Experience Ohio’s 3Cs through the state’s agricultural bounty
Enjoying Ohio at its best can mean having hot times in the city. We recommend experiencing Ohio’s finest assets by visiting three renowned public markets in the state’s “3Cs,” Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati.
Make visiting these stellar markets the core of a weeklong adventure that leads you diagonally across the Buckeye State, from Lake Erie in the north to the Ohio River in the south.
Along the way, sample what makes each city tick – high culture and rock n’ roll in Cleveland, fashion and civic pride in Columbus, and history and riverboats in Cincinnati – while you take in the local bounty at the public markets.
Cleveland
West Side Market
Cleveland’s well-loved, historic market is a global potpourri of meats, cheeses and produce, with more than 100 vendors. An anchor of the Ohio City neighborhood, just west of downtown, West Side Market reflects the feel of Cleveland with its long list of ethnic foods, including pierogi, falafel, hummus, bratwurst, kuchen, Irish soda bread, Italian meats and Parisian-style crepes.
While in Cleveland:
- Watch Major League sports year-round with the Cavs, Indians and Browns.
- See masterworks by Bellows, Gauguin and Picasso anytime for free at the world-renowned Cleveland Museum of Art.
- Read the first draft of Springsteen’s “Born to Run” at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
- Stay at the Hyatt Regency Cleveland at the Arcade, a skylit Victorian stunner that dates back to 1890.
Columbus
North Market
Established in 1876, Ohio’s North Market is a feast for the senses, featuring 30 independently-owned merchants selling a cornucopia of food and related items in a 44,000-square-foot space, located near the Greater Columbus Convention Center.
Watch for the downtown market to be transformed in the near future. The city is studying a proposal that would build a multiuse tower around the market, which would include residences, offices, a parking garage, a boutique hotel and new bars and restaurants. (Also visit a new, second North Market location at Dublin’s Bridge Park development.)
While in Columbus:
- Discover stylish bars and art galleries along High Street in the Short North.
- Shop Easton Town Center, an indoor-outdoor retail mecca with hundreds of high-end stores including Burberry, Coach and Tiffany & Co.
- Visit the zoo that Jack Hanna built, the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, home to more than 7,000 animals.
- Stay at Le Meridien Columbus, the Joseph hotel in the Short North and admire its Italian marble floors and world-class art collection.
Cincinnati
Findlay Market
Findlay Market opened in 1855, which qualifies it as Ohio’s oldest municipal market house. It has a wrought iron frame, which was rare for the time, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. Findlay Market is planted firmly in Cincinnati’s Over-The-Rhine neighborhood, with century-old buildings boasting dramatic Italianate architecture.
While in Cincinnati:
- Take a sightseeing cruise along the Ohio River aboard the Belle of Cincinnati, a Victorian-era steamboat.
- Ride a streetcar through Over-The-Rhine, one of the best preserved and biggest historic districts in the U.S.
- Gaze at the 180-foot rotunda dome of the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal and peruse its three museums.
- Stay at 21c Museum Hotel, contemporary art museum and boutique hotel that’s ranked among the best in the world by Condé Nast Traveler.
If you’re like us, date nights are few and far between. But a lack of short-order sitters and poor planning on our part doesn’t stop us from getting out once in a while for some quality adult time with our kids in tow.
We paid a visit on Father’s Day, and it sorta felt like we were crashing a private party. Folks were nicely dressed, sipping beers on a hillside, as their children played alongside stretched-out blankets. Other guests threw Frisbees and played corn hole, awaiting a band that was scheduled to play in the evening by a small building that resembled a church.
Owner Matt Barbee describes Rockmill as a “Belgian-style brewery,” with added sugars that provide distinct flavor profiles, such as fruit, spice or herbs, in addition to the traditional beer notes that come from grain and hops. The results are big, complex flavors that go far beyond the common lager. Rockmill’s standard beers are named simply after their style: witbier, saison, dubbel and tripel.
Be it beer, wine, doughnuts or chocolate, we’re suckers for organized trails. So when I recently learned of a fairy trail in downtown Dublin, my daughter, Rosie, and I made plans to check it out.
A dozen small, glitter-encrusted doors have been hidden inside businesses in the historic downtown area. It’s up to participants to find them and take note of the fairy’s name that’s been attached to each. Jot down the names of the fairies found at six of the 12 participating stores on your passport to earn an Irish Fairy Door Trail T-shirt. Completed passports can be slipped into a box inside the visitor’s center.
