With its shops, restaurants, night clubs and movie theaters, Newport on the Levee has become the gem of Northern Kentucky's retail world.

Northern Kentucky is not just cheap liquor and cigarettes; it's the Tristate's biggest family-friendly entertainment environment.

Newport on the Levee is the heart of the new development. Anchored by the Newport Aquarium, it boasts fine restaurants, a stadium-seating movie complex and Jeff Ruby's latest nightclub venture, the Tropicana. Across the street is the place many consider the best Tristate music nightspot, the Southgate House.

Add to that the Riverboat Row of clubs and restaurants and such eclectic nightspots as York Street CafÈ and the blues haven of the Mansion Hill Tavern.

Then there's Covington, with its own riverfront full of restaurant/bars, plus the Jillian's entertainment complex, MainStrasse Village and one of the newest venues - the renovated Madison Theater.

As downtown Cincinnati falters under the weight of racial unrest and the boycott, Northern Kentucky has happily taken up the slack.

With little being done to reverse that exodus of fun-seekers, 2003 looks to bring more good news for Newport and Covington.