Cincinnati: A Place For Visitors Too!

With the assistance of the non-profit organization 3CDC, Cincinnati's famed Fountain Square has; for the past few summers, the luxury of being programmed with activities such as Salsa dancing and moving night, giving a reason for many suburbanites and out-of-towners to venture in to the city.

The organization has taken this winning recipe and transplanted it in the city's newest attraction Washington Park. Originally a graveyard, this park sits just east of the city's historic Music Hall. The park has recently undergone a multi-million dollar renovation; officially opening to the public just after the Fourth of July this past summer.

And what makes this match up that much more unique is that most if not all of the music was provided by local or regional artists.

Another great park is that there is something for everyone; anything from R&B and Hip-Hop on Fridays, to Bluegrass music on Wednesday and everything in-between. Over-the-Rhine has graciously made an appearance, celebrating its namesake, along with a very unorthodox but welcomed joint performance of the Cincinnati Ballet, Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, and the city's may Festival chorus and the Cincinnati Opera.

Not only is all of the aforementioned going on, but the park has implemented a great interactive Classical Music Walk of Fame project in cooperation with the American Classical Music Hall of Fame and InfoTrust. This lets visitors of the park to use their mobile device to play their choice of classical music pieces via the sound system of Washington Park.

To complement the aforementioned, Downtown Cincinnati will be opening its first casino in Spring of 2013. With most casinos, the design is conducive of keeping its patron's inside; offering them buffet, cocktails and not providing the benefit of having window or clocks located inside. Some are even designed where you have to walk through the slot machines to get to the bar.

Cincinnati's Horseshoe Casino is planning on turning this old fashioned way of gaming on its head. Because the 2009 ballot issue to bring casino gaming to the State of Ohio was extremely specific in the placement of its casino's naturally Cincinnati wanted to make sure that its downtown location for its casino was contributed positively to its resurging downtown night life.

Management at Cincinnati's Casino has promised to continue in the neighborhoods effort to create a livable community by committing to an urban design that will invert the traditional concept of Casino entertainment. Multiple entrances and a transparent exterior will be just a couple of the innovative inclusions along with the development's restaurants which will be accessible from the outside.

What it boils down to is that downtown Cincinnati is not the boring old city of the past and is not following in the old adage of Mark Twain; living twenty-five years behind the rest of the world. It is a great place to visit. There are many local business in Cincinnati which can plan a customized vacation when you want to visit, based on your interests. StayCate (www.cincystaycate.com) is one of those businesses. The next time that you are planning a trip to Cincinnati, make sure you contact them first!