Sprkus

Tiffany and I spent Labor Day weekend in Cincinnati to visit friends Nick & Kim and take in the city’s annual Riverfest and WEBN Fireworks.

Take Columbus’ Comfest and Red White and Boom, multiply them by 10, mix them together and cram them into a 1-day event, and you end up with Riverfest.

And though we personally missed all of the shenanigans by the river and watched the fireworks on a television of the Cadillac Ranch, we still had a lot of fun.

That’s right, we drove down to Cincinnati to watch the fireworks on television.

Riverfest is great if you can secure a primo spot like entrance into a private patio party. We couldn’t this year. And instead of putting down a blanket next to Mary Sue, shirtless George and their seven Kentuckyfied shoe less kids, we decided to hang back this year. Avoid the crowd.

Cincinnati is not recommended for those looking for great nightlife. Seemingly all eight or so downtown bars’ main purposes are as restaurants.

But it was nice to see two newer bars had opened up, the Cadillac Ranch and a Cincy version of the Lodge Bar. Though they are both bars the type of which I would avoid in Columbus — younger meat supermarkets a la Brothers and, well, the Lodge Bar in Columbus — it was nice to see the Nati’s nightlife getting a little breath back.

If you’re gonna be spending an evening in Cincinnati, your best bet is still to stay away from downtown, opting instead for Mt. Adams, Mt. Lookout, Hyde Park or even Newport, Ky., but at least downtown Cincy is throwing a punch or two. No matter how weak they are.

On Saturday, John Van Culin, who lives down in Cincy, met up with us and at the stroke of midnight Andy and Katie just happened to find us on a bar patio. I had no idea they were going to Cincy that weekend as well.

There was much rejoicing.