To thrive, a city needs a healthy heart. Thankfully, Cincinnati has one:
Fountain Square.
"It's been a rallying point for everybody, no matter where they live," says Conrad Thiede, Communications Committee Chair of the Downtown Residents' Council. "It's where the whole neighborhood comes together."
Each stroll through Fountain Square transports visitors on a new experience. During the warm months, Cincinnati gets its Latin fix with salsa nights on Thursday. Saturday afternoon is Family Day, followed by a movie at night. Bands from the homegrown MidPoint Music Festival rock the city on Friday nights, while the soothing sounds of Gospel and Jazz provide the soundtrack for the new story playing out downtown on Sunday.
"My TV isn't on," Thiede says. "Downtowners probably watch a lot less TV. They're out and the first place they're going to stop is Fountain Square. That's where we go."
Impressed by the offerings, keen residents regularly head to the Square and provide the feedback loop needed to keep the events relevant. To be exact, 200,000 visitors have shown up for events so far in 2009.
Yet, ten years ago, this wasn't the case. It's taken a real, street level transformation to shake things up in the Square.
Using Portland, Oregon's
Pioneer Courthouse Square as a model, a group of visionary community leaders created this vibrant public space over the course of a decade. And their work paid off. Today the Square pulsates with the energy of a new city.
When asked about the impetus for this turnaround, Bill Donabedian, Managing Director of
Fountain Square Management Group, insists that clever ad campaigns would not have had the same effect.
"People wouldn't have believed it," he says. "It would have just been advertising."
But now there are believers in Cincinnati's midst.
Donabedian attributes the Square's turnaround to positive momentum from increasingly popular events, word of mouth, and an improved image in the media. Some front page stories appeared, a slew of new bars and restaurants set up shop, and people ventured downtown to check things out for themselves. The tides have gradually changed ever since.
Donabedian explains that even the "weird, oddball" events like the fish toss or turkey bowl "get a lot of buzz" when people take pictures and videos and post them online. The speed of the internet has had other implications for the nature of the events in the Square.
"The neat thing that is starting to happen is we're doing events without much lead time or advertising, and they're well attended," Donabedian explains.
A perfect example was
THE Cincinnati Beer Festival, held recently in Fountain Square.
A mere six weeks ago the
3CDC crew decided to throw this bash, which proved to be one of the Square's biggest events to date.They rounded up 38 brands and over 180 varieties of beer. Even without much in the way of preparation time or advertising, over 8,000 showed up for this six hour event.
"It was packed," Donabedian says.
So packed, in fact, that the Bengal Bash, Reds Game and nearby Oktoberfest in Northern Kentucky - all happening the same day - did not deter revelers.
"A lot of it is keeping your eyes and ears open. It was my distributor who suggested a beer fest," Donabedian laughs.
And this is just the beginning. Donabedian sees expanding the beer fest event to include a conference and collaboration with restaurants around the Square, of which there are many.
Via Vite,
Nada,
Bootsy's,
The Righteous Room, and
Mynt Ultra Lounge, set to open next month, to name several.
These darlings of the restaurant scene create a synergy with the programmed events. This collaboration injects a much needed resilience into the city's economy during these tough economic times.
"Even in an economic downtown, we're not seeing it like other regions, as far as businesses and restaurants," Thiede says. "Would all those restaurants be so successful if Fountain Square didn't have the programming? I don't think so."
Alas, the fun in the Square comes with a privately funded price tag. This is the nature of non-tax funded public spaces and events.
"The corporate community and the people who come to these events can't take it for granted," Donabedian says. "If they stop participating in this, it will die."
However, there are huge incentives for corporate sponsors to support the Square. Donabedian describes their efforts as "double dipping:" marketing for the company and doing a service for the city. These good deeds pay off in dividends. With an exciting city center, Casey Gilmore, Sponsorship Manager at 3CDC, says that she has found most new transplants to Cincinnati to be very satisfied with the quality of life they find here.
"And they're usually coming from bigger cities," she says.
One example is the recent exodus of Gillette employees from Boston to Cincinnati.
"They've made an educated decision to move and live where they live," Thiede says. "They want to live in an environment that's faster paced, eclectic, not cookie cutter."
And families are making the residential jump to downtown as well. Margo and Doug Joseph made the move to Downtown Cincinnati from Michigan with their two daughters.
"My family loves Fountain Square,” says Margo Joseph. "We go at least three times a week, sometimes more. It is nice to see so many more people and families enjoying the square since its renovation. The events and layout make it so much more inviting."
Fountain Square's transformation is a significant indicator of the overall health of the city. It positions Cincinnati in an enviable position in the region and attracts guests.
Ultimately, the revitalization of Fountain Square is "part of a much bigger plan," Donabedian says. "We're trying to get people to live down here. Cities that are active and alive and well lit and safe and clean and livable and vibrant - people want to live and stay."
And stay they are. Numbers tell the story best.
According to official data, the downtown population, including the Central Business District (CBD) and the greater CBD area, has essentially doubled in the last ten years. With this kind of progress, it's official. Downtown is blossoming.
There's a growing community of downtown residents, a corporate community and non-profit sector supporting an exciting array of events in the Square, and a city government with the vision to push Cincinnati further into the regional lime light. And Fountain Square is at the center of it all.
"Let's celebrate that we have a focal point called Fountain Square," Thiede says. "Success breeds success. I think that if people would embrace the success going on downtown, there could be some hope for success in other areas."
Photography by Scott Beseler
Fine Arts Fund Tada splash dance
Conrad Thiede
Flower Carpet
Bengals Bash
Hat man supports the Square
Tyler Davidson Fountain
View from the Westin banquet room