Bockfest officially kicks off in one week, but the unusual fun has already begun with a weather ritual and the return of an annual pageant this weekend.
Outside Over-the-Rhine's Northern Row brewery, dozens of revelers gathered Friday to burn a snowman effigy. It's a pre-Bockfest happy hour tradition dating back to 2008's snowstorm that nearly derailed the annual festival. Since then, revelers have sacrificed a snowman one week before the parade kicks off the beer and German heritage festival.
"You never know what mother nature's going to throw at us," said Bockfest executive director Steve Hampton. "Look, it was 70 yesterday, it's 30 today. We've got to be prepared, so this guy's gotta go up in flames to be sure of that."
They call it the Precipitation Retaliation happy hour.
One major scheduling change for 2023 means a perennial favorite moved location and date.
The Sausage Queen pageant is a gender-neutral, irreverent contest showcasing personality, presence and talent. The "renowned (and notorious)" contest was in jeopardy of not happening this year, but a group of former Sausage Queens and die-hard fans pulled together to put on a "winner takes all" contest Saturday night at Mecklenburg Gardens on University Avenue.
"Eventually they made that decision that they weren't going to do it downtown, so it was kind of a no-brainer for me because I get really excited about doing the Bockfest Sausage Queen event here," said Mecklenburg Gardens co-owner and general manager John Harten. "We do other events for Bockfest and we'll do other events for Bockfest that whole weekend."
This year's event will start with a keg tapping at 7:30 p.m., followed by a stein hoisting competition at 8 p.m. and then the main event. Wannabe Sausage Queens can register up until the event starts.
Bockfest officially kicks off on Friday, March 3 with a parade starting at Arnold's Bar and Grill on East 8th Street and opening ceremonies at Bockfest Hall, at Findlay Playground in Over-the-Rhine.
The annual celebration of beer, Cincinnati's German heritage and the coming of spring features tours, tastings and events all weekend. Tradition says monks brewed bock beer during Lent so they could get nutrients while fasting.
Cincinnati's Bockfest tradition dates back to a group of business owners on Main Street and a brewery looking for an event to launch its bock beer.
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