'A Crazy Party for Cleveland': Golden Hour Series Will Bring One-Day Music Festival to North Coast Harbor

In the midst of Kid Cudi's Moon Man's Landing debacle—Is it on? Is it gone?—another festival is in the works to bring music downtown.

Greyt Culture, the visionaries behind the sunset-friendly, rooftop concert series Golden Hour, announced Thursday they'll be hosting their largest event since sprouting up on top of The Shoreway in 2021.

On July 21, from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m., Greyt is hosting a three-headliner set on North Coast Harbor, otherwise known as Voinovich Park.

Headlined by national alt-jazz ensemble Two Feet, and featuring sets by locals DJ E-V and Apostle Jones, the festival is intended to activate a relatively underused space—one of the only viable ones on the lakefront—in Greyt's largest concert to date.

"I want it to be just a crazy party for Cleveland," Thomas Fox, CEO and founder of Greyt Culture, said.

Fox, the entrepreneur known for propping up local thinkers in his Big Talk series who also co-founded Brite Winter, has long been a frustrated advocate for enlivening music events in the city's core. He's sort of become, in local musician circles, a notable ideas person while maintaining an outsider's perspective.

"He's just good at imagining ideas outside of the box," Mikey Silas, the frontman and founder of Apostle Jones, told Scene. "More or less, he knows the location factor. ‘Let’s put a band on a rooftop at GH.’ The idea itself just sounds like a good idea."

This spring, after selling out 12 consecutive Golden Hour rooftop shows, including one on top of the Terminal Tower, Fox felt Greyt's clout was ready to segue into something more resounding. Burning River Fest, a pre-COVID staple of waterfront music, was still MIA. Moon Landing was on hold. And Reggae Fest, the only other music festival on North Coast, satisfied a particular audience. Fox wanted to go bigger.

The only issue, Fox said, was hopping safely through the numerous barriers from the city — securing necessary permits with the Department of Building & Housing (for electricity usage), with the Department of Safety (for security checks), to necessary approval from police and fire (for obvious reasons).

After all is said and done, Fox needed to sit in front of "at least 20 people" at City Hall to actualize Golden Hour's North Coast debut.

Such requisite red tape clearing is partly why, he recalled, an Ohio City block party fest circa 2021 at Saucy Brew Works' Vibe Garden fell through—"something to do with zoning," Fox said.
Although the city has a Division of Special Events committee to, as they told Scene, "streamline" the process, Fox believes the scattered nature of securing permission may be scaring away more music-minded entrepreneurs with big ideas. Or just simple transparency.

"The bottom line is that it is confusing how you're supposed to do business with the city," he told Scene. "And City Hall knows this. I've gotten those comments directly from staff within City Hall."

But Susie Claytor and Tangee Johnson, both on the steering committee that guides event producers through the permitting process, both told Scene there's a common misconception that green-lighting events on city property is laborious.

"It's not really complicated," Claytor said.

Though they admitted that the 5-page application process could be "streamlined," Claytor and Johnson affirm that the committee's work is to make events like Moon Man's Landing happen. (They also help provide stage equipment, port-a-potties, trash cans, generators and seating.)

"That's why we're here: To help you navigate the process," Johnson said. "I would say that 98 percent of people that come to us are already prepared."

As for Fox's North Coast party-in-a-park, he anticipates the about 4,000 $25 tickets to sell out.

Fox thinks that, just like Brite Winter in February, July's Golden Hour's proof-of-concept milestone could lead to even larger spectacles on city-owned spaces.

Just like there is in Pittsburgh. Or, in Milwaukee. Or, in Indianapolis.

"We'll probably do something even bigger," Fox said. "Now, I'm just living in the present."

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