The Midwestern Regional Black Family Reunion has been in the same location for almost 21 years and attendence is on average about 250,000 people, but if you're not from the area, new to the area, or have never attended, we thought it might be a good idea to offer some additional information about where it is. You may have heard mention of Sawyer Point, Bicentennial Commons, Yeatmans Cove, Riverview Park, or Serpentine Wall. All of these attractions are in or around the same place. There is usually a parade that begins at around 10:00 AM EST on Saturday during the BFR weekend. This parade is usually a few blocks away from the river on Linn Street.

 

 

Below are various pictures of the area and a brief history that can also be found at SawyersPoint.com.

 

The image above shows an illustration of the proposed downtown Cincinnati riverfront. The Black Family Reunion will be held to the extreme right side of this picture above (almost out of the picture).

 

 

A view of the Serpentine Wall that snakes its way along the bank of the Ohio River. The area above is where the Young Adults Pavilion will be located.

 

 

 

Brief history of the area:

 

Yeatman's Cove Park, opened in 1976, was named for Griffin Yeatman who ran the "Square & Compass" tavern back in the 1790's. This part of Sawyer Point, located between Central Bridge and the "Skyline Arches" underneath L&N Bridge, is a popular spot for concerts, picnics, festivals, and river watching.

The Public Landing, which long ago was the hub of a thriving steamboat port, still serves Cincinnati's "Delta Queen", the "Showboat Majestic" (acquired by the city in 1967 and added to the National Registry of Historic Places in 1980) and the traveling "Tall Stacks" show.

The Serpentine Wall, a massive, contoured concrete wall of steps along the riverfront, is one unique feature of Yeatman's Cove. Another feature Lytle Place Fountain and wading pool along the northern edge of the park.

Between L&N Bridge (Louisville and Nashville Railroad Bridge) and the Daniel Carter Bridge (I-471 Bridge, named after the founder of the Boy Scouts of America) is "Bicentennial Commons at Sawyer Point". The 22-acre Park opened in June, 1998, in celebration of Cincinnati's Bicentennial and was funded through the Cincinnati Recreation Commission by area corporations, businesses, foundations, individuals and governmental agencies.

This part of Sawyer Point features the famous "Flying Pig Sculptures", the "Bicentennial Brick Promenade", a working model of the Ohio River and its 20 canal locks and dams (from Pittsburgh, PA to Cairo, IL), a 12-foot statue of Cincinnatus (the Roman soldier and farmer for which Cincinnati was named), as well as the P&G Pavillion which is used regularly for concerts and performances.

Other features of this park are the Fitness Area, Playground, volleyball courts, the "Lindner Tennis Complex", the all-weather skating rink, fishing pier, and "Schott Ampitheater" (which preserves a section of Cincinnati's old waterworks plant).

On August 27, 1977, the radio station WEBN, celebrated "A decade of decadence" with a huge fireworks display. Since then, "Riverfest" has continued annually becoming one of the 10 biggest fireworks events in the nation always bringing more than 500,000 people to watch the display.

 

From http://www.midwestbfrc.com/overview.html:

The 19th Annual Midwest Regional Black Family Reunion Celebration will be held August 17th through the 19th, 2007 at Sawyer Point. This outdoor event continues to grow and is now one of Cincinnati's largest family-focused events drawing over 100,000 patrons.

The Midwest Regional Black Family Reunion Celebration was inaugurated in August 1989 in Cincinnati, Ohio. It is held annually the 3rd weekend of August at Sawyer Point and Yeatman's Cove.

Through the generous support of our sponsors we are able to offer the event to the public at no charge. The event has grown form the early days of 1989 to over 100,000 people of all ages on hand each year to enjoy the three days of activities.

Events for the weekend include:
Town Hall Meeting - Friday
Heritage Breakfast/Opening Ceremony - Friday
CareerBuilder Job Fair - Friday
Parade - Saturday
Jamin' on the Cove, Jazz & Blues - Saturday and Sunday
R&B Concert - Saturday
Ecumenical Services - Sunday
Gospel Concert - Sunday
Themed Pavilions - Saturday & Sunday
Food, Apparel, Crafts, Exhibit Booths - Saturday & Sunday

PAVILIONS
Free to the public themed pavilions present two days of programming and festivities, from 1pm to 6 pm on Saturday and Sunday. This year's pavilion include the following topics:

The Children's Pavilion
The CyberVillage Pavilion
The Lost Children's Pavilion
The Spirituality Pavilion
Young Adults Pavilion
Sports & Fitness

HOST HOTEL
Host Hotel for Midwest Regional Black Family Reunion Celebration is:

Vernon Manor Hotel
400 Oak Street
Cincinnati, OH 45219
513-281-3300

OFFICIAL AIRLINE


EVENT ORGANIZERS
CassCan Enterprises, Inc.
CassCan Enterprises, Inc. has been the event planner for the Black Family Reunion for the past 10 years. CassCan Enterprises is an event planning firm with more than 10 years of experience specializing in the strategic planning, management, and production of events. CassCan Enterprises is also well known as a successful fund raiser.

Cybervillage, USA, Inc.
Cybervillage, USA, Inc. is a non-profit corporation dedicated to bringing computer access and technology training to disadvantages communities across the country. To make sure no one is left behind in this highly technical world in which we live, we bring technology training to local neighborhoods where children, teenagers, adults and seniors can receive web-based life skills learning. One of the tools used for training is our interactive website, cybervillageusa.com. We will continue that initiative here in Cincinnati through the Midwest Regional Black Family Reunion (BFRC). Our goal is to expose, educate and inform the community by doing presentations and training at nationally recognize events such as BFRC.

From http://www.midwestbfrc.com/events.html:

Parade - Saturday August 15th, 2009

The Midwest Regional Black Family Reunion Parade will be held on Saturday, August 15th from 10 am to 12 pm. This year's parade route is still being finalized but the Master of Ceremonies will be local disc jockey Butch Gibson.

Each year over 1,000 people participate in the parade which includes marching bands from area colleges and high schools, drill
teams, youth groups, fraternities, sororities, churches, non-profit organizations, politicians, and others.

The parade has grown to be an outstanding event. To continue our efforts in showing Cincinnati that families of all compositions can work together, we need your help. In order to make this event the best ever, we would like to extend an invitation to you and/or your organization to participate in this year’s parade. Again, this year we will award trophies for The Best Band, The Best Musical Unit (other than a band) and The Best Presentation by an Organization.

If you have any questions about the parade please contact Gwen Armstrong (513) 252-8565 or Derek Brown (513) 284-1731.