Sunday, October 17, 1999
Souvenirs going faster than racing steamboat
Logo sweat shirts, T-shirts snapped up by riverfront visitors
BY STEVE KEMME
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Tall Stacks yo-yos are sold out. Tall Stacks T-shirts, sweat shirts and pins are going fast. Besides taking home memories from Tall Stacks '99, visitors also are taking away a lot of souvenirs.
Because of people like Lori Frucci of West Chester, business has been brisk at the souvenir booths all week.
On Saturday, Ms. Frucci bought sweat shirts, T-shirts, a pin, a mug, a trivet and a Santa Claus figurine.
“I'd buy more if they had more,” she said. “They're running out of colors and sizes in T-shirts and sweat shirts.”
She loves wearing clothing bearing images of Tall Stacks steamboats and the event's distinctive logo.
“When I wear them, they always draw comments — especially if I go out of town,” Ms. Frucci said.
Tall Stacks souvenir booths are spread out along the Cincinnati riverfront from the Public Landing through Yeatman's Cove to Bicentennial Commons.
The dozens of food booths provide sustenance, but the souvenir booths enable people to take away a concrete reminder of this homage to the steamboat era.
“A lot of people are asking for things we don't have, like spoons, patches and magnets,” said Janet Walsh, a volunteer worker at a souvenir booth. “They're affordable things that people collect.”
It took 10-year-old Cassondra Carpenter of Independence, Ky., a while to decide what sweat shirt she would buy. But her brother, 12-year-old Tyler, picked out a floppy hat right away.
“We've done a lot of walking — something this old buzzard isn't used to,” said their weary uncle, Rick Bohman of Elsmere, Ky. “But those boats are amazing.”
Some visitors bought souvenirs that featured their own images. In a tent set up by Vicory Ventures Custom Digital Photography of Villa Hills, Ky., people could dress up in vintage 19th-century clothes and have their photos taken.
Betty Davis of Madeira and her two daughters, Bobbie Dooley of Anderson Township and Linda Ferrara of Clermont County's Union Township, had their photo snapped while wearing long, full dresses and distinctive bonnets.
They laughed in delight when they saw themselves in the photo.
“I look like I'm 90,” Mrs. Davis said. “It's hysterical.”
A cacophony of pounding hammers filled a large tent at Bicentennial Commons. Children and their parents were building their own miniature sail boats at no cost at a kids workshop sponsored by The Home Depot.
Linda Sickman of Price Hill patiently helped her 5-year-old daughter, Christy, nail the boat's three wooden pieces together.
“She kind of hit my finger a little bit one time, but she did pretty well,” Mrs. Sickman said as they walked out of the tent with their little sailboat with a white, plastic mast. “Hopefully, this will float.”
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