CitiFest's ribs event smells like a winner

3/12/2006

Seven bite-size Lemmon Drops to nibble on while waiting for March Madness to commence:

  • Call it a hunch, but CitiFest's "Ribs on the River" scheduled for Aug. 4-6 in Promenade Park will be just as popular as the Northwest Ohio Rib-Off used to be at the same site.

    The Rib-Off is moving to the Lucas County Rec Center and will be held the weekend after the inaugural Ribs on the River. United Health Services thought Promenade Park hindered the Rib-Off's growth and, after 22 years in downtown Toledo, decided to move one of the city's signature events to Maumee.

    We shall see if United Health Services made the right call.

    To me, downtown Toledo with the Maumee River flowing through it was the main attraction. The ribs were secondary.

    Way to show some spunk, CitiFest.

  • Isn't it obvious that, after nine years, the Erie Street Market is a failure?

    Don't get me wrong; I applaud Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner for taking a chance in the 1990s.

    But year after year, the tax-supported facility continues to struggle. The federal grant of $630,500 for maintenance updates is just delaying the inevitable.

  • For more than 10 months, parishioners of St. James Catholic Church in Kansas, Ohio, maintained an around-the-clock prayer vigil in hopes that Bishop Leonard Blair would change his mind and let the church reopen.

    The diocese, citing insurance liability concerns, locked the doors to the church on Monday.

    In reading the story in Tuesday's paper, I felt a sense of sadness because the parishioners fought such a good fight.

    What they did was inspiring. At some point, though, the diocese had to say enough is enough.

  • On Wednesday afternoon, about 75 people showed up at a Wal-Mart superstore that's under construction in Holland to protest the employment practices of the world's largest retailer.

    As I drove past the protesters, it appeared the rally was little more than a made-for-TV event. Sure enough, that was the case.

    I fail to see the public-relations value for unions when they stage these types of rallies. People are either going to shop at Wal-Mart or they aren't.

    From where I'm sitting, the protests only breed more resentment toward unions.

  • Thank you, Ohio 6th District Court of Appeals, for showing common sense in declaring Toledo's vicious-dog ordinance "unreasonable." As is the case with most dogs, a pit bull's behavior is usually a reflection of its owner.

  • Loyal reader David, a former Toledoan who lives in the Atlanta metropolitan area, sent me an e-mail regarding the University of Dayton Arena, which opened in 1969.

    Dayton, as it does every year, will host a "play-in game" to the NCAA men's basketball tournament. His insinuation was that Dayton has nothing over Toledo.

    "The reason I send you e-mails concerning Toledo is that I'm sick and tired of the city being the same beer-and-bowling alley, car-manufacturing, small-town thinking, nonprogressive big city it was when I left more than 15 years ago," he wrote. "Every time I come for a visit it looks worse than it did before, and the so-called political and business leaders are still talking the same [garbage]. Nothing ever gets done."

    I share your frustration, David.

  • If I'm not here next week, that means I was hired for one of those $125,000-a-month jobs to guide Dana Corp. through its financial woes.