Tall Stacks Cincinnati

Tall Stacks Cincinnati is an event that happens here every three years. Riverboats from around the country come to our city port and visitors travel back in time to the era of Mark Twain.

The first ever Tall Stacks was planned for the 200th birthday of Cincinnati in 1988. It was such a success that the festival continued. Our family attended in 2003 and 2006. Each year more is added. More Music, more live re-enactments, more food! Tall Stacks Cincinnati in 2006 also meant more money. The price of admission was raised from $15 to $25. That may seem like a lot of money, but the Tall Stacks Passport (ticket) can be used every day of the event which runs Wednesday through Sunday. Also, children twelve and under are free.

One of the reasons the price of admission may seem a little high for Tall Stacks Cincinnati is because it costs a lot of money to bring in all those riverboats. It's actually the largest collection of riverboats in one place for any festival anywhere. There were sixteen this year.

The riverboats provide entertainment too. There are breakfast, lunch, and dinner cruises. Riverboat race cruises. Music cruises. Theme cruises (Graeters Icecream was served on one cruise, the Cincinnati Zoo brought animals for another). Take a look at this video of a cruise on the Belle of Louisville.

The video pans the Cincinnati side of the Ohio River. It's beautiful. And, don't you just love the steam whistle blowing?

Speaking of steam here is a video of the Natchez blowing her top. The Natchez is based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She doesn't usually venture outside her home port, but came to Cincinnati last year to raise money for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. What's unique about the Natchez is she is one of only six purely steam powered vessels left traveling our nation's rivers.

Just to give you a feel for what it's like cruising the Ohio River during Tall Stacks, here's a video taken from the deck of one riverboat (the Belle of Cincinnati) of two other riverboats (the Colonel and the Celebration Belle) that are passing it. Don't despair. It starts off very dark, but as the boats get right next to the Belle of Cincinnati they light up like a hot air balloon on a cool Newport, Kentucky night during Tall Stacks.

The Colonel is a beautiful 3-tier authentic sternwheeler riverboat. She wins the prize for traveling the farthest (1,700 miles) to attend Tall Stacks Cincinnati from her home port of Galveston, Texas. The Celebration Belle is an ornamental sternwheeler out of Moline, Illinois. She has the distinction of being the largest luxury excursion boat on the upper Mississippi River

The Belle of Cincinnati is an authentic paddlewheeler and she, of course, calls her home Cincinnati. Cruises are available year-round on the Belle of Cincinnati or on any of the other in the BB Riverboats fleet.

Did you get the hot air balloon glow analogy? If not, watch the next video and maybe the concept will begin to gel a little more.

Newport, Kentucky (the Kentucky side of the Ohio River in the area of Tall Stacks Cincinnati) was certainly illuminated on Friday night during Tall Stacks Cincinnati 2006.

One of the best features of the 2006 Tall Stacks was the music. There were 150 bands playing on the four stages throughout the five-day event. Lots of local artists participated as well as big-name performers like Al Green, Roseanne Cash, and Ricky Skaggs. The styles fit the riverboat era: Bluegrass, jazz, barbershop quartets, folk music, etc.

Check out this video of Jerry Douglas, the world's premier master of a musical instrument called the dobro (a resonator guitar), performing at Tall Stacks Cincinnati. He's a twelve-time grammy winner with a local connection (he's from Warren, Ohio). He's recorded with many artists including Alison Krauss and Union Station.

You'll find people dressed in period costumes wandering throughout the Tall Stacks area. Most of them will stop and take pictures with visitors. Some are even stationed at a spot specifically designed for picture snapping.

There are plenty of photo opportunities at Tall Stacks. We took advantage of this one which Cincinnati Bell set up. They even had camerapersons on site taking pictures and printing out a free souvenir copy for anyone interested.

Another great feature of Tall Stacks is all of the live re-enactments of period history. Here union soldiers perform a drill for onlookers.

The Tall Stacks passport (ticket) is good for all five days of Tall Stacks. It is a good idea to go more than one day because there just is no way you can see everything in a single day. You'll definitely want to use the Purple People Bridge (no cars allowed) or one of the other bridges to cross the Ohio River. Both sides of the river are lined with activity.

A 1900's working dock was one of the areas you could tour on the Kentucky side of the Ohio River.

There were also many Civil War re-enactments including a Civil War barracks, a field hospital, an artillery encampment, photographer's wagon, and signal corp. Morgan's Raiders (a band of horseback soldiers) periodically raced along the banks of the river.

And, last but certainly not least, what event would be complete without plenty of souvenir buying opportunities. We stocked up with an assortment that included a Cincinnati Flying Pig (dressed in a Tall Stacks vest), a Riverboat-shaped cookie, and copies of actual newspapers printed in the 1800's.

How would our family rate Tall Stacks Cincinnati? We'd give it 5 stars (out of five)? Will we attend again in three years? Absolutely. Maybe we'll see you there too!

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