Tag: events

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Arts & Entertainment News

Great day in Cincy

This past Saturday was a great day. It started at Fountain Square where I met up with several friends. The Square was crowded, the Reds game was on the LED board, a wedding party posed for pictures and horse-drawn carriages were in high demand.

Chris, Jake and myself went for a walk around Downtown to take some photos and enjoy the beautiful, albeit windy, weather. We eventually made our way over to the historic West Fourth Street area. Just after checking out the progress on the McFarland Lofts project we looked up at the new Parker Flats midrise and saw 5chw4r7z and Ms. 5chw4r7z with a couple friends enjoying their wrap around balcony.

They invited us up to check out their digs which we discovered to be a chic urban living space complete with ‘city doors.’ We arrived just in time to see the Bengals make their first selection in the 2009 NFL Draft and were pleased with the selection of an offensive tackle.

We worked our way back to the Square where Sherman and Chris had dinner on Via Vite‘s rooftop terrace. I worked my way further north into Over-the-Rhine where I met my father for dinner on Lavomatic‘s beautiful rooftop terrace.

Following dinner I met back up with Chris outside of Park + Vine and we walked down to City Cellars where we met a couple more people and had a couple glasses of wine out on City Cellars‘ patio. We then worked our way south, en route to the Cyclones game at US Bank Arena, stopping at Chipotle on Fountain Square for a quick bite for our other friends who had not yet eaten.

We arrive a little late to the Cyclones game and noticed we were already trailing 3-1 which quickly became a 4-1 deficit. Right about this point a t-shirt was launched from a canon in my direction. Making quick use of my eye-hand coordination, I snatched the t-shirt out of the air and savored my prize.

The third period hit and the Cyclones had charged all the way back and tied the game at 4-4. To overtime we went and the Cyclones quickly scored ending the game and taking a 2-0 series lead. After the game finished we split off as our two friends went to JeanRo Bistro for some drinks while Chris and I went to go meet up with Sherman once more in Over-the-Rhine.

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News

Last chance to see the ’09 Cincinnati Flower Carpet

If you haven’t yet visited Fountain Square to check out this year’s Flower Carpet then you need to hurry up as it will only be on display until Saturday, April 25th.

Cincinnati’s annual Flower Carpet started taking bloom in 2007 and is similar to the Biennial Floral Carpet in Brussels, Belgium. What happens each year is flowers take the form of a massive art project on Fountain Square and act as a “flower carpet” for several weeks until it is dismantled.

View of last year’s Flower Carpet from Carew Tower

This year’s display will be dismantled on Sunday, April 26th. Starting at 8am the public will be able to go to Fountain Square and take home some of the pansies used in the display for themselves – for free.

In the mean time though you should go and check out the display. A great spot to view it from is the Carew Tower Observation Deck. It’s cheap ($2 for adults, $1 for children), offers unobstructed 360 degree views of Cincinnati and a great aerial view of the Flower Carpet and Fountain Square.

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Business Development News Politics

National Dark Sky Week 2009

Tonight, take a look into the sky. Your view will be very different than that of someone a century ago. You will likely see a lot more light, and a lot fewer stars, than our ancestors would have seen.

An unfortunate side effect of our modern industrial society is light pollution. Unlike the contamination of our air or water, light pollution is one type of contamination people may not think about or take very seriously. But over-illumination causes a variety of issues, such as an annoying nighttime glow, unnecessary energy usage, problems for astronomers, and even human health problems like reduced visual acuity and increased fatigue. Like our air and water, our dark night sky is a natural resource that we must work together to preserve.

Today marks the beginning of National Dark-Sky Week (April 20-26, 2009). This annual event encourages Americans to audit their outdoor light fixtures and reduce their contribution to this problem. To help, you can turn off any unnecessary lights and make sure the rest are aimed toward the ground and are only as bright as necessary. Maybe even consider purchasing a directional shade to prevent your fixtures from spilling light upward.

One emerging technology that may help reduce light pollution is LED lighting. Although LED bulbs last longer and use less energy than incandescent or even CFL bulbs, their highly-directional light is typically seen as a drawback. In the case of outdoor lighting, directionality could be a benefit, as less light leaks up to the sky.

Although it may seem minor in comparison to other pressing issues, it’s easy to make a small step toward reducing light pollution and improving public quality of life. This National Dark-Sky Week, take a moment to think about the simple things you can do to reduce your impact.

Photo courtesy of NASA.

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News Politics Transportation

Metro debuts new hybrid buses

Metro will debut the first 6 of their 15 new hybrid buses on Tuesday, April 21st. The ceremony (10:30am) will take place at the Twin Lakes Overlook in Eden Park where Mayor Mallory, ODOT and others will dedicate the new buses that will then be paraded (11:00am) through Eden Park, past Mirror Lake and into downtown via 5th Street to Fountain Square.

The new hybrid buses will have a “unique go*GREEN hybrid design” that will reduce soot and hydrocarbon emissions by at least 90% and use about 30% less fuel that the typical Metro bus. Additional hybrid buses will be purchased next year with some of the $17.5 million that Metro received from stimulus funds in March.

The 6 new hybrid buses will go into service the next day and will be featured in a lunchtime Earth Day event on Fountain Square before officially being launched into service at 1pm. At the Earth Day event, there will be a fashion show of “environmentally-conscience and bike beautiful” fashions. The models will arrive on the new hybrid buses and will use the Flower Carpet, on Fountain Square, as their runway. Visitors will also be able to check out the new hybrid buses and get more information on Metro during the event.

To learn more about Metro’s new hybrid buses check out this interactive diagram.

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Arts & Entertainment Business News

Lavomatic turns 1 and opens rooftop terrace

Lavomatic will celebrate its 1 Year Anniversary and the reopening of their rooftop terrace tomorrow night (4/17) with a pig roast, drinks and a live DJ. The urban food and wine bar will offer the pig roast for $20 and everyone’s favorite OTR Ale for just $2. The fun will start at 8pm in the heart of the Gateway Quarter in Cincinnati’s historic Over-the-Rhine.

Lavomatic Cafe is located in a former laundromat in a single story building wedged in between multi-story structures on both sides. The rooftop terrace has a great view of the Art Academy and surrounding OTR buildings. The neat thing about it is that the terrace is surrounded by renovated buildings that now boast condos just feet away.

If you haven’t yet been to the Gateway Quarter this may be a great chance for you to get acquainted. Come down a little early and go check out the businesses nearby that are all within a short walk and make for great browsing/window shopping.

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