Tag: history

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Arts & Entertainment News

Bockfest is about beer, history and so much more

This weekend marks the 2010 version of Bockfest in historic Over-the-Rhine and downtown Cincinnati. The annual festival celebrates the arrival of bock beer which is traditionally a Lenten brew originally produced by European monks in the 14th Century. And while the festival derives its name from the beer and it takes place in Cincinnati’s richest of brewing neighborhoods, it truly is about so much more than the beer.

Prior to prohibition, Over-the-Rhine was a densely populated neighborhood home to many of Cincinnati’s beer barons including Christian Moerlein among others. The mixed-use neighborhood featured breweries, bottling plants, lagering cellars, residences and businesses for all those who worked there. Much of this history is featured on the annual Prohibton Resistance Tour (sold-out) which will take over 600 visitors through some of the old buildings, cellars, and tunnels in the neighborhood.

Another way to get to know the neighborhood is through the Historic Church Tour which occurs on Sunday afternoon at 2pm. Many of the churches on the tour are over 150 years old and are home to some of the most stunning architecture in the city. In addition to the six churches on the walking tour, each tour-goer will receive drink tickets good at Bockfest Hall located at the historic Kauffman Brewery (map).

Proceeds of both tours, and the entire weekend, go right back to the Brewery District Community Urban Redevelopment Corporation and the Over-the-Rhine Foundation. The proceeds will go to help maintain Over-the-Rhine’s historic character and keep its brewing heritage alive. There is also a raffle being held for a one week vacation in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico with tickets on sale all weekend and through the Over-the-Rhine Foundation.

And of course, there is the beer. At this year’s Bockfest there will be the annual favorites like the Christian Moerlein Emmancipator Dopplebock and Hudy Bock brewed with a special recipe this year brought to us by Michael Carver of Northern Kentucky. The highlight of this year’s Bockfest might very well be the return of longtime Cincinnati brew Shoenling Bock which hasn’t been produced in over 25 years.

While there are many activities leading up to the Bockfest festivities, the official start is the parade on Friday evening originating at Arnold’s at 5:30pm. Keep an eye on UrbanCincy for an article later in the week detailing the specifics of the weekend!

Bockfest Parade photo by chiswick.

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News

Prohibition Resistance Tour and dinner – 2/16

On Tuesday, February 16 the Over-the-Rhine Foundation and Brewery District are hosting a tour of Cincinnati’s famous brewing history followed by a five-course wild game dinner at Arnold’s Bar & Grill.

Crown Brewery photograph by Ronny Salerno – view more of his brewery photographs here.

The tour will start at Arnold’s (map) at 5:30pm where buses will take groups around to two of Cincinnati’s former breweries in historic Over-the-Rhine. At the Kauffman Brewery tour-goers will learn about Cincinnati’s beer barons and have the opportunity to explore the underground lagering cellars deep beneath the building. From there tour-goers will be taken to the former Crown Brewery where they learn about Prohibition’s devastating impact on Cincinnati breweries and be the first members of the general public to visit the newly discovered lagering cellars and tunnel beneath McMicken Avenue that have been sealed off for 50 years.

After the brewery tours, the group will return to Arnold’s for a five-course wild game dinner where each course will be paired with a different beer. There will also be a special guest speaker discussing Over-the-Rhine and, of course, beer.

Organizers expect everything to be wrapped up by 9pm. Tickets are $95 and include everything for the tour, appetizers, five-course wild game dinner at Arnold’s, and beer. Tickets can be purchased online, and $80 of every ticket is tax-deductible and goes to support the Over-the-Rhine Foundation and Brewery District.

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Experience Covington tours offer unique view of Nky river city

With recent funding from Preserve America, the City of Covington introduced the Experience Covington Tour series which can also be found at the main branch of the Kenton County Library at the corner of 5th and Scott Street (map). This free tour series is self-guided but there are many resources at your fingertips to make it enjoyable.

While you can do most of your homework on the website, the library also offers a kiosk to help you plan your outing. The kiosk is a bit hard to find in the library, so when you go make sure you check in with someone so that you can easily find it or just do your homework at home as the kiosk is simply the website made available in the library.

Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption [TOP] by City of Covington; UFO House [LEFT] by Joe Orman; and Roebling Suspension Bridge [RIGHT] by Derek Jensen.

In all there are six tours that you can take in and around the Covington area, and while there is some overlap there are a total of 48 different stops that are discussed on the Playaway audio devices that you can pick up at the library. The device is easy to operate and you can either follow the tours as directed or make up your own as you go along. Additionally driving directions are available from the web or the kiosk to make sure you don’t get lost as you Experience Covington.

So what will you see on tours of Covington? Well, it depends on which tour of the six you choose. Not surprisingly, there is a Historic Tour which has stop including the Roebling Suspension Bridge and the accompanying murals as well as the Riverwalk Statues and the Duveneck Arts & Cultural Center among many other stops.

More surprising, and dare I say unexpected, is the Unexpected Covington Tour. Think you know Covington? Well, this tour stops at places such as the Spaceship House, Glier’s Goetta, and the Baker Hunt Art & Cultural Center among others. Stops along this tour (and all the tours for that matter) will definitely teach folks about some of the gems around Covington regardless of how familiar they are with one of Cincinnati’s southern neighbors.

Now for the really good news: this whole thing is free and open to everyone, not just members of the Kenton County Library! Check out the audio for a 3 day period and work your way through whatever tours you feel like you’d enjoy. The audio selections are located near the kiosk, so make sure to ask where it is when you go and the good folks that work there will point you in the right direction. The library will provide headphones, or you can plug the Playaway device into the A/V jack in your car which definitely makes the time even more enjoyable.

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Arts & Entertainment News

Remembering Erich Kunzel

Aside from conducting the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra and appearing on PBS for many years, Erich Kunzel conducted many other orchestras, including the Boston Pops. The home of the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra in Cincinnati was Music Hall, which is located in the old German district known as Over-the-Rhine.

Kunzel’s dream was to locate the School for Creative and Performing Arts (SCPA) in Cincinnati in the Over-the-Rhine district just a block or so from Music Hall. In addition to this, he helped raise funds for this endeavor. Unfortunately, Erich Kunzel recently passed away as a result of cancer and will not see his dream soon come to fruition.

Many sought to honor him for all he did for the city of Cincinnati and the world of music. So, the street in front of Music Hall was given the additional name of “Erich Kunzel Way” by the Cincinnati City Council, while at the same time retaining its name as Elm Street.

An additional honor was sought by many to name the SCPA School after him, with the final result that the building complex of the school will be named the Erich Kunzel Center for Arts & Education.

As President of the German-American Citizens League of Greater Cincinnati, I appeared at the November meeting of the Cincinnati School Board, stating:

“Maestro Kunzel’s efforts not only spearheaded financial support for the construction of SCPA, but they also led to its location in downtown Cincinnati near Music Hall in historic Over-the-Rhine, the home of his beloved Pops Orchestra.”

Kunzel was a good friend of the German-American community and proud of his German heritage. Although it was hoped that the new school would bear his name, the compromise reached does place his name on the building complex in Over-the-Rhine and most likely will become generally known as the Erich Kunzel Center for Arts and Education.

German-Americans in Cincinnati, therefore, can be proud to have done their part in obtaining this honor for Maestro Kunzel, a great German-American, who was well known throughout the world.

A collection of his recordings was just issued entitled “Erich Kunzel – Cincinnati Pops Orchestra: The Legacy Collection.” It contains a selection of fifteen of his favorite musical pieces, concluding with “Stars & Stripes Forever,” by John Philip Sousa, who also was of German descent.

Yours truly,
Dr. Don Heinrich Tolzmann

Don Heinrich Tolzmann serves as president of the German-American Citizens League of Greater Cincinnati & Curator of the German Heritage Museum. The author of many books on Cincinnati’s German heritage, he also is Associate Publisher and Columnist for Germerica.net. His forthcoming book due this spring is on Cincinnati’s historic Over-the-Rhine.

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"Building Holidays" trolley tours Downtown

ARCHITREKS will be taking their popular architectural tours to the trolley this holiday season as they present the “Building Holidays” trolley tour that will take guests along for a ride through Downtown and Over-the-Rhine to see architectural sites and learn about important Cincinnati traditions and history as it pertains to the holiday season.

“The tour will highlight both Jewish and Christian holiday customs, and the contributions of the ethnic groups that built America,” according to tour organizers. “German immigrants brought many of their traditions to the New World, including the Christmas tree and Christmas card. The tour will also examine the influence of African-Americans on the holiday celebrations.”

The two-hour long tour will start at Fountain Square and make stops in historic Over-the-Rhine’s Gateway Quarter and the Mercantile Library downtown. Along the way tour goers will also share in the memories of the Ruth Lyons Children’s Christmas Fund and the Western & Southern Financial Group Crib of the Nativity at Krohn Conservatory.

There will be two Building Holidays tours, lasting approximately two-hours each, on Saturday, December 5. The first tour will take off at 11am and the second at 1pm. Both tours will depart from the Vine Street side of Fountain Square and are limited in space to 30 people per tour.

Tickets can be reserved through the Cincinnati Preservation Association at info@cincinnatipreservation.org or by calling (513) 721-4506, and can be purchased at $15 for adults and $5 for children. Those participating in the tour will also receive a complimentary souvenir of the tour according to organizers.