Major League Baseball Allstar Game and USRowing Club Nationals
A glass skyscraper sports a red and white pill-box baseball cap. A giant image of a Cincinnati Red Stockings player is projected on the side of one of the city’s signature buildings. Big banners with outsized graphics dominate the lobbies and skywalks downtown.
All rightly herald the coming of the Major League Baseball All-Star Game to be played at Great American Ball Park July 14. Days of activities precede the game.
This is a really big deal — $60 million in economic impact when it’s all said and done, counting hotel stays, shopping, eating and other ways these type of events are tracked.
Surprisingly, though, it’s not the only game in town with a national and international draw.
In Clermont County, the U.S. Rowing Club National Championships will begin on July 15 on Lake Harsha in East Fork State Park. It is expected to draw more than 1,800 athletes, 2,000 visitors and generate $1.9 million in economic impact over four days.
Two completely different sports, yes. One is high-profile and iconic to Cincinnati. The other is low-key in comparison and staged on one of the top 10 lakes in America for its sport — a lake created from a controlled flood more than 20 years ago. Both have an opportunity to showcase Cincinnati and the region to audiences who may not know us that well. This is the kind of multievent-driven tourism we’d like to see more often in the region.
The moment is not lost on Leila Spriggs, event director for the Clermont County Convention and Visitors Bureau, who acknowledges the synergy.
“You know, no matter where the All-Star Game is played and no matter where the Club Nationals are held, people are still coming. Once we get them here, let’s show them the best we can be,” she said. “People and businesses are asking us what they can do, and I keep saying, ‘Let’s just be nice to these people. We want them to come back.'”
Cincinnati, bludgeoned by an uptick in gun crimes and heroin-related tragedies in recent months, ought to take a moment to inhale the good happening around it right now.
And, as the spotlights shine brighter in the coming days, let’s show them the best we can be.