Author Archives: Denny

Return of the Dummies

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Just a day shy of two years ago, I attended an open house at Vent Haven in Fort Mitchell, KY. My report on that visit is here. There would be just two more open house events before “the world’s only museum dedicated to ventriloquism” closed for a major expansion in September 2021. When I wrote about the open house, I was surprised and somewhat embarrassed to see that nearly ten years had passed since my one and only previous visit. I resolved to do better and have succeeded in returning almost as quickly as possible. There was a big invitation-only Grand Re-Opening on Saturday, tours for the general public resumed on Tuesday, and I joined the first tour of the day on Wednesday.

This picture of the new building sort of shouts out how one of the museum’s old shortcomings has been overcome in a big way. Previously, very little of the museum was truly handicapped-accessible. Now, not only are the museum’s exhibits accessible with wider doors, no steps, and space for wheelchairs, there is handicapped parking right at the front door. Not only that, non-handicapped patrons no longer have to seek an open spot on the street but can pull into the convenient lot in the back. Another change of at least equal magnitude is the absence of the “go before you get here” warning that used to be given to everyone registering for a tour.  Inside that door is a lobby, gift shop, and PUBLIC RESTROOM.

A couple of figures near the start of the tour were familiar to me. Tommy Baloney was the first dummy museum founder W. S. Berger ever owned. He was purchased in 1910. The McElroy Brothers made Jocko for Mr. Berger around 1940.

Museum exhibits are not, in general, organized by age but it is a fact that some of the oldest dummies on display are among those encountered early in the tour. These are from the Vaudeville period (1880s-1920s) when figures and jokes based on racial and ethnic stereotypes were not uncommon.

Cecil Wigglenose is another museum resident that I recognized. In addition to a wiggling nose, he has eyes, ears, a tongue, and hair that a ventriloquist can manipulate as demonstrated by curator and tour guide Lisa Sweasy. Lisa has been involved in the museum since 2000; first as curator, then as a Board of Directors member, then as both. I met Lisa at that 2021 open house but there were no tours that day. My earlier visit had been during those few years she stepped away from the curator role so today was the first I got to benefit from her knowledge. That knowledge is not just of the items in the collection but of the whole broad world of ventriloquism past and present. It’s pretty obvious she loves her job. I don’t think it is possible to get this good at something otherwise.

This is the second exhibit room. The next room has even more dummies (100+) in shoulder-to-shoulder rows. But both rooms have a fair amount of open space plus the room that precedes them on the tour is not densely populated at all. That’s not the way it used to be. Spaces in the old museum were smaller, more densely packed, and entered directly from the outside. In 2011, I described my first step into the museum as feeling like I was “late to a meeting where a crowd had already gathered”. That was much less the case today. The “walls of dummies” are good. They help convey the popularity of ventriloquism and the variety of figures used but it is nice to approach them without a jolt. This “wall” is organized by builder with color-coded tags. Esky (the Monopoly-man-looking guy in the opening picture) was made by the  McElroy Brothers (yellow bordered tags). He’s near the center of this photo in the second row from the top.

Occasionally a dummy is made to resemble its owner but that old line about “any resemblance to real persons, dead or alive, is purely coincidental” can be applied to the vast majority of them. Notable exceptions at the museum include this group of U.S. presidents and personal favorites Penn and Teller.

Like most museums, Vent Haven has some temporary exhibits although, in light of the recent welcome but exhausting building project, at present “temporary” probably means at least a year and maybe two. One of the current temporary displays features the work of William Kirk Brown who specialized in low-cost entry-level ventriloquial figures.

As might be expected, Vent Haven has displays dedicated to the world’s most famous ventriloquists. Edgar Bergen, Señor Wences, Shari Lewis, Paul Winchell, Jeff Dunham, and others have their own spots. When I was there in 2011, I was able to view but not photograph a temporary display honoring Jimmy Nelson. Jimmy died in 2019 at the age of 90 and now has this permanent display in the new museum.

I believe Lisa said this was about half of the Class of 2023. In the past, I have read that the museum gets 10-15 donations per year. I’m guessing that there might not have been a Class of 2022 but I don’t know that. The picture shows one of many ways that the museum is taking advantage of technology. The archives contain enough photos to cover all of the walls many times over. Large monitors like the one shown here support viewing digitized versions of various large collections without using a large amount of physical space.

On the other hand, there is enough space in the new building to allow using a pretty good chunk of it in a theater. Lisa seemed to appreciate this bit of luxury as much as the parking spaces and restroom. Less obvious but equally important improvements include high-end HVAC to make the dummies feel good and museum-grade lighting to make them look good. Along with this major upgrade to the physical space there are some changes to the museum’s online presence. Tours can still be scheduled the old-fashioned way via telephone or email but they can also be scheduled directly via the museum’s website. That’s what I did and thought it worked quite well. Information and links for personally checking out the museum’s new digs yourself are here.

In my report of that 2011 visit, I told of stopping for breakfast a little less than three miles northeast of the museum so it seems appropriate to describe a stop for breakfast before this visit a little more than three miles southwest of the museum. I had tried stopping at The Hive once before but gave up after three passes through the completely filled parking lot. That reinforced all the good things I’d heard about the place and prompted me to get there a little earlier this time. Now I can say good things myself. In 2011, I had a goetta and cheese omelet at the Anchor Grill. Today I had a goetta and cheese and mushroom omelet.  

A Glimpse of ASM’s Attic

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It’s not wrong to think of museums as simply organized — some much more than others — attics. Of course, almost all museums have attics of their own. It’s where they store stuff that exceeds the space available for displays but, like all that stuff in your own attic, is just too good to throw away. The American Sign Museum has always had multiple attics.

The situation became somewhat simplified when the museum moved into its current location in 2012. With the actual museum occupying about half of the approximately 40,000 square-foot building, the other half made a fine attic. I was once treated to a walk through the space when it really was an attic. I was also in the space for the incredible Signmaker’s Circus, a following Coffee With Tod session where museum founder Tod Swormstedt shared some of his thoughts on organizing signs for the Circus, and a presentation on some of the banners borrowed for the Circus (Sideshow Signage). Plans for expanding the museum were well underway when the circus came to town and the cleanup that preceded it could be considered an early step in the expansion. Most of the stuff that was in that section is now stored in other locations and a recent Coffee With Tod session provided a look at one of those locations.

Almost every available sign was pressed into service at the Signmaker’s Circus so I have seen some of the attic’s contents before. The clown and lion trashcan toppers were there. Tod has been on the lookout for the lion’s partners ever since he learned it was part of a Wizard of Oz set. The mortar and pestle hung in the museum’s main section until very recently. After leaving the attic, I stopped by to check out its replacement.

This sign from a closed New York restaurant was in the attached storage area when a retired sign painter stopped by the museum. Tod was there and took the fellow on a personal tour of the area. When they reached this sign, he stopped and stared for a long time then finally announced “I painted that”. “Made my day… my month,” Tod told us.

Letters, we got letters. We got lots and lots of letters. And walls full of neon skeleton signs, too. There are many more individual letters, some much larger than these, stacked around the area. Only about a fourth of the wall of skeleton signs is in the picture.

A couple of long tables were filled with billboard tags. Although I instantly recognized the name Lamar as something I’d seen on billboards, it had never occurred to me that it was something separate from the billboard or that it was collectible in its own right. Guess I never realized that there were so many companies painting billboards, either.

Tod is especially fond of items used by individual sign creators. Here he is showing us a couple of quite old and wonderfully personalized painters kits.

Tod also likes self-promoting signs. This one has the added attraction of being an example of bad design. It includes examples of pretty much every style of lettering the painter is capable of but picking out the painter’s name is quite a challenge and the curious spelling of “windos” makes one wonder if Mack didn’t really plan ahead.

The “ROOMS” and “I.O.O.F” signs are both backlit by candles. Tod opened each of them to show the candle holders but I was at the back of the crowd at the time and missed out on a picture. I am very confident that these unusual pieces will have a home in the museum’s new area.

Most people know that Mohammed Ali’s birth name was Cassius Clay but not everyone remembers that there was a “junior” at the end. The champion boxer’s father was a successful sign painter in Louisville, Kentucky. Cassius Clay, Sr. painted the sign that Tod holds.

Our last stop was outside at three bas-relief sculptures. They and an identical set were once part of Cincinnati Gardens sports arena. The arena was demolished in 2018 and the museum once had the letters from the arena’s name mounted outside the museum. They were removed in preparation for the expansion and will eventually reappear along with this, boxer, basketball player, and hockey player.

Much remains to be done before a completion date for the expansion can be determined. There are expectations that it will be this year and even hope that it might be around summer’s end but no one is foolish enough to make any promises or place any bets. Whatever the date, it’s pretty phenomenal to think the museum will soon double in size and will instantly be almost full. And there will still be an attic.

Bricktionary at Cincinnati Museum Center

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I’ve never had Legos. I’ve had Tinker Toys and Lincoln Logs and even a hand-me-down Erector Set but no Legos. Both my Tinker Toys and my Lincoln Logs were made out of real wood but I had no Legos made out of anything. If having wooden Tinker Toys and Lincoln Logs isn’t sufficiently impressive, consider that I also had a Mr. Potato Head that did not come with a plastic body but required a real potato and my family’s Clue Game had a real rope (string) and lead pipe. Knowing all that should make it abundantly clear why I had no Legos. My childhood occurred at a time so far removed from the present that Legos had not yet been invented.

The Lego company and something called “Automatic Binding Bricks” did exist during my childhood but it would be the late 1950s before the sort of plastic brick we now know would appear. Initially seen only in Lego’s home country of Denmark, they would not show up in the USA until 1961. That was a little too late for me but Legos were part of my sons’ toy collections. They were not a big part although they were around enough for me to experience stepping on them barefoot in the dark. The experience is certainly a memorable one but the pain level does not, in my opinion, equal that of stepping on a Barbie high heel under similar circumstances. Legos really took hold a generation later and at least one grandson dived pretty deep into the phenomenon.

Others took even deeper dives to become LEGO® Certified Professionals. One of those professionals, Ryan “The Brickman” McNaught, is responsible for “Bricktionary: The ultimate LEGO® A-Z” exhibit at the Cincinnati Museum Center that I visited Friday. It is based on a book of the same name. Learning that A is for alligator is a good start.

The Seattle Space Needle just beyond the alligator had me stumped until I figured out it was part of the ‘B’ section. B is for buildings like the Space Needle and the Sydney Opera House.

There are several hands-on stations in the exhibit where lots of Lego elements are available to experiment with. At the earthquake station, visitor-built structures can be tested for stability on adjustable shaking platforms.

It took me a second to realize that G is for garden but knowing that H is for Harley Davidson was immediate. I was pretty impressed with the spokes made out of bricks and I thought the giant flower so cool that I used a shot of just the bloom for an Instagram/Facebook post.

I found this hands-on station extra interesting and spent some time talking with the two people operating it. In the end, I participated myself. It has some similarities with assembling a jigsaw puzzle except all of the “puzzling” has already been done. Screens display random sections of the big image for visitors to copy onto 6×6 panels. The pattern I followed to assemble my section is here. Completed sections are placed in their proper position by one of the station workers. The image being assembled here is a frontal view of the Museum Center. There are others including an awesome view of the Grand Canyon. It takes a number of days to complete an image but several have already been assembled and disassembled since the exhibit opened in March. There is talk of the Museum Center image remaining in Cincinnati when the exhibit moves on and I briefly had visions of my little panel becoming part of a permanent museum display. I quickly realized, however, that the Museum Center, the Grand Canyon, and every other image will likely rise and fall many more times before the exhibit closes in August.

This Lego model of the Museum Center, a.k.a., Union Terminal, sits at the line separating the big exhibit from the obligatory gift shop. One of the items available in the shop is the Bricktionary book mentioned earlier. I should have checked to see if it gives instructions for building all 150+ models in the exhibit. If so, then anyone could duplicate the exhibit with a little free time and about 3,000,000 Legos. If only my condo was a skosh bigger.

Three Days of Peace and Music

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Although it was not an actual goal, I was entertained by live music each of the last three days. It was just like Woodstock except that I only saw one performer each day and didn’t have to sleep in the mud. The picture at right exemplifies the peacefulness that prevailed. It was taken at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden where my musical adventure began.

I’m not sure when the zoo held the first Tunes & Blooms event. The earliest online reference I found was from 2018. The current setup has the music starting at 6:00 with free admission starting at 5:00. There is not much animal activity at that time but there is some and a few buildings remain open. One of those is Manatee Springs which has three residents at present. In the photo, one of the three is seen chasing some of the nearly 300 pounds of lettuce the trio consumes each day.

I have thought of attending Tunes & Blooms in the past but Thursday was the first time I actually made it. The artist of the day was the Carriers. They delivered very good original rock material that I quite enjoyed.

I stopped by Fibonacci Brewing last month to see Vernon McIntyre’s Appalachian Grass but bad weather caused the show to be canceled. I got much closer on Friday. Appalachian Grass performed but without Vernon. He wasn’t feeling well but sent a very capable guitarist in his place. The group is scheduled to be at the brewery monthly and I will be back.

Between 1956 and 1968, Covington, Ohio, was home to Rogers Drum Company. I even picked up a kit there in 1964. For the last few years, fans of the drums have been gathering in Covington to buy, sell, and reminisce as they did on Saturday. Potential buyers would sometimes take kits for a “test drive” and multiple simultaneous drum solos in a high school gymnasium sound exactly like what you’re thinking. The second picture is of Anthony Amodeo’s presentation on some Rogers history. The third picture is of a display in the local museum.

Drum solos were not the only music I heard on Saturday. I ended the day at Devil Wind Brewing where I knew Nasty Bingo would be performing. I had heard of the group but had never actually heard them. They did not disappoint and made a great finale for my three (generally) peaceful days of music.

2023 Ohio Road Meet Columbus

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I attended my sixth road meet yesterday which provided a good topic for this week’s post while simultaneously removing any possibility of completing a post about it by 6:00 AM today. Rather than posting a canned article to meet the 6:00 schedule, I decided to defy the self-imposed deadline and post this report on the Columbus Road Meet at whatever time it was complete. Whether or not it is worth waiting for is not for me to say.

The group gathered at Tommy’s Diner for a pre-tour meal. Sandor Gulyas, the meet’s organizer, and I are pretty familiar with Tommy’s but it was something new for the other four attendees. Being there for lunch was also something new for me since I believe all of my previous visits had been for breakfast. I was prepared to order a sandwich when the menu reminded me of the “breakfast all day” policy. It was not quite noon when I tackled a 3-cheese omelet.

Our first stop was at the Dodge Skatepark from where we could see some of the ongoing construction of a new ramp to I-70/I-71. I’m always something of the odd man at these meets since they lean toward the new and my interest leans toward the old. Of course, it’s really a continuum and I always find something that interests me. However, it might explain why my pier picture includes kayakers and I have a skyline picture facing away from the construction entirely.

While stopped at the skatepark, we walked over to an art installation named The Slingshot for a group photo. I don’t yet have access to that photo (I’ll add it when I do.) but I do have this picture of Sandor about to be launched in the direction of downtown and the opening photo shows Sandor’s final pre-launch view. ADDENDUM 16-Apr-2023: The group photo has been added at the end of this post.

We then circled through downtown for a view of the construction from the south side of the Sciota River. I was quite impressed with the stationery supervisor watching over things from the hilltop with the tip of the LeVeque Tower peeking up behind him. There’s a closer look here.

The brick house is where author James Thurber grew up. It is now a museum and the area around it is called Thurber Village. A parking lot there was our base for a walk to the murals on the Long Street I-71 overpass.

This pair of bridges bracket a brick-paved section of Iuka Avenue running through Iuka Ravine. The Summit Avenue Bridge (least cars) was built in 1916 and restored in 2001. The Indianola Avenue Bridge was built in 1996 to replace one built in 1912. Kudos for retaining the original appearance of both bridges.

Here are outside and inside pictures of Glen Echo Bird Tunnel on Indianola Avenue. The inside shot should make the difference between art and graffiti quite clear to anyone. If I was younger and lived closer, I’d definitely be making plans for the next Bird Tunnel Party. I’ll probably give it some thought anyway. There are photos of some individual birds here, here, and here.

Remnants of the old pavement can be followed to a still-functioning Glen Echo Drive on the other side of Arcadia Avenue. I again gripped the handrail returning to Indianola despite having a different opinion of that bottom column than I had coming down.

Formally named Rustic Bridge, this structure was part of a short-lived zoo and amusement park more than a century ago. The zoo was pretty much a failure and closed in 1907 after just four years of existence. My joke about the bartender not being in till later was pretty much a failure too. From the vantage point of the bridge, I thought this looked exactly like four guys hanging out at a bar but I guess it didn’t make the same impression from ground level.

Following our return to Tommy’s, I headed west on US-40/National Road to the recently reopened Red Brick Tavern. After being closed for nearly four years, this historic tavern had a Grand (re)Opening on Valentine’s Day and less than two months later it appears to be off to a great start. I didn’t catch the musician’s name but I did enjoy his mix of music and I also enjoyed my salmon Ceasar salad. Welcome back!

Apparently, I did not publish a report on that first road meet in 2011 but here are the others:
2012 — Dayton, Ohio
2013 — Cincinnati, Ohio
2019 — Portsmouth, Ohio
2019 — Delaware County, Ohio

ADDENDUM 16-Apr-2023: Here is the Slingshot group photo plus one on Long Street that I had not mentioned. Thanks, Brandon.

Another Season of the Fish

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I like fish and therefore like fish fries. During Lent, I try to patronize some of the Friday fundraisers although I rarely manage to check off every week. I doubt that was even possible during the COVID-19-ravaged years of 2020, ’21, and ’22. Even without a pandemic’s interference, going 7-for-7 isn’t always easy. I thought I’d accomplished it a couple of times but maybe not. 2014 is the only year that I’ve boasted about in this blog so maybe it’s the only perfect run I’ve ever accomplished — until now.

Lent, and the seven weeks of fish fries, ends with Easter. That 2014 boast was my Easter Day post for the year. I wasn’t completely confident of my ability to manage a fish fry every week this year and I had another Easter post ready just in case. When another 7-for-7 run began to look likely, I started thinking that I’d have to scrap that other post. Then I noticed that my calendar identified both an Easter Sunday and an Easter Monday. Easter Sunday got an Easter post and Easter Monday gets a fish post. 

The first week of Lent somehow caught me by surprise. I worked in a stop at nearby Saint Margaret of York on the way to something else. I’ve eaten here at least twice before. I do like to try new places but this is convenient and I like their baked salmon.

I did find a new-to-me place for the second week. At Saint Gertrude, I again had salmon but it wasn’t just any old salmon. This is “Roasted Lemon Dill Salmon”.

There is reason to think my choice for week three was a cheat but I think I can justify it. The Crow’s Nest is a commercial establishment and I did go there to see a musical performance (Ricky Nye) but the kitchen has been temporarily closed for renovation and food was not regularly available. A cooking tent has been set up in the courtyard for the duration of lent and fish is available for a few hours on Fridays. Only fish and only Fridays. Just like the churches.

Do you like Kolping? I don’t know. I’ve never Kolped. I found that silly joke, originally referencing author Rudyard Kipling, stuck in my head as I ate some really good baked fish at the Kolping Center on the fourth Friday of Lent.

During Lent’s fifth week, I went to Saint John the Evangelist in West Chester for baked tilapia. The meal, including drink, was only eleven dollars but the two-dollar pie pushed me to the teens.

There was no baked option at American Legion Post 484 so, for only the second time this year, I did not sully the name “fish fry” when I placed my order in week six.

Of course, the internet and online lists play an important role in all fish fry scheduling but it was extra important in locating a fry that I could work into a road trip without going too far off course. The event at American Legion Post 737 in Lake Milton, Ohio, met my Good Friday needs perfectly.

This may not be the last year with a “fish season” post but I expect it to be the last one with a set of stops like these. On the way home from one of the churches, I listened to a report on the boarding schools of nearly a century ago that were part of the effort to erase Native American culture. It told of physical, mental, and sexual abuse in which the United States government and the Catholic Church were involved. The report reminded me of a news article I’d read just the day before about a Cincinnati priest being sentenced on nine counts of rape going back decades. Arrest and prosecution had only recently occurred despite his “upsetting and alarming” behavior having long been noted. The specifics were new but the basics of the stories were not. When I started going to church-sponsored fish fries, I thought my patronage was harmless and was possibly even doing some good. Reflecting on these stories and the many others they reminded me of caused me to think otherwise. I may continue to frequent springtime fish fries but in the future they will be at fire stations, VFW and American Legion halls, and Irish pubs with closed kitchens and a grill setting outside the back door. So long churches, and thanks for all the fish.

Found on Easter Island

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An entire lake dried up and all we got was this lousy moai. This previously unknown carving with “recognisable features but no clear definition” was found in a dry Easter Island lake bed on February 21. Regular readers may recall that Easter Island (a.k.a., Rapa Nui) is kind of special to me because it was on my -225th birthday that Europeans gave it the name Easter Island. By coincidence, that day in 1722 when Jacob Roggeveen and crew first bumped into the island was Easter Sunday. I first wrote about all that in 2016.

Moai are those large stone heads that Easter Island/Rapa Nui is known for. The lake where this unfinished moai turned up is inside the crater of the extinct Rano Raraku volcano. It used to look like this. The quarry where the stone came from for most of the moai is nearby. The lake started shrinking in 2018 and is just one sign of the impact that global warming is having on the island. There’s a broader view here.

On top of global warming, the island suffered an arsonist set fire in October. There is naturally some temptation to consider finding the statue in the lakebed a bright spot in the midst of all the bad stuff going on. I guess it is in a way, but it’s kind of like finding that quarter you lost last year in the wreckage of your house after a hurricane came through.

Many will find real joy in munching on this year’s new Dr. Pepper-flavored Peeps and maybe even washing them down with their namesake beverage. It’s definitely a sweet image. But that won’t be happening for Easter Islanders. The DP Peeps are a Walmart exclusive and Walmart has yet to reach the island. Hmmm. Perhaps that, and not the moai discovery, is actually the bright spot in this story.

Spring Fling 2023

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Birthday trips may have become a thing. I used my birthday as an excuse for running the COVID blockade in 2021 and last year it served as justification for a drive to an overnight that had long been on my list. The 2021 trip was a three-day affair that got the full journal treatment (Birthday Breakout).  The one-night 2022 trip was covered in a blog post (Celebrating). This year’s outing started as a two-night deal that has grown to three nights and will be covered in a regular journal. The first day, which consisted of a drive to a historic inn, has just been posted. Following days will include a railroad roundhouse and museum and a concert.

This entry lets blog-only subscribers know about the trip and provides a place for comments. The journal is here.

Spirit of 76

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For the second consecutive year, I’ve created a post specifically for my birthday. I didn’t expect to. I did it last year to note a milestone in age and a change in appearance. I’m doing it this year primarily to record some thoughts. I ended last year’s post with the observation that “birthdays are good occasions for remembering all the folks I’ve known who have been denied the privilege of growing older”. I intentionally used “older” rather than “old” without knowing the significance that the difference would hold this year. During the year since my last birthday, a very close friend of mine stopped growing older. John was born a few years before me so the privilege of growing old was something we shared. Sure, lots of people live to be much older but lots more don’t.

The day before John turned seventy-six, he commented about having that number of trombonists serenade him for his birthday. On the day. I shared a Youtube clip of The Music Man‘s signature song.

I recalled that as my own seventy-sixth birthday approached but thought of a couple of other things associated with the number 76. One was (Union) 76 gasoline and another was The Spirit of ’76 painting shown at left. Probably because I would like to think I have some spirit left at age 76, I felt more of a connection with the painting than with the gasoline, and I felt more of a connection with the painting’s title than with its appearance.

Archibald Willard, who painted The Spirit of ’76, was an Ohioan. Some of his more notable work is in the somewhat nearby Fayette County courthouse. Apparently, Willard also liked the word “spirit”. The three largest of his 1882 murals are The Spirit of the U. S. Mail, The Spirit of Electricity, and The Spirit of the Telegraph. While those were no doubt high-tech futuristic subjects in 1882, today all three would probably be combined in something like The Spirit of the Internet, and Willard would have to come up with a couple additional ideas to fill all three walls.

The image with the old phrase on an updated background at the top of this post should now make sense but in case it doesn’t, I’ll explain. A few days ahead of my 76th birthday, I sat on a bench in Washington Court House, Ohio, gazing at the Fayette County courthouse in which there are three “Spirit” murals painted by the man who created a painting in 1875 that he called Yankee Doodle but which was soon renamed The Spirit of ’76. Happy Birthday to me.

A more readable version of the sign in that last picture is here.

A Normal Opening Day

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Cincinnati Reds opening day parades were canceled in 2020 and 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year’s parade was delayed along with the start of the season by an owner-player dispute but it did happen. Opening Day 2019 was normal in most respects but I missed the parade due to my own bad planning. I made the parade in 2018 although it was delayed by legitimate business concerns having nothing to do with owners, players, viruses, or weather. In 2017 I was out of town for what I understand was a very nice and quite normal parade. That means that the parade of 2016 was the last one I attended that happened as it was supposed to. I’m sure glad that streak is over.

I decided to get serious this year and reached Arnold’s about twenty minutes ahead of the planned 9:00 opening. Obviously, quite a few folks were even more serious but I was still in time to get a seat in the courtyard and get a breakfast sandwich and Shamrock Shake. I was there when Todd Hepburn arrived looking quite dapper and I stayed long enough to sing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” with him.

The day would eventually get warm but walking to the parade’s start point at Findlay Market was fairly chilly. Near the market, I encountered all four of the Reds’ mascots exiting their limo and heading to the staging area. That’s Rosie Red on the left, Mr. Red on the right, Gapper in the middle, and Mr. Redlegs still in the limo.

My walk and some strolling through the staging area consumed a fair amount of time but the parade start was still several minutes away when I took up a position near the parked Cincinnati Police motorcycles that would lead the parade. Those minutes passed quickly and shortly past noon, the parade was set in motion.

With the passing of the pipes and drums, the organizers’ float, and the iconic Jim Tarbell dressed as the also iconic Peanut Jim, there’s no doubt that we’ve got a real parade going on.

The four mascots spread throughout the parade with Gapper getting the position of leading the parade’s two grand marshalls. Pitchers Danny Graves and Bronson Arroyo are both being inducted into the Reds Hall of Fame this year and are sharing Grand Marshall duties. During the time I was waiting by the motorcycles, the pair had arrived nearby in a van. Danny never turned toward me at the time but I did get a decent shot of Bronson which I’m sharing here.

This group, looking like players and fans from the earliest days of baseball, represents the Reds Hall of Fame and Museum. Mr. Redlegs is close behind.

A few entries later, Rosie Red leads what could be called the parade’s glamour section. Kentucky’s Heather French Henry, Miss America 2000, is as lovely and enthusiastic as ever.

Indicative of Cincinnati and the Reds’ place in a tri-state area, the reigning beauty queens of Ohio (Elizabetta Nies), Kentucky (Hannah Edelen), and Indiana (Elizabeth Hallal) also accompanied Rosie. Maybe it’s a generational thing or maybe it’s because this was early in the parade route but I’d like to think that Heather French’s enthusiasm had something to do with all three title holders forgoing the standard “regal wave” and actually interacting with the crowd.

The Wilburforce University Marching Band got some pre-parade press so I was sort of on the lookout for them when I saw them heading to the staging area and snapped a less-than-great picture. This is the first marching band WU has ever had and it attracted enough attention during its first year of existence to be invited to march in multiple Mardi Gras parades in New Orleans. It’s a really good band and that’s a wonderful accomplishment.

Mr. Red, the fourth and final Reds mascot, was riding with the Friends of Findlay Market. I have no identification for the other two photos except I do know that one is the parade’s most athletic and the other the parade’s cutest.

I have two reasons for including the Lebanon High School Marching Band in this post. One is the eye-catching cool uniforms and the other is that the band was playing “Fins” as they passed. I’m guessing that’s because it’s the only Jimmy Buffett song that calls out Cincinnati and covering Buffett is all the reason anyone needs for joining a band.

In addition to Ferraris and Gina Lollobrigida, Italy has given us Vespas, Reds fans, and Americans.

When I took this picture, the Reds were 0-0. In a few hours, they would be 0-1 but they are now 1-1 just like every other team in the NL Central Division. Mathematically they have the same shot as everyone else but retired Reds announcer Marty Brennaman proclaimed during the parade, “Anybody that thinks they are [going to win the division] are delusional.” Realistically, we could see a repeat of last year’s dismal 62-100 season. Of course, there’s nothing like a parade on a sunny day to make you forget the worst of the past and remember the best, and a smiling George Foster — Big Red Machine outfielder and 1977 NL MVP — is a great reminder of some of that best.

The King Records float was another reminder of the best of Cincinnati history. I got so caught up in watching Tony Wilson that I almost missed Bootsy Collins. Wilson, given the name Young James Brown by the real James Brown, was singing and dancing in the street while Bootsy was keeping a pretty low profile — for someone wearing a sparkling blue top hat — on the float.

I know I’ve seen members of the Cincinnati Circus Company in other parades but I don’t recall seeing a group behind a banner before. Of course, that probably has more to do with my recall than reality.

Following the parade, I overheard several comments from people who were really impressed by the Indianapolis motorcycle officer riding his ‘cycle while standing up. I witnessed that bit of derring-do but got no photos. The last parade picture is of one of my all-time favorites, the Lawnmower Precision Drill Team from Wapakoneta.

I apologize for what might be a personal record for the number of photos in a blog post but I assure you it could have been worse. Maybe it was ending the seven-year streak of missed or somehow off-kilter parades that caused me to take so many pictures. Limiting this post to what I hope is only slightly too many was not an easy task.

When the last of the parade passed me, I was near Washington Park and headed immediately to Cobblestone OTR across the street. I believe I could have bought a beer almost instantly but decided I ought to dispose of the one I had for breakfast first. The line at the restroom extended through much of the bar and that convinced me to just move on. The crowd at Knockback Nat’s was out the door and, although I could step inside Madonna’s, that place was definitely full also. I found the same thing at Arnold’s but my car was nearby and I brought the day’s hike to an end right there. I finally got that beer at City View Tavern where barely a half dozen customers preceded me and I was able to grab a seat at deck’s edge. That situation did not last long and the couple at the table behind me instantly moved forward when I left.