Tag: fountain square

Categories
News

New Year’s Celebration on Fountain Square

Come downtown to ring in 2010! Fountain Square will feature a 15,000 pound Ice Bar, which includes a Red Bull ice luge. Faucets are frozen inside the bar so beer can be tapped from inside the ice. The bar is about 20 feet long, 12 feet deep and 10 feet high. Soda, snacks, draft beer, champagne and mixed drinks will be available for purchase. Additionally, Strauss & Troy are sponsoring FREE ice skating and skate rentals, which are typically $2.50 each.

DJ Pillo will spin tunes all night to keep the non-skaters moving as well. At 11pm, watch Red Bull’s “New Year No Limits” TV special live on ESPN. Red Bull athlete Travis Pastrana will drive a car off a pier in Long Beach and land it on a barge floating in the harbor, in an attempt to set a world record for longest distance jump in a rally car. Then at 11:59 pm be part of a live television crowd on Fox 19 that counts down to the New Year and welcomes 2010 with fireworks by Rozzi’s Famous Fireworks.

Parking is available all evening in the Fountain Square Garage for just $5. Or leave the car at home by taking a bus to the event (plan your trip now). You could always take a cab home if needed.

Fountain Square Ice Bar photograph by 5chw4r7z.
Categories
News

Happy Holidays Cincinnati

The UrbanCincy team would like to wish everyone a merry Christmas and happy holiday season. Thanks for reading and supporting Cincinnati’s urban core.

Categories
News

Fountain Square Ice Rink open on Christmas!!

It’s less than two days until the Big Day arrives. After a frenzied couple of hours, the presents will be opened, the food will be eaten, and all the preparations for the Christmas holiday will be dismissed in a pile of discarded wrapping paper and distended bellies. If you’re looking to spend some quality family time beyond the 24 hour “Christmas Story” marathon, look no further than our beloved Fountain Square.

The U.S. Bank Ice Rink will be open Christmas Day, Friday Dec. 25, from 2pm to 10pm. The rink will also be open New Year’s Day, Friday Jan. 1, from 2pm to 10pm.

Regular hours from now through Sunday Jan. 3 are Sunday through Thursday from 10am to 10pm, and Friday & Saturday from 10am to midnight. From January 4 to February 21, the regular hours will change to:

  • Sunday – Wednesday: noon – 6pm
  • Thursday: noon – 10pm
  • Friday & Saturday: noon – 10pm
  • Holidays: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and President’s day: 10am – 6pm

The cost to skate is $2.50 per person. Skate rental is also $2.50 or feel free to bring your own skates. Parking is conveniently located in the Fountain Square Garage for just $5 after 4pm on weekdays and all day on weekends, and Metro’s Government Square bus hub is located less than a block away for convenient bus service. Bicycle parking is also plentiful on/around the square.

Come start a new holiday tradition on Fountain Square this holiday season. And if you’re not in town but want to live vicariously through others, Cincinnati Bell has a live webcam of the ice skating area here.

Categories
Arts & Entertainment Business News

Bill Donabedian talks about Fountain Square’s success

Remember that precarious group of Cincinnatians who referred to the renovation of Fountain Square and its large underground parking garage as a boondoggle? If you do, I would bet that these people are hoping you forget all about the reckless boondoggle claims of theirs.

Fountain Square has always been a central gathering point for Cincinnatians, but in recent years the public space has transformed into something much more. The Square has become exactly what planners envisioned it would become following the renovation of the space – a living room of sorts where all Cincinnatians feel welcome to come and hang out.

Thousands of people pack the Square each day for lunch, nights are often filled with concert or movie crowds, touring events make certain to utilize the space, and the majority of Cincinnati’s premier festivals use it as the center point to their festivals. In this video, Fountain Square’s managing director Bill Donabedian speaks with Soapbox Cincinnati about programming the Square, its recent success and more with a Bengals tailgate on the Square providing the backdrop.

Fountain Square from Soapboxmedia.com.

Categories
News

Popopolis bringing great local music to Fountain Square this weekend

If you weren’t able to get your fix of live music at Midpoint Music Festival last weekend, or if you’re itching for more, then this weekend on Fountain Square is for you. On Friday, October 2 and Saturday, October 3 Fountain Square will play host to the first Popopolis music event.

The new Fountain Square event will start off with a reunion of bands who played in the Southgate House Popopolis days from 1998 to 2002. The event will be hosted by WOXY’s program director Matt Sledge and will have plenty of food and drink available to keep everyone happy.

Each night will feature seven different bands on two different stages so that the music keeps on going without delay for setup and breakdown procedures. The music will start at 7pm with the last band taking the Main Stage at 10pm and playing until around 11pm. The official after party each night will be just around the corner at the recently opened Righteous Room in the Backstage Entertainment District.

If you’re into the local music scene, and must choose between Friday or Saturday night, then Saturday night is definitely for you with a full card of local bands including big names like The Seedy Seeds, Wussy, and Bad Veins (view the full list of bands for each night below).

The event is free and open to the public. There is plenty of easily accessible parking available in the Fountain Square Parking Garage located directly underneath Fountain Square, and Metro bus service is available from virtually every route to the Government Square bus station located across the street from Fountain Square’s southeastern corner. To find out which route is most convenient for you, and to play your trip now, use Metro’s Trip Planner.

FRIDAY
Main Stage | Acoustic Stage
7:00pm, Saving Ray | 7:40pm, Bri Love
8:00pm, Clabbergirl | 8:40pm, Messerly & Ewing
9:00pm, Rockets to Mars | 9:40pm, Mike Landis
10:00pm, Throneberry

SATURDAY
Main Stage | Acoustic Stage
7:00pm, State Song | 7:40pm, The Seedy Seeds
8:00pm, Wussy | 8:40pm, Jason Snell (The Chocolate Horses)
9:00pm, Pomegranates | 9:40pm, Dan Mecher (Turnbull AC’s)
10:00pm, Bad Veins