Predictions of rain or snow during this year’s Cincinnati Bockfest parade were on and off over the last few days, and with them, my own plans to attend. At the last hour, I decided to go, but at the last minute almost reversed course as a few drops of water appeared on my windshield on the way there. I ultimately put my trust in the weather reports and arrived at the parade launch point about forty-five minutes before launch time. The parade naturally took some hits during the COVID-19 pandemic, but I thought it had pretty much recovered when I was last here in 2022. In years past, this area has been filled an hour or more before the parade so maybe those rain predictions had succeeded in scaring off a number of attendees.
Even with what I thought was a slightly off crowd, Arnold’s was packed, and I didn’t even try to get inside. Instead, I joined this line at a booth where four local bock beers and pretzels from event sponsor Servatii were being served. The complete lack of sunlight and the slightly damp air made things feel quite a bit colder than the 46 degrees the thermometer registered.
Bock in hand, I roamed the staging area a bit and grabbed pictures of perennial favorites the Moerlein Goat and Arnold’s Pushable Bathtub. Sadly, Arnold’s Gas Powered Bathtub was nowhere in sight. The Clyffside float is new to me (I think).
I also got a shot of a self-propelled wheeled goat being interviewed and a group photo of the lovely but reserved ladies of the Monthly Parking Available dance team. This was one of three dance teams in the parade, but one of my longtime favorites, the Red Hot Dancing Queens, was not among them. Their Facebook page shows no activity since May 2023, so I fear they are no more. Bummer.
When the parade started, I missed seeing Jim Tarbell until he was directly in front of me and had to scurry up the street to get this shoddy shot of Cincinnati’s favorite politician, promoter, and parader. I’m not sure why I missed the 2023 parade. I missed — or at least mostly missed — the 2024 parade because of a concert scheduled for nearly the same time. The venue was right on the parade route so I did see a bit of it in passing. I even grabbed photos of Mr. Tarbell and the big goat.
I really didn’t do any better in capturing the 2025 parade than I did in 2024. I knew before I arrived I would not be following the parade to Bockfest Hall/Tent and sampling multiple beers as I’ve typically done. As it passed, I mostly watched and chatted with friends, with little effort put into recording it. Some of that was due to weather, but most of it was due to age. Though it seemed a little shorter this year than in years gone by, it is still one of Cincinnati’s coolest parades, and no doubt the four Official Bockfest Halls and eighteen Official Bockfest Venues were sites of great fun. I expect to be back next year, and maybe I’ll walk the parade route, but probably not. Bock on, young ‘uns. Bock on.
Before I even opened this book I was aware of Gloria Nash’s childhood fascination with the 1964 World’s Fair, the family circumstances that brought her back to the neighborhood, and her visits to the old fairgrounds that ultimately led to creating Looking Back at the Future. I was not aware of a high school photography class assignment to “locate and photograph remnants of the fair” that had recently closed. A few black-and-white pictures taken at that time are included in this volume where she wraps up that assignment in style.
The book’s subtitle, “Photographing Vintage Leftovers of New York’s World’s Fairs”, accurately describes its main thrust. Well-written text provides background on both fairs, and there are descriptions of buildings and other items that no longer exist, but photographs of what that subtitle calls “leftovers” fill the bulk of the book. Most were taken by the author although a few come from other sources. Some images from postcards and other promotional materials are also used sparingly. The book is printed on good quality fairly heavy stock but it is not coated gloss stock. All of the modern photos are bright and clear and look quite good but this is not a “coffee table” book.
Nash has done a phenomenal job in tracking down fair remnants and makes sure that others can “locate and photograph” these leftovers, too. The location of all leftovers at the fair site (now Flushing Meadows Corona Park) is shown on a map with color coding to distinguish 1939 leftovers from 1964 leftovers. Both chapters on “On-Site Leftovers” contain what amounts to a tour guide for a walk that visits each of them. Chapters on “Off-Site Leftovers” describe locations and give addresses where appropriate. An appendix provides these locations in a list format.
Although both of these fairs made lasting impressions on the people who attended them. neither was a success from the organizers’ point of view. Organizers in 1939 hoped for 50 million visitors but got only 45 million. The target in 1964 was 70 million, but only 51 million showed up. I wasn’t around in 1939, and even though I was very much around in 1964 and well aware of the fair, I did not attend. I have only attended one world’s fair in my life, and that was in 1983 in Knoxville, TN. Nash says that was the last profitable world’s fair held in this country. Coincidence?
