Decorative ceramic pigs accenting the landscape on major east-west streets of Downtown Cincinnati, set the vibe to welcome. A sublime touch, the pigs are the subject of endless chatter and games to locate all of them. This hilly city has always emphasized its performing and visual art institutions. The showcase Aronoff Performing Arts Center and the immaculate Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art anchor the Backstage Entertainment District located downtown. According to many sources, the Rosenthal is reportedly the first art museum in the country designed by a woman. For everyday cultural splurges, visit the Short Vine Arts District, which overflows with galleries and boutiques.

    Proctor & Gamble’s visitor garden provides a welcome retreat for your senses and camera. The high concentration of office workers gives a daytime buzz best felt at the many restaurants and cafés. The many colleges around town exude energy and fuel an art scene that you only get from a college town.

    The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center interprets the secretive Underground Railroad better than any other venue in the world. This museum center features insightful, emotionally challenging exhibitions and programs describing the determination, courage, ingenuity and breadth of people who rescued our ancestors from America’s Holocaust. After conducting a genealogical search at the Freedom Center, you should visit the nearby Underground Railroad sites. Within walking distance of the Freedom Center, are many homes and churches with hidden trap doors and tunnels from their days as Underground Railroad stations. In fact, Cincinnati has the largest collection of preserved Underground Railroad historic sites in America.

    When completed The Banks entertainment development will soar as a brilliantly conceived 52-acre mixed-use development and be comprised of a dynamic blend of residential, retail, office and riverfront components adjacent to downtown.  The Banks will no doubt be a signature gathering place rank among our region's star attractions.
It gets better!  Music legend Bootsy Collins teamed with restaurateur Jeff Ruby constructing a new downtown restaurant and nightclub slated to open fall 2008.  The restaurant will feature a Spanish-influenced menu with tapas and sushi, two patios in the front and back of the restaurant, and nightly DJ music in the club area. Downstairs will be home to the Bootsy Collins Rock and Roll Museum.  Highlights include retail boutiques, restaurants, Paul Brown Football Stadium, National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, Great American Ballpark (baseball park) and pedestrian bridge spanning the Ohio River. Across the river one finds Newport Aquarium, Newport-on-the-Levee Entertainment District and Kentucky Speedway, a 1.5-mile tri-oval family-oriented complex. As such, the Banks provides a coherency sorely lacking in so many cities – organized fluidity between the central business district, attractive housing, transportation, historic sites, cultural sites, entertainment districts, arts district, lush parkland, and the Ohio River. More Cincinnatians than ever are returning to live, work and play downtown and The Banks may well be their playground.

    The best time for soulful festivals is July and August, when folks come far and wide to Cincy. In addition to its lively nightlife and soulful festivals, Cincinnati has many other Black heritage and family attractions. Traditional Black Colleges such as Wilberforce University and Central State University, and soulful festivals like the Black Family Reunion attract huge crowds from Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. Here’s a prediction. With the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center as its destination attraction, Cincinnati is prime destination for Black Family Reunions and Heritage travel.

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