Photograph courtesy Camp Washington Urban Revitalization Corporation
Thousands flock to the Ohio State Fair in Columbus yearly, but most don’t know that its original location was in a neighborhood called Camp Washington. This year, a new fair aims to celebrate the vibrant and active neighborhood, located about three miles north of downtown Cincinnati. The inaugural Camp Washington State Fair, happening October 17, will honor its history and highlight how the community has continued to grow over time.
“I hope people see that it is a safe, active, fun neighborhood. I think we get this bad rapport … that there’s a lot of panhandlers, a lot of loitering, and encampments. But we are a thriving neighborhood with a strong business community, artists, makers, and residents,” says Sidney Prigge, executive director of Camp Washington Urban Revitalization Corporation.
The inception of the new event follows more than a century of history with local fairs. Before its move to Columbus, Camp Washington was the original location set to host the very first Ohio State Fair in 1849. However, due to an outbreak of cholera, it was postponed for the following year. The fair eventually moved to the state capital permanently, but Camp Washington remained a bustling community.
With the neighborhood’s long-time role in manufacturing and other industrial markets, many warehouses still remain in the area. Local artists jumped at the opportunity to take over these industrial spaces and turn them into studios, which has made Camp Washington a hub for creativity and collaboration.
Take, for example, the last decade of Made In Camp, celebrating the artists and creative energy of the neighborhood by hosting a tour of local artists, vendors, maker spaces, studios, and creative manufacturers. The new Camp Washington State Fair is an expansion of the event, including activities that highlight Camp Washington’s history. Visitors will also experience live music, a coney-eating contest, a scrap metal sculpture showdown, a fiber art demonstration, and much more.
Photograph courtesy Camp Washington Urban Revitalization Corporation
Kicking off the day is Cattle Drive: Moo Mile. The 1K race through the neighborhood is inspired by story of Camp Washington’s Freedom the Cow. Freedom, a cow at a Camp Washington slaughterhouse, famously escaped confinement in 2002 by jumping a six-foot fence and hiding in Mount Storm Park in Clifton for 11 days. Once she was found, Freedom became a local animal rights icon and was brought to a sanctuary in New York where she lived out her days safe and happy with other bovine escapees. Registration for the Cattle Drive is $25, and cow costumes are encouraged.
Spencer Deutsch of the Camp Washington Business Association has been in charge of planning the Cattle Drive and hopes that it is an opportunity for visitors to see all Camp Washington has to offer. “Everybody always talks about how old OTR is, and Camp Washington, especially the housing around here, is of the same era and architecture as OTR. So there’s a lot to see while you’re walking around … Yes, we have construction companies across the street from museums, but that shows that we’re a complex neighborhood – the way that neighborhoods used to be,” he says.
The Camp Washington State Fair will close with the Oddball Parade, a 0.6-mile route of “pure Camp Washington chaos, celebration, and fairground fun,” beginning at the Depaul Cristo Rey High School parking lot and ending at the Camp Washington Skate Park, which recently opened in late August.
Camp Washington is also home to the American Sign Museum, which houses more than 800 signs and represents nearly 100 years of American signage history. The museum will offer free admission on Saturday.
“I hope people can see that and start visiting us and really get a good vibe of who the Camp Washington neighborhood is—that we are fun and quirky,” says Prigge.
