I've been making a list and checking it twice and by the most cautious estimate, downtown Cincinnati will welcome 2 million cultural visitors between March and December 2003.

Count how many stadiums that number could fill.

I'm only counting the Big Guns - museum openings, The Lion King, Bats Incredible!, Cincinnati Museum Center's Baseball as America and Vatican exhibits, Tall Stacks - and I'm low-balling.

Add average annual attendance figures for arts and culture, and that number jumps to 4 million. 4-0-0-0-0-0-0.

These are real numbers, astounding as that might seem. They add up to more than 10 times the city population.

The most important visitors, beyond the national and international media that we hope will carry the message that Cincinnati's negative image is a Big Fat Lie, will be you folks living outside the city limits.

This will be the year to be a tourist in your hometown. Drive down one sunny weekend afternoon to stroll the city checking out the public art project, have a nice lunch, stay for a show.

When you come back for The Lion King have dinner someplace new.

Return again for an afternoon to tour the new Cincinnati Wing at the art museum and the renovated Taft Museum of Art. Have another dinner and sample a play at any of a dozen downtown performing companies.

By your third visit, you'll know that parking is easy, the restaurants are good - even great, and the museums and performing arts are terrific. It's that last part that matters. We can park and eat anywhere. The heart of Cincinnati is the only place to enjoy our cultural treasures.

Welcome back.

Let's resolve to do our part to make 2003 (and beyond) a resounding success for the city and the arts.

Tell your friends not to miss the fun. When you send out holiday greetings, invite out-of-town friends and family to visit so you can show off our surprising city.

And don't put off arts support until spring.

Make a gift of the arts now. Event tickets and museum memberships make great stocking stuffers. If you're not sure where to call for more information, call or e-mail me so I can make it painless.

Check out the great lineup of live theater in January and February. There are options for every budget. Give someone the gift of a great art experience and it lasts forever (longer even than a new latte maker or matching tie and socks).

Know Affair: The third annual Know Affair is 5 to 9 p.m. today at Mr. Pitiful's (1323 Main St.)

No Ghosts of Christmas Past, etc., but artists from Know shows past, present and to come will be very much in evidence. Door prizes, silent auction and Cammy Award-winning guitarist/singer/songwriter Tracy Walker on stage. Admission $15 (or free with purchase of a Know Access subscription, $60). www.knowtheatre.com or 300-5669.

WWII Troops: Rising Phoenix invites folks to send a reproduction of a WWII era photo for display during its USO-style holiday show Taking Christmas to the Troops, continuing through Dec. 21.

Troops features FDR speeches, swing dancers and Andrews Sisters and Glenn Miller classics. Photos (don't send originals, they can't be returned) and short paragraphs about the photo subject (including when it was taken) will be added to the wall gallery or the Christmas tree in the lobby. Photos are archived for annual use.

For information and reservations call Rising Phoenix at (513) 705-4131. Troops performs at the Temple Arts Center, 4 N. Main St., Middletown.

Holiday tales: It's not just a Frog Princess Christmas at Ensemble Theatre. The annual evening of holiday tales and songs Expectation of Christmas, by D. Lynn Meyers and David Kisor, is set for 7 p.m. Dec. 16.

"It will be a heart-warming evening," Ms. Meyers promises, featuring Annie Fitzpatrick, Sherman and Drew Fracher, Michael Bath, Beth Harris and Bill Hartnett.

Tickets $10, proceeds benefit Tender Mercies. 421-3555.

And if you haven't already booked A Christmas Carol at Playhouse (421-3888) or Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol at Cincinnati Shakespeare (381-2273) do it now. Don't miss out on some of the most spirited theater of the season.

Slew of slogans: I'm enjoying a blizzard of votes for last week's list of Cincinnati arts slogans and a few late entries.

Now added to the list of entries:

36. The Arts Capital of the Midwest

37. Cincinnati: Queen of HeARTS.

38. Believe in the Seen. Arts in Cincinnati

39. Cincinnati Arts. For Those Who Prefer to See Things Differently

40. Come to Cincinnati and Find Your Muse

41. Cincinnati: An Artistic Coming of Age

42. Cincinnati: Queen City of Arts

43. Out of the Ordinary into the Extraordinary

44. One world. One language. That's arts.

And, put on your flying piggy cap for these:

45. Earn Your Wings. Celebrate the Arts.

46. Culturally Astute Pigs of a Feather Flock Together

47. Who says Great Art won't Fly in Cincinnati?

48. Hog wild about the arts.

This one isn't a slogan, but I'd smile if I saw the bumper sticker: OINK If You Love the Arts!

I'll count up votes through the end of the month. You can find the entire list here. Enjoy them and pick your favorite. Please send along suggestions/art of a culture mascot, too.

Whoever's slogan gets the most votes will be awarded a T-shirt with the winning words and appropriate illustration.

Ticket to Dayton: Arm your phones and computers. Monday is the on-sale date for individual tickets to many of the high-profile events opening the first season of Schuster Performing Arts Center in Dayton.

You can buy tickets to Aida (performed by Dayton Opera March 22-30), Blast! (April 8-20), Phantom of the Opera (June 18-July 2) and Dayton Opera Star Gala with Denyce Graves headlining (May 3-4) by calling the box office at (888) 228-3630 or online at www.ticketcenterstage.com.

Play reading: Ensemble's Theatre of the Mind play-reading series continues at 7 p.m. Monday with Thom Atkinson's Cuttings.

Annie Fitzpatrick plays a woman recounting a childhood accident and the shadow it cast on her life.

At 5 p.m. Mr. Atkinson will lead a free playwrights' workshop.

E-mail jdemaline@enquirer.com