Gets better each year. Traffic on the weekend is very bad. Try to go before the weekend. Some Blinks are hard to find. Some areas do not feel very safe. Music needs to be for all ages it was a little on the young side. The banks were fun... read more

I went to the Cincinnati Blink Festival last night, and OMG!! It was a giant sensory-rich pedestrian party, with lights, music, and murals!!! I'm so glad I used the park-and-ride at Cincinnati State, rather than trying to park downtown. Cincinnati Metro was efficient, got us to the venue quickly (and with free LED bracelets), and dropped us at the underground Riverfront garage station I hadn't heretofore realized existed. And then the party began. Walnut and Vine Streets -- the North and South streets all the way from the Riverfront to Findlay Market -- were open only to us pedestrians. The goal was to walk your own self-guided path & explore, with a map of all the exhibits in hand, which I didn't refer to as much as just following the noise and the lights. All along the route I admired and savored the art displays, the interplay of light and music, the buskers (there were many!!), the food trucks, and the clusters of parties all along the long stretch, from the riverfront to downtown proper, to Over-the-Rhine, to Findlay Market. My favorites: the spectacular drone show at the river (it was fireworks without the boom), the spinning light display at Smale Park -- you laid on the provided pillows on the ground and watched a large overhead disk where a display of lights was synced to selections of classical music; the Music Hall Display at Washington Park, which was an amazing explosion of different light configurations projected on the iconic bricks of Music Hall, with music -- it looked like spider webs, then breakthroughs of light, then little shattered pieces -- very inspiring and dramatic; all the beautiful murals -- some new pieces, some longstanding that I'd never noticed before; all the night vendors at Findlay Market; the "silent disco" happening at the Findlay Market shed -- without the provided headphones it was just a group of people silently dancing together, with the headphones you could hear the music and were invited into on the party; and even small displays like the small alley park with a tree light display made to appear that it was being repeatedly struck by lightning. Very well-organized -- it was packed with people but since it was more than 30 blocks of the city there was still a lot of room, and man, was it a feast for the entire senses! Unfortunately, I didn't get to the Covington and Newport displays, but I've got two more days of the festival for that. And at times it felt like a long walk in between displays, and I kept worrying that I was missing some good ones. But I loved the ability to do some safe urban hiking in the middle of Cincinnati with a million or so friends -- it was a great opportunity to go out somewhere by myself where I felt safe and comfortable, and see some amazing light shows! read more

It was a cool and unique concept when it launched, but the event has become unmanageable to attend as it has grown. Too spread out, WAY too many people, poorly mapped and curated, and extremely difficult to see even a fraction of what was on display. The park and ride was a good idea in concept, but the lines and single drop off point by the river added nothing positive to the experience. Highly unlikely we'll go again. read more

Loved this event! Lots to do, great food trucks and pop up shops, and a great way for people to visit the Queen City, in a new light (pun intended). Love the emphasis on their awesome murals around the area and it's great that you can hop on the free public transit to check out each area. Will def be back! read more

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This is the third installment of BLINK in Cincinnati and our first time seeing this amazing light show. Earlier in the day we were eating lunch next to a woman who lives in Cincinnati who gave us tips on what to see. She said we should see the drone show by the river and definitely see Music Hall in OTR. Both were amazing. Great tip. That being said with 80 installations and a number of murals it was impossible to see everything in one night. Signage and volunteers to assist you in finding these installations were lacking. The crowds were enormous and it was difficult to use the connector streetcar because of the throngs of humanity. On the plus side the city provided free bus transportation especially the shuttle bus service from suburban areas to the event. That was a Godsend. I would not attempt to see this if I had to drive into downtown Cincinnati with the traffic jam that the bus driver ms faced. Thank you, Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. A number of people including my wife and I had hotel reservations rather than worry about a long drive home. Do note that hotels downtown were at capacity and very expensive. We were fortunate to find a reasonable rate in the suburbs and take advantage of the free bus shuttle service in the park and ride lots. read more

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OK you couch potatoes, throw the DVR on and record Your shows and sports..... get downtown and see BLINK. Several areas in Cincy and Covington showing off many light displays and murals . Plenty of places to stop for a break and get a drink. I parked on Court st near Queen City Exchange. Its a dollar an hour and you pay til 9PM . read more

Blink Cincinnati - Spider web at Washington Park - Festivals Near Me - Cincinnati, Ohio

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If you are a foodie go to Asianati. If you are bringing the kids go to the banks. If you want to see live action murals walk around Findlay. OTR is good for fun light installments and nearby plenty of restaurants to grab food and drinks. It's a really unique thing for our city but it is SO spread out that you really need more than 3 days to see everything. Or you need to be able to walk for very long distances. The drone show is cool but it's only like 10 mins long. It should be longer. Would like to have easier access to buy fun drinks and Blink swag along the way. Hoping it's bigger and better next year. Follow me for more @angieknowsthetruth on instagram. read more

Blink Cincinnati - Follow me @angieknowsthetruth on instagram for the details on my outfit. - Festivals Near Me - Cincinnati, Ohio

This year's installment of Blink featured an amazing drone show, fireworks, a host of cool visuals, and lots of interactive displays. My biggest gripe about the event, however, is that it doesn't feel like the organizers took the feedback from the previous event (2022) to heart. The installations were way too spread out, food and vendors were expensive, and the parade (which featured a great performance by Dancefix) had too many gaps and some lackluster floats. The event felt corporatized - probably necessary given the immense cost of staging a festival of this scale - but still a detractor from the artistic roots of Blink. I would love to see the event scaled down in the future and returned to its original size. This first Blink was amazing! read more

What a trip! And trippy, too! I had the pleasure of attending the second Blink festival and I was really blown away. Cincinnati already held a place in my mind as a city with enviable street art and murals. Little did I know, it could get even better. Thankfully, I attended with a couple friends who came to the first Blink, so they had a basic understanding of the event to share with us and give us the lay of the land for how it all worked. It was really nice, because I didn't really *get* it before going, and was silly enough to figure it out myself. What it is, though, is newly painted murals in the Findlay, OTR, Downtown, and Covington areas. Also light and sound and projections set up to interact in conjunction with new or established murals. Also concerts and exhibits in galleries and interactive installations. I knew I would enjoy it, I just didn't realize how much! It was fun, it was funny and it was more than I could have hoped for! My only complaint, which I think they can come up with a solution for, has to do with the bridge across the river to Covington, Ky. There needs to be some kind of organization to the chaos of crossing the bridge so a person isn't stuck for over an hour trying to cross it. The whole middle/usually-for-driving-lanes weren't being used and people were going both directions on each side of the narrowly enclosed sidewalks and it was the definition of a clusterf*ck. There has to be a better way to do it. It was only the second Blink, and the first one including Northern Kentucky. So I sincerely hope that they learned something from this. One of the coolest things was the Dodecalis interactive exploration thing in Washington Park. The greatest thing about that in particular was that I feel like you probably got the same experience no matter what time of day you visited. Since a lot of the points of interest rely on light projection, the height of each day's events happened after dark. You have the whole daylight time to enjoy the city. I am already looking forward to planning a return trip for the next Blink! read more

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Cincinnati, you keep getting cooler and cooler. I can't believe we have something such as Blink in Cincy for the 2nd time! I truly hope to see it again! We missed the first year of Blink and had serious FOMO so we knew this was the year for us. With all the hype, we definitely had to prepare our little introvert minds for a crowd. Surprisingly, on Sunday evening, it wasn't so bad. We parked in Covington around 6pm and scooped up one of the last street parking spots. Luckily, they had shuttle cars running across the Roebling bridge for free so we hopped on. Dropped us right off at the Sky Wheel before we walked up to the Banks for some food. Our 4yo was with us so we strictly stayed in the Smale Park area. My little LOVED it! Her pure joy gave us pure joy as she ran around the huge rainbow, urban campsite, canoes, balloon globe and flashy musical installations. We really had such a good time. We rushed ourselves because we were a little worried about the crowd filling up, which was a big bummer on our part. In hindsight, the crowd wasn't that bad at all and next year, If there is a next year, we will plan to just relax and enjoy our time! Food booths were at random and you could purchase glow merchandise as well as some merch booths like Cincy Shirts. (Pro Tip, buy your glow stuff ahead of time at Dollar Tree). I found the App to be quite useless but enjoy my time otherwise! This is a city wide installation that you do not want to miss out on! Until next time, Blink! read more

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Blink is a festival held every few years (for only the second time this year) that features light, art and projection mapping over 30+ city blocks and spanning into Covington KY. It is the largest of its kind held in the USA. I had not been able to attend the festival when it debuted in 2017, but I went for the first night this year. We arrived early to attend the Skyline Future City Spectacular parade that featured over 3000 entrants. While it was, indeed a spectacular site to see, I think in the future limiting the participants would be beneficial, as it was way too long. Even the adults began to get restless. There were bands whose instruments were decorated with lights, dance teams, civic organizations whom had made amazing costumes, and even parade floats. Imagination was the limit. After the parade we walked down to the river front and started our journey from there. The event was split into "zones" and we used the interactive app to try and find installations. The app was frustrating because utilizing gps and perhaps a "you are here" pinpoint would have been helpful, otherwise you had to search for street signs or landmarks to figure out where you were in relation to things. Everytime I switched from app to camera, it reset from wherever I was zoomed in on. Very time consuming. While there were a bunch of spectacular things along the riverfront, from there it felt like everything was too spread out. We walked over 7 miles and didn't even see half of the spots. I know it is meant to be a multi night event, but most people wouldnt have the time to commit to more than one night, or the patience to deal with the hectic parking and crowds more than once. The installations were everything from giant and grand, to small and simple. The point is everyone has their own idea of what art is and what their art taste is. I do believe there was something for everyone here. A few of my favorites were the Roebling bridge lit up, the giant snow globe and freestanding rainbow in Smale Park, the courthouse, the animations on the cincinnatus mural, and especially Memorial Hall in OTR. There was music at some spots as well as live performances. Hospitality booths offered snacks and water. 3CDC employees were sprinkled about to offer assistance, as were giant map stations. While some things might be entertaining for the kids, due to the distances between things and crowds, it might be better to leave them at home. All in all its worth experiencing at least once, as long as you have good stamina for lots of walking and patience for crowds. For added fun, many of the patrons dressed up or brought glow items to wear! read more

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Drove from Washington, DC to spend two nights at the Blink 2024 festival. Was absolutely worth the drive. What a marvelous event with so much to see and experience. A number of the exhibits were absolutely sensational and represent the work of some very talented artists using mediums that represent a union of light, art and technology. Indeed, the results were often stunning. Judging by the size and make-up of the crowd, the festival obviously appeals to a broad spectrum of people, all of whom seemed connected by their shared enjoyment of the artwork as well as the live music provided at numerous performance stages. It all came together to provide a very festive atmosphere and a very cool vibe. Though the crowd was enormous, I found everyone to be very friendly and respectful and since the festival was spread out over a large area it never felt overly congested. All the installations could be easily viewed without having to get caught up in a crowd. I know some people have complained about the festival being to spread out to me, it beats the alternative of being packed in like sardines. I did use Cincinnati Red bikes at times to get around and found bikes readily available at all of the stations. I'm amazed more people didn't take advantage of that efficient and inexpensive way to get around. Overall, I thought it was an amazing festival, and I give it my highest accolades and recommendation. Hats off to those the organized this enormous event. I can only imagine the complexities and challenges involved in programing and coordinating an event of this scale. I thought the overall execution was outstanding and I doubt there are many cites that could pull off an event like this. My thanks go out to folks of Cincinnati for being so friendly and hosting the coolest festival I have ever been to. You have a vibrant city that's making a great name for itself, and a lot to be proud of. Cheers! read more

The art was good but whole thing is way too spread out and the facilities and transportation were really lacking--certainly not what was promoted as 'jump on a streetcar to travel from zone to zone.' We walked 12,000 steps by parking just east of Findlay at about 6:00 ($20 to park, but at least it was an attended lot), got a snack and drink at a cafe' in the OTR Zone, then on over to Music Hall at 7 for a great show--best of the night although it wasn't completely dark yet, which affected the art. And you basically end up standing the whole time unless you lug a chair or blanket. There were some nasty port-a-johns there and a public restroom with 2 stalls--yep, 2 stalls for women and another one with 2 stalls with no doors for men, for the whole Washington Park, plus long lines. But other than patronizing a restaurant, it is the ONLY public bathrooms we saw the whole night. We had to leave the park by 7:30 to hurry down to the drone show at the Banks Zone by 8, so didn't get to finish the best show of our night. We only saw 2 trollies the whole time we were there, and they were completely packed, so no help there. The drones were kind of cool, except for the stupid Alta Fiber commercial during the show, which made everyone groan. They should have at least waited until the end like other sponsors did on the other shows. The show would be even better if they installed sound to go with the it. We made our way back up through the Downtown and OTR Zones and saw a few other good things that had been recommended--Fountain Square installation, the Asianart Night Market, the Cincinnatus mural, which was so cool, then back to Music Hall to finish that experience--wayyy better in the dark. Then finally, back through Findlay where we parked. It felt a lot sketchier than earlier in the day, but we made it back to the car okay. We knew we wouldn't see everything on the north side of the river in the one night we could go, but we were disappointed we had to skip a lot of the murals and light art because of all the running back and forth to hit the highlights before it all ended. A friend tried the shuttle that dropped them at Riverfront Transit, but they found that to be inconvenient to what they wanted to see and ended up running up to the northern zones, then back south to see the drones, etc., before giving up catching the shuttle back to their car. N read more

This is such a fun place to visit at night! All the murals are lit up and there are lots of buildings decorated for fall! There are also lots of food trunks and who doesn't love so good street tacos?! There are a good amount of people which is fine because we are all checking out different things. read more

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Such a wonderful festival / event / phenomenon right here in Cincinnati! I am so happy to have been able to experience Blink for the second time. Blink was brought to life in 2017, after an amazing and very successful Lumenocity. After 2 years in preparation, it just got much bigger, spanning 30 blocks from COVington through FINdley Market. It is, broadly speaking, a festival of light and laser shows, mainly projected on buildings and murals throughout districts of Cincy. If you need some advice: leave your car behind, bring some wearable lights, comfortable shoes, immerse yourself in art and be prepared to walk slowly among hundreds of your potential future friends! I love that it brings tons of people downtown. For many it is an annoyance, but I love that streets are closed for traffic and pedestrians pour through town like live rivers. This year the event lasted 4 days and it was a great gift, as it really takes a lot of time and walking to be able to take it all in. The Opening Parade was a great idea, it included so many schools and locals, I am sure it brought sense of belonging and community to the teams who were preparing for it. Most of the light shows were absolutely stunning. Some of my favorite were how they illuminated Roebling Bridge and the coordinated light & music show on Memorial Hall and Court House. I also loved how some of the murals 'came alive', traced with lasers and beams with vibrant colors and light effects. It really sheds a light on some details of the murals and buildings that I never paid attention to before. I am so grateful to the Blink creators for bringing this gift to Cincinnati! A truly captivating sea of art, right here, for everyone to enjoy and immerse themselves in, for free! It is the biggest of its kind in USA and if you ever get the chance to experience, do it! It's great for kids and families. It was cute to see all these little ones smiling and on adrenaline even late at night. I LOVED how many people let their creative juices flow and how they became part of Blink by wearing cool lights, gadgets and decorating their bikes! Many businesses offered special menus and stood opened late. These type of festivals bring people together and it's awesome! We need more of it! There are some things to improve, sure. The Blink app needs tweaking, the 'dots' were too big and the street map was not detailed enough. It would help if there were small pics of what the piece should look like or the titles, instead of artist's name and bio. Often it only said 'mural' on the map, this should be improved next time. What really drives me mad is when people criticize it because it was 'too crowded' and the street car was 'too full'. No matter what you offer, you can never make some people happy..... I have nothing but LOVE for Blink! FANTASTIC EVENT! Please, please, please, bring it again and again! read more

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Blink Cincinnati is a temporary art installation, full of lights and sounds, that has taken over Downtown Cincinnati and Over the Rhine. Some projects are a quick stop. Others are a multimedia experience that cycle through an entire presentation. The quality and skill level of exhibitions varied greatly. Though as they say... "art is subjective." For the first night only, there was a parade. I was extremely impressed with the marching bands. Their performances were high quality. Most of the marching bands decorated their instruments with lights. There were various dance groups, children's groups, and some local businesses in the parade. All were lit up in one way or another. Be prepared to walk! We walked approximately 7 miles, and did not see everything. Exhibit are spread out. It is unclear if this was cut down on pedestrian congestion, or if it was a matter of locations willingness to participate. It would have been nice if the instalments were a little closer together. In spite of covering so many miles, we still missed out on a good number of displays. This is truly an event that takes multiple visits to see everything. If you want to get into the spirit of the event, decorate yourself with glow sticks, and light up paraphernalia. read more

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Blink 2022...where to begin! Farrrr too many strollers AND mutts. The only upside, my Parker in crime. read more

Blink Cincinnati - ((Parker(((in crime))))) - Festivals Near Me - Cincinnati, Ohio

I had heard so much about Blink, and as someone living downtown, all the road closures led me to believe this would be a spectacular display taking over the city. To be honest, I was underwhelmed by the entire experience, and felt all the exhibitions could have been condensed into a much smaller area to enhance the experience. Most of the light displays were very simple and not too elaborate, and the few that were larger and/or interactive were way too crowded for most people to appreciate. I'm all for supporting local artists, but the way the event was branded and hyped up just didn't match with the actual experience itself. They prioritized being able to say it spanned over a large area, rather than creating an experience that people could continuously enjoy. I doubt I'll be making an effort to go through Blink again next year unless there are some big changes. I did appreciate the the Blink App though, and the accuracy and detail behind it all. It was nice to have a map to help navigate everything, especially as a first timer. read more

Blink Cincinnati - Festivals Near Me - Cincinnati, Ohio

Put in over 15000 steps checking out Blink Cincinnati 2019. Decided to park in Covington and walk north to 9th street in the Cincinnati downtown zone. There is no way to see all four zones in one evening and actually experience it. Some of the projections suffered from light pollution from other light sources. We really enjoyed our walk across the Roebling bridge into Cincinnati. We were able to walk on the road surface which was a cool experience. But on our return trip the police had the road closed and the only way across was the pedestrian walkways and they were overwhelmed. Hated that. Otherwise the people watching was fantastic and it was worth the 15000 steps. read more

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Lights, lights and more lights! Such a cool thing for the city. There was an interactive dome at Washington park to walk through. Blink spanned from Findlay Market to Ky. Be prepared to walk and wait. There was also a very useful Blink app to guide you through the zones. Police presence was very noticed so no concerns for lack of safety. A fun event for everyone. read more

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way to many people probably not gonna come back to this festival.A lot of people are very rude and inconsiderate as well as disrespectful

as usual it sucked. too spread out, not well mapped, it's more about the food vendors and advertising sponsors than it needs to be. the p&g crap in the parade was a buzzkill. the parade was poorly planned with stop n go entertainment and haphazard coordination. the first year it was cool as mural art installations were close to each other but all the other years it was way too spread out and none of the interactive exhibits are interesting. the swinging bars of lights that make sound just get filled up with kids pushing them around like jerks. this family friendly thing is boring as hell. You feel aimless trying to figure out where the next mural might be. I always expect agar to take fun out of a great idea and they do. The mural installs themselves are actually neat. read more

First, the drone show was spectacular. Probably the only thing really worth seeing. The rest was largely uninterpretable and often bizarre works of art. It was incredibly crowded so it was difficult to get around easily, esp since the installations were so far apart. Our first night we were on the Covington side. The second night we walked about 7 miles on just the Cincinnati side and saw several things but couldn't see some others since it was so overcrowded. On the upside, police presence was strong so activities were largely orderly. The drone show, though, a must see. The rest that was accessible, meh. read more

WOW! What a great, free event to showcase Cincinnati. Yes it's crowded, which is fantastic. What a great way to expose people to art and the beauty of the architecture of our city. Expect lots of people, leave your strollers at home, download the app, and have a great night! read more

Having missed the @blinkcincinnati2018 event because I was out of town when 2019 rolled around I was very excited. With the expanded number of days and venues it was a must see event for me. To begin I went downtown on Thursday evening for the parade. The weather was mild & the street was packed with people waiting for the festivities. At 7 pm the parade began. Colorful & glowing balloon like figures floated past being propelled down the street by groups of excited people. The figures included dragons, butterflies, snakes & my favorite the ghosts. The only downside was the constant pauses as the parade weaved forward, then around the corner and then down the street. I headed south after this to see a few more of the countless venues. This included a stop at Jackson Street by the Know Theatre. The wall mural was turned into a series of artistic and existential projected images smoothly flowing from one into the next. Jackson Street was full of fun smaller interactive displays. I had to be heading home but I returned again on Saturday night. I wanted to check out the lights & music of the suspension bridge. The music originated from the vibrations of the cars driving over it. The lights changed with the music. At this time I met a woman walking her dog. She suggested that I go to the Freedom Center which was only a few blocks over. Images of people and places in African American history flashed across the large exterior wall delighting the onlookers. On the walk back to my car I enjoyed the the sights ands sounds from the many other displays of @blinkcincinnati2019. I can only imagine that 2020 will be even more unique & entertaining. Until next time be kind to each other. @blinkcincinnati2019 @yelpcincy #familyfun read more

Blink Cincinnati - #thesuspensionbridge #blinkcincinnati @blinkcincinnati @yelpcincy #friday - Festivals Near Me - Cincinnati, Ohio

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Major warnings should be noted for those at risk for seizure or migraine. Even their website could be a trigger. Coupled with the chaotic crowds, issues with transportation and the vibe it only added to the stress making the trip down a negative and painful experience for my family. I assumed if it was a risk it would be published clearly. read more

I missed this event back in 2017 due to scheduling conflicts and was sad it didn't come back in 2018. I definitely made it this year and so happy that I did! The luminarium was incredible and it sounded like this was the first time it was here in the US. I drove from Indy for this event and was blown away at how successful and impressive the event was. Cincinnati really shows up to support the arts and the artists. There were times I felt like I was in Times Square with the amount of people that were there. The light up teeter totters were definitely my favorite! The bridge was amazing too! I made it through OTR, downtown, and the banks area but didn't make it to the other 2 areas, unfortunately. I hope Indy paid attention to this event and takes some hints Looking forward to next time! read more

I was so disappointed with this years event, we spent 2.5 hours going from one side of the bridge across the river to the other. It was so poorly planned. We went on the Saturday night, and whoever had planned it needed to look at the number of folks they were expecting and plan for one side of the bridge to be crossing from Cinci side to Newport and the other side coming back the other way.We spent an hour and 20 minutes on one side alone just shuffling along as folks tried to unsuccessfully move. Then chaos ensued and folks jumped onto the closed road and started walking to get out of the crowds, the little VIP Blink golf carts were then having to swerve to miss people. The police tried to come on with bikes but they gave up in the end and let folks just do what they wanted. We sadly ended up seeing barely any of the light installations. This was our second visit and I would hope that they bring it back, first visit in 2017 was amazing, so if its comes again please, please, please plan better. read more

The streetcar only ran northbound NOT southbound. With all the media types telling everyone to take the streetcar, that would have been helpful to know with two elderly people in our party. Way, way, way too many people. Really loved the people with double strollers; they functioned like snow plows in a crowd. One "art" installation was see saws with lights on them. Big deal. One performance area had a girl writhing around the ground covered in Christmas tree lights; somebody pull the plug! All the pre-BLINK hype was just that...hype. read more