Big Ol’ Ford Airliner…

Posted on October 2, 2022 by Denny

…did not carry me too far away but it did carry me nearly a century into the past.

In 1922, Henry Ford invested in the startup Stout Metal Airplane Company then purchased the entire outfit two years later. The most notable of numerous modifications made to Stout’s original design was the addition of two engines. Ford Tri-Motor production began in 1926 and ceased in 1933 which coincided almost exactly with the period when the Waco Model 10 was produced. There were several Model 10s present at the Waco Fly-In I attended a couple of weeks ago.

Ford produced 199 Tri-Motors in a span of eight years. In one year less (1927-1933), Waco turned out 1,623 Model 10s. Both airplanes were civilian passenger planes and both were icons of the early days of human flight but similarities between the two don’t go far beyond that. The Ford was all metal while the Waco was mostly cloth-covered wood. The Waco was an open bi-wing with a compartment for two passengers positioned in front of one for the pilot. The Ford was totally enclosed with a pilot and co-pilot sitting ahead of, depending on model, up to seventeen passengers. With a stewardess often part of the crew, it is generally thought of as the first airliner. That these two aircraft were contemporaries and both highly successful is certainly food for thought.

As of Friday, I can list another difference between a Waco 10 and a Tri-Motor. I have never flown in a Waco. On Friday, I took a ride in a Ford Tri-Motor 5-AT-B at the Greene County Airport near Xenia, Ohio. As was the case with the subjects of a couple of last year’s adventures (Smooth As Glass and An Airy Plane Ride), I learned of the touring Tri-Motor through Brandi Betts’ Make the Journey Fun blog. Brandi flew in the plane during its Chillicothe stop and reported on it here.

I guess I was eager to fly like it was 1929 and arrived at the airport before the airplane was even rolled out of the hangar. While chatting with some of the event organizers, I was told it was OK to step inside the plane for some photos which is how I got these shots of the empty interior. Sharp eyes might notice that not everything is triplicated in the cockpit. Tachometers plus pressure and temperature indicators for the outboard engines are mounted on wing struts near the engines.

Before the day’s first flight, the Ford was taxied down the runway for refueling and I was able to watch the three radial engines fire up and the propellers start turning. The into-the-sun shot near the top of this post was also taken at the start of the gas run.

Shortly after the plane’s return, the first set of passengers was given a short briefing and permitted to board. Note that every seat is a window seat and every seat is an aisle seat. Six of the ten seats as well as the extra-charge co-pilot’s seat were occupied by males of a certain age. The other seats were empty.

Not only was every seat a window seat, the windows were real windows and not those too-low and too-small foggy portholes found in today’s airliners. It was even possible to look out the opposite side of the plane. Photos here are of the water-filled gravel pits northeast of the airport, OH-73 crossing Ceasars Creek Lake, and downtown Dayton from eight or ten miles away. Plus I got a pretty good look at the ground during our final bank to return to the airport,

Assuming the event is more heavily attended during the weekend, showing up on Friday morning worked out well in avoiding crowds. The downside was that I wanted to take photos of the next flight and I had to wait a while for it to fill. When it did, I again got to see those props start turning then watch the plane head into the sky.

Flights are about half an hour from engines on to engines off with fifteen to twenty minutes of that being airborne. Having waited to see the takeoff, it only made sense to wait for the landing.

The Transcontinental Ait Transport logo this plane now wears was also the one it wore first. The plane first flew on December 1, 1928, and became the property of TAT in January 1929. Its complete history is told here. The TAT story is a short but important one. Although crossing the continent was not accomplished entirely in the air, the company did put Ford Tri-Motors to work for about a year expediting travel between the coasts. Overnight trains were used to connect New York with Columbus, OH, and Waynoka, OK, with Clovis, NM. Tri-Motors carried travelers between Columbus and Waynoka and between Clovis and Glendale, CA. The fare for a forty-eight-hour one-way trip was $352.

Rides will be available at the Greene County – Lewis A Jackson Regional Airport until 5:00 PM today (Oct 2, 2022) and at some other spots in Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky during the rest of October. Check it out here.

Mo’ O’fest

Posted on September 25, 2022 by Denny

Last week I went to the largest Oktoberfest in the country. This week I went to the closest. And maybe the newest. Several Loveland, Ohio, businesses have been celebrating the occasion for several years, and last year the city itself decided to get involved. Somewhere a town or city might be holding their first ever Oktoberfest but the second ever Loveland Oktoberfest is still something pretty new and an indication that the first one was enough fun to make it an annual event.

As I did with Oktoberfest Zinzinnati, I targeted Friday shortly after opening. In this case, that was 4:00 when I was again able to avoid the larger evening crowds.

Not only did my timing allow me to enjoy a little open space, it allowed me to hear this new-to-me band. Alico does not deliver typical Oktoberfest fare. There isn’t an accordion or tuba anywhere on the stage. The young and talented duo perform rearranged covers mixed with originals that left me quite impressed. I thought the drummer looked kind of familiar and have since learned he is Joe Nasser who was once with Erin Coburn’s band. Spencer Anthony handles guitar and vocals.

City-sponsored parts of the event were concentrated in Nisbet Park and along the bike trail but several businesses had their own activities going on as well. I skipped the biergarten and grabbed a Lovetoberfest Marzen at the trailside Narrow Path Brewing Company.

Then I headed over to Cappy’s Wine and Spirits for their Stein Hoist competition. Several businesses held contests for both men and women with the winners moving on to a Saturday Night city-wide event. The opening photograph shows the final two women contestants toasting each other before one arm faltered to decide the winner.

I didn’t stay for the men’s competition but headed off to Hometown Cafe for dinner. This picture of the cafe was taken shortly after my arrival. It was significantly more crowded when I picked up my schnitzel and spaetzle and walked down the trail to eat it accompanied by dinner music from the Schnapps Band.

Three in a Row

Posted on September 18, 2022 by Denny

Life seems to always get busier as autumn approaches. That’s no doubt partly pure perception as we try to pack as much as possible into the last days of summer but it’s also partially real. Maybe event schedulers once avoided some conflicts by delaying things but there is a limit to how late in the year outdoor activities can be moved without a high risk of cold weather. This week found me participating in blog-worthy outings on three consecutive days. On Thursday, it was the Open Doors: Camp Washington- The Home of Makers walking tour. On Friday, I made it to the first day of Oktoberfest Zinzinnati and on Saturday, a friend and I attended the WACO Fly-In where the photo at right was taken.

The first stop on the Camp Washington tour was at the Crosley factory. An effort is underway to convert the place where radios and appliances were once manufactured into apartments but it has a long way to go. Camp Washington was once filled with factories, meat processing plants, and some oil storage. The 1937 flood damaged many buildings and most of those on Spring Grove Avenue were destroyed by a fire fed by oil floating on the flood waters. The middle picture is of the tallest building in the area to survive. The third picture is of the surviving office building of one of the meatpacking firms.

The only building we entered on the tour was the former hotel and bank that most recently housed US (Uncle Steve’s) Chili. It is now owned by the Cincinnati Preservation Association and slated for renovation. I’ve eaten breakfast and 4-ways here but had never been beyond the first floor. The tile (Rookwood?) fronted fireplace is on the third floor and I also got a shot of a neighbor from that floor. One of the things I remember about US Chili was a large petition calling for removal of the disrespectful (to George) mural seen in that overhead shot and from ground level here.

The tour had started at the American Sign Museum and would technically end there but it more or less disbanded at Valley Park where a farmer’s market was wrapping up for the day. I have driven by the park quite often and have noted its WW I monument but this was the first time I’d actually approached it.

Besides being the host and an interesting Camp Washington building in its own right, the American Sign Museum pulled signs from a pair of former Camp Washington businesses from the attic and offered up some musical entertainment. As marked by a reproduction sign on a parking lot wall, the museum building was once home to Fashion Frocks. I was well aware of that but had never seen any of their products. Tonight the museum had a frock and some advertisements (“Value Priced $7.98”) on display.

My guess that things might not be too crowded on Friday afternoon proved more or less correct. I grabbed a sausage sampler at Mecklenburg’s, a smoked mettwurst at Mick Knoll’s Covington Haus, and a Festbier from the “World’s Oldest Brewery”.

I caught lots of good German music but I didn’t catch any of the performers’ names.

I didn’t catch this guy’s name either but if it’s not Cincinnato Batman I’m going to be really disappointed.

My completely unqualified impression is that the WACO Fly-In had fewer total planes than usual and that a higher percentage of them were non-WACO but that a higher percentage of the WACOs were the real thing rather than modern reproductions. I also had the more reliable impression that the weather was perfect for the event.

The fly-in is a wonderful place to get up close and fairly personal — no touching — with some beautiful aircraft.

We had semi-intentionally timed our visit to include the Parade of WACOs which meant we got to see quite a few airplanes take off and land and sometimes pause for directions.

And cruise by at fairly low levels, too.

The WACO story is definitely an interesting one. An onsite marker tells an extremely brief version with a whole lot more available at the museum website. Or you could probably learn a bunch chatting with this fellow at his color-coordinated airfield campsite.

Twelfth Night in the Park

Posted on August 21, 2022 by Denny

The Cincinnati Shakespeare Company has presented Shakespeare in the Park every summer since 2007. Benefiting from the relative safety of the open air, that even includes the pandemic-filled summers of 2020 and 2021. Despite considering it several times, I’d never attended a performance until last Friday. That’s when the combination of a convenient location, a clear schedule, and excellent weather came together to get me to a presentation of Twelfth Night in nearby Summit Park.

Summit Park occupies what was once the Blue Ash Airport. One of its most notable features is a 153-foot observation tower. An observation tower seems like something that might be leftover from the airport but this one is not. It was constructed in 2017 as part of the conversion to a park. The tower is temporarily closed for “enhancements and improvements” so I still have not done any observing from it.

The sad truth is that I have only been to the park once before. That was to try one of the restaurants there (Brown Dog) during Burger Week in 2020. I seriously considered returning but in the end decided to try one of the newer eateries. Although not all locations of Chick ‘n Cone do, the one in Summit Park air-fries its chicken. The name comes from the chain featuring chicken served in a cone for “Handheld Chicken & Waffles”. After dinner, I headed next door to Higher Gravity for a Scottish Ale (Sixth Sense Brewing) dessert.

The performance takes place in a covered area between a couple of the original restaurants. There is some permanent seating but most attendees brought their own lawn chairs. The play began with the cast members introducing themselves.

All the actors wore microphones and speakers at the corners of the stage made every line clear within the covered area and beyond.

I’d brought no chair and I tend to prefer roaming to sitting at outdoor events in any case. In this particular case, the area available for roaming included that beyond the play’s backstage. Of course, patrons of the restaurants and people going to and from other sections of the park were roaming in this area too.

I’m guilty of leaving before the play was over. That had nothing to do with the performance but was 100% my fault. I could blame it on the heat of the sun and the distractions of the park but it was my own roaming that made them a factor. The actors were well practiced and enthusiastic and the whole production was top-notch. If anything, I believe the performance might have been better than I expected. Maybe I’ve attended Theater in the Ground at the Renaissance Festival too many times. This was absolutely nothing like that at all. Now that I realize the quality of these outdoor CSC productions, I’ve a feeling I will be more enthused about going the second time than I was the first.

Trains, Blues, and Automobiles

Posted on August 7, 2022 by Denny

This was an incredibly busy weekend in southwest Ohio. A list limited to things I was personally interested in includes the Lebanon Blues Festival, New Richmond’s Cardboard Boat Regatta, and Paddlefest on Cincinnati’s riverfront. Of these three, the only one I had never attended was Paddlefest so that’s where I thought I’d spend my Saturday morning. By the time the day arrived, steam engine excursions on the Lebanon Mason Monroe Railroad had been added to the list of things of interest to me, and predictions of rain threatened all four (and actually did in Paddlefest).

Plans to head to the river turned into plans to stay home but I kept an eye on the weather. When it looked like there might be a dry window in the afternoon, I booked a seat on the LM&M. I figured that, even if it rained, sitting inside a railroad car wouldn’t be too bad.

I looked over the engine and grabbed photos of the station and the car I’d been assigned. Then it was time to board.

I snapped a picture of the other side of the station as we pulled out. The station is beautifully landscaped by the local garden club. It does not play an active role in passenger handling, however; a ticket counter and gift shop are in a building across the street.

The route isn’t particularly scenic. A green wall of foliage is often quite close although sometimes farm fields open things up a bit. There are even a few art displays that seem to be for the benefit of train passengers.

There are three passenger cars on the train. The one I was in has cloth-covered seats; the other two have vinyl. They were built in 1929 but the conductor wasn’t sure when “my” car was built. She said she had heard dates from 1926 through the ’30s. I walked through all three cars to get a look down the tracks.

Just before the train reached the station, I could see that Broadway was blocked off for a car show associated with the blues festival. After exiting the train, I walked the one block up the hill to see classic cars parked in front of the historic Golden Lamb and on both sides of the street for a couple of blocks.

Then I turned off Broadway to stroll past the many vendors to the music stage. A last-minute cancelation had resulted in The Bluebirds, a familiar and favorite band, being on that stage.

During their set, I got shots of Marcos (and his guitar), Bam, Mike, and Pete.

I took off after that and stopped to grab a picture of the train on its last run of the day. There are few things that are as obvious polluters as a coal-fired locomotive and I’m glad that there aren’t all that many running anymore. But I’m sure glad that there are a few.

Got Goetta?

Posted on July 31, 2022 by Denny

This is Goettafest. Regular readers of this blog know what goetta is. Others maybe not. A trailer at the festival had a definition painted on its side. Almost all descriptions, including the one at Wikipedia, have the name Cincinnati in them somewhere. It is very definitely a regional food.

Note that the banner says “Glier’s Goettafest”. Glier’s Meats has a near monopoly on the product in the area which, as already mentioned, has its own near monopoly. Some family cooks and a few restaurants make their own and there are other commercial producers as this 2018 article shows. Glier’s, however, is king. They own the goetta.com domain, and they own this festival.

Glier’s is a Covington, KY, company and the festival is held on Kentucky’s side of the Ohio River in Newport. The venue, appropriately named “Festival Park at the Levee”, essentially fills the area between the Taylor-Southgate Bridge and the pedestrian-only Purple People Bridge. The Daniel Carter Beard Bridge (a.k.a, Big Mac Bridge) can be seen in the background.

The festival grew to eight days this year but it avoids those sluggish mid-week days with a pair of expanded weekends, July 28-31 and August 4-7. It’s also something of a music festival with bands performing full time on stages at both ends. I was there shortly after opening on Thursday when Whiskey Daze was on the west stage and What About Jane was on the east stage.

I had to check the food listing to learn that the name of this stand was Original Corn Roast. Its offerings were many and included some goettaless items. I got my Goetta Mac from there and washed it down with Braxton’s Garage Beer.

Goetta Mac is something I’ve eaten before and will again. The Goetta Balls from Goettahaus were new to me. I won’t take extreme measures to avoid them in the future but they aren’t something I have a strong urge for.

I had wanted to try the goetta pizza but my appetite ran out before my choices did. And there were plenty of other good-looking options beyond that.

I once ate a hamburger between a split donut so maybe I could have handled this but I didn’t even consider it.

Goettafest opens at noon today (Sun 7/31) and is back next Thursday for another four-day run. Get there while the goetta getting is good.

The World’s at My Door

Posted on July 24, 2022 by Denny

It was just Thursday morning that I learned of the international competition about to take place just a few miles from my home. After hearing a brief news article on the radio, I went online to find more information and to secure a ticket to the event’s opening day activities. What little I now know about the World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) and the World Ultimate Club Championships (WUCC) I’ve learned in the last two days. One of the first things I learned is that “Ultimate” is the name of the game itself. It is one of the few bits of silliness remaining in a game involving descendants of pans used by a pie company founded in 1871 by a guy named Frisbie.

The opening picture shows the flags of the thirty countries participating in the 2022 WUCC ready to be carried onto the field. The sequence is alphabetical from Argentina through Venezuela. As the host country, the United States comes on last.

After marching past the stands, the flag carriers form a line in the middle of the playing field. Here the USA takes up the appropriate position a few spots from the end. Some speeches follow but they are not overly long. This is the second time the WUCC have been held in the Cincinnati area. The first was in 2018. The 2022 games were originally scheduled to take place in the UK. When problems developed, the success of those 2018 games was remembered and Cincinnati was asked to play host once again.

As the flag bearers left the field, nearby sharp eyes located a plane circling overhead. Before long, three shapes emerged and three parachutes opened. Delivery of the American flag was accompanied by the singing of The Star Spangled Banner.

The day’s only game followed the opening ceremonies and I got to see live Ultimate for the first time. In the short time since making plans to attend, I’d learned enough of the rules for a basic understanding of the on-field action. Ultimate is a contactless sport. The flying disc (a.k.a., Frisbee) is advanced only by throwing. A point is scored by a catch in the endzone.

The Traffic from Canada played the MUD from Japan. The game is played to fifteen points with a halftime break at eight points. The teams essentially alternated scoring during the first half and were only once separated by more than a point. That’s also how the second half began but eventually team MUD pulled away. These pictures show the final point of their 15-10 win.

There are 128 teams competing all week at Mason High School and the Lebanon Sports Complex. I really enjoyed watching my first game and just might get back for more. The final games and closing ceremonies are next Saturday. Daily tickets for Sunday through Friday are $5. Closing day tickets are $20. Get ’em here.

Cincy Burger Week Plus

Posted on July 17, 2022 by Denny

With Ohio Burger Week running Monday through Sunday and this blog being published too early on Sundays for hamburger eating, my 2020 report came up a day short and the 2021 report did even worse as the first two days were lost to travel. But this year I’ve had seven straight days of hamburgers at press time although the first of those days wasn’t in Cincinnati or even in Ohio.

I found myself in Richmond, Indiana, last Sunday and, as is my habit, queried my phone about nearby breweries. It told me of 5 Arch Brewing which would be open by the time I could reach it in nearby Centerville. My plan was to just have a beer until I learned about their food and their hamburgers in particular. I had two choices: I could save myself for the launch of Burger Week the next day or I could get an early start. I obviously opted for the early start and am very happy that I did. The ‘burger (and the fries and the Nut Brown ale) was excellent and I had a beautiful 1893 back bar to look at while I ate.

My first official 2022 Burger Week ‘burger came from Craft Burger Bros. They were operating at Streetside Brewery on Monday but served their “Grippo Cheeseburger” at other locations throughout the week. I thought the Black Cats ale accompanied it nicely. Since I had already involved two businesses in my meal, I saw no harm in involving a third so headed to Aglamesis Brothers for dessert. It’s Pineapple & Pecan, an old flavor that was brought back temporarily for their centennial. It was so popular that it now comes back every summer and it brings me back.

On Tuesday I downed a “Magic Mushroom Burger” at Lori’s American Grill. It was delightfully messy and magically (the mushrooms are hiding under the melted mozzarella) delicious.

5 Arch and Lori’s were totally new to me and so was Burger Bros although Streetside Brewery was not. Wednesday’s ‘burger stop was familiar in a different way. The building that now houses Sinners and Saints, was once home to a place called Brew River where I’d eaten several times. My “Venerable Beast” was topped with a single onion ring rather than the onion straws in the sandwich’s description but I don’t think it made me enjoy it any less. The glass advertises a local brewery but it contains Summer Ale from Sam Adams, an event sponsor.

On Thursday, it was back to something completely new at Revolution Rotisserie. As you might have guessed from the name, their specialty is rotisserie chicken but the menu isn’t limited to just chicken. Their Burger Week offering, “The Amador”, was quite good. That’s Fretboard’s Vlad in the glass.

Friday was a double-dip day, and the only day where the ‘burger was one I’d eaten before. Although it’s more often for a Nueske ham sandwich than a hamburger, I’ve visited The Turf Club many times. I’ve even indulged in the Burgundy wine mushroom sauce in the past but remember that sandwich costing noticeably more than the $7 Burger Week rate. That memory is why I put this ‘burger firmly on this year’s list from the beginning. By sitting at the counter, I could watch Ron cook my Fieri Burger (named for the D, D, & D guy) and then have him personally deliver it. Today I have a Northern Row beer (Hustler) but no Northern Row glass. Those who lament the external stripping of the neon-encased Terry’s Turf Club might be somewhat assuaged by the fact that the inside remains the same.

The second dip of the day was the special Burger Week dessert at the Macaron Bar in Hyde Park. “…chocolaty cheese and lettuce”, oh my!

My string of hamburgers ends as it started, in a brewery in a neighboring state. There are some big differences though, including the fact that it’s close enough to Cincinnati to be included in its Burger Week listing and it is a place I’ve visited before. I counted Bircus Brewery as my 200th and I’ve been here a couple of times since but have never eaten here. Bircus has always been a little different. Its home is a former theater and it has always been part brewery and part circus. The kitchen is a fairly recent addition. Its meat is sourced from the farm it supplies with spent grain making it a brewery-to-farm-to-table restaurant. Pizzas are always available; hamburgers are a Burger Week special. That’s a “Burger Alla Pendleton” in the basket and Lagoon Scotch Ale in the glass.

That’s a wrap. I end my personal ‘burger week on Saturday so I can write it up in my weekly post on Sunday morning. But the official Ohio Burger Week continues through today so you still have time to squeeze some buns and chomp on some patties. Every one of the seven pictured on this page would be worth your time and money and I’ve a hunch that all the others listed on the Burger Week website would be too. Last year was the first time that The Turf Club (nee Terry’s Turf Club) participated in Burger Week and this is the first year I’ve eaten there as part of the Burger Week binge. I’m not going to try ranking or even rating the ‘burgers I tried beyond saying that I retain my belief that in my experience The Turf Club serves the best hamburger in Cincinnati.

Riverside, Northside, Parkside

Posted on July 10, 2022 by Denny

Rereading the seven-year-old post that I reused last week (Broadside, Northside, Riverside Revisited) reminded me of how much I had enjoyed the Fourth of July parade in Northside. After a two-year hiatus for COVID, it returned this year and I was there. But first, there was a Third of July parade to attend.

With Independence Day falling on a Monday, the entire weekend was available for events that might otherwise be crammed into a single day. With sufficient stamina, one could celebrate from Friday evening through the end-of-day Monday. I started Sunday.

I headed to Freedom Fest in New Richmond, Ohio, where I had breakfast at Front Street Cafe, walked to Skipper’s for a drink, checked out the cars (and picked my favorite) at the cruise-in, and looked over the Cardboard Boat Museum. I also snapped a picture of the Showboat Majestic as I walked along the riverfront. The showboat moved to New Richmond in February of 2021 with high hopes that have slowly faded. Last week she was given ninety days to move on. Front Stree Cafe has been using a photo of mine that shows the boat and the cafe as their Facebook cover photo. Guess they’ll be moving on too.

I strolled through vendors lining Front Street until parade time approached then positioned myself near where the parade was forming.

The picture at the top of this article was taken during the parade. It shows one of the parade’s youngest participants making eye contact with a kindred soul who is almost but not quite ready to participate himself. Other pictures from the parade include a local color guard and marching band, some of the fifty or so golf carts and four-wheelers, and Captain America.

On July 4th, I was in Northside for one of the country’s coolest parades. The crowd was bigger than the one in New Richmond and had started arriving earlier. Here I was much closer to the parade’s endpoint than to its beginning.

I know you can’t appreciate the “From the Depths” creatures as much as I did without hearing the island rhythms they are dancing to. That’s much less an issue with the DANCEFIX group since it’s quite obvious these folks are dancing to an upbeat something. Captain America may not have made it to Northside but the parade was not without an attention-grabbing biker.

I’m sure no one was surprised to see the parade take note of the recent SCOTUS decision on abortion. There were small references throughout but it became the complete focus toward the end.

When the last of the parade reached me, I started walking toward the route’s end a few blocks away. My pace was a little faster than the trailing parade elements and I had moved ahead of them when I heard someone on a bullhorn behind me and turned around. A proclamation was being read from a podium encircled by the colorful ladies marching in front of the “Welcome to ‘The Summer of Rage'” banner and others. The only bit of the proclamation that I could make out declared independence for “women and anyone else who could become pregnant”. Valerie Jean Solanas for President of the United States is a play written by Sara Stridsberg. Valerie Solanus (1936-1988) is the author of the SCUM Manifesto and the woman who shot Andy Warhol in 1968. Whether any of that is important in the context of the parade is beyond me.

Kings Island amusement park has fireworks every night during the summer. I live close enough to hear but not see them. The park is currently celebrating its 50th anniversary and has expanded the show which makes it even easier than normal for me to know when 10:00 PM rolls around. I decided to fill out this post by scooting a few miles up the road and grabbing some pictures from a nearby parking lot. The actual fireworks aren’t shabby but neither are they extraordinary. What interested me more were the new-this-year drones. They are what is forming the words “Kings Island” in the photo.

The drones also form Snoopy, his doghouse, and many other images. Sometimes the drones are visible as they morph into something different; at other times they blink out then magically blink on in a new formation. Sometimes the image they are forming moves. That is the case with Evel Knieval’s motorcycle jump. I’m a horrible videographer but I made an attempt to capture it. I, along with my two sons and ex-wife, was actually there in 1975 when Evel made his longest jump, and I’m thinking this is pretty accurate.

Broadside, Northside, Riverside Revisited

Posted on July 3, 2022 by Denny

This past week was a combination of busy and boring that seemed certain to result in a canned post. In the end, however, I decided to reuse an old post rather than posting a new canned one. I may attend a parade or two this year and might watch some fireworks and thus feed an Independence Day post for next week but this week’s post is from 2015. The post originally appeared the day after rather than the day before the holiday. It has parades and fireworks but the highlight for me was viewing a copy of the second printing of the Declaration of Independence. I noted then that we had celebrated the “239th anniversary of that day when men of courage and vision” had stood together to create a new country. I don’t think “men of courage and vision” were all that common then and in the now 246 years since they have sometimes been downright scarce. They’re pretty scarce right now but there are a few. Unlike in 1776, however, many of today’s “men of courage and vision” are women. And that seems like a good thing.

July 5, 2015: There’s something in that display case that is 238 years 11 months and 26 days old. Twelve of America’s thirteen British colonies voted to adopt the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The thirteenth, New York, had not authorized its Continental Congress delegates to vote on the declaration. On the night of the fourth, Philadelphia printer John Dunlap produced at least 200 copies of the document with one of those copies reaching the New York Provincial Congress on July 9. Before the day was over, New York had joined the other colonies in approving the Declaration of Independence and ordered another 500 copies from New York printer John Holt. The Holt Broadside, as the second printing is known, contains the text of the New York resolution along with the full text of the declaration. Some copies were sent to the Continental Congress back in Philadelphia where it seems they somehow helped in getting the official parchment copy of the Declaration prepared. The signing of that official copy commenced on August 2.

A copy of that second printing made it to Cincinnati. One of four copies known to survive, it is in the pictured case. It is believed to have been brought to Cincinnati in 1810 by Richard Fosdick who, in 1815, was a member of Cincinnati’s first town council. The copy has been in the history library’s possession since at least the 1870s but was not recognized for what it is until about five years ago. The Holt Broadside is the centerpiece of the temporary Treasures of Our Military Past exhibit at the Cincinnati Museum Center.

Yesterday was the 239th anniversary of that day when men of courage and vision agreed to “mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor” in the creation of a new country. The day before was the 239th anniversary of the writing of a letter by John Adams in which he anticipated the happenings of the next day and told his wife that he expected it to be celebrated “with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.”

I tried to do my share. I’ll admit that I didn’t actually go looking for guns and I gave up quickly on finding any bonfires. It’s even possible that the only bells I heard were electronic but I saw plenty of games, sports, and shews. I saw two parades, a fine set of illuminations, and there was pomp everywhere.

There was no shortage of parades in the area. Picking one wasn’t easy but I have absolutely no doubt that I picked the right one. Northside’s first 4th of July parade happened in 1864 when orphans were moved from downtown to a new orphanage by canal boats with members of the Turners, Oddfellows, Butchers Association, Bricklayers Society, and the Catholic Orphans Society marching alongside. The parade developed into a fundraiser that continued until the 1960s when the orphanage again moved. It was restarted in 1970. This year’s Grand Marshall was two-year-old Quincy Kroner who received some national attention after meeting the garbage collectors he admired. The event website is here.

Picking parade pictures from my 200+ was even tougher than picking the parade. I didn’t quite manage to trim them down to a reasonable number so here’s the start of an unreasonable number. I liked the big headed Spirit(s) of ’76 and Ben and Captain America, too. The patriotically attired lady next to me was not at all out of place as a spectator but she was there for a higher purpose. When the local steam punk group came by, she pushed the stroller forward and stepped right in.

When a portion of this cycling group started placing their bikes sideways down the center of the street, I expected some sort of slalom maneuver but noooo.

Someone told me that this same group marched in Cincinnati’s Gay Pride parade last month and much of the crowd simply turned their backs as they passed. It seemed that few did that today and, in my case, by the time I’d read all the signs, there was little point in turning. “I STAND WITH ISRAEL”, JESUS IS YOUR ONLY HOPE”, “…BEHOLD, NOW IS THE DAY OF SALVATION”.

I believe this was my favorite parade entry. Essentially a live performance of Yellow Submarine with a Beatles soundtrack, it seemed to have it all. “Full speed ahead, Mr. Parker, full speed ahead!”

It might not have been quite as thrilling as the folks jumping over each others’ bikes, but these skateboard cowboys still put on a pretty exciting show with their moving ramp.

Lots of people accepted the “Dare to dance” challenge of the parade’s last float. Dance music blared as a street full of happy folks danced and smiled their way to the end point.

The end point was at the Northside Rock n’ Roll Carnival in Hoffner Park with twenty-one bands over three days. That’s “Daniel Wayne and the Silver Linings” on stage. The Stroh’s shirt is a bonus. As a similarly aged friend observed, the parade and carnival do sort of have a ’60s feel. It’s not a “we’re wearing beads and tie-dye” feel but a “we’re having fun and caring about stuff” feel.

I headed to Loveland for some fireworks and was pleasantly surprised to get there in time to catch part of another parade. It’s a little smaller and a bit more traditional than the one in Northside but it was still quite cool in its own way.

On the way to a fireworks viewing spot, I snapped a picture of Cindy’s holiday tree and the festival stage. Entertainment for Loveland’s Firecracker Festival included the Rusty Griswolds.

Loveland is the home of Rozzi’s Famous Fireworks so the city usually has a pretty decent “illumination” above the Little Miami River. This year’s grand finale didn’t seem all the grand but the overall show was quite good. Mr. Adams, I’m happy to report that we appear to still be observing this most important day pretty much the way you envisioned. I’m even happier to report that, at least in Cincinnati’s Northside, a little independent thinking can still be observed on Independence Day.

Denny G's Road Trips Blog

A DennyGibson.com accessory

Category Archives: Event