One sees the term so often, that "Grand Opening" has lost some of its "come-and-look-this-is-important" appeal.

But around here, these are days of openings that are truly, "grand."

The obvious, first: season openers for the "new look" Indians and for the Akron Aeros in their new stadium, "Canal Park." In neither place was it exactly the weather for "the boys of summer," but both teams won big.

Gov. George Voinovich showed up at "Canal Park." The mayor of Akron, Donald Plusquellic, did not. The mayor and Aeros' owner Michael Agganis are in a bit of a nasty flap over a little thing like a million bucks that the city says the ballclub still owes. Agganis says he owes money to the city, but not one million dollars, and that he has money to pay put in escrow until questions of a restaurant that hasn't been built and other construction costs can be decided, possibly in arbitration.

For a record second year, Jacobs Field is sold out for the season, and 42,643 were there for the home opener. (Oh, yeah: a guy from Kentucky was arrested for trying to scalp tickets to the game. He had 555 tickets with a $7,500 value, but he was trying to sell them for four times the price. The problem was he tried to sell some to a plainclothes police officer.)

And the new names on the Indians roster, (as well as the "teepee veterans") got big cheers from that crowd, as did Jose Mesa, who came from his court battles (more are possibly pending) to the field in the ninth inning and closed out the game on eight pitches.

Besides Canal Park in Akron, two other major and impressive structures are part of these days of grand openings:

The $65-million Louis Stokes Wing of the Cleveland Main Library and the $54-million dollar hospital tower at Rainbow Babies and Childrens Hospital.

The child-care arm of University Hospitals is being called a national model for family-centered care. It's a far-cry from the sterile steel structures of a few years ago; it is designed to "...show that appropriate family support enhances the healing process." In other words, kids get well quicker when parents are actively involved with their care.

It's called, "kid-friendly."

The new Cleveland Library wing could be called, "patron-friendly."

Architectural theme for the glass oval and stone towers is the "Lamp of Knowledge." And the big glass centerpiece certainly throws out the light: 10 stories of big windows, big colors and big light.

Books? Yep: 2-million books and periodicals, and throw in a bunch of computers and other high-tech electronic stuff. Along that line, you can find out more on the library's Web page at http://www.cpl.org/

The Main Library is still closed. It's undergoing a $24-to-$30-million renovation that will take 15 to 18 months.

And between the Louis Stokes Wing and the Main Library building will be a rejuvenated Eastman Reading Garden. (Remember the early feuding--what has it been? Years ago?--over whether the Garden should be kept?)

Feature of the Eastman Garden will be Maya Lin's water sculpture in the middle of three reading areas. She designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

In paving stones in the garden will be carved "a river of words." That's a bit cryptic, and it probably is something that will have to be seen to be fully understood. One explanation: "An abstract language poem that takes each word as a personality and arranges those words in a way that visitors can compose their own poetic sequences." Well...yeah, it probably has to be seen. It'll be completed next year.

All of this is a "gee whiz" kind of thing. Consider: the Cleveland Public Library opened in rented rooms downtown in the 1800s and later was housed hin a high school. The current main library opened in 1925.

And among other "openings" of note:

The Cleveland-San Jose Ballet's blockbuster "Blue Suede Shoes" begins its international tour in Detroit. (Oh, on the subject of Elvis--and "Shoes" centers around The King's music--a set of 100 Presley songs is to be released on four CD's this summer; 77 of those songs, according to RCA, have never been released publicly.)

"Lord of the Dance" is April 16-17 at the CSU Convocation Center.

"Phantom of the Opera" plays the State Theatre, April 17-June 7. The performance is by the U.S. National Tour II cast (the so-called "Raoul" cast.

And "grand things" that already have opened:

"The Legacy...The Promise," Anne Frank, the photo exhibit and the stage performance continue through May 17 at Bolton Theatre of Cleveland Play House.

"Faberge in America" already has had a sell-out crowd at The Cleveland Museum of Art, and is drawing about 17,000 visitors a week since its March 9 opening. Among the 150,000 who are expected for the display of more than 400 jeweled objects--yes, a lot of "Eggs" are included--of the artisans of Peter Carl Faberge, is expected to be the visitor who is the 1-millionth person to see the exhibit since its national tour began last year. Number 1-million will get the "Faberge Imperial Crystal Parfum Easter Egg" as a thank-you gift from the Faberge Company. It's a $3,000 present (and never mind that Easter has passed).

Oh, yes...another opening, but very "un-grand": Let's hear it for Orange Barrel Time on the highways! Yep; the barrels are out there. Some have said that they see these menaces to motoring maneuverability, but have not seen anybody working around the cannisters of confusion. The State Department of Transportation says that by the end of April, work should be "...at full bore."

Okay; then why, some ask, are the barrels already out there doing their traffic-stalling thing without any people to justify them?

Hello?

Anybody out there with an answer?

Hello?

hello?

OTHER STORIES by John Herrington

RETURN TO Cleveland, The New American City