Tall Stacks, formally known as the Tall Stacks Music, Arts, and Heritage Festival, was a
festival held every three or four years in the
Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, area, which celebrated the city's heritage of the
riverboat. The sixth (and, to date, final) edition was held on October 4 to 8, 2006. The festival typically featured a number of vintage and replica
steamboat
A steamboat is a boat that is marine propulsion, propelled primarily by marine steam engine, steam power, typically driving propellers or Paddle steamer, paddlewheels. Steamboats sometimes use the ship prefix, prefix designation SS, S.S. or S/S ...
s from across the eastern
United States, which docked along the
Ohio River
The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...
shoreline in Cincinnati and across the river in
Covington Covington may refer to:
People
* Covington (surname)
Places United Kingdom
* Covington, Cambridgeshire
* Covington, South Lanarkshire
United States
* Covington, Georgia
* Covington, Indiana
* Covington, Kentucky, the largest American cit ...
and
Newport, Kentucky.
After the 2009 event was cancelled a festival was tentatively scheduled for 2010, but was not held due to the poor economy and lack of corporate sponsors. Organizers later set a date of October 3–7, 2012, which was subsequently also cancelled.
History
The first Tall Stacks festival was held in October 1988 as a part of Cincinnati's
bicentennial __NOTOC__
A bicentennial or bicentenary is the two-hundredth anniversary of a part, or the celebrations thereof. It may refer to:
Europe
* French Revolution bicentennial, commemorating the 200th anniversary of 14 July 1789 uprising, celebrated ...
celebration. Fourteen riverboats made appearances in the three-day festival, which included tours of the boats, cruises and races between the rivals ''
Delta Queen'' and ''
Belle of Louisville'' — a renewal of their annual race during the
Kentucky Derby Festival in
Louisville, Kentucky. More than 700,000 people attended.
Subsequent festivals:
* 1992: The event expanded to four days. Attendance increased to 800,000, which is the largest attendance for any event in Cincinnati.
* 1995: The schedule was moved up a year to prevent a near-conflict with the
1996 Summer Olympics
The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...
in
Atlanta, Georgia. The event expanded to five days and 19 riverboats. The Kentucky cities added a
Civil War re-enactment to the festivities and attendance increased again to 850,000, a new record.
* 1999: Though attendance was down, Tall Stacks '99 drew 660,000 and was named the US's top tourism event by the
American Bus Association
The American Bus Association (ABA) is a trade association for motorcoach operators and tour companies in the United States and Canada. Its membership consists of about 1,000 companies that operate buses or bus-based tours, about 2,800 organizati ...
. Nineteen riverboats again traveled to the festival.
* 2003: The festival took on its most recent formal name and drew a record 900,000 visitors. "Theme cruises" were an added attraction, such as
wine tasting cruises,
Cincinnati Zoo
The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden is the sixth oldest zoo in the United States, founded in 1873 and officially opening in 1875. It is located in the Avondale neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. It originally began with in the middle of the c ...
cruises, and more. Musical acts included
Creedence Clearwater Revisited,
Lucinda Williams,
Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris (born April 2, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter and musician. She has released dozens of albums and singles over the course of her career and has won 14 Grammys, the Polar Music Prize, and numerous other honors, including ...
,
Shawn Colvin,
The Jayhawks,
Delbert McClinton,
John Hammond,
B. B. King
Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shimm ...
,
Ricky Skaggs,
Mary Chapin Carpenter, and more than 150 other national, regional, and local bands.
* 2006: 17 riverboats took part in the festival, including the ''Delta Queen'', ''Belle of Louisville'', ''
General Jackson'', ''
Natchez'', ''
Mississippi Queen'' and ''
Majestic''. On the Newport side of the river at the site of the
Newport Barracks, a series of American Civil War displays was established, which taught about military life during this period. The
US Army Corps of Engineers had displays about the river.
* 2009: The event was cancelled due to lack of sponsorship and has not been held since.
"Riverboat Event In Doubt Unless Sponsors Climb Aboard"
''WLWT Cincinnati''
See also
* P.A. Denny (ship)
References
External links
{{Commons category
Tall Stacks official web siteTall Stacks photos
Festivals in Cincinnati
Tourist attractions in Cincinnati
Newport, Kentucky
Ohio River
Paddle steamers
Music festivals in Kentucky
Tourist attractions in Campbell County, Kentucky