The 101st Reds Findlay Market Opening Day Parade has been canceled for its slated date of March 26 due to restrictions around large public gatherings and Ohio's stay at home order to stop the spread of COVID-19. And Major League Baseball, which at first postponed its season by two weeks, has declared baseball is postponed until further notice in accordance with CDC guidelines. (A statement from the MLB said it will keep fans updated on the decisions regarding the start of the 2020 season and that teams want to play as many games as possible this year.)
All of this is to say, there is no Reds Opening Day on March 26 — except digitally.
Downtown's Arnold's Bar and Grill is hosting an "Opening Day Anyway" online party on its Facebook page.
In a press release, the bar says, "Arnold’s is just going to do a lot of the things that we normally do on Opening Day like give away baseball cards all day and have performances from The Shakespeare Company, Jim Tarbell, Todd Hepburn and Jake Speed. We are going to be doing this all day for our own little virtual Opening Day and have something planned for every hour starting at 10 a.m. and going til 8 p.m. Hope to see you there but… online."
Events kick off at 10 a.m. with Jim Tarbell, who will be playing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" on his mouth harp from his home.
After that, Arnold's will be giving away a Joey Votto game-used jersey card at 11 a.m., followed by a performance of "Who's on First" by the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company's Jeremy Dubin and Justin McCombs. The duo will be doing the iconic back-and-forth in the empty Arnold's courtyard.
At 1 p.m. there's another baseball card giveaway: a 1953 Topps Herman Wehmeier.
At 2 p.m., the bar will stream Jake Speed performing "Peanut Jim," recorded at his house.
At 3 p.m., there's another baseball card giveaway: a 1979 Topps Pete Rose.
Then at 4 p.m., a performance of Todd Hepburn doing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" will stream, followed by another baseball card giveaway (a Brandon Phillips game-used bat card) at 5 p.m.
At 6 p.m., Dubin and McCombs are back to perform "Casey at the Bat."
At 7 p.m., the bar is giving away a Nov. 3, 1975 Red World Series copy of Sports Illustrated.
The party wraps up at 8 p.m. with a second performance by Jake Speed — he will be performing "Old Man Joe."
Head to facebook.com/arnoldsbar to join the party.
