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Arts & Entertainment News Transportation

Prize to be awarded for best idea at improving urban mobility at September’s URBANexchange

Due to the Reds home schedule, we had to adjust our regularly planned meeting time for this month’s URBANexchange at the Moerlein Lager House. Instead of being held on the first Tuesday of the month, we will be holding it on Thursday, September 13 from 5pm to 7:30pm.

This month we will be getting together just as we have been, but to jumpstart the conversation we thought we would give it a transit theme. We hope you come to discuss ideas that could help improve urban mobility.


Attendees enjoy the Moerlein Lager House and conversation at the August 2012 URBANexchange. Photograph by John Yung for UrbanCincy.

All of the ideas submitted will be reviewed by the UrbanCincy team. The person with the winning submission will then have their idea profiled in an UrbanCincy.com feature story. Will we also do a drawing, from the submitted entries, for a free Metro monthly bus pass courtesy of the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (SORTA).

The themed transit discussion corresponds with the Metropolis & Mobility Seminar taking place at the University of Cincinnati, and we have confirmed that Paul Grether, Metro’s Manager of Rail Services, will be among those in attendance.

Other notable transportation experts are also expected to be confirmed within the coming days, so stay tuned for those announcements as we get closer to the event date.

Those interested in attending are encouraged to stop by the biergarten at the Moerlein Lager House (map) anytime between 5pm and 7:30pm. There is no entry fee, but we do strongly encourage you to support our host establishment by purchasing food or drink while you are there.

Due to scheduled events at the Moerlein Lager House, it is expected to be a bit more crowded than usual. As a result, we recommend that you arrive early so that we can reserve additional space as is necessary.

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Arts & Entertainment Business News

Moerlein, Paulaner bringing massive festival tent to Cincinnati’s central riverfront for Oktoberfest

Cincinnati has long been home of the world’s largest Oktoberfest celebration outside of Munich, and it will soon be getting larger. At the 2012 Oktoberfest Zinzinnati festival, the Moerlein Lager House will partner with Germany’s Paulaner Brewery to create the ÜberDrome.

The ÜberDrome will be a massive Oktoberfest tent covering the entire event lawn at Smale Riverfront Park. It will connect with the biergarten at the Moerlein Lager House and will create a space for approximately 3,000 festival goers.

“This ‘über’ fest tent, filled with Munich-style tables and benches, will span the entire length and width of the Schmidlapp Event Lawn, adjacent to the Lager House in Smale Riverfront Park,” said Greg Hardman, Managing Partner of the Moerlein Lager House and CEO of the Christian Moerlein Brewing Company. “The Oktoberfest beer will be flowing, there’ll be endless platters of delicious German dishes and the celebration will go on and on!”

The Moerlein Lager House will add a new element to Cincinnati’s annual Oktoberfest celebration when it introduces the ÜberDrome in 2012. Photograph by Randy A. Simes for UrbanCincy.

Paulaner is a famed German brewery that is well known for its enormous festival tent in the Theresienwiese during Munich’s Oktoberfest. Hardman says that the brewery was looking for a perfect location to present their Munich-style Oktoberfest celebration in Cincinnati, and determined that the central riverfront was just that.

The ÜberDrome will feature German-style pretzels, specially made Hudepohl Beer Wurst and other sausages, wiener schnitzel and strudel plus a wide selection of Paulaner and Moerlein beers including the Paulaner Oktoberfest Weisn, which was the original beer sold at Munich’s Oktoberfest.

The festival tent will also include a performance stage in the center of the space that will feature a variety skits, comedy, games, and music by Bavarian-style bands like Alpen Echos, Pros’t, and Heuboden Musikanten who will fly in from Germany for the event.

“This has been a life’s dream of mine to bring something like this to Cincinnati and, like the Moerlein Lager House itself, we are shooting for the ‘WOW’ factor,” explained Hardman.

Cincinnati’s 2012 Oktoberfest celebrations will take place from Friday, September 21 through Sunday, September 23. The ÜberDrome (map) will be open on these days from 4pm to midnight on Friday and Saturday, and 12pm to 9pm on Sunday.

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Arts & Entertainment Development News

Weekend events to celebrate new riverfront park, progress in Over-the-Rhine

This weekend is poised to be a busy one with a variety of unique events taking place throughout the basin. We do not often plug events nowadays, but this is a weekend where you do not want to be absent from Downtown and Over-the-Rhine.

GoOTR 5k + Summer Celebration
The next big event will take place Saturday morning in historic Over-the-Rhine. The sixth annual GoOTR 5k will begin at 10am, and will raise money for the Over-the-Rhine Chamber of Commerce. While online registration has closed, those interested can still register in person today from 5pm to 7pm, 11am to 7:30pm on Friday, or immediately prior to the race on Saturday starting at 8:30am.


Festival-goers enjoy the 2009 OTR Summer Celebration. Photograph by Randy A. Simes for UrbanCincy.

The race is the first leg of the Cincinnati Triple Crown. The winner will receive a custom trophy from Rookwood Pottery and the rights to continue on their hunt for Triple Crown glory at the Hyde Park Blast and Downtown Dash.

The accompanying OTR Summer Celebration will take place immediately following the completion of the race along Vine Street between 12th and 13th streets. Officially starting at 4pm, the street fair will include local merchants and live music from Wussy, Josh Eagle and the Harvest City, Shiny and the Spoon, The Cincy Brass, Young Professionals Choral Collective, Pones Inc., and a special performance from the Blue Wisp’s Young Lions and their legendary jazz drummer Philip Paul.

Smale Riverfront Park Grand Opening
On Friday evening, city officials and community leaders will celebrate the grand opening of the first phase of the Smale Riverfront Park. The new park is the latest piece of Cincinnati’s central riverfront transformation. The completed first phase includes the area along Mehring Way between the Roebling Suspension Bridge and Great American Ball Park, and includes the Moerlein Lager House, an event lawn, multiple water features, monuments and the new Bike Mobility Visitors Center.

The bike center is seen another step forward for the city’s bike program after recently receiving an award from the League of American Bicyclists. The facility features bike rentals, shower stations, lockers and indoor bicycle parking, along with a knowledgeable staff at the center to perform bicycle repairs.

The grand opening celebration will begin at 6:15pm at the Schmidlapp Event Lawn, and will feature live music, free UDF ice cream, and a fireworks show at dusk. Those looking for a sneak peek of the new park can view the most recent construction progress video on YouTube.

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Up To Speed

Christian Moerlein inducted into Beer Barons Hall of Fame

Christian Moerlein inducted into Beer Barons Hall of Fame

To celebrate the 194th birthday of Cincinnati brewer Christian Moerlein, he was welcomed into the Beer Barons Hall of Fame as its first member. By the time Moerlein turned 60, his brewery was one of the largest in the nation, exporting beer across the county and internationally. More from the Cincinnati Enquirer:

“Christian Moerlein was way up here,” said Greg Hardman, the managing partner of the $10-million restaurant and CEO of the revived Christian Moerlein Brewing Co. He raised his hand way above his head to indicate Moerlein’s standing. Lowering his hand to his belt, he said, “this is where the list of the other great brewers in town starts.”

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Business Development News

Yard House to open first Ohio restaurant along Cincinnati’s central riverfront

The Banks development team announced today that Yard House, an upscale American fusion restaurant with 100-250 taps, will open its first location in Ohio on Cincinnati’s central riverfront.

The 10,000-square-foot restaurant will be the first stand-alone commercial tenant at The Banks, and will be located immediately in front of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center at the corner of Walnut Street and Freedom Way. Project officials say that the new structure will have an urban, industrial design featuring an open floor plan, exposed pipes, warm moods and stainless steel accents.


The Banks development has exceeded expectations in its first phase of development, and may soon break ground on phase two. Photograph by Randy A. Simes for UrbanCincy.

“Yard House will be a great addition to The Banks,” stated Scott Stringer, executive vice president at Carter, in a prepared release. “We are committed to making sure The Banks becomes a destination with unique entertainment and eating options. Yard House helps us recognize that vision.”

The restaurant was originally started along Los Angeles’ famed Long Beach waterfront nearly 16 years ago and has since spread across the United States to 38 select cities. In addition to this being Yard House’s first location in Ohio, it will become only their second Midwestern location with the other being located in Chicago.

The location is one of two buildable sites in front of the NURFC intended for restaurants, and will be located across from Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse which is currently under construction.

With phase one of development almost entirely occupied, speculation will now turn to when the second phase of construction will get underway. Cincinnati Mayor Mallory has already hinted that groundbreaking could take place this summer.