Nothing has more appeal than a festival that promises a wide selection of food in a concentrated space. Being that it’s also the longest running culinary arts festival in the country – with 500,000 people attending each year – it practically screams foodie happiness.

So we arrived at lunchtime with 2 rumbling bellies to experience just that…Foodie Happiness.

Set up along Fifth Street between Race Street and Broadway, the festival is a good 5 city blocks long. Walking without any obstacles may roughly take about 8 minutes. Walking with a huge crowd of people, distractions and plenty of food booths could take a good deal longer.

And it did take longer, because there were things to slow you down, like…

…some rides…

…the “Create your own card” Bicycle Station (with card playing tables)…

…the Charmin bear…

…the concerts…

…the Dunkin Turbo mug…

…the advertising super hero (who looks very Space Ghost-ish)…

…and the people…

…LOTS of people.

Getting through the crowd was sometimes a bit tiresome. As in any large crowd, you have your families trying to move together, the strollers being guided through the crowds, the drinkers losing their sense of balance and direction, the aggressive walkers pushing and the passive walkers holding others behind as they wait. This is all a normal big-crowd dynamic.

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But this crowd also ate.

There were groups of people who ate in place, sometimes changing the traffic pattern as people went around them. This usually wasn’t a problem as they stood off to the side on the most part. The others, though, balanced drinks and corn cobs and sandwiches as they made their way through, lowering their eyes as they took sips or bites. Often times, there was bumping involved as a result. If the consuming walker wasn’t careful, the possibility of spilling some food/drink on a fellow festival-goer became all the more fruitful.

But that only adds to the charm. So let’s move on to the food!

Among the various Cincinnati selections, there were…

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…plenty of Greek places…

…German restaurants…

…Asian food…

…English grub…

…and dessert.

In the heat, the selection became a little more difficult. We didn’t want anything fried and we probably weren’t getting dessert with the Ice Cream Festival awaiting us that afternoon. I also didn’t see anything that really spoke to me. After passing through all five blocks, Julia decided on a gyro. I took advantage of Cincinnati’s history of pork and decided on ribs.

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2 bones at City BBQ ribs

Baby back ribs from Pit to Plate

It really wasn’t that much to eat for a lunch, but it was really hot and that little bit seemed to carry me over. Julia was definitely happy about the delicious gyro…

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…and it showed.

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