On June 2nd we let the world know of our intention to host Ignite, a music celebration of the June 22 anniversary of the 1969 Cuyahoga River fire. The celebration would also have given Cleveland an opportunity to take control of and reshape the well worn "burning river" narrative and show people how Cleveland and its river have really come a long way. We had secured a site, the bands were in the wings, and the beer was ready to flow. All we needed was enough sponsorship to cover expenses related to our "go big or go home" production.

While we did receive baseline funding we simply ran out of time to secure adequate sponsorship by our go/no-go deadline. We also discovered we were sailing into a headwind as the marketing budget reserves of potential partner organizations has understandably been committed to the myriad events related to the upcoming Republican National Convention. And quite frankly, we simply did not provide potential partner organizations with enough time to react to this opportunity. Sadly, Ignite will not happen on June 25th.

What has been a FABULOUS outcome of this process is the recognition and feedback from individuals and Cleveland stakeholders that there is a need and a huge appetite for an event like Ignite and we are already planning for: 1) a music event later this summer and 2) Ignite 2017.

Thanks to everyone for your kind feedback and support. It's meant a lot and some really great things are on the horizon! Stay tuned. And yes, we're working on a scaled down event to celebrate June 22!

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