "American Idol" contestant Kellie Pickler and media personality Ben Aaron how to make Melt's patented Cleveland Cheesesteak in all its gooey glory. See the cheesy goodness here.

World Water Monitoring Day attracted a high-profile visitor to Northeast Ohio: Philippe Cousteau, grandson of famed explorer Jacques Cousteau. Together with local environmentalist James Trogdon, Cousteau led a group of 150 students from four area schools in testing the water quality of the Cuyahoga River.

Paging all local book lovers—it's time for #CBW2017. A lively array of literary happenings forms the itinerary for the annual Cleveland Book Week, sponsored by the Cleveland Foundation and Partners.

Among the highlights: author talks by Peter Ho Davies (The Fortunes), Isabel Allende (The House of the Spirits), and Margot Lee Shetterly (Hidden Figures); an art book and zine fair at MOCA; a poetry, art, and music event at Karamu House; and the 82nd annual Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards at the State Theatre. This Saturday, the Cleveland Flea will also host a "#CBW2017 Edition" featuring a pop-up bookshop with rare books and first editions, plus a literary cafe where visitors can mingle with local authors.

In addition, those who use public transportation will be treated to some bookish fun on their commute this week. During the morning and evening rush periods, local artists performing poetry and spoken word pieces at RTA stations around town. (Locations include Airport, Cedar, E. 55^th St., Little Italy, Shaker Square, Tower City, W. 25^th St., W. 98^th St. and Windermere.)

To learn more about the awesome literary lineup, click here.

While we could all use a transformative trip to the Heinen's Rotunda every now and then, most grocery shopping trips aren't always the ideal use of one's time. Enter Instacart, a popular same-day grocery delivery service that is set to expand to Cleveland in early September. More than 764,000 households in 71 local zip codes will have access to the service, which allows reluctant grocery shoppers to place orders online or via mobile app from Heinen's, Costco, CVS, and more for delivery. The expansion will also create 100 new jobs for Instacart shoppers, who fulfill and deliver the orders.

“Over the past year, we’ve seen incredible demand in the Cleveland area,” explains Andrew Nodes, Instacart's Vice President of Retail Accounts. “We work with a variety of local retailers to provide the freshest, highest quality groceries to our customers. Expansion into Cleveland gives us an opportunity to expand service in the Ohio market. We’re also excited to build a world-class shopper community, where we can offer fun and flexible income earning opportunities for our shoppers, who ultimately deliver this amazing service to the community.”

First time users can enter the code HICLEVELAND at checkout until 11/1 to get $25 off orders of $35 or more, plus a free first-time delivery.

Cleveland joins cities like Eugene, Oregon and Fort Walton Beach, Florida in AARP The Magazine's list of "10 of the Best American Cities to Live Comfortably on $40,000 a Year." In tandem with Sperling's Best Places, the magazine ranked cities based on factors like housing affordability, access to work and recreation, transportation, healthcare and safety to create a "livability index" rating. (Cleveland weighed in at 56, with a median housing price of $124,000.) Here's what the magazine had to say about living in The Land:

Situated on the shores of Lake Erie, Cleveland has experienced a cultural renaissance of late, led by growing populations of baby boomers and millennials alike. The city's robust art and music scene is complemented by lively nightlife and award-winning restaurants, not to mention a renewed excitement among NBA fans with the return of hometown hero LeBron James.

Read more about the 10 chosen cities here in Travel + Leisure.

The first incarnation of Vino Veritas was a successful restaurant and wine bar in the heart of Little Italy—even ranking on the 2015 Cleveland Hot List as a top wine bar. But by 2016, owner Anthony Nunes Insana had set his sights on a bigger picture for his wines, which he had been making in the basement of his Little Italy establishment.

Opportunity presented itself when Insana stumbled upon Rising Harvest Farms, a 2.3-acre plot of land in Old Brooklyn. "I found the property by myself, driving around," Insana says. "I started talking to Rising Harvest Farms and they wanted out." Insana swiftly started making plans for Vino Veritas Cellars, securing a one-year lease for the land from Cuyahoga Land Bank last September. In February, Insana made it official by signing a 25-year lease to buy the former Rising Harvest property, and he had the land re-zoned as a vineyard and winery.
 
With its grand opening last Thursday, Aug. 3, Vino Veritas Cellars officially became Cleveland’s first fully functional, federally bonded winery and vineyard. Learn more about it here.

Record-breaking amounts of visitors have made their way to Cleveland in recent years, and Travelocity has taken notice—ticking off 13 reasons why it's "obsessed" with Cleveland. (Just 13? We've got at least seven more to add.) Usual suspects like Public Square, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame lead the list, along with tasty trips to the West Side Market and that oozing-with-charm popcorn shop in Chagrin Falls. See which other attractions made the list here.
 

Thanks to the $40 million Ohio Motion Picture Tax Incentive, productions like White Boy Rick (a feature film starring Matthew McConaughey) and "American Ninja Warrior" are just a few that have turned their lens on The Land this year—and in light of the State of Ohio’s recent renewal for the 2017-18 fiscal year, they’re likely to keep on coming. Funding will be used to attract large-scale media productions into the region, but local entities are also lobbying for an increased tax credit that would make Northeast Ohio an even more powerful magnet for Hollywood's creatives.

Read about it here. 

Macklemore made a number-one song about it. Joanna Gaines is spinning ratings gold for HGTV with “Fixer-Upper.” No doubt the obsession with thrifting, upcycling and antiquing has reached a fever pitch—and City Salvage & Design’s Janice Beckler is living the DIY dream. Beckler has spent more than 50 years training her keen eye for offbeat, eye-catching furniture and items to add unmistakable flair to any decor scheme.
 
To that end, she and her husband, Doug, have traveled "all over Ohio, buying farm picks, industry picks. Wherever we can find it, we will go. We have a good eye for finding good stuff.”
 
Five years ago, Beckler decided to share her finds. Calling on 30 years of teaching experience and a background in customer service and design, she opened City Salvage & Design in Amherst. The shop was so successful that Beckler opened a second location in Ohio City last month. 

Find out more about this dedicated DIY-er here. 

Planning your next vacation? You may not have to travel beyond the city limits. Reward Expert has ranked Cleveland 7th on its list of “2017’s Best Cities for Staycations.” The reward travel website compared 100 of the largest cities in the U.S. based on 29 key metrics broken down into three categories: Recreation, Food & Entertainment, and Rest & Relaxation. Cleveland’s sports success and must-sees like PlayhouseSquare and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame are cited, as well as Cleveland's “many public pools and its beaches alongside Lake Erie.” (And here's a fun fact: Cleveland has the most public pools per capita. Stay cool, Cleveland!)

Read the full write-up and see which other cities made the list here.
 

Two new benches adorn Hildana Park on Chagrin Boulevard in Shaker Heights’ Moreland District. But aside from providing a place to sit, these benches offer much more to park visitors.

The colorful, solar-powered Soofa Benches, which launched out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab in 2014, offer both a place to sit and a place to recharge phones and other devices and connect to the Internet. 

Learn more about what these smart benches offer here.

While the Port of Cleveland is well known as the fastest route between the Midwest and Northern Europe — bringing 13 million tons of cargo anually through the Cleveland Harbor, which translates into $3.5 billion in annual economic activity and more than 20,000 jobs — last week marked the arrival of a large cruise ship to Cleveland.
 
Victory Cruise Lines’ Victory 1 docked at the Port last Tuesday, June 20 as part of its Great Lakes Grand Discovery tour. The stop was the first of at least eight visits this cruising season, says Jade Davis, vice president of external affairs for the Port of Cleveland.

Find out more about the impact Victory 1 has on the city here.

Summer is the season for vacations, relaxation and general fun in the sun, or so the brochure tells us. The hot months don't have to be spent just lazing about, however, because Cleveland is positively smoking with educational summertime programs, and Fresh Water is burning things up with this enticing workshop roundup, with everything from creating mysterious accordion books and building video games to snapping out flash fiction.

Get the whole list here. 

For some people, golf is a slow-moving sport that's expensive to take up, is neck deep in boring etiquette, and requires at least one good pair of dress shorts. Fortunately, the Cleveland Metroparks has come to the rescue with a golf-like alternative where tank tops aren't frowned upon and you never have to worry about plucking the wrong club from your Callaway Odyssey bag.

What's a golf-challenged Clevelander to do? Why .... FootGolf of course! Read all about it here.

Construction is underway at the former Crop complex on Old River Road in the Flats East Bank, and three new tenants will occupy the space before summer’s end, according to Flats developer, Scott Wolstein.
 
Dante’s Inferno, Backyard Bocce and Thirsty Dog Brewing Company will move into the three former Crop spaces by mid-August, bringing a cooperative effort into a varied mix of food, drink and entertainment to the Flats. Construction began last week.

Find out what these three establishments have planned for the area here.

After much anticipation, the new 12,000-square-foot Edgewater Beach House opened last Friday. The open air, two-story amenity offers stunning views of Lake Erie and a place to kick back and relax with friends. It also serves as a connection point with walking paths leading to the popular green space from surrounding neighborhoods.

Read more about all the beach house has to offer beach goers this summer.

This series of stories, "Grassroots Success: Awakening the Power of Families and Neighborhoods," explores how meaningful impact on our communities grows from the ground up. Support for "Grassroots Success" is provided by Neighborhood Connections and NewBridge Cleveland Center for Arts & Technology.
 
This past Saturday at the Cleveland Masonic Auditorium, the NewBridge Cleveland Center for Art and Technology graduated 60 students from their Phlebotomy Technician, Pharmacy Technician and Hospital Nursing Assistant programs. While the event marked a promising new day for those students, Fresh Water took some time to meet former NewBridge student Tyeisha Long, whose story truly brings the organization's impact into sharp focus.

Mckinley Wiley took the photos included in this article during the May 20, 2017 NewBridge Cleveland graduation celebration.
 
Tyeisha Long was raising a small child alone, living with various relatives for short periods of time when she made a pivotal decision. She was going to move forward to a better position in life no matter how much sacrifice it involved. And then without looking back, she did.

Read her inspirational story here.