Tag Archives: Cincinnati Ohio

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.

Light in the Forest

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I doubt anyone will be shocked to learn that Cincinnati Nature Center is not inside the official limits of its namesake city. It lies a bit more than fifteen miles east of downtown Cincinnati near the town of Milford. Some, however, might be a little surprised that I had never been there. The center has existed since 1967 but it wasn’t until the fourth night of the third year of the Light in the Forest event that I actually drove into the property. I drove to walk. There are several drive-through seasonal light displays in the area but I believe this is the only walk-through display anywhere near Cincinnati. It’s just over a mile long, pretty much level, and a real treat for the eyes and the other senses too.

The trail opens at 5:30 with entry assigned at half-hour intervals. I picked the first slot but, in hindsight, that might not have been best. Sunset was at 5:16  and the last rays of sunlight may have benefited the lighted elk by the lake but perhaps not so much the flowers in the Electric Garden by Golden Brown or the color-changing orbs in Owens + Crawley’s Shimmer.

The lingering light probably didn’t affect Polymath’s Fluere very much one way or the other. The projection really held people’s attention and many (including me) stood and stared for a complete cycle of the moving images of butterflies, birds, frogs, and plants.

I treated myself to a white chocolate mocha from Travelin’ Tom’s Coffee Truck just before entering the Krippendorf Lodge. It wasn’t really terribly cold but the hot drink and heated building provided a nice break before heading on down the trail.

Between the lodge and the Visitor Center, lights were descending from the sky and beyond the center, they were twinkling in the trees. I’m sure that many parts of the walk could be appreciated through a good video but the time dimension seemed so important to the twinkling lights that even I was prompted to attempt one. It’s here.

Before looping back to the Visitor Center, the trail continues to a small lake with Lake Lumineer by MDC Design Studio on the other side. The lake reflects the cylinder with its images of wildlife. A pair of Charlie Harper bluebirds can be seen through trees and even better here. The birds are on the side of the Visitor Center which I had erroneously entered earlier. The trail is designed to go past the center, to the lake, then back to the center, and through it. I had simply confused myself by popping into the center as soon as I saw it but eventually sorted things out and caught the big caterpillar as I exited the center as intended.

Near the Abner Hollow Cabin, there is another chance to get warm at a roaring bonfire. The trail forms a big circle with multiple points of entry. I had parked and entered the trail not far from the bonfire.

Even though the bonfire more or less marked the completion of a lap on the trail, I wasn’t quite done. I had been a little disappointed in my earlier look at the Electric Garden which others had cited as a highlight of the experience so I broke some of the oneway pedestrian traffic rules to get a true nighttime look. I was not disappointed at all this time and could now agree with some of the folks I’d overheard earlier. I had dawdled early and often so that many who had started later than I did had passed me long ago.

This was a most pleasant experience and definitely one I recommend. It continues through January 1 with the exception of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I think a 6:00 start might be a little better than 5:30 but there are pros and cons to both. I have enjoyed driving through holiday light displays and I’m sure I’ll be driving through some more. They are bigger with more spectacular displays and they are warmer. But Cincinnati Nature Center’s Light in the Forest offers some real advantages. I’m sure some are immune to it but I, for one, always feel kind of guilty sitting in a line of idling or slowly moving cars and unwelcome fumes are always a possibility when rolling down a window. There is none of that here nor are there any real problems with wanting to travel at a different pace than the guy in front of or behind you. And there’s no problem saying hi to him or her either. “Nature” is very much the operative word here and something I did not fully appreciate until I looked back on my experience is the complete absence of religious or commercial symbols in the displays; Just patterns of light and images of plants and critters. There was — naturally😁 — a touch of commercialism in the gift shop but even there the Santa Clauses were few and were far from prominent in an inventory of classier than usual, often handcrafted, items.

Play Review
Every Christmas Story Ever Told
Cincinnati Shakespeare Company

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At just seventeen years of age, I don’t doubt that some will take issue with me calling this a tradition but that’s how I see it. Starting in 2006, the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company has mounted a production of Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some!) every year except COVID-ravaged 2020. CSC was not the first group to perform the play. That honor belongs to Cape May Stage in Cape May, NJ, which did the play in 2003. Apparently, there were no performances in 2004 then Cape May Stage and two other companies gave it life in 2005. Cape May Stage’s third and final production took place the same year as CSC’s first which means Cincinnati’s sixteen years of performances is the record.

I don’t know when I first became aware of it but it’s certainly been a while, and I long ago read enough about it to think it was something I would enjoy. Yet I somehow had not attended a single performance until this year. They clearly didn’t miss me. This very non-Shakespearean comedy has risen from its very humble beginnings in a downtown bar to become the most popular offering in CSC’s history.

That downtown bar was Arnold’s where the small stage in the courtyard normally might hold a musician or two. The most theatrical things I’ve ever seen there are Reds opening day readings of Casey at the Bat or Who’s On First. I am sure sorry that I missed that first performance and sorry I also missed the next fifteen years even though I don’t know where they took place. I do know, however, one of the actors that appeared in every one of them and this year’s production too. Justin McCombs has been in the cast from the beginning and with the same red Christmas sweater. Other 2022 cast members are Geoffrey Warren Barnes II, Colleen Dougherty, and Candice Handy.

Justin, Geoffrey, and Candice play characters named Justin, Geoffrey/Geoff, and Candice/Candy. Colleen plays Santa Clause who sometimes participates in the action center stage and at other times wisecracks from a stageside sleigh she slowly fills with empty beer — or maybe it’s hard seltzer — cans.

Following some opening remarks from Santa, Candy begins A Christmas Carol but Geoff and Austin aren’t having it. They’ve seen and performed the Charles Dickens story more than enough times and convince her to do every other Christmas story instead. She frequently attempts to return to the original plan with a somber “Marley was dead” but even more frequently participates in whatever story or stories are the focus of the moment.

As one online reviewer somewhat comically (IMO) complains, they don’t really tell EVERY Christmas story but they sure tell a bunch or at least little bits of them. And they sing bits of a bunch of Christmas carols and describe (none too accurately) a bunch of Christmas traditions from around the world. There’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas, It’s a Wonderful Life, A Charlie Brown Christmas, and a ton of others and all are lovingly skewered. To deliver all those stories, Justin, Geoff, and Candy must each fill dozens of roles and they do so wonderfully. For the audience, identifying each character and story is a large part of the fun. Sometimes the roles are coordinated and sometimes things are something of a smash-up like when Clarence the guardian angel visits Ebenezer Scrouge. The script has obviously been updated over the years to include references to current events. This time around, Ye appears as a spokesperson for fruitcake and Santa admits to buying up all of the Taylor Swift tickets.

Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some!) runs through the end of the year (2024 link here) and can provide some real laughs during a time that can be really stressful to some. Of course, those laughs will only come if you don’t take yourself or your Christmas classics too seriously. I did not see an official age requirement but maybe there should be one. Adult topics and humor are sprinkled about along with the tinsel and fake snow.

Playscripts handles licensing for this play and many others. It is where I learned of that first production in Cape May and other details. Most of what I learned there was not at all surprising but one accidental discovery was. The website provides full production history and allows it to be filtered by state. I filtered it by Ohio in order to more easily check Cincinnati’s history and was surprised to see my high school alma mater on the list. The Drama Club of Ansonia High School, which even now has just over 200 students, performed the play in 2014.

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.

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. 

Twelfth Night in the Park

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The Cincinnati Shakespeare Company has presented Shakespeare in the Park every summer since 2007. Benefiting from the relative safety of the open air, that even includes the pandemic-filled summers of 2020 and 2021. Despite considering it several times, I’d never attended a performance until last Friday. That’s when the combination of a convenient location, a clear schedule, and excellent weather came together to get me to a presentation of Twelfth Night in nearby Summit Park.

Summit Park occupies what was once the Blue Ash Airport. One of its most notable features is a 153-foot observation tower. An observation tower seems like something that might be leftover from the airport but this one is not. It was constructed in 2017 as part of the conversion to a park. The tower is temporarily closed for “enhancements and improvements” so I still have not done any observing from it.

The sad truth is that I have only been to the park once before. That was to try one of the restaurants there (Brown Dog) during Burger Week in 2020. I seriously considered returning but in the end decided to try one of the newer eateries. Although not all locations of Chick ‘n Cone do, the one in Summit Park air-fries its chicken. The name comes from the chain featuring chicken served in a cone for “Handheld Chicken & Waffles”. After dinner, I headed next door to Higher Gravity for a Scottish Ale (Sixth Sense Brewing) dessert.

The performance takes place in a covered area between a couple of the original restaurants. There is some permanent seating but most attendees brought their own lawn chairs. The play began with the cast members introducing themselves.

All the actors wore microphones and speakers at the corners of the stage made every line clear within the covered area and beyond.

I’d brought no chair and I tend to prefer roaming to sitting at outdoor events in any case. In this particular case, the area available for roaming included that beyond the play’s backstage. Of course, patrons of the restaurants and people going to and from other sections of the park were roaming in this area too.

I’m guilty of leaving before the play was over. That had nothing to do with the performance but was 100% my fault. I could blame it on the heat of the sun and the distractions of the park but it was my own roaming that made them a factor. The actors were well practiced and enthusiastic and the whole production was top-notch. If anything, I believe the performance might have been better than I expected. Maybe I’ve attended Theater in the Ground at the Renaissance Festival too many times. This was absolutely nothing like that at all. Now that I realize the quality of these outdoor CSC productions, I’ve a feeling I will be more enthused about going the second time than I was the first.  

Got Goetta?

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This is GoettaFest. Regular readers of this blog know what goetta is. Others maybe not. A trailer at the festival had a definition painted on its side. Almost all descriptions, including the one at Wikipedia, have the name Cincinnati in them somewhere. It is very definitely a regional food.

Note that the banner says “GLIER’S GOETTAFEST”. Glier’s Meats has a near monopoly on the product in the area which, as already mentioned, has its own near monopoly. Some family cooks and a few restaurants make their own and there are other commercial producers as this 2018 article shows. Glier’s, however, is king. They own the goetta.com domain, and they own this festival.

Glier’s is a Covington, KY, company and the festival is held on Kentucky’s side of the Ohio River in Newport. The venue, appropriately named “Festival Park at the Levee”, essentially fills the area between the Taylor-Southgate Bridge and the pedestrian-only Purple People Bridge. The Daniel Carter Beard Bridge (a.k.a, Big Mac Bridge) can be seen in the background.

The festival grew to eight days in 2019 but it avoids those sluggish mid-week days with a pair of expanded weekends, July 28-31 and August 4-7. It’s also something of a music festival with bands performing full-time on stages at both ends. I was there shortly after opening on Thursday when Whiskey Daze was on the west stage and What About Jane was on the east stage.

I had to check the food listing to learn that the name of this stand was Original Corn Roast. Its offerings were many and included some goettaless items. I got my Goetta Mac from there and washed it down with Braxton’s Garage Beer.

Goetta Mac is something I’ve eaten before and will again. The Goetta Balls from Goettahaus were new to me. I won’t take extreme measures to avoid them in the future but they aren’t something I have a strong urge for.

I had wanted to try the goetta pizza but my appetite ran out before my choices did. And there were plenty of other good-looking options beyond that.

I once ate a hamburger between a split donut so maybe I could have handled this but I didn’t even consider it.

GoettaFest opens at noon today (Sun 7/31) and is back next Thursday for another four-day run. Get there while the goetta getting is good.

The World’s at My Door

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It was just Thursday morning that I learned of the international competition about to take place just a few miles from my home. After hearing a brief news article on the radio, I went online to find more information and to secure a ticket to the event’s opening day activities. What little I now know about the World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) and the World Ultimate Club Championships (WUCC) I’ve learned in the last two days. One of the first things I learned is that “Ultimate” is the name of the game itself. It is one of the few bits of silliness remaining in a game involving descendants of pans used by a pie company founded in 1871 by a guy named Frisbie.

The opening picture shows the flags of the thirty countries participating in the 2022 WUCC ready to be carried onto the field. The sequence is alphabetical from Argentina through Venezuela. As the host country, the United States comes on last.

After marching past the stands, the flag carriers form a line in the middle of the playing field. Here the USA takes up the appropriate position a few spots from the end. Some speeches follow but they are not overly long. This is the second time the WUCC have been held in the Cincinnati area. The first was in 2018. The 2022 games were originally scheduled to take place in the UK. When problems developed, the success of those 2018 games was remembered and Cincinnati was asked to play host once again.

As the flag bearers left the field, nearby sharp eyes located a plane circling overhead. Before long, three shapes emerged and three parachutes opened. Delivery of the American flag was accompanied by the singing of The Star Spangled Banner.

The day’s only game followed the opening ceremonies and I got to see live Ultimate for the first time. In the short time since making plans to attend, I’d learned enough of the rules for a basic understanding of the on-field action. Ultimate is a contactless sport. The flying disc (a.k.a., Frisbee) is advanced only by throwing. A point is scored by a catch in the endzone.

The Traffic from Canada played the MUD from Japan. The game is played to fifteen points with a halftime break at eight points. The teams essentially alternated scoring during the first half and were only once separated by more than a point. That’s also how the second half began but eventually team MUD pulled away. These pictures show the final point of their 15-10 win.

There are 128 teams competing all week at Mason High School and the Lebanon Sports Complex. I really enjoyed watching my first game and just might get back for more. The final games and closing ceremonies are next Saturday. Daily tickets for Sunday through Friday are $5. Closing day tickets are $20. Get ’em here.

 

Cincy Burger Week Plus

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With Ohio Burger Week running Monday through Sunday and this blog being published too early on Sundays for hamburger eating, my 2020 report came up a day short and the 2021 report did even worse as the first two days were lost to travel. But this year I’ve had seven straight days of hamburgers at press time although the first of those days wasn’t in Cincinnati or even in Ohio.

I found myself in Richmond, Indiana, last Sunday and, as is my habit, queried my phone about nearby breweries. It told me of 5 Arch Brewing which would be open by the time I could reach it in nearby Centerville. My plan was to just have a beer until I learned about their food and their hamburgers in particular. I had two choices: I could save myself for the launch of Burger Week the next day or I could get an early start. I obviously opted for the early start and am very happy that I did. The ‘burger (and the fries and the Nut Brown ale) was excellent and I had a beautiful 1893 back bar to look at while I ate.

My first official 2022 Burger Week ‘burger came from Craft Burger Bros. They were operating at Streetside Brewery on Monday but served their “Grippo Cheeseburger” at other locations throughout the week. I thought the Black Cats ale accompanied it nicely. Since I had already involved two businesses in my meal, I saw no harm in involving a third so headed to Aglamesis Brothers for dessert. It’s Pineapple & Pecan, an old flavor that was brought back temporarily for their centennial. It was so popular that it now comes back every summer and it brings me back.

On Tuesday I downed a “Magic Mushroom Burger” at Lori’s American Grill. It was delightfully messy and magically (the mushrooms are hiding under the melted mozzarella) delicious.

5 Arch and Lori’s were totally new to me and so was Burger Bros although Streetside Brewery was not. Wednesday’s ‘burger stop was familiar in a different way. The building that now houses Sinners and Saints, was once home to a place called Brew River where I’d eaten several times. My “Venerable Beast” was topped with a single onion ring rather than the onion straws in the sandwich’s description but I don’t think it made me enjoy it any less. The glass advertises a local brewery but it contains Summer Ale from Sam Adams, an event sponsor.

On Thursday, it was back to something completely new at Revolution Rotisserie. As you might have guessed from the name, their specialty is rotisserie chicken but the menu isn’t limited to just chicken. Their Burger Week offering, “The Amador”, was quite good. That’s Fretboard’s Vlad in the glass.

Friday was a double-dip day, and the only day where the ‘burger was one I’d eaten before. Although it’s more often for a Nueske ham sandwich than a hamburger, I’ve visited The Turf Club many times. I’ve even indulged in the Burgundy wine mushroom sauce in the past but remember that sandwich costing noticeably more than the $7 Burger Week rate. That memory is why I put this ‘burger firmly on this year’s list from the beginning. By sitting at the counter, I could watch Ron cook my Fieri Burger (named for the D, D, & D guy) and then have him personally deliver it. Today I have a Northern Row beer (Hustler) but no Northern Row glass. Those who lament the external stripping of the neon-encased Terry’s Turf Club might be somewhat assuaged by the fact that the inside remains the same.

The second dip of the day was the special Burger Week dessert at the Macaron Bar in Hyde Park. “…chocolaty cheese and lettuce”, oh my!

My string of hamburgers ends as it started, in a brewery in a neighboring state. There are some big differences though, including the fact that it’s close enough to Cincinnati to be included in its Burger Week listing and it is a place I’ve visited before. I counted Bircus Brewery as my 200th and I’ve been here a couple of times since but have never eaten here. Bircus has always been a little different. Its home is a former theater and it has always been part brewery and part circus. The kitchen is a fairly recent addition. Its meat is sourced from the farm it supplies with spent grain making it a brewery-to-farm-to-table restaurant. Pizzas are always available; hamburgers are a Burger Week special. That’s a “Burger Alla Pendleton” in the basket and Lagoon Scotch Ale in the glass.

That’s a wrap. I end my personal ‘burger week on Saturday so I can write it up in my weekly post on Sunday morning. But the official Ohio Burger Week continues through today so you still have time to squeeze some buns and chomp on some patties. Every one of the seven pictured on this page would be worth your time and money and I’ve a hunch that all the others listed on the Burger Week website would be too. Last year was the first time that The Turf Club (nee Terry’s Turf Club) participated in Burger Week and this is the first year I’ve eaten there as part of the Burger Week binge. I’m not going to try ranking or even rating the ‘burgers I tried beyond saying that I retain my belief that in my experience The Turf Club serves the best hamburger in Cincinnati.