Leader
Kyle Reiser
Location
2411 Baltimore Avenue Cincinnati, OH 45225
About the project
Springfest is more than a gathering, it's a movement! The East Westwood Improvement Association (Community Council) wants to generate greater pride in our neighborhood. The course of the weekend will highlight some of the very best East Westwood has to offer with a focus on creating stronger community bonds with neighbors. The camaraderie, connection, and the ability to get more neighbors in touch and involved with East Westwood programming stemming from Springfest, will certainly contribute to our neighborhood pride. The Springfest 5k, community picnic & information fair, community mural, S'mores with the Observatory, and community hike will certainly help get folks excited for sustained programming in East Westwood! Community partners like Groundwork Ohio River Valley, Roll Hill School, City Gospel Mission, Hillside Trust, and the Hope Resource Center (to name a few) will be on site to provide resources and ways for neighbors to get involved with organizations in our own backyard!
The Steps
December/January: Focus groups in community helping to determine theme for the mural and events for Springfest, city permits applied for
February-- Artist and Youth Apprentices hired, Artist comes up with an illustration to be shared out with community, Volunteers/Partners solicited and identified for Springfest weekend, Springfest activities/sites confirmed,
Late March/Early April-- Clean-Up days with the East Westwood Improvement Association, artist and apprentices begin working together to bring the illustration to life, all necessary equipment/goods rented/purchased for a successful Springfest!
April 22nd-24th-Springfest & Celebrate
Why we‘re doing it
Springfest has been created to build a stronger East Westwood in the wake of the pandemic. The East Westwood Improvement Association (Community Council) has been looking for ways to bring folks together, foster greater pride in the community, connect with neighborhood partners, and to find ways for neighborhood voices to be heard. This all resulted in the creation of Springfest!
Springfest has been a great example of working with a community in making a special event happen. Focus groups have been conducted with neighbors around East Westwood to identify the activities of interest for Springfest and a neighborhood slogan ("Inspiration Lives Here") to inform this year's mural. The artist and local youth apprentices are all from Roll Hill School--our area elementary school. The mural itself, will be prepped on the wall in a manner in which all East Westwood residents that would like to contribute to the painting project can--think painting by the numbers! It's important to us to continue to have resident involvement throughout the process including giving experience and portfolio contributions to our local youth artist apprentices! We also intend to hire local teens to work on the creation of a hiking trail in the summer of 2022 at the Goltra Nature Preserve off of Brokaw Avenue as the trail project begins. By creating the mural and hiking trail, having consistent clean-ups in partnership with the East Westwood Improvement Association, and enacting an anti-litter campaign, we hope to create more pristine public spaces in East Westwood.
Springfest will springboard East Westwood far beyond this April! The new hiking trail will allow us to reap the holistic health benefits of nature and safe recreation for years to come while also connecting into the larger system of Mt. Airy trails. The mural will serve as a welcome sign inviting folks into East Westwood. By creating a new tradition--Springfest--we are making a commitment to paint a new section of the quarter-mile long wall each year while also reaffirming and building further pride in East Westwood. We look forward to building off of this year's program, forging stronger partnerships, building more connected neighbors, and welcoming folks from outside the neighborhood to see the gem that is East Westwood.