The Queen City is getting in the festive spirit this season with the inaugural FOUND holiday celebration.
The month-long event (from Nov. 30 through Dec. 24) will span from The Banks all the way to Findlay Market, transforming the city with ArtWorks-decorated store windows, dazzling Christmas trees to represent each Cincy neighborhood and weekly scavenger hunts.
Organized by AGAR, 3CDC and The Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile, Jr./U.S. Bank Foundation, the event hopes to spread holiday cheer while offering a socially distant way to explore the city.
Head to Vine Street's Imagination Alley in Over-the-Rhine for the "Founders Forest" public art project. The alley will be decorated trees that represent Cincinnati's unique neighborhoods, and explorers can vote for their favorite.
Cincy storefronts will also be getting the festive treatment: 25 stores throughout the city will be transformed with holiday merriment as FOUND collaborates with artists from ArtWorks.
"For most of the past century, Downtown Cincinnati transformed into a holiday wonderland each year, gift wrapped for all to experience in their own wide-eyed way. The decorated store windows of Shillito’s, Gidding-Jenny, Bromwell’s and countless others entranced young and young at heart," a press release reads. "FOUND is bringing back the visual holidayscapes to herald the season of awe. Cincinnati creatives, businesses and arts associations are being tapped to create noteworthy holiday installations."
Finally, FOUND'S city-wide scavenger hunt, "Finding Losantiville," invites participants to discover the city while they solve clues to find the "key to Losantiville." A grand prize and weekly prizes will be awarded.
"Designed by an expert team of game creators, the four-week-long city-wide scavenger hunt takes contestants on a journey to find the key to Losantiville," says AGAR. "Each week a new clue is released with physical challenges throughout the city."
Check point clues are released every Monday, from Nov. 30 to Dec. 24. (CityBeat is a media partner and will be releasing clues weekly.)
You can join the hunt by messaging FOUND, where they explain how the scavenger hunt works and offer a link to sign up.
Weekly winners can take home $250 and a grand prize winner will receive $4,000 — $2,000 for you, and $2,000 for a charity of your choosing.
Businesses interested in participating in the event can request a tool kit which "provides assets and will allow the entire urban core to be engaged in the discovery of FOUND."
The FOUND website also offers an online destination to find holiday-related events happening across the city, like trivia, art shows, restaurant specials, holiday markets, activities and more.
The Over-the-Rhine Chamber of Commerce, The Banks, Findlay Market, ArtWorks and the Greater Cincinnati & Northern Kentucky African American Chamber of Commerce also helped produce FOUND.
For more info, visit foundcincinnati.com.
