Recreation is at the center of Bay Village's activities, and so is Bay's director of recreation, Dan Enovitch. "We offer programs for all ages," he says," from two or three years old to seniors. We have a great park system, and outstanding sports programs."

The city recently opened its new aquatic facility and already, says Enovitch, "it's a hopping place. The pool showed a tremendous increase in seasonal and daily admissions. In fact, there has been a huge increase in all swimming programs, from swimming lessons to team and open swimming. It is a tremendous asset for the city."

The city, along with the school system, has also recently completed a community gym as part of the construction of a new middle school. The community gym will include a cardio room, and the gym will host a variety of programs, including basketball, volleyball, and aerobics classes.

The Bay Village Recreation Department also sponsors a wide range of youth sports programs, particularly in baseball, softball and basketball. The city runs the baseball program up until age six, when local travel leagues and teams for both boys and girls take over. "It is a solid feeder system into the high school," says Enovitch. Every 4th of July, the city hosts a travel baseball team tournament for teams up to age 14. The tournament corresponds with the annual Bay Days, a carnival that takes place each year in Cahoon Park.

There are also travel basketball teams, run by the Bay Basketball Association, Inc., and a highly evolved Bay Soccer Club. Each year, Bay hosts one of the largest soccer tournaments in the country, run by the Bay Travel Association.

The city also runs programs in tee ball, roller hockey, tennis, volleyball, football, yoga, youth and adult golf, cardio kickboxing and much more. Bay also has youth programs at the Bayway Cabin and the Community House, including babysitting classes, storybooks and crafts, preschool gymnastics and "Fun with Food."

Parks
Counting the Cleveland Metroparks area, there are well over 200 acres of green space in Bay Village, much of it housing all kinds of recreational activities for the residents.

The center of city activity is Cahoon Park, which entails the land and the buildings that Ida Marie Cahoon left to the city. The highlight of Cahoon Park is the Family Aquatic Center, the new outdoor swimming pool that opened last season. Cahoon Park is also home to four baseball fields (one lighted, no Sunday usage), lighted tennis courts, a lighted sledding hill, a walking track, the Community House and a gazebo, and an outdoor skating pond.

Huntington Reservation
Stretching along the lake is the 108-acre Huntington Reservation of the Cleveland Metroparks, one of the oldest reservations in the park system. Huntington Reservation sits in the middle of town, and provides a central source of community activities and local pride for Bay Village.

Lake Erie Nature and Science Center
Two hundred thousand visitors a year come to the Lake Erie Nature and Science Center, located on an acre of land in Huntington Park. The 22,000-square-foot building houses school programs, public programs, and wildlife relief, according to Executive Director Larry Richardson. It also includes a planetarium, and a wide range of indoor and outdoor exhibits. Founded in 1950, the Center moved to Huntington Park in 1957.

The Huntington Playhouse
The non-profit Huntington Playhouse is "the cultural center of Bay Village," says theater managing director Tom Meyrose, who has been with the theater in one capacity or another for the last 34 consecutive years. The community theater, which has been running since 1958, presents about seven shows a year, May through December. The six-week summer Children's Theater program attracts upwards of 75 kids a year, and culminates in two performances - one each by 5-9 year olds and 9-15 year-olds.

Baycrafters
Baycrafters is a combination of a lot of different resources for artists, craftspeople, people who want to purchase arts and crafts, and people who want to take art classes. In existence since 1948, the non-profit arts organization has over 1,000 members. Working out of four historic structures, including a caboose, Baycrafters runs art classes, a tearoom, a gallery, and a store, as well as any number of special programs through the year. Probably the best-known event at Baycrafters each year is the Renaissance Faire, which is the biggest in Ohio, according to Baycrafters Director Sally Price, who has been with the organization since 1970. The Renaissance faire attracts 50,000 people over every Labor Day Weekend, and is a prototype for other, similar fairs around the country. In the meantime, says Price, "we have lots of things here all year. We have arts classes and displays, and lots of things from potters, painters, and jewelry people. We are blessed with wonderful scenery here." It is a place that is respected by visitors and artists alike, magnetizing some of the best local artists to teach and display here.