Tag: findlay market

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Arts & Entertainment News

Historic Over-the-Rhine brewery tours expand offerings

Five years ago a group of people started to reveal a bit of Cincinnati’s history by offering the very first Prohibition Resistance Tours in the historic Over-the-Rhine Brewery District.

Since those first tours the reaction has been positive and overwhelming as they have continually sold out when offered, first at the annual Bockfest celebration and then starting during Oktoberfest weekend last year.

“When we started the Prohibition Resistance Tours in 2006, we were entering new territory.  We believed that there were a lot of other people out there like us who would be fascinated by Cincinnati’s brewing history and intrigued by our literal brewing underground,” says Michael D. Morgan, Brewery District CURC board member and author of Over-the-Rhine: When Beer was King.

The Prohibition Resistance Tours: The Lager Tour will be offered all summer long and commence at the Findlay Market Biergarten promptly at 1pm each Saturday and Sunday. These walking tours will run about ninety minutes long and include visits into the old Clyffside Brewery as well as a trip into the Clifton hillside lagering cellars at the historic Jackson Brewery building.

With a limit of 50 people per tour, it is highly recommended that reservations be made in advance through their website. A portion of the proceeds from each ticket sold go back to helping preserve the building stock that makes up Cincinnati’s brewing history in Over-the-Rhine.

The Lager Tour will be offered every weekend from now until mid September which leads right into Oktoberfest weekend when The Marzen Tours are scheduled to coincide with both Cincinnati’s famous Oktoberfest as well as the reincarnation of the Hudy 14k run.

Categories
Arts & Entertainment News

German Day Weekend reminds Cincinnatians of German roots

The 2010 German Day Parade.

Cincinnati’s German heritage will be evident this Saturday and Sunday at the 116th German Day Weekend.  The event will begin at 11am Saturday June 4 at Findlay Market with a parade and opening ceremony.  German dance and singing groups will perform, and representatives from numerous area German-American societies will be on hand.

Dr. Don Heinrich Tolzmann, president of the German-American Citizen’s League and author of several books including German Cincinnati, says that “Germans influenced just about everything in the area: even the symbol of the city, the Tyler Davidson fountain which was brought from Munich, and the suspension bridge, which was built by Roebling, a German immigrant.”


2010 German Day Parade.

Along with St. Louis and Milwaukee, Cincinnati forms a part of the German Triangle, consisting of the three major centers of German heritage in the United States.  The first Germans came to this area in the late 18th century, and many followed in the 19th and 20th century.  “Germans were involved in all different industries in addition to brewing, like baking, banking, and music,” said Tolzmann, a retired UC professor.

On Sunday, June 5, join the fun at Hofbräuhaus Newport, where German music can be enjoyed throughout the day along with German food and plenty of beer.  Hourly raffle prizes will culminate in a grand raffle at 5:30pm: a dinner party for 20 at Hofbräuhaus.  Raffles will support the GACL and Cincinnati’s German Heritage Museum. 

The museum, which showcases memorabilia, artifacts and pictures relating to Cincinnati’s German history, located at 4764 West Fork Road, is open 1pm to 5pm on Sundays and by appointment.

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Business News

UC Farmers Market celebrates growth, kicks off fourth year of operation

The University of Cincinnati seasonal farmers market will begin its fourth year of operation today after being cancelled last Monday due to inclement weather. The market will run from 10am to 3pm and will include offerings from eight to ten vendors.

The 2011 year brings with it continued growth for the UC Farmers Market. Since 2008, the seasonal market has seen its number of vendors increase roughly 33 percent, hours and days of operation expand, and the number of students showing up to the markets grow. According to Shawn Tubb, the seasonal farmers market had humble beginnings.

“A farmers market is something that I and many other students had asked about hosting on campus, as other colleges were having them around the country,” explained Tubb who currently serves as UC’s Sustainability Cooridnator. “It was mostly seen as a one-time event, both to publicize local food and Findlay Market, and also hopefully convince MainStreet that it was something that could be done on a regular basis.”

Following the initial market, Tubb says, MainStreet leaders were impressed with attendance and the popularity of the market. That early success led to the support for future markets.

The UC Farmers Market now operates every Monday and is scheduled to operate until June 6 this spring. A second seasonal market will take place in the fall and continue in the same spirit of promoting local food and many Findlay Market vendors who are otherwise closed on Mondays.

“If we want to sustain our neighborhoods, and seek to improve our communities and reduce crime, it starts with taking down some of these barriers and reaching out to each other,” said Biology and Environmental Studies major Brian Kunkemoeller. “We’ve lost touch with each other, and the real beauty of the farmers market is seeing real people connect in a backyard or corner market kind of way.”

The University of Cincinnati seems to agree with Tubbs and Kunkemoeller about the importance of having the seasonal markets. After discussions began in May 2010, UC’s Office of Sustainability has agreed to operate the markets themselves and pay students to staff general operations.

Students or members of the general public interested in attending one of the weekly UC Farmers Markets this spring can do so by visiting the university’s MainStreet (map) on Mondays between 10am to 3pm. The markets are free and open to the public. Metro bus service provides convenient access to the uptown area.

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Business Development News

OTR leaders look to past for Brewery District’s future

In 2006 volunteers and community leaders developed an urban master plan for Over-the-Rhine. The plan developed goals and strategies to help reinvigorate the historic neighborhood, but now a familiar group of community leaders is looking to take the plan to the next level.

The new planning effort announced today by the Brewery District Community Urban Redevelopment Corporation (BDCURC) and Glaserworks will focus on the northern part of the neighborhood surrounding Findlay Market and the Brewery District. Organizers say that the goal is to take a more targeted economic approach.

“This is not really a comprehensive master plan, but rather a process to form a development plan for the area,” explained BDCURC executive director Steven Hampton. “We’ve got different buildings and building heights than the rest of OTR, and we are looking at how we can best use those assets.”

The 2006 plan, for which this planning effort is based, called for a number of items that have since moved forward including the Cincinnati Streetcar, Urban Mix Zoning District and the branding of the Brewery District. Still though, leaders say more needs to be done for the historic sub-area of OTR which includes an estimated 44 structures that were at one point used for beer brewing purposes.

“We’ve had some good successes being a volunteer group with virtually no budget, but now we are looking for official partners like Glaserworks and funding options for this next effort”

There is reason for hope in this long beleaguered area of Over-the-Rhine though. Rookwood Pottery and Christian Moerlein have opened up major operations in the area, and Findlay Market has experienced tremendous success over recent years. Hampton also says that the future of the area with the streetcar looks bright.

“As a whole everyone has struggled with the economy, but there has been more interest as the streetcar gets closer to fruition,” Hampton said. “We’re getting closer from a couple of different angles, and a lot of smaller investment has kept the area moving forward.”

The planning effort will start in earnest this spring and will look to capitalize off of the neighborhood’s existing urban assets. True loft-style residences, hillside development, large warehouses and typical Over-the-Rhine building stock all exist in the northern reaches of the neighborhood. And this is where community leaders believe the future lies.

“You’re going to see a neighborhood that’s really a mixed-use, walkable neighborhood which has protected its industrial and small businesses while also bringing in new ones,” Hampton concluded. “We’re not reinventing the wheel here. This is how the area is built, and that’s how it will continue to function. We’re just hoping to capitalize on that.”

Categories
Business Development News

Belgian immigrant finds business success in Cincinnati

[This story was originally published in the Cincinnati Business Courier print edition on January 21, 2011. Visit the original story for more comments, thoughts and opinions on Taste of Belgium’s business growth – Randy.]

 Nearly four years ago, Belgian immigrant Jean-Francois Flechet baked and sold his first waffles at Cincinnati’s historic Findlay Market. Since then Flechet has seen his waffle business grow in sales, staff, locations, cities, offerings and exposure. Now that Taste of Belgium has opened its second Cincinnati location at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (NURFC), Flechet has his eyes on yet even more growth.

“The food is creative and fresh,” Stephanie A. Creech, external relations manager with the NURFC exclaimed. “Additionally, we’re all looking forward to their upcoming early morning opening so that those who arrive early to the Freedom Center or who park in The Banks can enjoy a fresh cup of coffee or a latte and a waffle before starting their work day.”

The first day Taste of Belgium was at Findlay Market Flechet says he sold 50 waffles. Now, he states, they serve hundreds of people on an average Saturday and baked over 1,000 waffles this past Labor Day at the historic market.

The passionate Flechet, who can often be found offering up free samples of his popular waffles at Findlay Market, says that the early help of Jean-Robert de Cavel, Jean-Philippe Solnom, Bryan Madison and Johan Kars is what has allowed him to reach the level of success Taste of Belgium currently enjoys in Cincinnati, Dayton and Columbus.

“At first I was doing absolutely everything myself. I was making the dough at one of Jean-Robert’s restaurants and I would bring it to Findlay early in the morning and would start baking at the back of Madison’s produce store.”

Three-and-a-half years later Flechet now has close to 30 employees, one of the most prominent spaces inside Findlay Market, Taste of Belgium at the NorthStar Café inside the NURFC, locations in Columbus’ North Market and Wexner Center, and is about to sign an agreement that will give the Taste of Belgium business its first stand alone store that will offer “much more than waffles.”

Flechet says that he has signed a letter of intent for a store located inside the Gateway Quarter of Over-the-Rhine. Once open, he says that Taste of Belgium will centralize all of their production activities for the Cincinnati region there, include a bar, and affordable food offerings. But Flechet is not content with simply appeasing the masses flocking to the Gateway Quarter.

“I made vegan waffles this past National Vegan Day so that my friend Dan Korman at Park+Vine could finally have a waffle. We are also making French macaroons with the new pastry chef we have on board.”

Following his expansion in Cincinnati, the plan is to start franchising the business elsewhere in the United States.

“Cincinnati is a great place to run a test [business]; if the concept works in Cincinnati it can work anywhere,” explained Flechet. “We are also working on a new website to improve shipping, and we hope to start producing our waffle irons in the U.S. soon, but right now I’m just having a lot of fun.”

Taste of Belgium photography by UrbanCincy contributer Thadd Fiala.