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The shop owners within Over-the-Rhine's blossoming Gateway Quarter get it from new customers all the time: Surprise. Disbelief. When did this happen?
"People, the first time they come down here, say, 'We had no idea this was down here,' " says Terry Lee, president of the OTR/Gateway Merchants Group and owner of Outside, an outdoor décor shop on 12th Street. "We (local merchants) discussed a desire to start some sort of neighborhood festival ... to kind of show off what was going on."
The result of all those discussions: the OTR/Gateway Summer Celebration, an all-day festival of local arts, crafts, music and food that kicks off Saturday in connection with the Go OTR 5K run/walk.
ART, FOOD, BEER
More than eight bands, including headliners The Sundresses, will play in the parking lot beside Lee's store. Local vendors such as Enzo's and Taste from Belgium will sell food and Christian Moerlein beer.
And at least 15 artists will display their work, much of which will be new to crowds used to checking out the pieces at big art shows like Summerfair.
"We're reaching out to first-timers," says Mike Deininger, owner of MiCA 12/v at the corner of 12th and Vine streets, who selected the festival artists.
Loveland native Beth Porter will show off totes and towels. Erin Beckloff of Lebanon will have letterpress cards and picture frames. Anderson Township's Rob Meyer will display his pop-culture-inspired paintings. And that's just a sample.
"Everything that's here will be locally based," Lee says. "We're not part of big chains - we're all individuals that live and breathe and are in our stores every day."
The goal, organizers say, is to make this an annual festival, an ever-expanding party that could one day move to a revamped Washington Park, Deininger says.
But they'll see how this first attempt goes, considering a lot of people - like those surprised shoppers - might not know just how much the Gateway Quarter has grown.
"I'd like to get to the point where people are coming in from outside to see Cincinnati," Deininger says. "Right now, I just hope we turn out people from the suburbs."
