Category Archives: Event

A Return to the Cavalcade

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I spent my freshman year at the University of Cincinnati in an on-campus dorm. My high school buddy Dale attended college in Indiana that year. During the following summer, Dale decided to transfer to the Ohio College of Applied Science in Cincinnati, and the two of us decided to share an apartment. The OCAS school year started a little ahead of UC’s so Dale was already settled in when I drove down to join him. Following my drive, I was ready to relax in my new home but that was not to be. Dale and a newly met classmate were waiting at the door. They had plans and basically turned me immediately around. The three of us headed off to Cincinnati Gardens and the 1966 Cavalcade of Customs.

They say this year’s Cavalcade of Customs is the 63rd annual event. I think that means that the show I attended in ’66 was probably the seventh or eighth. The Gardens was demolished in 2018 but the Cavalcade had moved on well before that. It’s now held downtown at the convention center. I was there on Friday. Although I don’t remember much about that earlier show, I do recall that there were mirrors on the floor beneath quite a few cars. I probably remember that detail because I think it was the first time I’d ever seen such a thing. Of course, I simply was not used to being around cars with undercarriages worth looking at. Here is one of the mirrors beneath that 1940 Willys in the opening photograph. It reflects the chromed oil pan which reflects some lights that are reflected in the mirror. At least that’s what I think is going on.

I know there were some trucks at that 1966 show but I’m pretty sure they were all smallish pickups like George Barris’ Ala Kart. (Which I think may have actually been there.) Americans’ attraction to great big haulers that do very little hauling is something that has developed in the six decades since, and it is certainly in evidence at the Cavalcade.

This 1946 Chevrolet is my personal favorite of all the trucks on display. It’s not very big and it’s not really a custom but it doesn’t seem like the organizers were all that hung up on having only customs in their Cavalcade of Customs so I’m not either. It is a great-looking restoration/recreation and those miniature gas pumps surrounding it don’t hurt.

These definitely qualify as customs although none are in the same class as the previously mentioned Ala Kart. Truly radical George Barris-style customization just might be a thing of the past.

There are several customized motorcycles in this year’s show and at least one of them might be considered radical. I’m pretty sure both of those statements were true of the 1966 Cavalcade as well.

Some of the displayed cars brought back memories beyond attending that show back in the 60s. I have owned a second-generation Corvair, a Chevy Vega, and a C6 Corvette. My cars were not identical to these, however. My ‘Vair was red, my Vega green, and my ‘Vette blue.

More cars are on display on the third floor which is reached via two very long escalators. There are some very interesting automobiles here but few if any could be called customs. I’m guessing that the theme is sports and performance cars, and the mix includes some slightly exotic vehicles.

The long line is not for a car. Several celebrities are slated to appear at the Cavalcade and — for a fee — autograph something or pose for a selfie. I’d spotted a line of folks on the first floor waiting for Henry Winkler to show up. That was a respectable line of thirty or forty but this line is considerably longer (There were at least twenty people behind the point where I took the picture.) and the celebrities it led to were already in place and hard at work.

Having nothing with me that I wanted signed, I avoided the line, exchanged knowing winks with a Miata, and started down the escalators.

Today, January 15, is the 2023 Cavalcade of Customs‘ final day. It opens at 10:00 and closes at 6:00.

Boar’s Head Festival

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Back in 2013, I posted an article about the four oldest Cincinnati Christmas Traditions after learning about them by way of a lecture at the Cincinnati Museum Center.  Three of the four were displays and I had seen all three multiple times and that year I saw them all again. The fourth was not something displayed for a period of time but was an event that required advance ticketing and scheduling that I never made work. I missed a chance to see it online last year when the pandemic caused it to go virtual. Guess I just wasn’t paying attention. This year the event is again live but ticket distribution was online and that really worked for me. I attended the 5:00 performance yesterday.

I’m talking about the Boar’s Head and Yule Log Festival at Christ Church Cathedral. It has been going on since 1940 and it was identified as the third oldest of Cincinnati’s big four Christmas traditions in that Museum Center lecture.

Humans have been eating pigs, including boars, for a long time. Their roasted and garnished heads had been the centerpiece at many a banquet centuries before Christianity was invented. Wild boars are ferocious critters and Christians probably weren’t the first to think of them as something evil. They may not have even been the first to equate the killing of one with the victory of good over evil but they do seem to be the first to make that connection formally and construct a ritual around it. That apparently happened in fourteenth-century England as explained in a legend. The legend says that a student at Queen’s College in Oxford, England, was walking through the forest on his way to Christmas Mass in 1340 when he was attacked by a wild boar. Lacking any other weapon, the quick-thinking student jammed the metal-bound volume of Aristotle he had been reading down the beast’s throat which almost immediately brought on the animal’s demise. The garnished head was presented at that night’s feast and people have been repeating and enhancing the festivities ever since. There is a fair amount of doubt associated with that legend but I hope it’s true. Having Aristotle even slightly responsible for the founding of a Christian ritual is certainly something worthy of deep contemplation.

I know there are hundreds of people involved in the production although I don’t have an actual count. In addition to the visible players, there is a sizable orchestra and choir mostly hidden from sight behind something resembling giant poinsettias. There are many non-speaking roles. The cast includes literal spear carriers although those are probably technically called pikes. But there are lots of singing roles and every vocalist was outstanding. The orchestra and choir were also outstanding meaning that if this was only a musical performance, it would be quite impressive. The lavish costumes and pageantry make it considerably more so.

The storyline is not the easiest thing to follow. It includes — among many other things — good King Wenceslas, the lord and lady of the manor, and the Nativity complete with shepherds and Magi.

At one point, and this just might be my favorite part even though I don’t quite understand it, cast members are climbing over and standing on top of the pews.

It is quite the spectacle and the music is superb. I can understand why it has drawn crowds for more than eight decades. There are just four performances each year. All four for this year have been “sold out” for some time. I put that in quotes for two reasons. One is that tickets are not actually sold; they are free. The second is that the performance I attended was far from full. I know that tickets have always gone quickly and I assumed that meant a full house at every performance. My crude guess is that nearly a third of the seats were empty Saturday.

Today’s (Sunday’s) performances are to be live-streamed. Maybe that’s the reason for the empty seats or maybe there have been empty seats every year. Maybe people who hurriedly scarf up the free tickets balk at putting out any effort to use them.

Posts of Christmas Past (2022)

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This is the third time this blog has been published on Christmas Day. The first time apparently caught me unprepared. It was in 2011, just a few months after this blog was launched with a promise to post every Sunday. I was in the middle of a road trip but managed a short Merry Christmas post that consisted mostly of apologies for being caught off guard. I must have been ready when Christmas again fell on a Sunday five years later. I was again in the middle of a road trip on Christmas Day 2016 but the Another Christmas Squirrel post shows no signs of distress so was likely written well in advance of the holiday. This post is also being prepared in advance.

Soon after realizing that Christmas is on Sunday this year, I thought of Posts of Christmas Past that I put together for the stay-at-home Christmas of 2020. I first thought of simply pointing to it with a short explanatory post but decided to republish it with updates. What follows is a recounting of the sixteen Christmases when I’ve run — or at least tried to run — away from home. The opening picture is from the blog’s first Christmas post in 2011. It was taken just ahead of Christmas on December 22. All other photos in this post were taken on Christmas Day.

2006 — Natchez Christmas was organized around a drive of the Natchez Trace Parkway that began the day after Christmas. Christmas Eve and Christmas Night were spent in a room above the Under the Hill Saloon in Natchez, MS. It’s between the two white-fronted buildings in the picture.

2007 — I decided to go a bit farther south the next year for Crescent City Christmas. New Orleans had recovered sufficiently from Katrina’s 2005 devastation to welcome tourists to bolster the recovery effort, and it’s a pretty good place to celebrate anything. The tree and Joan of Arc statue are in front of the French Market.

2008 — My great-grandparents spent Christmas on the Alafia in 1920, and I tried to do something similar. I could not camp on the river bank as they did but I could stay in a nearby motel. On Christmas Day, I had breakfast at Showtown USA in nearby Gibsonton. At the time, Showtown still had plenty of carnival people as both employees and patrons.

2009 — My retirement in mid-November meant I now had time to drive to US-62’s West End from my most western contact with the route in western Kentucky. After spending a day snowed in in Altus, OK, I reached Lubbock, TX, on Christmas Day and stopped by Buddy Holley’s grave. Lubbock possesses no snowplows so most of the record five inches that fell the day before was still there although much had been blown from the area in the photograph.

2010 — My Chattanooga Christmas was also a white one. The depth may not have been a record but the fact that this was the first Christmas Day snowfall in Chattanooga in forty-one years meant it was something special. The Delta Queen had been forced to quit cruising in 2009 and was serving as a stationary hotel. I had spent Independence Day 2009 aboard her, and couldn’t resist the chance to spend another holiday on board.

2011 — Although my path reached as far south as Alabama, Nashville, TN, was the target for George for the Holidays. The title refers to George Harrison whose 1970 album All Things Must Pass was performed by The Long Players on December 23. Oven Master Mary had supplied me with a whole gingerbread family for the trip, and I photographed one family member on stage at Legends Corner.

2012 — The plans for Christmas Escape Repeat included New Year’s Eve in Raleigh, NC, and some time in Atlanta, GA, but were timed to allow me a second Christmas stay — this time without snow — on the Delta Queen in Chattanooga. It was the first of only two times I used the word “escape” in the title.

2013 — A Wild and Wonderful Christmas was spent at North Bend State Park in West Virginia where “Wild and Wonderful” is a slogan. After a fine holiday meal at the lodge, I went for a drive that took me to “America’s Oldest Five and Dime” in Harrisville. Berdine’s was not open on Christmas Day but was open the day after so I got to check out this delightful store on my way home.

2014 — Christmas Escape 2014 turned out to be quite the escape indeed. There was Christmas Eve with friends in Savannah, GA, Christmas Day with a friend in St Augustine, FL, (where the picture was taken), and some time with an uncle near Lake Alfred, FL, to start the new year. Plus a lot of Dixie Highway and a little time in the keys.

2015 — That WV state park had worked out well in 2013 so I tried out a neighbor on the other side for It’s a Wanderful Life. The holiday meal at Indiana’s Turkey Run State Park was fairly late in the day so I helped my appetite by doing a little hiking before dinner.

2016 — I stayed fairly close to home and used Ohio’s new tourism slogan for Finding It Here. Home base was the lodge at Burr Oak State Park. A Christmas Day drive took me to the town of Cambridge and a long stroll through the Dickens Victorian Village erected there each year.

2017 — With this trip, I proved that I Can Drive Twenty-Five. I followed the current US-25 from its beginning at the Ohio River to its other end in Brunswick, GA. Holiday dining options were somewhat limited and I ended up with a not-so-traditional Christmas dinner of crabcake, grits, broccoli, and cookies. In honor of the holiday, I named these four gingerbread men — a gift from Oven Master Mary, of course — Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Ringo.

2018 — The focus of Kitty Hawk Holidays was the 115th anniversary of the Wright Brothers’ first flight at Big Kill Devil Hill. That was on the 17th so I did a bit of running around before ending up in Knoxville, TN, on Christmas Day. A selfie in Worlds Fair Park let me show off the new mustache my grandson had given me for Christmas.

2019 — Finding (More Of) It Here had me back in Ohio at a park lodge. This time it was at Geneva-on-the-Lake State Park. The photo was taken just before dinner and just outside the dining room as the sun set to my left and illuminated the clouds over Lake Erie.

2020 — The COVID pandemic had me staying home for Christmas for the first time since 2005. Since there was no trip journal to document the day, I used the blog to post a picture of my Christmas dinner spot and a listing of Posts of Christmas Past.

2021 — After just one travelless Christmas, I was able to be Wild and Wonderful Again in 2021. The title comes from it being my second Christmas spent in Wild and Wonderful West Virginia. This time I stayed at three different state parks with Christmas dinner at Hawks Nest. The park isn’t far from New River Gorge which is where the picture was taken. The little red spot near bottom center is a fairy door.

Horses on Parade

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In the very first year of this blog, I attended a triple header of holiday horse parades and documented them in two posts. I wrote about a nighttime parade in Greenville here and nighttime parades in Springfield and Lebanon here. There was a fourth parade that I mentioned but did not get to see in 2011. The parade in Springfield was their first and I don’t believe it lasted much beyond that inaugural year. Greenville’s 10th annual Hometown Holiday Horse Parade took place a couple of weeks ago. The nighttime 33rd annual Lebanon Horse Drawn Carriage Parade took place last night and the daytime version, which is the parade I missed in 2011, took place yesterday afternoon. This time I made it.

Lebanon’s nighttime parade typically has well over 100 entries. The daytime parade is a bit smaller. The highest numbered unit I saw was 80 and there were a few gaps in the numbering. The pictures at left are of carriages carrying the parade’s Grand Marshal and the couple seen waving in the opening photo. The Grand Marshal was not identified on the carriage, I’ve found nothing online, and I didn’t recognize him. Maybe you can.

Some elegant horses followed including a pair sporting glittery blue hooves.

The number of small ponies in the parade kind of surprised me. I felt a little sorry for some of the tiny creatures pulling Santa Claus-sized individuals. I also felt a little sorry for some passengers who, although they looked quite cute, didn’t seem overly happy with the hats they were made to wear. The pony may deserve some pity, too.

Even though I know that the Grinch’s heart “grew three sizes that day”, I am still a little surprised every time I see him as a symbol; of Christmas. Given the parade’s name, I was also surprised to see one of those new-fangled carriageless horses.

There was certainly no lack of power near the parade’s end where a couple of six-horse teams appeared. Secure in the safety of both size and number, a member of one of those teams had no qualms about openly laughing at me as my cold hands tried to focus the camera on his face.  

Sideshow Signage

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Those who read through the comments on my The Signmaker’s Circus post already know that old circus banners were an important part of that American Sign Museum event earlier this year. Others will have just learned that. Some thirty hand-painted banners from the 1940s and ’50s hung from the walls of the area set up for the celebration and added considerably to the event’s authentic circus feel. An event devoted entirely to those banners took place at the museum on a recent Tuesday.

I arrived at the November 1 event a few minutes early and, knowing where the banners were hanging, headed directly there. Along with a few others, I happily snapped photos of the eye-catching wall hangings until I heard applause coming from elsewhere in the museum. I can only assume that the applause was triggered by the introduction of museum founder Tod Swormstedt because when I reached the real event Tod was telling the story of the banners and The Signmaker’s Circus. The banners were hanging in an empty warehouse that also belonged to their owner. They weren’t really on display but had been hung “just because”. Tod saw them, immediately envisioned them at his museum’s upcoming anniversary party, and asked. Told that, yes, he could borrow them, Tod drove to the Boston area with a helper, rolled up the banners on an upper floor of the warehouse, carried them down a fire escape, and hauled them to Cincinnati. He had been fielding questions about them ever since but not tonight. Tonight he introduced the banners’ owner, David Waller.

David began by telling us that there was almost always some deception in the banners. He made his point with a photo of a woman who was certainly quite small but not nearly as small as depicted on the canvas that identified her as the “world’s smallest mother“. He then claimed that similar deception had occurred tonight. Most of us had been drawn to the event, he said, expecting to hear an expert on circus banners. Instead, we would hear from a mere collector of such banners. Maybe that was an attempt at real deception but few were fooled as David proceeded to prove himself an expert on the banners as well as their creators and subjects.

I guess the title of tonight’s event was a little deceptive but I’ve no doubt it was unintentional. Although promoted as “Under the Big Top: Circus Banners of the 1940s and 1950s”, the event concerned banners advertising sideshow attractions that rarely, if ever, appeared in a ring in the Big Top. Many were people with deformities that attracted the curious. Today that naturally leads to thoughts of exploitation, and no one doubts that was sometimes the case, but sideshows provided income to many who would have had a tough time otherwise. When exploitation was mentioned, Otis the Frog Boy, who owned a car modified so he could drive it, wondered if people would prefer he was on welfare. Sylvia, the Big Footed Girl, made a good living for many years although, unable to wear shoes, she balked at appearing in the cold north. Many sideshow performers padded their paychecks by selling postcards and other items. Part of the spiel about Johann Petursson, the Viking Giant, was that he wore rings the size of napkin rings. He sold copies of his rings as souvenirs. Sometime after one of these rings came into Waller’s possession, he met a buddy’s new girlfriend from Iceland. When the conversation turned to circuses, she told of having a giant for an uncle and produced a childhood picture of her sitting on Johann’s lap. Waller gave her the ring.

Clearly, many of these banners made preposterous claims and stretched truth to the max. Many of the attractions were complete fakes that used mirrors, trick lighting, and other gimmicks. It might be a little hard for some of us to believe that people were that gullible just a few decades ago but what may be even harder to believe concerns an attraction that was 100% real and involved no trickery whatsoever. Once upon a time, tattooed women were so rare that people paid money to see them. Betty Broadbent retired in 1967.

BLINK Is Back

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Of course, there were some official police vehicles leading the way but the real 2022 BLINK Cincinnati parade started off with this happy guy in a glowing pedal-powered pig. I probably could have staked out a spot with a clear view when I arrived but, as usual, I walked around looking at stuff until spectators two or more deep lined the route. Even so, I could see most of the parade; I just couldn’t get a clear camera shot very often. I believe that when BLINK happened in 2017 it was seen as a one-time experiment. It might not have been thought of that way by everyone but that is kind of the way it was presented. The experiment was so successful that it came back in 2019 and this time it was advertised as a biennial event. It was quickly knocked off of the planned pace by COVID-19 but only by a year. Instead of a 2021 appearance, it’s happening now in 2022.

I can’t attach names to many of the parade participants but I do know that’s Dance Flash Fusion in black and green.

Everyone in these pictures shall remain nameless because I haven’t a clue. The gals in the first picture almost look like they can fly when they spread their wings.

The major new thing at this year’s BLINK would be synchronized drones over the Ohio River and that’s where I headed as soon as the parade ended. I snapped a picture of the “Together” light sculpture and continued on to the river’s edge. I arrived about half an hour before show time but the half-mile walk to get there put me in the mood to stand still for a while. Waiting was pretty pleasant with interesting river scenes on one side and good music on the other. “39 West” provided the music although neither they nor the stage is shown on the BLINK website.

From my spot on the railing, I could see the drones lift off row by row then dance through various formations over the water.

I believe the “eye” is more or less the BLINK logo. A short video I took of part of the show can be seen here

After the drone show, I headed uptown. The area is most often referred to as downtown but getting there from the riverfront is definitely up. The mural of famous travel photographer Neil Armstrong with his camera is not part of BLINK but one of Cincinnati’s many permanent ArtWorks murals. The building beyond is the Contemporary Art Center which is being used for the “The Manifold Potential” projection.

This is a projection named “Little Africa”. It’s one of the few displays I’d read anything about before going and really the only one I sort of sought out. It begins with or ends with or maybe just contains this text panel. 

I’m rather partial to mapped projections. I prefer them to what BLINK calls light sculptures even though I’m not 100% sure I could explain the difference. In my mind, projections contain actual images and are often formatted to match the target surface. Light sculptures are closer to psychedelic light shows of the 1960s shining abstract patterns onto the target. This is a projection called “To the Moon” on the American Building.

I didn’t quite reach “The Inside Out” but I did reach Ziegler Park from where I could see the projection in the distance. Ziegler Park is as far north and east as I made it. Earlier in the evening, I’d thought I might grab something to eat at Asianati Night Market where ten local Asian restaurants had stands set up. However, when I finally stumbled into the place on my way to the car, all I wanted to do was keep moving. I know I saw a lot less than half of all the displays but I think I’ll just have to be satisfied with that. In 2019, I attended two nights and still didn’t see it all. I could go back ln Sunday evening for one more shot following publication of this post but I doubt I will. I’m much more likely to be sitting at home resting my still-tired feet.

Even Mo’ O’Fest

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After a several-year absence, I made it to the 47th Annual Oktoberfest Zinzinnati last month and a week later attended the 2nd Annual Loveland Oktoberfest. I was a little surprised to learn that Loveland had an Oktoberfest but even more surprised to learn that Lebanon was having one this year and had done it eight times before. Not long after putting the 9th Annual Lebanon Oktoberfest on my calendar, I learned that although Hamilton does not, as far as I know, hold an Oktoberfest, it would be having its 11th Annual Operation Pumpkin on the same weekend as Lebanon’s Oktoberfest. Yeah, I went to that too,

As I had with the two other Oktoberfests, I targeted opening time on Friday to avoid the expected larger weekend crowds. There was, of course, a selection of sausages available and I did down a large mettwurst. I had my eye on a Schmidt’s cream puff for dessert but the mett — and two beers — left no room.

Three local breweries, Common, Sonder, and Cartridge, shared a tent and all three offered a fest beer. Cartridge’s fest beer was the only one of the three I had not tried before so that was one of my choices. The other beer I had was from Common. It’s the one pictured. Imported beer was available from a tent operated by Warsteiner. Warped Wing had a tent selling their craft root beer.

Of course, they have one of these and one of these and this too, but it is the flute and banjo that allows The Chardon Polka Band to achieve that complete polka sound that eludes so many. These guys are good — and versatile.

Hamilton’s Operation Pumpkin is considerably larger than the Loveland and Lebanon affairs. I’m guessing that’s partly due to Hamilton being much larger than the other two cities and partly due to differences in the festivals. The pumpkin party is more family oriented. In fact, some of the descriptions I read made it sound so kid friendly that I thought it might not be worth going to for an old man. That was definitely not the case.

There is an area of carnival-style rides and a couple of play areas. Local elementary school students participate by safely decorating pumpkins without carving.

Some displayed pumpkins are not decorated in any way whatsoever. They attract people with their sheer size. Pumpkins over a ton in weight are quite capable of doing that.

Other pumpkins are not carved in the traditional sense but are carved up and the pieces used in other large works of art.

But it is pumpkin carving that is at the heart of the festival. Previously carved pumpkins are on display throughout.

And others are turned into fleeting works of art while we watch.

Big Ol’ Ford Airliner…

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…did not carry me too far away but it did carry me nearly a century into the past.

In 1922, Henry Ford invested in the startup Stout Metal Airplane Company then purchased the entire outfit two years later. The most notable of numerous modifications made to Stout’s original design was the addition of two engines. Ford Tri-Motor production began in 1926 and ceased in 1933 which coincided almost exactly with the period when the Waco Model 10 was produced. There were several Model 10s present at the Waco Fly-In I attended a couple of weeks ago.    

Ford produced 199 Tri-Motors in a span of eight years. In one year less (1927-1933), Waco turned out 1,623 Model 10s. Both airplanes were civilian passenger planes and both were icons of the early days of human flight but similarities between the two don’t go far beyond that. The Ford was all metal while the Waco was mostly cloth-covered wood. The Waco was an open bi-wing with a compartment for two passengers positioned in front of one for the pilot. The Ford was totally enclosed with a pilot and co-pilot sitting ahead of, depending on model, up to seventeen passengers. With a stewardess often part of the crew, it is generally thought of as the first airliner. That these two aircraft were contemporaries and both highly successful is certainly food for thought.

As of Friday, I can list another difference between a Waco 10 and a Tri-Motor. I have never flown in a Waco. On Friday, I took a ride in a Ford Tri-Motor 5-AT-B at the Greene County Airport near Xenia, Ohio. As was the case with the subjects of a couple of last year’s adventures (Smooth As Glass and An Airy Plane Ride), I learned of the touring Tri-Motor through Brandi Betts’ Make the Journey Fun blog. Brandi flew in the plane during its Chillicothe stop and reported on it here.

I guess I was eager to fly like it was 1929 and arrived at the airport before the airplane was even rolled out of the hangar. While chatting with some of the event organizers, I was told it was OK to step inside the plane for some photos which is how I got these shots of the empty interior. Sharp eyes might notice that not everything is triplicated in the cockpit. Tachometers plus pressure and temperature indicators for the outboard engines are mounted on wing struts near the engines.

Before the day’s first flight, the Ford was taxied down the runway for refueling and I was able to watch the three radial engines fire up and the propellers start turning. The into-the-sun shot near the top of this post was also taken at the start of the gas run.

Shortly after the plane’s return, the first set of passengers was given a short briefing and permitted to board. Note that every seat is a window seat and every seat is an aisle seat. Six of the ten seats as well as the extra-charge co-pilot’s seat were occupied by males of a certain age. The other seats were empty.

Not only was every seat a window seat, the windows were real windows and not those too-low and too-small foggy portholes found in today’s airliners. It was even possible to look out the opposite side of the plane. Photos here are of the water-filled gravel pits northeast of the airport, OH-73 crossing Ceasars Creek Lake, and downtown Dayton from eight or ten miles away. Plus I got a pretty good look at the ground during our final bank to return to the airport,

Assuming the event is more heavily attended during the weekend, showing up on Friday morning worked out well in avoiding crowds. The downside was that I wanted to take photos of the next flight and I had to wait a while for it to fill. When it did, I again got to see those props start turning then watch the plane head into the sky.

Flights are about half an hour from engines on to engines off with fifteen to twenty minutes of that being airborne. Having waited to see the takeoff, it only made sense to wait for the landing.

The Transcontinental Ait Transport logo this plane now wears was also the one it wore first. The plane first flew on December 1, 1928, and became the property of TAT in January 1929. Its complete history is told here. The TAT story is a short but important one. Although crossing the continent was not accomplished entirely in the air, the company did put Ford Tri-Motors to work for about a year expediting travel between the coasts. Overnight trains were used to connect New York with Columbus, OH, and  Waynoka, OK, with Clovis, NM. Tri-Motors carried travelers between Columbus and Waynoka and between Clovis and Glendale, CA. The fare for a forty-eight-hour one-way trip was $352.

Rides will be available at the Greene County – Lewis A Jackson Regional Airport until 5:00 PM today (Oct 2, 2022) and at some other spots in Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky during the rest of October. Check it out here.

Mo’ O’fest

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Last week I went to the largest Oktoberfest in the country. This week I went to the closest. And maybe the newest. Several Loveland, Ohio, businesses have been celebrating the occasion for several years, and last year the city itself decided to get involved. Somewhere a town or city might be holding their first ever Oktoberfest but the second ever Loveland Oktoberfest is still something pretty new and an indication that the first one was enough fun to make it an annual event.

As I did with Oktoberfest Zinzinnati, I targeted Friday shortly after opening. In this case, that was 4:00 when I was again able to avoid the larger evening crowds.

Not only did my timing allow me to enjoy a little open space, it allowed me to hear this new-to-me band. Alico does not deliver typical Oktoberfest fare. There isn’t an accordion or tuba anywhere on the stage. The young and talented duo perform rearranged covers mixed with originals that left me quite impressed. I thought the drummer looked kind of familiar and have since learned he is Joe Nasser who was once with Erin Coburn’s band. Spencer Anthony handles guitar and vocals.

City-sponsored parts of the event were concentrated in Nisbet Park and along the bike trail but several businesses had their own activities going on as well. I skipped the biergarten and grabbed a Lovetoberfest Marzen at the trailside Narrow Path Brewing Company.

Then I headed over to Cappy’s Wine and Spirits for their Stein Hoist competition. Several businesses held contests for both men and women with the winners moving on to a Saturday Night city-wide event. The opening photograph shows the final two women contestants toasting each other before one arm faltered to decide the winner.

I didn’t stay for the men’s competition but headed off to Hometown Cafe for dinner. This picture of the cafe was taken shortly after my arrival. It was significantly more crowded when I picked up my schnitzel and spaetzle and walked down the trail to eat it accompanied by dinner music from the Schnapps Band. 

Three in a Row

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Life seems to always get busier as autumn approaches. That’s no doubt partly pure perception as we try to pack as much as possible into the last days of summer but it’s also partially real. Maybe event schedulers once avoided some conflicts by delaying things but there is a limit to how late in the year outdoor activities can be moved without a high risk of cold weather. This week found me participating in blog-worthy outings on three consecutive days. On Thursday, it was the Open Doors: Camp Washington- The Home of Makers walking tour. On Friday, I made it to the first day of Oktoberfest Zinzinnati and on Saturday, a friend and I attended the WACO Fly-In where the photo at right was taken.

The first stop on the Camp Washington tour was at the Crosley factory. An effort is underway to convert the place where radios and appliances were once manufactured into apartments but it has a long way to go. Camp Washington was once filled with factories, meat processing plants, and some oil storage. The 1937 flood damaged many buildings and most of those on Spring Grove Avenue were destroyed by a fire fed by oil floating on the flood waters. The middle picture is of the tallest building in the area to survive. The third picture is of the surviving office building of one of the meatpacking firms.

The only building we entered on the tour was the former hotel and bank that most recently housed US (Uncle Steve’s) Chili. It is now owned by the Cincinnati Preservation Association and slated for renovation. I’ve eaten breakfast and 4-ways here but had never been beyond the first floor. The tile (Rookwood?) fronted fireplace is on the third floor and I also got a shot of a neighbor from that floor. One of the things I remember about US Chili was a large petition calling for removal of the disrespectful (to George) mural seen in that overhead shot and from ground level here.

The tour had started at the American Sign Museum and would technically end there but it more or less disbanded at Valley Park where a farmer’s market was wrapping up for the day. I have driven by the park quite often and have noted its WW I monument but this was the first time I’d actually approached it.

Besides being the host and an interesting Camp Washington building in its own right, the American Sign Museum pulled signs from a pair of former Camp Washington businesses from the attic and offered up some musical entertainment. As marked by a reproduction sign on a parking lot wall, the museum building was once home to Fashion Frocks. I was well aware of that but had never seen any of their products. Tonight the museum had a frock and some advertisements (“Value Priced $7.98”) on display.

My guess that things might not be too crowded on Friday afternoon proved more or less correct. I grabbed a sausage sampler at Mecklenburg’s, a smoked mettwurst at Mick Knoll’s Covington Haus, and a Festbier from the “World’s Oldest Brewery”.

I caught lots of good German music but I didn’t catch any of the performers’ names.

I didn’t catch this guy’s name either but if it’s not Cincinnato Batman I’m going to be really disappointed.

 
 

My completely unqualified impression is that the WACO Fly-In had fewer total planes than usual and that a higher percentage of them were non-WACO but that a higher percentage of the WACOs were the real thing rather than modern reproductions. I also had the more reliable impression that the weather was perfect for the event.

The fly-in is a wonderful place to get up close and fairly personal — no touching — with some beautiful aircraft.

We had semi-intentionally timed our visit to include the Parade of WACOs which meant we got to see quite a few airplanes take off and land and sometimes pause for directions.

And cruise by at fairly low levels, too.
 
 
The WACO story is definitely an interesting one.  An onsite marker tells an extremely brief version with a whole lot more available at the museum website. Or you could probably learn a bunch chatting with this fellow at his color-coordinated airfield campsite.