Cincinnati Awaits IAFC Conference
Called the Queen City of the West by Longfellow a century ago and described recently as one of the most livable cities in the United States, Cincinnati, the site of the 105th Conference of the International Association of Fire Chiefs, September 10-14, is a burgeoning, spirited crossroads of the nation. It is also an area of unexpected beauty in its forested hills, broad and graceful rivers and unique modern architecture.
Unlike many cities whose downtown areas are decaying, downtown Cincinnati is a safe, vibrant, growing, dayand-night center of activity. The reasons for this include four major department stores supplementing an array of smaller specialized stores; a city bus system that feeds into downtown from throughout the area (with a fare of 10 cents within the downtown area); and a vigorous, large-scale renewal program that has made Cincinnati’s downtown one of the most attractive, convenient and successful city centers in the nation.
An expanding system of elevated walkways connects the city’s block-long Convention Center with major hotels, department stores, restaurants, cinemas, office buildings, banks, shops, public plazas and parking facilities. A separate system of skywalks connects downtown with riverfront entertainment and recreation areas. The skywalk presents a dramatic view of Cincinnati’s centerpiece, Fountain Square. This award-winning architectural masterpiece serves as a gathering place for public celebrations, for organized and spontaneous entertainment and for lunchtime brown-baggers.
photo by Mayhew Photographers
The riverfront
The glistening white jewel in the Queen City’s crown is the riverfront. Since completion in 1970 of the 58,000-seat Riverfront Stadium, home of Reds baseball and Bengals football, the riverfront has grown through public and business investment into a center of activity rivaled only by downtown.
The privately financed Riverfront Coliseum, seating 17,500, hosts the Stingers professional hockey team and the University of Cincinnati basketball team, along with major popular concert artists, circuses, rodeos, ice shows and other entertainment.
The public landing below the Coliseum is the home port of the Delta Queen Steamboat Company, operator of the nation’s only overnight steamboat service.
Immediately east of the Coliseum lies Yeatman’s Cove park, dedicated at the Bicentennial. The park sits atop a multi-tiered serpentine wall that forms a natural amphitheater for concerts and a riverside walk for strollers. Within the park is the Cincinnatus Concourse, a public plaza with pools, waterfalls and fountains adjacent to a parking facility. During the conference, this will be the setting for an “Octoberfest” on Monday evening.
A skywalk system connects downtown with the Stadium, the Stadium with the Coliseum and the Cincinnatus Concourse with Lytle Park on the east edge of downtown.
Attractions
Visitors to Greater Cincinnati are often surprised at the variety of entertainment, culture, family care and beauty in the area.
Cincinnati is noted for its fine restaurants, including the five-star Maisonette and . the Gourmet Room and Pigall’s, both four-star restaurants.
The city offers the outstanding Cincinnati Art Museum, Contemporary Arts Center, Museum of Natural History and Planetarium, and the Cincinnati Fire Division Museum. The renowned Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, along with the May Festival choral group, the Cincinnati Ballet Company and the Summer Opera, performs in the Music Hall.
Throughout the area are numerous facilities for golf, tennis, boating, swimming, fishing, hiking, biking and camping. Arrangements can be made to reserve Reds baseball tickets during the conference.
Top-name national entertainers perform at Music Hall, Riverfront Coliseum and Riverfront Stadium. Theater in Cincinnati can be found at the Taft Theater downtown, in a playhouse in Eden Park, and in a converted showboat on the Ohio River at the public landing.
The Cincinnati Zoo is recognized throughout the world as one of the most successful in breeding rare and endangered animals. Of the 44 white tigers in the world today, seven were born at the Cincinnati Zoo. The zoo has undergone a conversion into a modern, open-area display of hundreds of unusual and valuable species.
The National College Football Hall of Fame opened at Kings Island northeast of Cincinnati in May of this year. It is unique among sports halls of fame because of its extensive use of audio-visual displays and entertainment. Its attractions include live theater performances, mini-theaters for films, computers to answer questions on football and a football field available for use by area colleges and high schools for clinics and other programs.
Kings Island itself is one of the nation’s most popular theme amusement parks, with 1600 acres of entertainment, including the nation’s largest animated fountain, a monorail safari through a jungle of live animals, a porpoise show, more than 100 spectacular rides, a magnificent 330-foot-high replica of the Eiffel Tower and a hot air balloon and a biplane show capped with a nightly fireworks display. The adjacent Jack Nicklaus Golf Center is the site of the 1978 LPGA Championship.
The Hamilton County Park District is the third largest in Ohio and has doubled the number of county parks around Cincinnati from five to 11 since 1973. The district’s acreage increased over 28 percent during the same period, to 7423 acres. Many of these parks are actually forests with hiking trails, nature preserves, lakes for boating and fishing, golf courses and expansive picnic and play areas.
Transportation
Cincinnati is a hub of highway, rail, air, and water transportation in the Midwest.
Four interstate highways—1-75,1-71, 1-74 and 1-275—connect to Cincinnati. The Greater Cincinnati Airport, a 20minute expressway drive from downtown, underwent a $40 million expansion in 1974. Service is provided by TWA, Delta, American, Piedmont, Allegheny, Eastern and North Central Airlines on a daily basis. Limousine service from airport to major hotels is $3.50 per person, cab fare is $10 per cab. Amtrack services Cincinnati daily on the Chicago to Washington and Washington to Chicago runs.
Entertainment
Evening entertainment during the conference includes the Motorola presentation on Sunday, the Octoberfest on Monday, the FEMSA party on Tuesday and the Conference Banquet on Wednesday.
On Sunday for the ladies there will be a reception for the president’s wife at the Netherland Hilton. Also on the ladies program is a luncheon on Monday featuring John Potter of Procter and Gamble. He will present his highly entertaining “History and Development of Soap Operas” with clips from present-day and early soap operas.
On Monday afternoon, Bob Braun, widely known TV personality, will entertain the ladies. The hospitality room will provide refreshments, craft programs and other activities. No host tours to places of interest will be available, and shopping is within easy, safewalking distance of the Convention Center.
