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Tis the season to experience Cincinnati

Like every holiday season, there is a ton of stuff to see and do in Cincinnati. Of course you have your long-standing traditions like the train display downtown, carriage rides, the Christmas Tree and ice rink on Fountain Square and the Cincinnati Zoo’s Festival of Lights. In addition to these goodies I’m going to recommend a couple of other things to check out before this holiday season expires.

The Ensemble Theatre is hosting a special holiday show called Expectations of Christmas. This show covers the many interesting facts, stories and songs of the holiday season. There will only be one performance on December 15th at 7pm. Tickets are $10 and all proceeds benefit Tender Mercies in Over-the-Rhine. You can order tickets by visiting the Ensemble Theatre’s Box Office (GoogleMap), or by contacting boxoffice@cincyetc.com or 513.421.3555.

Holly Jolly Trolley and Fountain Square Ice Rink – Randy Simes

The Krohn Conservatory always is a must for my family during the holiday season. This year will be no different. They will have their live nativity scene on display from December 5th through January 4th, Santa will be there on December 13th and 20th at 1pm, and there is the always lovely holiday floral show that is open daily from 10am-5pm until January 4th.

In addition to all that there will be a holiday craft making event from 1-3pm on Sunday, December 14th. At the craft making event you will be able to join a park horticulturist for an educational program on how to make unique holiday crafts.

Check out pictures from my family’s visit there last year at this time. The pictures show the holiday floral show as well as the live nativity scene outside. You can also view pictures from the train display downtown, ice rink on Fountain Square, Santa and some other holiday scenes from Downtown during the 2006 holiday season.

If you feel like sharing any additional holiday events please share them in the comments section for this article.

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Lytle Park plan taking root

Lytle Park is rich with history and is poised for a face lift. The park sits on the site of the Lytle family homestead that was built back in 1809. The homestead site then became known as Lytle Square and was then owned by the City of Cincinnati in 1905.

Lytle Square was then marked to be demolished to make way for the connection of I-71 to Ft. Washington Way. Public protests saved the parkspace and led the creation of what is known to be one of the first uses of air-rights over an expressway in the nation. Lytle Tunnel nows runs underneath this small yet important park in the south-eastern portion of Downtown.

The park also boasts an 11-foot statue of Abraham Lincoln that was a gift to the City from the Taft family. The Taft family connections don’t end there though as the Taft Museum of Art is located on the eastern edge of the park.

The park is now in the process of a master plan that will give the park a new look with new features. A couple new water features are planned, a new stair connection to Lytle Street (GoogleMap), new garden space, new streetscape along 4th, and more open lawn spaces for creative use are some of the key features of the plan.

At a November 20th public meeting the plan was “well-received” and no major changes were suggested. No specific timetable, budget or financing has been set for the changes, but the next step is to finalize a master plan with more specifics that will be taken to the Cincinnati Park Board for approval.

Preliminary Lytle Park Master Plan (259kb)

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Day After Thanksgiving Fun Downtown

The day after Thanksgiving is often the day where people line up outside the most generic big box store they can find and wait in long lines to spend their hard-earned money at places that won’t recycle that money locally like locally owned/operated businesses.

In an effort to encourage local shopping, and continue upon the success built at Cincinnati Unchained, Gateway Quarter businesses have organized the inaugural Holidays in the Bag event from 9am to 9pm the day after Thanksgiving. Shoppers are encouraged to buy a special shopping bag ($3 – money goes to Tender Mercies) at the Gateway Quarter Information Center that will get you 20% off at participating retailers.

After your stuffed full of Thanksgiving goodies and partake in the “Black Friday” craziness be sure to leave some energy for the annual Light Up The Square festivities on Friday, November 28th.

Light Up The Square is the annual event on Fountain Square where Cincinnati celebrates the start of the holiday season with the ceremonious tree lighting festivities. This year’s tree is the biggest ever standing 60 feet tall, with roughly 20,000 lights and five-foot tall red star.

The fun officially starts at 6:30pm with a performance by “Team Cincinnati” (from Clash of the Choirs) which will then be followed by the tree lighting at 7pm by Mayor Mark Mallory. There will then be a fireworks show following the tree lighting. Santa Claus is expected to be there and the Fountain Square skating rink will be open to the public.

Traffic Notes: 5th Street (between Race & Walnut) & Vine Street (between 4th & 6th) will be closed from 6pm to 9:30pm.
The Fountain Square parking garage will be open but only accessible via the Walnut Street entrance.
Metro bus routes will be detoured around these streets during the closure.
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New pizza joint planned for 914 Race Street

Reliable sources close to UrbanCincy are indicating that a pizza joint may be on tap for 914 Race Street (GoogleMap) downtown. The almost 100 year-old building (built 1910) is located directly north of popular wine shop City Cellars, and is in an area of Downtown that is in desperate need of more activity generating businesses.

The building is a three story building that boasts “newly renovated” apartments on the upper levels. The 1,392 square foot street-level space is currently vacant and marked for retail. A full liquor license has been applied for at this address, and after further investigation a pizza place seems to be what is in store from owner.

Stay tuned for updated information as it becomes available.

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Salsa Dancing at the Wisp

Over the summer Fountain Square hosted Salsa on the Square every Thursday which included salsa lessons. The event showed the most growth of all of Fountain Square’s summer events with crowds of 400-500 people by the end of summer. With these weekly nights of Salsa on the Square done until next summer, I couldn’t think of a better spot to rekindle the dancing magic during the winter months than the Blue Wisp Jazz Club.

This Thursday, November 13th, the Blue Wisp will have salsa dancing with Mambo Diablo starting at 8pm. Free dance lessons will be available a half hour prior to the show. There is a $5 cover charge for this show, but if you’re one of the many who are into salsa dancing then this is probably for you. Mambo Diablo consists of John Zappa (trumpet), Stan Ginn (percussion), Bill Jackson (bass), Mike Darrah (piano) and a couple others.

You could make it a full evening of music at the Blue Wisp (GoogleMap) by getting there after work for happy hour. The free show features The Courthouse Trio with Billy Larkin (piano), Eddie Felson (bass), and Al Beasley (drums) will be taking the stage at 4:30pm, but would make for a great after work stop whenever you get off. There are plenty of food offerings, and of course lots of drinks to choose from.