2015 Urban Life Staff Picks

With a mission to collect, preserve and display historical scientific artifacts, Lloyd Library and Museum has an awesome collection of pharmacy and medical equipment from yesteryear. John Uri Lloyd, who grew up in Northern Kentucky, was an early and influential American pharmacist. Along with his two brothers, John formed Lloyd Brothers Pharmacists, Inc. in the late 19th century. Visitors to the library/museum can look through a number of medical bottles from the 1930s and earlier. The space’s newest acquisition: a freaky Civil War pocket-sized field surgical kit. Lloyd Library and Museum, 917 Plum St., Downtown, 513-721-3707, lloydlibrary.org.  

Mercantile Library’s first Wednesday book discussion and other groups offer a refreshing take on the traditional casual book club. Active conversation is encouraged, space is limited and reservations are required, ensuring an intimate gathering for serious participants and great discussion. Groups form throughout the year, but current offerings include Jonathan Kamholtz’s Hard-Boiled America, a 20th century mystery novel group; the Canon Club, which looks at Shakespeare works; and a monthly rotating book discussion the first Wednesday of each month. Mercantile Library, 414 Walnut St., Downtown. 513-621-0717, mercantilelibrary.com. 

Though you can still find them, unfortunately drive-in movies are largely going the way of the payphone. But there are still plenty of opportunities to catch a flick in the great outdoors, even right in the heart of the city’s coolest neighborhood. Washington Park’s movie nights were expanded in 2014, showing classic films on select Wednesdays and Saturdays throughout late spring and most of the summer. The free movies — which last year ranged from Jumanji and The NeverEnding Story to Gone with the Wind and Singin’ in the Rain — attracted diverse crowds of people (families, date-nighters, seniors and beyond), who brought their own chairs and blankets to enjoy some vintage celluloid under the stars and in the shadow of Music Hall. You can bring your own picnic or grab some concessions (including beer) on-site. Keep an eye on washingtonpark.org for 2015’s offerings. Washington Park, 1230 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine, washingtonpark.org. 

If you’re old enough to remember childhood visits to Monroe, Ohio’s now shuttered Americana/LeSourdsville Lake Amusement Park and still pine to share that cozy, old-fashioned amusement park experience with the next generation without the crowds and costs of that other big area park with an Eiffel Tower replica, Stricker’s Grove should be on your summertime to-do list. The private indie park (which has origins dating back to 1924) has a ton of diverse classic rides that younger children will love (including the mini helicopter ride that looks a lot like an old Hanna-Barbera Land attraction at King’s Island), as well as a pair of hand-built wooden roller coasters: The Tornado and The Teddy Bear, both built by late owner Ralph Stricker. (The Teddy Bear was built based on the blueprints for the original coaster at Cincinnati’s Coney Island.) The park is only open to the public a handful of days per year, including Fourth of July and Labor Day, but that limited access makes the experience even more special and unique. (It is available to rent for picnics, wedding receptions and other occasions.) Stricker’s Grove, 11490 Hamilton Cleves Road, Hamilton, 513-521-9747, strickersgrove.com. 

While you might not technically be able to bring alcohol into Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum, with more than 773 sprawling acres, it’s relatively easy to avoid detection. The National Historic Landmark is the final resting place of many famous (and not-so-famous) Cincinnatians, from Salmon P. Chase and Skip Prosser to William Procter and James Gamble. But for local ale fanatics, it’s worth making a pilgrimage to the cemetery just for one of their Beer Baron tours, where guides lead you on a walk to visit the graves and ornate mausoleums of the likes of Christian Moerlein, John Kauffman of the Kauffman Brewing Company and more, frequently accompanied by cemetery-sanctioned beer tastings. (If you want to go solo, head to section 37, lot 24 for the Moerlein plot.) And if Civil War generals are more your thing, they have a tour for that, too (there are more than 40 interred on the grounds). Just don’t bring your musket. Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum, 4521 Spring Grove Ave., Winton Place, 513-681-7526, springgrove.org. 

Because of pet overpopulation and overcrowded shelters, more than 4 million dogs and cats are euthanized in the U.S. each year. Locally, the United Coalition for Animals (UCAN) is on a crusade to end the practice in Greater Cincinnati. And one of the best ways to stop euthanasia is to stop accidental or unintended litters. The low-cost, nonprofit spay and neuter clinic ($20 cats; $65-$75 for normal-sized dogs) has more than 68,000 surgeries under its belt, servicing family pets throughout the Tristate as well as rescue groups and feral cat trap-neuter-return (TNR) programs. The professional surgeries are performed by a team of veterinarians and passionate staff, and while you can’t request anything like “Mom” in a heart tattooed on their little bellies, your pets will walk away with a teal-green tattooed line on their stomachs indicating they’ve been fixed. (It helps avoid future unnecessary surgeries, especially for TNR cats.) And if you were a cool mom, you’d get a matching one. UCAN, 2830 Colerain Ave., Camp Washington, ucancincinnati.org. 

The initiative to renovate Covington’s 106-year-old Goebel Park began when 11-year-old twin boys asked city leaders to make the park a priority at a public forum in February 2014. They said yes and now the boys’ mom co-chairs the Make Goebel Great committee, a grassroots group within the MainStrasse Village Association Foundation looking to raise funds to better the park, which is generally only used for special events or when people want to watch mechanized figures act out the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin around the Carroll Chimes Bell Tower glockenspiel. The group hopes to raise $250,000 to purchase new playground equipment, install a bicycle “pump track,” plant a Monarch Recovery Garden and start a pilot program that uses goats (yes, goats) as a way to maintain the park’s landscaping. The goal is to make the park a safe and fun environment for families to socialize and play. It’s also a great employment opportunity for local goats; generally we only use them to pull beer kegs. Goebel Park, Philadelphia Street, Covington, Ky., makegoebelgreat.com. 

After some assholes burned the beloved Little Free Library — a glorified mailbox/birdhouse that offered a tiny selection of curated books for free pick-up and drop-off — in Covington last summer, the community quickly committed to rebuilding it. A mere six days after the book drop-off was destroyed, the original builder Jeff Pelini began its reconstruction at the corner of Sixth and Craig streets. It was completed within a week. Little Free Library is a nationwide nonprofit initiative in urban communities to promote literacy, civic engagement and neighborhood aesthetic with its “take a book, return a book” mentality. Today, there are more than 7,000 Little Free Libraries in the world, including Pelini’s restored one. It’s like the tiny house movement, but for books. Little Free Library, Sixth and Craig streets, Covington, Ky., littlefreelibrary.org. 

On Saturdays and Sundays in September and running through October, the annual Old West Festival in Williamsburg, Ohio, is every bit a John Wayne movie as patrons stroll through an authentic Wild West Town complete with a saloon, gunfight re-enactments, period actors, rodeo stunts and more. And each weekend, there’s a different theme, from Steampunk to Halloween to the Civil War. Guests are encouraged to don their best period attire for costume contests, do-si-do to the live Bluegrass music or partake in any number of the festival’s historically accurate shows. Old West Festival, 1449 Greenbush Cobb Road, Williamsburg, oldwestfestival.com.