Join us on Opening Day Eve to celebrate the 15th annual Best of Cincinnati issue and get a glimpse of the best people, food, drinks and prizes you’ll find anywhere in Greater Cincinnati ... plus a peek at one of the main locations where George Clooney, Paul Giamatti and Ryan Gosling recently filmed their movie The Ides of March.
Presented by Time Warner Cable, the Best of Cincinnati Celebration offers food from 13 Best of Cincinnati-winning restaurants and caterers, specialty drinks from Best of Cincinnati-winning bartenders, Heineken and Hangar One products and goodie bags containing valuable coupons from Best of Cincinnati-winning businesses. And look for special “golden tickets” randomly placed inside selected goodie bags — one lucky party-goer will win two free tickets to Bonnaroo ($500 value).
Advance ticket sales are finished, but a small number of tickets will be available at the door at Memorial Hall for $30. A portion of the ticket proceeds benefits the Freestore Foodbank, winner of Best Do Gooder in the Best of Cincinnati readers picks.
[If you already purchased tickets, they'll be available via the will call list at Memorial Hall.]
Bring your friends and enjoy what’s sure to be one of Spring’s Winter's best party nights in Cincinnati:
• Food from Best of Cincinnati-winning restaurants and caterers, including Adriatico’s Pizza, Arnold’s Bar & Grill, Cincinnati Cooks Catering, Dewey's Pizza, Izzy’s, Jean-Robert’s Table, Knotty Pine on the Bayou, Melt, Mitchell’s Fish Market, Pompilio’s, Teak Thai, Terry’s Turf Club and Yummy~issimo.
• Rocking dessert/coffee stations from The BonBonerie, Graeter's and Coffee Emporium.
• Sample cocktail concoctions from some of the area’s best bartenders: Molly Wellman (Japp’s), Jeannie Murray and Jamie Thibert (Jean-Robert's Table), Lori North (Jeff Ruby’s), Rom Wells (The Lackman), Steve Skimmerton (China Gourmet), Tim Lazarvoski and Ryan Staley (Lunar), Tim Weiss (Mynt Martini), Jenny Fitzwilson (The Righteous Room) and Lance Frye (Nada). Vote for your favorite cocktail, and one bartender will win a prize package from Hangar One.
• Enjoy a variety of Hangar One and Heineken products served by the friendly folks from Know Theatre of Cincinnati.
• Live music by the Faux Frenchmen, winners of the 2010 Cincinnati Entertainment Award for Jazz, and piano tunes by SCPA student Jonathan Carlisle.
• Goodie bags are available to all paid ticket-holders with more than $100 in coupons from such Best of Cincinnati winners as Blue Wisp Jazz Club, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Funny Bone on the Levee, Graeter's, Izzy's, Mitchell's Fish Market and Paolo as well free registration for CityBeat’s Best of Cincinnati restaurant card.
• Everyone receiving a goodie bag has the opportunity to find a “golden ticket” randomly placed inside. Prizes include two tickets to the 2011 Bonnaroo Music Festival ($500 value), two Opening Day tickets ($150 value), two tickets to the Cincinnati Playhouse’s production of Beehive ($104 value), two three-day wristbands for the 2011 MidPoint Music Festival ($78 value), two three-day passes for the 2011 Nelsonville Music Festival ($140 value), two six-show passes to the 2011 Cincy Fringe Festival ($120 value), two tickets to The National at MusicNOW ($97 value), two tickets to Elvis Costello at the Taft Theater ($125 value), two tickets to Lucinda Williams at the Madison Theater ($50 value) and two tickets to Cirque du Soleil's Ovo at Coney Island (value TBA).
• Explore historic Memorial Hall, where George Clooney and an all-star cast recently filmed their new movie The Ides of March. See where George stood to direct the scenes. Use the same bathroom he, Paul Giamatti and Ryan Gosling did. Breathe the same air.
• Learn more about 3CDC’s redesign of Washington Park, now under construction across the street from Memorial Hall.
The 2011 Best of Cincinnati Celebration is presented by Time Warner Cable and supported by Hangar One, Heineken, 3CDC, WNKU-FM and CityBeat. A portion of ticket sales benefit the Freestore Foodbank and its Cincinnati Cooks! program.
Memorial Hall is located at 1225 Elm St., next door to Music Hall in Over-the-Rhine. Find a map here. Parking is available ($5) in the surface lot between Memorial Hall and Music Hall.
Download PDFs showing the layout of both floors of Memorial Hall:
First floor
Second floor
The 15th annual Best of Cincinnati issue is in CityBeat racks and boxes now and at BestofCincinnati.com.
