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Photo: Ctomasetti, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Taste of Cincinnati is held every Memorial Day weekend and draws 500,000 people each year. More than 40 restaurants sell their food for $5 or less. Live musical acts are there for entertainment once you're full.
Taste of Cincinnati is the longest running culinary arts festival in the United States. Starting in 1979, the festival has been held annually on Memorial Day weekend in Downtown Cincinnati, Ohio. More than 40 fine restaurants are featured at the festival, and "Best of Taste" awards are given out each year. In addition to food, the festival highlights local musical talent. The four stages for performances feature country, rock, pop, and jazz music. Approximately 500,000 people attend Taste of Cincinnati each year, making it one of the nation's largest street festivals.
The Carew Tower served as the basis for the design of the later Empire State Building. During the mid- to late-1980s, a giant inflatable gorilla was attached to the upper floors! Notice the Art Deco interior of the common areas as you follow the signs to find the elevators. You have to change elevators and then take the stairs up the final level to make it to the 49th floor. The 49th floor of Cincinnati's 2nd tallest building provides a breathtaking, inexpensive, and gorilla-less view of the city. Take a high-speed elevator to the 45th floor, then choose from walking up four flights of stairs or taking another elevator to the 48th floor and walking up one flight. The admission is collected once you reach the top.
The renovated Fountain Square holds the Tyler Davidson Fountain, restaurants, an ice skating rink, a big screen video board, free Wi-Fi, and a hands-on water wall!
The John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge was the longest suspension bridge in the world at 1,057 feet (322 m) when the first pedestrians crossed on December 1, 1866 — a status it maintained until 1883. You can still walk across it today and tour the Riverside Drive historic district - one of the oldest neighborhoods in the region in Covington It served as the prototype for Roebling's design of the Brooklyn Bridge in New York. This bridge was featured in the movie Rain Man.
Non-members can browse but not check out books during business hours and it's open to the public. Old-school private library complete with busts of famous literary figures, artwork, globes, dusty stacks of books and spiral staircases. Also hosted here are frequently literary events, lectures and local public affairs talks. It's worth a look to see a unique library space.
Plum Street Temple
Built in 1865-1866 for B'nai Yeshurun, this is one of the best-preserved Moorish Revival buildings of the 19th century. This was also major pioneering center for the development of Reform Judaism.
Saint Peter in Chains Cathedral is a beautifully and ornate cathedral, a recommended sight for anyone traveling through Cincinnati. St. Peter in Chains Cathedral was the city's tallest structure when completed, as well as one of its most elegant buildings. Copying elements from classical Athenian buildings, architect Henry Walter produced one of the finest neoclassical Greek revival buildings in the United States with a look that is quite a bit more Byzantine than one would expect from a normal Catholic church. Well worth a look, particularly if you can get inside!