cool things to do in cincinnati: bockfest and guerrilla queer bar

it was a very eventful weekend in cincinnati and i hope you all were able to take advantage of everything that was going on, or at least some of it. the big thing of course was bockfest, which was pretty much a blur of beer soaked awesomeness for me.

i had never been before and in case you are wondering, bockfest is a yearly, grassroots-ish bock beer festival here in cincinnati. it happens the first weekend in march and unfortunately the website is not loading right now otherwise i would just cut and paste a description here, but instead you will have to suffer through my meager display of bockfest knowledge. it takes place in over the rhine, and there is a parade with goats and beer, and there is a sausage queen contest and a home brew competition and tours of old breweries and lots of music and sausages and beer and german culture. it's great and if you missed it, don't worry... just put it on your calendar for next year.

the other fun event that i want to tell you guys about is guerrilla queer bar. i had not heard of this until friday when "sidd finch" from centsinnati (who still owes me a guest blog post... ahem) told me he was going to it and i thought it sounded awesome. here is a description (fortunately their website is working):

CGQB is a happening that occurs every FIRST FRIDAY. Inspired by similar events in other cities, it is a night where the cincinnati queer community "takes-over" a typically straight bar. Transforming it, for one night only, into queer-fantastic. If you'd like to get on the list so you can receive the top secret message that includes next month's location, email cincinnatigqb@gmail.com or join the facebook group.

we here at cincinnati imports thought we were doing well when we had almost 70 people show up at our first event. well guerrilla queer bar had over 100 at their first event. you just can't argue with that. think about the best time you have ever had partying at a gay club, and now imagine that scene at the lodge bar. it was so much fun and also hilarious. the best part to me was that everything just went so smoothly. i had been picturing freaked out frat boys standing by the sidelines and glaring, but nothing like that happened. everybody just danced and partied and had fun, and i met lots of new people.

now in case you are thinking to yourself, "that sounds great liz, but i am straight," never fear! i can tell you firsthand that the guerrilla queer bar crowd is more than happy to have you. cincinnati imports = not just for cincinnati imports. guerrilla queer bar = not just for queers. all you need for either one is a desire to go out and meet people and have fun.