Month: August 2012

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Arts & Entertainment Business News

Second URBANexchange takes place tomorrow at Moerlein Lager House

Last month the UrbanCincy team launched URBANexchange, a series of informal gatherings designed to engage urban professionals and others interested in cities throughout the Cincinnati region. The second edition of the monthly event will take place tomorrow evening at the Moerlein Lager House from 5:30 to 7:30pm.

“The first URBANexchange was informal in nature and generated some exciting discussion from a diverse collection of people from throughout Cincinnati,” explained John Yung, UrbanCincy’s public policy analyst and the event  coordinator.

The crowd engages with one another at the first URBANexchange held on July 3. Photograph by Travis Estell for UrbanCincy.

The first URBANexchange drew roughly 40 people, a number the team hopes to be repeated tomorrow. Like the first event, the UrbanCincy team will give out a prize to one of the people that sign in or leave their business card. This month’s giveaway will be $25 worth of Christian Moerlein Beer Tokens, which would be well used at the next URBANexchange on Thursday, September 6.

“I hope we continue to see an increasingly diverse group of people show up to URBANexchange as it matures,” Yung continued. “This is critical in ensuring a vibrant platform where different ideas for our city are shared.”

After UrbanCincy‘s start in 2007, the growing number of engaged urbanists in Cincinnati is particularly gratifying for the team.

“The ongoing progress and excitement in Cincinnati right now is truly inspiring,” stated UrbanCincy owner Randy Simes. “Everyday there seems to be new people and new energy that is emanating from the urban core, and it is that kind of environment that will lead to more gains in the future.”

URBANexchange is produced in coordination with The Urbanists, and takes place monthly inside the biergarten at the Moerlein Lager House (map).

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Up To Speed

Germans dominate ethnic makeup of Ohio cities

Germans dominate ethic makeup of Ohio cities.

What may be unsurprising to many locals, new U.S. Census numbers confirm that German-Americans make up the largest ethnic group in the Cincinnati region. Analysis shows that approximately 28% of Cincinnatians responded that have German roots, which is more than Ohio’s two other major cities (Cleveland 17%; Columbus 23%). More from The Business Journals:

German-Americans form the largest ethnic group in the United States — 45.7 million persons. But their prominence is even more striking when viewed at the local level. On Numbers has analyzed ancestry data for every metropolitan and micropolitan area covered by the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2010 American Community Survey. German-Americans are the biggest ethnic group in more than three-fifths of those markets — 580 of 942.

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Arts & Entertainment Business News

Moerlein, Paulaner bringing massive festival tent to Cincinnati’s central riverfront for Oktoberfest

Cincinnati has long been home of the world’s largest Oktoberfest celebration outside of Munich, and it will soon be getting larger. At the 2012 Oktoberfest Zinzinnati festival, the Moerlein Lager House will partner with Germany’s Paulaner Brewery to create the ÜberDrome.

The ÜberDrome will be a massive Oktoberfest tent covering the entire event lawn at Smale Riverfront Park. It will connect with the biergarten at the Moerlein Lager House and will create a space for approximately 3,000 festival goers.

“This ‘über’ fest tent, filled with Munich-style tables and benches, will span the entire length and width of the Schmidlapp Event Lawn, adjacent to the Lager House in Smale Riverfront Park,” said Greg Hardman, Managing Partner of the Moerlein Lager House and CEO of the Christian Moerlein Brewing Company. “The Oktoberfest beer will be flowing, there’ll be endless platters of delicious German dishes and the celebration will go on and on!”

The Moerlein Lager House will add a new element to Cincinnati’s annual Oktoberfest celebration when it introduces the ÜberDrome in 2012. Photograph by Randy A. Simes for UrbanCincy.

Paulaner is a famed German brewery that is well known for its enormous festival tent in the Theresienwiese during Munich’s Oktoberfest. Hardman says that the brewery was looking for a perfect location to present their Munich-style Oktoberfest celebration in Cincinnati, and determined that the central riverfront was just that.

The ÜberDrome will feature German-style pretzels, specially made Hudepohl Beer Wurst and other sausages, wiener schnitzel and strudel plus a wide selection of Paulaner and Moerlein beers including the Paulaner Oktoberfest Weisn, which was the original beer sold at Munich’s Oktoberfest.

The festival tent will also include a performance stage in the center of the space that will feature a variety skits, comedy, games, and music by Bavarian-style bands like Alpen Echos, Pros’t, and Heuboden Musikanten who will fly in from Germany for the event.

“This has been a life’s dream of mine to bring something like this to Cincinnati and, like the Moerlein Lager House itself, we are shooting for the ‘WOW’ factor,” explained Hardman.

Cincinnati’s 2012 Oktoberfest celebrations will take place from Friday, September 21 through Sunday, September 23. The ÜberDrome (map) will be open on these days from 4pm to midnight on Friday and Saturday, and 12pm to 9pm on Sunday.