CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio -- Blossom Music Center opened with the Cleveland Orchestra's performance of two works of Beethoven on July 19, 1968.

"The gentle, wooded slopes of the upper Cuyahoga Valley were alive with the sound of music and applause," Plain Dealer reporter Mary Strassmeyer wrote of that opening night.

"The place is a visual, musical, acoustical and artistic triumph," reporter Robert Finn raved in another front-page story. "The inauguration of a new summer festival that may rank one day with the finest anywhere."

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Architect's sketch of Blossom Music Center courtesy Joseph E. Cole, Cleveland Press Collection

Blossom Music Center is named after Dudley S. Blossom Sr. and his family, longtime supporters of the orchestra who were also integral in the building of Severance Hall. It was designed to accommodate 4,600 people in the pavilion and another 15,000 on the lawn.

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That first season in the orchestra's new summer home relied heavily on its own concerts, the New York City ballet and a few jazz shows. But by the next year, Blossom welcomed performers like Liberace, Tony Bennett, Janis Joplin and Bill Cosby in addition to a steady diet of orchestra shows.

The variety of bookings continued to expand throughout that first full decade, with big band, rock and roll, pop, country, R&B, even disco acts gracing the stage inside the venue's trademark clamshell pavilion.

What was your first concert at Blossom? What other shows do you remember seeing there during those early days?

Here are 50 classic Blossom concert ads to help jog your memory.

[Note: the date listed under the photo is the date the ad appeared in the newspaper, not the date of the show.]

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1968-1969

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May 5, 1968

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April 13, 1969

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August 29, 1969

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1970

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May 10, 1970

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July 31, 1970

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August 29, 1970

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Sept. 2, 1970

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1971

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July 7, 1971

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July 11, 1971

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July 27, 1971

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August 20, 1971

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1972

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July 2, 1972

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July 9, 1972

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July 25, 1972

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August 3, 1972

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August 19, 1972

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August 26, 1972

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August 30, 1972

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1973

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June 24, 1973

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July 24, 1973

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August 21, 1973

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August 28, 1973

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1974

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July 5, 1974

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July 28, 1974

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July 30, 1974

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August 11, 1974

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Sept. 5, 1974

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1975

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June 27, 1975

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August 19, 1975

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August 24, 1975

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August 31, 1975

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1976

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May 16, 1976

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June 13, 1976

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June 20, 1976

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June 27, 1976

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1977

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June 5, 1977

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July 10, 1977

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July 18, 1977

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1978

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May 21, 1978

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June 16, 1978

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June 25, 1978

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August 22, 1978

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1979

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June 10, 1979

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June 15, 1979

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July 10, 1979

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July 20, 1979

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August 5, 1979

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August 26, 1979

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Sept. 2, 1979