Last Thursday we walked up to Ault Park for the first of this summer’s dance series. Once a month a band plays a free concert at the Ault Park pavilion providing family fun for all ages. Beer, wine, and food is all available for purchase.

From The Lawn

The turnout for the event was great. Many families brought blankets and picnic baskets to sit on the lawns around the pavilion. Others brought chairs to sit near the pavilion steps for best viewing the band and dancers.

The Remains

Entertainment for the night was provided by The Remains, a great local band that I had seen play once before at my cousin’s wedding. The music starts around 6pm and was still going strong as we headed home shortly before 10.

Dancing In The Park

The remaining dates this summer are July 19 with The Modulators and August 16 with Soul Pocket. I hope to attend either or maybe even both.

After a long day of working on Saturday morning and afternoon, I just wanted to get outside of the house for a beer and some food. I looked to see if there were any summer festivals happening and discovered the  MainStrasse Village “Original” Goettafest  in Covington. Goetta is a Cincinnati area breakfast sausage composed mostly of pork and steel-cut oats. According to the festival’s website, “It’s not just for breakfast! Sample Goetta Hanky Pankies, Goetta Pizza, Goetta Balls, Goetta Gumbalya, Goetta Chedda Cheese, Goetta Chili, Goetta Fried Rice and Goetta Burgers.”

After parking the car ($5 in a nearby lot) we walked over to the festival and quickly discovered that it was quite a bit smaller than we expected. There was a large stage at one end of the square followed by a couple of beer booths and less than a dozen food booths. Most disappointing was the children’s area that was advertised as having games, rides, and other activities. It turned out to be  nothing more than a half-dozen of inflatable jumping houses, costing $10 per child. Friends of ours were planning to come down with their three kids, but quickly bailed when we let them know that the festival was not at all what we expected.

Goetta On Rye With Onions

Before leaving we did get to sample a couple of goetta sandwiches, one smothered in sautéed onions and the other melted with  Swiss  cheese. Both were very good, but a little expensive at $5 each. I guess that is to be expected at a festival. I didn’t see the goetta pizza, chili, or gumbalya during our two laps of the festival grounds. Had it been more family friendly, I’m sure we would have stuck around for a lot longer, but as is I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone with children.

Saturday morning was the annual  Walk Now for Autism Speaks. One of my cousins has autism, so Autism Speaks has long been an organization that I’ve supported. Our team, Westside PAWS, raised $2,105 this year!

Westside PAWS

Walk Now

End of Our Walk

After the walk is over, the classic rides at Coney Island are opened for a couple of hours of free riding. Trey took full advantage of this and rode nearly all the kiddie rides.

Boats & Trains

Racing Rockets

Turtle Parade

Smale Riverfront Park

This past Friday was the grand opening of the John G. & Phyllis W. Smale Riverfront Park. For months I have followed the progress of this new park through the Cincinnati Parks YouTube channel  and it was very exciting to see all the aspects of phase 1 of construction completed.

Opening Ceremony

The opening ceremony took place on the  Jacob G. Schmidlapp Event Lawn & Stage with a handful of local bands providing entertainment throughout the night. The neighboring  Moerlein Lager House had the “Moer to Go” window open for beer orders as well as a few tents setup selling BBQ and sausages.

The Walnut Street Fountains & Steps

The most impressive feature of the park (besides the lager house) is probably the  Walnut Street Fountains & Steps. The fountains and cascades are so wide and large that it is hard to get a picture of the entire structure, but I will have to remember to do that in the future when all the lights are on.

Main Street Fountain

Though wading in the Walnut Street Fountains is prohibited, the nearby Main Street Fountain is a fully interactive fountain for children of all ages. The array of colors that are used to light up the water is simply impressive.

Labyrinth through the Tree Grove

Other features of phase 1 at the park include  the Labyrinth, Tree Grove, and  Black Brigade Monument. It is really something to see. I hope that they continue to hold events on the lawn so that more people will come down and enjoy the new park. I can’t wait to see additional phases of the park come to life.

Mascot Race

This past weekend was the Flying Pig Marathon. Months ago Kim signed Trey up for the  Flying Piglet Kid’s Fun Run which took place on Saturday. Since there was no real age category defined for his age, we bumped him up to run with the 2 and 3 year olds on the 25 yard course. The event was scheduled to start sometime around 1:15. Unfortunately Trey did not get a nap in before the start of his race. When it was time to run he quickly became overwhelmed and started to cry. The starting area was pretty chaotic for the kids event, so I just picked him and carried him to the finish where he was given a finishers medal.

Nick, Trey, and Camden

Prior to Trey’s race, Kim’s brother Nick also had a big event he was participating in, the Kids’ Marathon. Participants from schools around the area run 25 miles leading up to a big 1 mile run with all participants. So many kids take place in this event that they actually have to use a wave start system. From what I could gather it was a well put together and fun run for all the participants. Nick had a personal best by running the course in “two minutes.”

Race Finishers

Sunday was the full marathon as well as the half and relay. My dad ran the full marathon for the 14th time! Kim, Trey, and I met up with my mom early in the morning to watch him run through Hyde Park (just a block from our house!). We also saw some other runners that we knew as they sprinted through the square. From there we moved down to Linwood to see many of the same runners, including my dad. We were hoping to see my brother’s girlfriend finish her leg of the relay, but it turns out that their group was running slower than expected due to a missed turn prior in the relay.

Dad running through Lindwood

We ended up missing everyone at the finish line since we were in Linwood for so long. Fortunately we knew where to find my dad in the same spot that he has recently gone after finishing the race, where he meets up with his running group. At least one in the group  re-qualified  for Boston, which is always neat to hear. It is always so inspiring to watch so many people I know (and many I don’t) successfully finish a marathon. Maybe one day I’ll give one of the Sunday events a try.

Last night was the last Tunes and Blooms at the zoo for the year. It featured the The Turkeys along with Jake Speed & The Freddies. I’ve seen The Turkeys numerous times, though my show database indicates otherwise. Some of the band members are friends of friends. They always put on a great show, and last night was no exception.

The Turkeys

The Turkeys From Side Stage

In between acts we took a quick trip over to see the new  Bactrian camel baby boy who was born this past Monday, the first at the zoo in nearly 30 years. Though he was just lounging around most of the time, we did see him stand up and take a quick drink from mom.

Baby Camel And Mom

Jake Speed & The Freddies closed out the night. It was my first time seeing this bluegrass style band, but surely not the last. They put on an entertaining show full of very  dance-able  music. I’ll be on the lookout for future shows of theirs.

Jake Speed & The Freddies

We attended the Cincinnati Zoo’s Tunes & Blooms last night. This event featured the Comet Bluegrass All-Stars and Magnolia Mountain. It’s a very family friendly event and Trey loved dancing around with all the other kids. This was our first time at Tunes & Blooms but definitely not the last. I think I’ll pack some food for us next time to go along with the beer for sale. Consider joining us in 2 weeks on April 26 for The Turkeys and Jake Speed & The Freddies.

Comet Bluegrass All-Stars

Magnolia Mountain

My brother and I spent many hours playing with LEGO’s growing up, so it’s easy to understand why I was super excited to accompany my youngest brother-in-law and his friend to LEGO KidsFest this past weekend. Kim and Trey also came along for the fun-filled day.

Batman greeted everyone at the entrance.

Lightning McQueen too!

Nick and Nash with SpongeBob.

Darth Vader

I was expecting a ton of really large sculptures made completely out of LEGO’s, and while there were well over a dozen, the real attraction at the KidsFest are all the play areas, construction zones, group builds, and games.

Group build map of the USA.

Trey driving a DUPLO car.

Trey running away from a taller LEGO man.

This brick pile was nearly a foot deep!

Burying Nick in the big brick pile.

If you couldn’t already tell from the photos, we had a great time!

This past weekend I was able to finally attend my first Bockfest. According to their website, “Bockfest is a celebration of historic Over-the-Rhine, Cincinnati’s brewing heritage and the coming of spring.” In my own words I would say that it is a really big party, second only to Oktoberfest.

The Goat!

After a scary storm ripped through the area on Friday afternoon, I was a little unsure of the status of the Bockfest parade that evening that would kick of the weekend of events. As it turns out, nothing stops Bockfest, and I was glad to hear it. Kim, Trey, and I made a quick decision to get downtown so that we could catch the parade up Main Street.

More Goat

Christian Moerlein Beer Truck

CEO of Christian Moerlein, Greg Hardman

I held Trey for most of the 30 minute parade, so I didn’t get as many pictures as I would have liked, but it was a fun way to kick off the night. All of the local bars were serving various bock beers in plastic cups so the crowd could enjoy them outside on the sidewalk while enjoying the parade.

Once the parade was over we spent some time on the back patio of the new Mayberry location hanging with friends and enjoying more drinks. Later in the night I went out with some of my friends to some of the other participating venues nearby to sample other beers and party with thousands. I never made it to the Bockfest Hall, which was my only disappointment of the night. I heard that it was really crowded though, so perhaps skipping it wasn’t a bad thing. Next year I do hope to see the inside of the hall though. Put it in your calendar now to join me, the first weekend of March.

Overflow Crowd At Memorial Hall

Last Friday, I took a long lunch and headed downtown for the Cincinnati Streetcar groundbreaking. It started at 1pm, and when I arrived around 1:15 there was already an overflow crowd gathered outside Memorial Hall. While I didn’t get a chance to go inside to hear the speeches from Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood or Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory, I did get to see them along with other members of the city council turn the first shovels on the old brick paved Elm Street.

Shovels Lined Up

Groundbreaking!

As many projects have had a ceremonial groundbreaking and then sat idle for a while, it was nice to see that before this ceremony even took place there were visible cuts through the old pavers. They have wasted no time getting started on the project and have already posted a progress video on YouTube, which you can find below. Other information and photos can be viewed on  5chw4r7z.com and UrbanCincy.