It takes a region to feed a village. And shelter it, clothe it, and serve it ice cream with sprinkles.
So while Cleveland may be the Republican National Convention’s “village,” good luck caring for those 50,000 delegates, demonstrators, media, campaign staffers and assorted families all week without extensive help from businesses all over Northeast Ohio.
Convention organizers estimate 1,200 ancillary events have been scheduled at venues and attractions, some of them two and three county lines away.
Located an hour’s drive from the actual event, Canton restaurant owner Josh Schory said he had little reason to expect he’d play a role in the affair. And yet the ripples of the RNC pool have reached even his small eatery in the Stark County art district.
The 5-year-old Lucca restaurant will cater lunch for 200 delegates on Wednesday, so on Monday — while delegates convened in Cleveland for all that tense political business — Schory and his employees were blanching asparagus, brining chicken and mixing ingredients for a barbecue dry rub.
“We were lucky to get connected for this,” said Schory, who will feed the hungry tourists on a day largely set aside for sightseeing.
Lucca was tapped for the luncheon by the historic Onesto in Canton, a facility that was built in 1929 as a high-end hotel and has hosted the likes of Al Capone, Ike and Tina Turner, and Mimi Eisenhower. Onesto operations manager Chuck Shuster said the delegates will dine in the facility’s recently renovated and stunning ballroom.
To help the region’s out-of-town guests find everything they need, an RNC “Supplier Guide” offers more than 1,000 businesses, many of them in the 330 area code since hundreds of delegates and campaign staffers are staying in Akron and its suburbs.
In addition to the expected caterers and transportation providers, the list helps users find investigative services and document shredders. Printers and graphic design companies. Shoe repair specialists and makeup artists. Bike shops and pizza delivery preferences. Photographers and public relation firms.
Preparing for business
Some Summit County businesses are also helping Cleveland put its best foot forward.
While newly arrived delegates were still eating breakfast Monday morning, a refrigerated truck filled with flowers and foliage pulled away from Greenhouse Florist in Hudson.
The 41-year-old business was one of six florists named as vendors for the event at Quicken Loans Arena.
Even so, “there was no guarantee we’d even get orders, though it was an honor just being selected as one of the six,” manager Jean Considine said.
But after a special pre-RNC vendors’ event where Greenhouse Florist was able to promote its skills, the orders came: Arrangements for the chairman’s suite, the chief of staff’s suite, the Republican Governors Association lounge, the backstage waiting room, U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell’s suite, even a bathroom.
Hudson employees spent the better part of Sunday preparing the arrangements, which ranged from 7-foot palms to cubes of greenery.
While arrangements ordered for backstage have a red-white-and-blue theme, Considine said most of her clients at the convention preferred the “clean and crisp look” of green and white hydrangeas, white roses, dianthus, lisianthus, willow branches and aurelia leaves.
Of course, businesses don’t have to be an official RNC vendor to cash in on the big event.
Matt Lee, co-owner of Sweet Frog franchises in Stow, Fairlawn and Green, said he added staff and ordered extra inventory because hundreds of delegates and Republican staffers are staying in hotels near his frozen yogurt stores.
Combined with this week’s heat, it’s “a perfect storm” for the ice cream business, he said.
“There’s a lot of buzz and energy going on in Cleveland and Akron as a whole — the Cavs’ championship, the Indians doing well, downtown revivals. Now, you get this,” Lee said in an interview at the Fairlawn store Monday.
People love sweet treats when they are happy, Lee said.
Then again, he added, “the great thing about our model is they also eat ice cream if they’re sad.”
Paula Schleis can be reached at 330-996-3741 or pschleis@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/paulaschleis.