News

Beer miles & train tracks

COVINGTON, Ky. – With City Hall and other offices closed for Veterans Day on Thursday, we’re putting out our narrative weekend events calendar a day early.

You should be glad we are, because there’s a lot of cool stuff going on in The Cov.

Feel like an easy, laidback weekend to you? Then how about a workshop where you can make your own journal … or incense? Feeling bluesy? We’ve got just the musician for you.

Want to find something festive to do with the kids? There’s a Holiday Toy Train exhibit opening on Saturday.

Or maybe you’ve got the urge to run a mile and drink beer along the way? You might be surprised that we’ve got you covered there too.

Scroll down … there’s something for everyone this weekend.

A purposeful journal

Need a place where you can spill your deepest hopes and dreams (maybe some dark thoughts too)? Somewhere to document those stream-of-consciousness thoughts you’ve committed to writing every morning?

If so, The Roost Latonia has a workshop for you.

The Junk Journal Workshop on Thursday is by no means implying that your innermost thoughts are junk. Instead, they’re talking about putting all the junk around your house – or on the backseat of your car – to good use. To make something you can write on (believe it or not).

Junk like …  coffee cup sleeves … fruit snack boxes … old papers … paper bags … maps … junk mail … shoelaces.

So, gather your junk and let them show you how to repurpose it. Then gather your thoughts and put pen to paper. Details, HERE.  

Sonny’s Blues

Go to Smoke Justis on Thursday to listen to blues musician Sonny Moorman.

Here’s why:

First, Moorman is a blues-rock guitarist who can bring the house down with some smokin’ hot music, so it’s a perfect venue for him.

Second, it’s Veterans Day. And odds are a lot of veterans heard him while sitting in the cafeteria at the Cincinnati VA Hospital inbetween their medical appointments. Sonny’s been known to show up and jam with veterans at the VA who are learning to play through the Guitars 4 Vets nonprofit (free music lessons – and free guitars). Moorman’s been a Guitar 4 Vets ambassador.

Good music from a good guy who does good things for veterans. He checks all the boxes. Details HERE.    

4 beers. 4 laps. 1 mile

Look like a fun equation?

It all adds up to Friday’s Covington Beer Mile, sponsored by Braxton Brewing Company and Road iD 2021.

Rules are simple: drink a beer, run a quarter mile. Repeat.

You’ll get a T-shirt, cold beers (obviously), pizza … and a post-race party at Braxton. Prizes for first, second, and third place. Details, HERE.    

Custom crosswalks

The Center for Great Neighborhoods is taking it to the streets on Saturday morning (“it” being art).

This week they’ll be at 18th & Garrard streets to paint crosswalks. Local artists will be there. They want neighbors, kids, and families there too.

You don’t need to be a Picasso to join in. Details, HERE.    

(Tiny) train whistles signal the season

For some, it’s as quick as the first chill in the air. For others, it’s the sight of garland and lights wrapped around streetlights and lampposts.

But isn’t the opening of Behringer-Crawford Museum’s Holiday Toy Trains the true heralding of the holidays?

Trains leave their stations on Saturday at BCM, beginning their holiday journey through diminutive snow-covered fields, carnival rides, and holiday LEGO® lands.

Eight O-gauge Lionel model trains will circle 250 feet of track. By the time the holidays are over, they would have put in enough distance to go to Disney World and back.

And you can be part of the chug-along-the-track: At the push of a button, you can call a miniature firefighter to action and watch him slide down a pole … bring miniature animals to life … activate a cow-abducting UFO (nothing says “holidays” like a cow-abducting UFO. Wonder if it’s a two-headed calf?). More HERE.     

The old lefthander

If you’ve been in Greater Cincinnati for longer than a minute, then you know Joe Nuxhall.

(If you haven’t and don’t … he was the youngest person to ever play professional baseball, just 15 years old when he stepped on the mound for the Cincinnati Reds way back on June 10, 1944. Nuxhall of course went on to become one-half of the team’s legendary broadcast team.)

As a television reporter for the Cincinnati Enquirer and media beat reporter for WVXU-radio, John Kiesewetter wrote so much about Nuxhall that he could fill a book.

So, he did.

He’ll be talking about and signing copies of his “Joe Nuxhall: The Old Lefthander & Me: My Conversations with Joe Nuxhall About the Reds, Baseball & Broadcasting” at Roebling Point Books & Coffee on Saturday. More, HERE.   

Drag. Theatre. Art.

The Drag Fusion Project at The Carnegie is a fusion of those three and it premieres on Saturday.

Back in May, the Carnegie Creative Disruption Committee put out a call to drag artists to create something “a little different.”

They paired drag performers with theatre practitioners and filmmakers … created four production teams … and told them to make short films about “change.”

The creative culmination?

Here’s a tease: Team Sparkle Leigh’s film might be about an attractive pizza guy who drives away … Team Dandy Lyin presents a satirical western that features a cowboy looking for a handsome lad to do-si-do with his heart.

What’s up with the elusive pizza guy? Does the cowboy find a dashing, boot-scooting paramour?

You’ve gotta go to find out. Plus, there’s a live drag performance.

Big themes here, so this is just for the grown-ups (otherwise known as 18 and over).

If you go, wear a mask while inside The Carnegie. Details, HERE.   

Clean & Crawl

After you’ve finished sipping your coffee on Sunday, head over to Crafts & Vines, grab a T-shirt (while they last) and cleaning supplies. Then get to cleaning The Cov with the Covington Clean & Crawl.

We’re hoping those new urns for cigarette butts and recycling bins for pizza boxes might mean you have an easier go of it with the clean-up.

After everything is tidied up, there’s a post-clean-up happy hour at the Village Pub. More, HERE.

Latonia Second Sunday Market

Be the first to start your holiday shopping on Sunday with the fine vendors participating in Latonia’s Second Sunday Market.

Plenty of businesses at Rittes Corner will be open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.: Local Studio 325 …The Roost Latonia … Emerson Bakery …Good Timers II … Mona Lisa Collections … Angie’s Closet … Curated Design & Décor … Blondie Locks Latonia … Half & Half Antique Story … and Legends Bar & Grill.

Some good food options and booths to shop too. Details HERE.

 More live music

There’s … Passafire at Madison Live on Thursday, HERE … Alien Weaponry also at Madison Live on Friday, HERE … The Chuck Bisbin Trio on Friday at Smoke Justis, HERE … Alvarado Tour with The Wild Feathers and 49 Winchester on Friday at The Madison Theater, HERE … Linus Tate Trio on Saturday at Smoke Justis, HERE … and An Afternoon with Matthew Whitaker at the Metropolitan Club on Saturday, HERE.   

Miscellaneous

And then there’s …. Conversations and Coffee on Friday at the Kenton County Public Library, HERE …  a book signing Friday evening at Purple Paisley, Local Artisan Shop with author Mike Maydak, HERE … watch USA v. Mexico World Cup qualifier at Molly Malone’s Irish Pub & Restaurant on Friday (game takes place at FC Cincinnati), HERE … MainStrasse Village Food & Culture Tour on Saturday morning, HERE … peak season pickings at Covington Farmers Market on Saturday, HERE … make your own incense sticks at Local 325 on Saturday, HERE.   

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