CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The West Side Market turns 100 years old this fall, so grab a shopping bag, tie on a babushka and get ready to blow out a lot of candles.

A couple of times.

City officials, vendors and market supporters today are announcing a trio of major centennial events, starting with a family-friendly party June 2 (rain date June 23) in the renovated Market Square Park across the street. Expect multicultural entertainment, fireworks and an ice cream social provided by Mitchell's Homemade Ice Cream. That local company also expects to open a new production facility in the neighborhood around that time.

A traffic-stopping street festival is planned for Oct. 7, a rare Sunday that the market will be open, and will include food by local restaurants and celebrated food trucks, as well as a parade with costumes created in workshops led by the Cleveland Museum of Art's Parade the Circle organizers.

The market's actual birthday is Nov. 2, a Friday. The gala event will be celebrated Saturday, Nov. 3 (billed as the first day of the market's next century), featuring homeboy restaurateurs and award-winners Jonathon Sawyer and Michael Symon -- along with a dozen or so of their nationally renowned chef friends. Tickets will be priced at three levels, with the most expensive providing the closest access to chefs. The Great Lakes Brewing Co. will be releasing a centennial brew.

"We want to let the people around the country realize what a culinary travel destination Cleveland has become," said Sawyer. "We have out-of-town customers who call Cleveland 'The Affordable Chicago.'

"We also want to show how the market is the cornerstone of all that."

Sawyer shops at the market for his restaurants, including the Greenhouse Tavern on East Fourth Street, as well as for meals at home.

"Four generations of my family have shopped there," he said. "I get tearful talking about it because it makes me think about my grandmother, who shopped there, or my kids, who shop there with me now."

A fourth major event was announced last year: the eighth International Public Markets Conference, Sept. 21-23, which will put another spotlight on the city's food-related profile.

Additional celebrations will be ongoing. A visitor center for tours and a gift shop will be set up in one of the market's produce stalls. By fall, visitors should be able to buy a copy of the new book "West Side Market: 100 Years and Still Cooking," by Marilou Suszko and Laura Taxel, from the University of Akron Press.

The scope of the celebration is unprecedented, and support for it is coming from a variety of sources: the city of Cleveland, Ohio City Inc. (a neighborhood development group promoting the market for the city), Charter One Bank, the United West Side Market Vendors Association and local merchants.

Charter One is the presenting sponsor of the celebration with a $200,000 contribution, its largest single neighborhood grant so far. Additional sponsors are being sought for the gala and the conference.

Bank spokeswoman Carrie Carpenter hopes the centennial can boost awareness and resources so the city can address infrastructure needs at the market, such as plumbing.

Dairy vendor Diane Dever called the celebration a time to be grateful for the last 100 years.

"And we hope the next 100 will be even better.

"A celebration," she added, "is better than a violation."