Hot enough for you yet? This week, it’s obvious that summer isn’t ready to let us go – but we’re certainly not ready to let summer fun go, either. The next seven days bring us the last blast of summer, literally, with Cincinnati’s traditional Labor Day weekend fireworks spectacular (courtesy of WEBN, for the 48th year!) and day-long party on the riverfront. The week also brings us plenty of outdoor concerts, plus films, plays, festivals and the chance to go back in time.
Wednesday, Aug. 28
Ziegler Park Summer Cinema, “Jurassic Park” | 9 p.m. Ziegler Park, 1322 Sycamore St., Pendleton. DETAILS: Ziegler Park’s family-friendly summer film series continues with a true cinematic classic, the 1993 “Jurassic Park” with Jeff Goldblum, Laura Dern, Sam Neill, Richard Attenborough and lots and lots of hungry, ferocious dinosaurs. Come early, have a relaxing picnic on the Great Lawn, then wait until after dark, really dark, when you’re watching the movie but somehow, out of the corner of your eye, you sense a … wait, could that be a velociraptor lurking? No, we’re at Ziegler Park, not Jurassic. Right? Right? Clever girl …
Wild Card Wednesday, 3D | 6-9 p.m. Center Stage, Factory 52, 4590 Beech St., Norwood. DETAILS: This popular summer concert series at Factory 52, the new “lifestyle destination” on the grounds of the old U.S. Playing Card factory, offers a variety of summer concert series, including Wild Card Wednesday (get it?), this week featuring a local “funky jazzy fun trio” named 3D. Plenty of food and beverage options are available.
Caffè Vivace, The Original Farm League Big Band | 7:30 p.m. Caffè Vivace, 975 E. McMillan St., Walnut Hills. 513-601-9897. DETAILS: If you’d rather take your jazz indoors, Caffè Vivace hosts its frequent musical guests The Original Farm League Big Band, a Cincinnati-based 17-piece jazz orchestra that focuses on expanding the big-band repertoire while featuring local arrangers and composers. A $15 drink/food minimum is charged per person.
Thursday, Aug. 29
(photo by Scott Preston)
Groovin’ on the Green, Michelle Robinson Band | 6-9 p.m. Village Green Park, 301 Wessel Drive, Fairfield. DETAILS: The City of Fairfield’s outdoor summer concert series wraps up Sept. 5 with a Beatles tribute, but first, Cincinnati native and award-winning Nashville country singer-songwriter Michelle Robinson brings her band to entertain the Groovin’ crowd. Picnicking, food trucks and beverages are available.
It’s Commonly Jazz, Lexi Hamner | 6-8 p.m. Seasongood Pavilion, Eden Park. DETAILS: The last concert on It’s Commonly Jazz’ August series at Seasongood (in its 40th year, the area’s longest-running free summer jazz series) features jazz trombonist/composer Lexi Hamner, a Cincinnati native, School for Creative and Performing Arts graduate and music instructor in partnership with Cincinnati Public Schools. Still just in her early 20s, Hamner has studied and participated in master classes with such greats as Wynton Marsalis, Chick Corea, Evelyn Glennie and Branford Marsalis.
Friday, Aug. 30
Elementz Cincinnati, “Or Does It Explode?” | 7 p.m. Memorial Hall, 1225 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine. 513-977-8838. DETAILS: Elementz, Cincinnati’s hip-hop cultural arts center that aims to “help the young people we serve be catalysts of change and to engage in creative futures,” presents the premiere of a documentary film exploring its history, Cincinnati creative culture and hope for the future. All proceeds go toward programming in the organization’s Creative Futures Initiative, which helps guide young people into college and career paths in creative fields.
NightLight 513, “Bring it On” | 7 p.m. Covington Plaza, 10 E. River Center Blvd., Covington. DETAILS: “This is not a democracy, it’s a cheerocracy” proclaims this 2000 sports comedy about high school cheerleading squads starring Kirsten Dunst and Gabrielle Union. The Nightlight 513 “social cinema” series on Covington Plaza, overlooking the river and the Cincinnati skyline, offers local beers, wine, food trucks and music, with the film starting around sundown.
Art After Dark, Finesse – A Streetwear Couture Show | 5-9 p.m. Cincinnati Art Museum, 953 Eden Park Drive, Eden Park. 513-721-2787. DETAILS: This month’s free Art After Dark event features a runway show of fall streetwear fashions from BlaCk OWned Outerwear, with DJ music, cash bars, food for purchase and other activities. Also included is free admission to the museum’s exhibition “The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century.”
Saturday, Aug. 31
Cincinnati Museum Center, 1940s Day | 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Cincinnati Museum Center, 1301 Western Ave., Queensgate. 513-287-7000. DETAILS: The Museum’s Center’s annual 1940s Day takes visitors back to Union Terminal’s heyday as a transit hub and gathering place during the World War II era. Displays and entertainment include classic cars, live music with the P&G Big Band, a film on D-Day in the Omnimax Theater, free tours of the Terminal’s rotunda, a costume contest and much more.
Ohio Renaissance Festival | Opening Day 10:30 a.m.-7 p.m. 10542 East State Route 73, Waynesville. 513-897-7000. DETAILS: OK, so you’d rather go further back in time than the 1940? No problem. The Renaissance Festival has you covered, opening its 30-acre re-creation of a 16th century English village for another season of way-back fun and special events with costumed villagers, swordsmen, pirates, nobles, peasants and, of course, the Queen. Weekends through Oct. 27.
Kentucky Symphony Orchestra, “Pops, Inc.” | 7:30 p.m. Devou Park, 1201 Park Dr., Covington. 859-431-6216. DETAILS: Hard to believe this type of symphonic pops music is now deemed “old-fashioned,” but time moves on … Pops classics by LeRoy Anderson, Henry Mancini and Richard Hayman, the sort of repertoire popularized by Arthur Fiedler and Cincinnati’s own Erich Kunzel, are the subject of this KSO summer picnic program. “Pack up the family for an old-fashioned pops concert on the lawn,” says the KSO. Listeners will hear such pieces as Anderson’s “Waltzing Cat,” “Typewriter,” “Syncopated Clock” and “Bugler’s Holiday,” Hayman’s “Pops Hoe-Down,” and Mancini’s “Pink Panther” and “Moon River.” Did we mention it’s “old-fashioned”? Also 7:30 p.m. Sept. 1 at Tower Park, 900 S. Ft. Thomas Ave., Fort Thomas.
Sunday, Sept. 1
Blue Ash Montgomery Symphony Orchestra, Trumpets and Drums! Labor Day Weekend Concert | 7 p.m. Tom Stone Amphitheater, Blue Ash Nature Park, 4309 Cooper Road, Blue Ash. 513-549-2197. DETAILS: BAMSO promises a “big and brassy program” for its Labor Day weekend celebration, and with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture” winding things up, you can add “boomy” to that description. Uh, could you point that cannon the other way?
Shakespeare in the Park, “Hamlet” | Closing Night performance, 7 p.m. Stanbery Park, 2221 Oxford Ave., Mt. Washington. 513-381-2273. DETAILS: Cincy Shakes’ summer-long touring production of William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” at area parks comes to a close with this performance in Stanbery Park, which advises visitors to bring a blanket or chair and some snacks. The theater company’s series of free performances has reached audiences at more than 30 public parks in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. Take a bow.
Western & Southern WEBN Fireworks and Riverfest | Noon-10 p.m. Sawyer Point, Yeatman’s Cove, elsewhere along the riverfront. DETAILS: Ribbit! This is the big one: The largest fireworks display in the Midwest, capping off a day-long celebration on the Ohio and Kentucky sides of the Ohio River, with hundreds of thousands of people expected to gather for the late-summer blast. The day includes live music, family-friendly activities, the 30th Annual Rubber Duck Regatta, the Frog Legs 5K and more. The official celebration starts at noon at Sawyer Point and Yeatman’s Cove. The fireworks show, with a synchronized soundtrack from WEBN heavy on ’90s music, starts at around 9 p.m. Check the web site for more details and rules surrounding the event.
Monday, Sept. 2
West Chester Symphony Orchestra, Labor Day Finale | 6:30 p.m. Keehner Park Amphitheater, 7411 Barret Road, West Chester. DETAILS: Yet another entry in a busy holiday weekend for the region’s orchestras. The West Chester Symphony is featured in this final event of this summer’s Keehner Park Concert Series. Guests are welcome to bring food and beverages, but alcohol is not permitted in the park. A bonus: Those attending will be treated to a free ice cream social at intermission.
Woodward Cinema, “Hundreds of Beavers” | 7:30 p.m. Woodward Theater, 1404 Main St., Over-the-Rhine. 513-345-7981. DETAILS: One dam thing after another: When last we spotted this surfeit of sinister semiaquatic rodents, they were invading the Garfield Theatre downtown in early February for the area’s first showing of this slapstick cult-hit “supernatural winter epic.” Now, they’re back, rampaging this time at the Woodward, where audiences get to marvel at the story of a drunken applejack salesman who becomes 19th century North America’s greatest fur trapper. Also 7:30 p.m. Sept. 3.
Tuesday, Sept. 3
Jazz at the Square, Estrada do Sol | 5-8 p.m. Fountain Square, Fountain District, downtown. 513-621-4400. DETAILS: Jazz at the Square’s post-Labor Day event brings a Brazilian vibe: Estrada do Sol is a local group specializing in Música Popular Brasileira (MPB), modern popular music that draws on that culture’s bossa nova, samba and other traditions, blended with jazz and rock. The group is anchored by husband-and-wife team Brian Cashwell (pianist) and Andrea Cefalo (vocalist).
Broadway Across America, “Mamma Mia!” | 7:30 p.m. Procter & Gamble Hall, Aronoff Center, 650 Walnut St., Fountain District, downtown. 513-721-3344. DETAILS: Local AꓭBA lovers, rejoice! After a Dayton run in June, it’s Cincinnati’s turn to host the touring Broadway production of “Mamma Mia!,” a musical whose Greek-isle storyline is loosely draped over a greatest-hits set list of the Swedish supergroup’s songs – you know, the ones you just can’t get out of your head. Through Sept. 15.
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