This summer, from August 2 to September 21, Cincinnati will be home to the first U.S. installation of Play Me, I’m Yours by Luke Jerram.

Jerram will install painted pianos throughout the Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky area – on streets, in public squares and parks, and at other fun locations – for anyone to discover and play. Like a creative blank canvas, the pianos will present unlimited opportunities for your inspiration and enjoyment.

From Play Me, I’m Yours, Cincy.

You can donate an unused piano, or sponsor a street piano. I’m not sure, but I think you may be able to help in painting them and getting them ready too.  Find out more at Play Me, I’m Yours Cincy, the artist’s website, and the project website.

It started with just a few people from theater, dance, music, museums, and the Fine Arts Fund staff, and grew to include hundreds of Cincinnati residents.

Even though the initial invitation didn’t say what the participants would be doing, hundreds of people signed on to show their enthusiasm for the arts. We successfully kept the secret for weeks because we all shared the goal of touching others in our community with the unexpectedness of the event.

Dance breaks out on Fountain Square

Just after 12:30 p.m., as the song “Bop ‘Til You Drop” by the Nylons blared from the square’s loud speakers, a few people emerged from the lunchtime crowd and began dancing.

More joined in. Then more, until about 150 people – some wearing suits, some in T-shirts and jeans – were moving to the music in unison on the southern edge of the square.

Then as suddenly as it began, it was over. The song ended. The dancers dispersed. Fountain Square was back to normal.

Read the Enquirer article, and watch the video below.

After a successful 2008 PARK(ing) Day in Cincinnati, it hopes to be even bigger this year!  Mark you calendars.  On Friday, September 18, 2009, creative types from all over the region will descend upon downtown and OTR to reclaim some of the parts of our concrete jungle dedicated to the automobile — at least for a day.

San Francisco art collective REBAR first created “PARK(ing)” in 2005 to re-imagine the potential of the metered parking space. In 2006, it went global.

For details, check out the Cincinnati PARK(ing) Day blog, and follow @CincyPkgDay (Cincy Package Day?) on Twitter.

The Cinciditarod is a wacky shopping cart race through the city. It’s named in tribute to the Alaskan Iditarod – a brutal 1,100-mile dog-sledding race – but instead of dogs, it’s people; instead of sleds, it’s shopping carts; and instead of Alaska, it’s Cincinnati.

…While physically attached to their grocery carts, teams push through a nearly five-mile course over the streets of downtown, Over-the-Rhine, Newport and Covington, picking up items on a grocery list and stopping at five mandatory checkpoints.

Watch the 2008 video.

2009 Cinciditarod Team Registration & Waiver Form

2009 Cinciditarod Rules

You can see all pictures from Santacon on Zipscene.

Photo by Alex Bell/CinciPulse.com

Arrows, keys, and bullseyes have been spotted all over town.

For more than three weeks now, people in the Cincinnati area have been walking and driving on what essentially has been turned into one huge and curiously odd board game spanning the Ohio River.

What are these markings?  Are they part of a game?  A scavenger hunt?  Some sort of product viral marketing campaign?  It reminds me a bit of one of the earliest Make Cincinnati Weird!  posts.  In any case, apparently, the city has already cleaned most of them up, so we may never know. 

via Just Past Central.

Be ready.

via 5chw4r7z.