🌦️ Weather: Thunderstorms Early, Cloudy - Temps 78-81°

📢 Local Events from Mentor & the Area: MentorLocalBuzz.com/Events!

📰 Local News: ⛈️ Severe Storms, Tornado Sirens and Outages Cap a Wild Thursday

🏠 Final Weekend for Mentor’s YMCA Dream House

🎡 Event Spotlight: Great Geauga County Fair Continues Through Labor Day

🌿 EVERGREEN: The Everyday Strength That Helps You Keep Doing What You Love

⚾ Sports: 🏈 Mentor Faces Early Measuring Stick Friday Against St. Ignatius

⚾ Guardians’ Wild-Card Lead Shrinks to Half-Game After Loss

⚾ Captains Rained Out, 2 Games on Friday

🤔 Trivia Question

🤣 Something Funny

Contact Mentor Local Buzz - [email protected] - 440-256-6115

Thursday brought repeated rounds of severe weather to Mentor and surrounding Lake County communities, beginning overnight and escalating into damaging storms, tornado sirens and power outages by evening. See our short videos on Facebook.

The National Weather Service in Cleveland said an early-morning storm near Fairport Harbor was capable of 50 mph wind gusts. By 2:51 p.m., another severe thunderstorm warning included Mentor, with 60 mph winds and penny-size hail possible.

Conditions intensified at 5:48 p.m., when the NWS warned of destructive storms capable of 80 mph gusts across Lake, Cuyahoga and Geauga counties. At 6:04 p.m., a Tornado Warning followed after weather spotters reported a funnel cloud. The warning was canceled at 6:27 p.m. after the tornado threat diminished.

Power outages were also reported across the area.

Friday may bring more showers and thunderstorms, with a high near 80.

👉🏻 Read the full story for Thursday’s storm timeline, what triggered the tornado warning, outage guidance and what residents should watch for today.

The final weekend has arrived to tour the 2026 Lake County YMCA Dream House at 9025 Jackson Street in Mentor.

Tours continue from noon to 7 p.m. through Sunday, September 6, while the Lake County YMCA says online entries must be purchased by Saturday, September 5.

Individual house-entry tickets cost $25, offering a chance to win the newly built home or select a $275,000 cash option. Separate tickets are required for the drawing for a 2026 Chevrolet Trailblazer LT, donated by the Chevy Network Dealers and Classic Chevrolet in Mentor.

The Dream House is the YMCA’s largest annual fundraiser. Proceeds help support childcare, swim lessons, water-safety education, youth camps, wellness programs and financial assistance for Lake County residents.

The house and vehicle semifinal drawings are scheduled for Wednesday, September 9, followed by the final drawing on Sunday, September 13.

Tickets, current purchasing information and complete rules are available through the official Lake County YMCA Dream House page.

➡️ Take a closer look inside this year’s Mentor Dream House, learn how the two prize drawings work and see what every ticket helps support across Lake County.

The 2026 Great Geauga County Fair is underway in Burton, giving Northeast Ohio families a full Labor Day weekend of rides, fair food, animals, exhibits and entertainment.

The 204th fair opened Thursday and runs through Monday, Sept. 7, at the Geauga County Fairgrounds, 14373 N. Cheshire St. in Burton. The event is billed as Ohio’s oldest continuously operating county fair.

Friday, Sept. 4, is Senior Citizen and Veterans Day, with free admission for guests age 65 and older and all veterans. Regular daily gate admission is $12, while children age 6 and younger are admitted free. Parking on the fairgrounds is free.

Friday’s featured events include the Junior Fair Small Animal Livestock Sale at 2:30 p.m., harness horse racing at 4:30 p.m. in the Main Grandstand and Escape — A Journey Tribute Band at 8 p.m. in the Small Grandstand.

With agricultural exhibits, livestock, midway attractions and entertainment continuing throughout the weekend, the fair offers families plenty of reasons to make the short trip to Burton before Labor Day weekend ends.

It is easy to think about strength in terms of how much someone can lift, how far they can walk or what they can still do compared with years ago.

But there is another measure that may matter more: What does your body help you do today?

Strength shows up when you carry groceries, lift a suitcase, work in the garden or get down on the floor with a grandchild. Balance matters on curbs, stairs and uneven ground. Mobility and flexibility help with reaching, turning and handling ordinary tasks.

Seen this way, movement is less about performance and more about participation.

Small amounts of movement, repeated consistently, can help support the activities that make life enjoyable. And adapting an activity—using a railing, taking more breaks, choosing a shorter route or changing how a task is done—can help keep it within reach.

Progress does not have to be measured in miles or repetitions, either.

Maybe the laundry feels easier to carry. You feel steadier getting out of a chair. A day of sightseeing is less tiring.

Those everyday changes matter because the goal is not simply to move more.

It is to keep doing more of what matters to you.

👉🏻 On the website, we take this idea further with practical ways to think about strength, balance, mobility and everyday progress—without turning life into a fitness test.

Mentor takes its 2-0 start on the road Friday night for what may be the Cardinals’ best early indication yet of how this new-look team stacks up against strong Northeast Ohio competition.

The Cardinals face St. Ignatius at 7 p.m. at Don Shula Stadium on the campus of John Carroll University. Mentor opened with a 38-17 win over Olmsted Falls before surviving McDowell, 31-30. St. Ignatius enters 1-1 after a 22-21 loss to two-time defending Division II state champion Avon and a 24-21 road victory over Pickerington North.

Mentor’s passing game has been the biggest early-season development. Quarterback Brogan Jones has thrown for 643 yards through two games, while senior receiver Logan Berwald has already produced games of 235 and 123 receiving yards.

Friday presents a different challenge.

St. Ignatius has shown an ability to create pressure up front and held Pickerington North to 55 rushing yards last week. That puts additional importance on Mentor’s offensive line and its ability to establish enough of a running game to keep the Wildcats from concentrating on Jones.

The other key will be limiting big plays. St. Ignatius quarterback Jacob Mikin and his receivers showed last week that they can strike quickly, including a 60-yard completion during the fourth quarter.

Both teams have already been tested late in games, so a close fourth quarter should not surprise anyone.

For Mentor, a win would mean more than a 3-0 record. It would show that the Cardinals can take their explosive offense on the road, handle a physical defensive front and beat a quality opponent away from home.

Kickoff: Friday, Sept. 4, 7 p.m.
Location: Don Shula Stadium, John Carroll University

Want the deeper matchup? We break down the three battles most likely to decide Friday night — and what this game could tell us about Mentor’s season — in our full preview.

The Guardians’ hold on the final American League wild-card spot is down to just a half-game.

Cleveland lost 6-3 to Toronto on Thursday at Progressive Field, dropping two of three in the series and tightening an already crowded playoff race. The Guardians are now 70-70, while the Blue Jays improved to 70-71 after winning five of their last six.

The decisive damage came in the fifth inning.

With the game tied 1-1, Toronto sent 10 batters to the plate and scored four runs. Nathan Lukes delivered the biggest swing with a two-run double after the Blue Jays loaded the bases.

Tanner Bibee struggled with his command, allowing five runs on four hits while walking five in four-plus innings. He fell to 5-15, giving him a major league-leading 15 losses.

Cleveland answered in the bottom of the fifth when Austin Hedges drove in two runs with a bases-loaded single, cutting Toronto’s lead to 5-3.

The Guardians still had a chance in the ninth. With two runners aboard and two outs, Angel Genao came to the plate as the potential tying run, but Toronto closer Louis Varland struck him out to end the game.

Now the pressure shifts quickly to the next series.

Cleveland opens a four-game set against Detroit on Friday with a split doubleheader, giving the Guardians an immediate opportunity to protect their position in the AL wild-card race.

See highlights at espn.com

The games were postponed due to the weather. The Captains will play two games on Friday against the Great Lakes Loons.

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