Get Ready for a BIG Year in Cincinnati

Barry Larkin

      Cincinnati is off to a great start in 2012.  The weather is mild, Lonely Planet has rated us #3 in U.S. destinations for the year, and Barry Larkin has been elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame for induction on July 22.  It’s time that we tooted our horn and shared with everyone what’s been our secret for way too long.  

The World Choir Games

      Leading the way this year is the World Choir Games, or as most people will relate to…the Olympics of Choirs.  For the first time, the games are in North America and will take place
in performance and church venues throughout downtown from July 4 to 14.  A total of 41 categories will be judged with an estimated 400+ choirs from 70 countries competing.  They’ll be singing in the streets and public areas and to one another as they show off Cincinnati to the world.

The Big Pig Gig

     In conjunction with the World Choir Games will be the return of the Big Pig Gig.  Last seen in 2000, the fiberglass pig statues will be installed throughout downtown for encounters from visitors to the games.  As before, local artists and schools will decorate the pigs with various themes.

      Opening March 2, A Day in Pompeii, will allow visitors to the Museum Center at Union Terminal to examine archeological treasures frozen in time by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 A.D.  The artifacts rarely leave Italy, but are stopping off in Cincinnati on a national tour.  It’s a glimpse at ancient history preserved for all time through frescoes, marble and bronze sculptures, gold coins, jewelry, and hundreds of finds as well as body casts of the volcano’s victims. 

Monet in Giverny

      The city’s art museums will bring a bit of France to Cincinnati.  The Cincinnati Art Museum continues its jewel box exhibitions with Monet in Giverny: Landscapes of Reflection.  Running from February 4 through May 13, the exhibit will highlight twelve masterpieces exploring his late life experimentation at his garden at Giverny.  Over at the Taft Museum of Art will be Old Masters to Monet: Three Centuries of French Painting from the Wadsworth Atheneum on exhibit from May 18 through September 16.  All of the nineteenth century European masters working in France will be represented in this comprehensive exhibit from the collection of the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, CT.  

Artist's Rendering of the Completed Washington Park

      Renovation of Washington Park in Over-the-Rhine continues with the re-opening scheduled for this spring.  The park boasts a 450-car underground garage for support of the arts and establishments in the surrounding area.  The expansion of the historic park will include walking promenades, a gazebo, playgrounds, and water features.  To kick off the park’s rebirth, the OTR Flags is a project that will display 120 large and small flags in early June throughout the park, a sort of homage to the Christo and Jean-Claude installation of The Gates in New York’s Central Park in 2005.

      On the sports page, Joe Sheehan in his weekly column for Sports Illustrated has predicted that the Reds should go all the way in 2012 defeating the Texas Rangers and winning the World Series.  Opening Day is Thursday, April 5.

Looks like I’ll be hearing more about these events from Neil and Eric as they happen…which means all of you will too!