My favorite weekend of the year is The Old West End Festival weekend! And to kick it off, our neighborhood hosts the King Wamba Parade. The best way to describe the parade is “eclectic!” I absolutely loved this old car.

For every antique beauty there were equally amazing art cars. I love the tiki wonder pictured above–a creation by OWE resident, Melanie Harris.

Parade watchers were serenaded by The Toledo Glassmen…

… and entertained by the dancing girls (and guys) of JJ Express!

This year’s King Wamba is Michael Szuberla of Toledo Grows and Queen Sancha is Rachel Richardson, activist extraordinaire.

I was most pleased by the visiting Detroit Party Marching Band.

And a party they were!

Great parade, great food, fun parties, golf carts!, and an all around great weekend. I will post video from the entire weekend shortly.

The Toledo Museum of Art hosted a wonderful party in the Peristyle for the Kentucky Derby last week.

There were several local restaurants donating bites to eat and serving up their own versions of the hot brown while mint julips flowed from every crevice–thanks in part to Woodford Reserve Bourbon.

Both women and men were in their Derby Best.

And the hats were breathtaking!

When it was time for the race, a sea of bonnets rushed into the Peristyle.

It was an exciting race. Congrats to “Animal Kingdom!”

As the party began to end many Derby revellers were found on the front steps of our beautiful museum. It was a grand to-do… and one I hope happens again next year.

Toledo Museum of Art | 2445 Monroe Street | (419) 255-8000

I’m a big fan of  Glass City Cafe. I’m also a fan of Old West End Records providing some really great music during their “OWE’ver Easy with Jason Quick & Ben Langlois” brunches! Delicious food + fantastic live music + running into all of our Old West End friends = best brunch ever. In closing, my cheeseburger was perfect.

Glass City Cafe | 1107 Jackson Street | Uptown Toledo | (419) 241-4519

A few weeks ago, on a wonderfully sunny day we took a walk through the Old West End for a visit to the Toledo Museum of Art. I was so happy to get a break from crappy weather that we’ve had and it was nice to see neighbors out and about. We walked through a mix of snow and freshly shoveled sidewalks. At the Museum D. and I enjoyed some great art, including the “Egypt Experience” show which is up for a limited time. While touring the other galleries we caught an impromptu performance by one of the docents on a piano. Later we walked across the street to the Glass Pavilion. Living in the Old West End certainly has some perks but you can enjoy them too. Go visit YOUR museum. It’s free!

Toledo Museum of Art | 2445 Monroe Street | (419) 255-8000

Last month was the 75th anniversary of the Zeroll Ice Cream scoop — the world’s most popular scoop which happens to be in The Museum of Modern Art’s permanent collection for excellence in design. And the birthplace of this artifact of industrial design happens to be smack in the middle of the Old West End!

So we celebrated with an Ice Cream Social! Free Tofts ice cream for everyone!

Zeroll ice cream scoops were also given away. One every 5 minutes!

There were old-timey cars…

and old-timey suits!

And M. brought out his fantastic rickshaw, for the delight of everyone. Thanks to Jeff Nelson, Zeroll Co., and Tofts Ice Cream for putting together such a great event!

It was one great weekend. Favorite OWE fest ever, regardless of the weather. Above is some of the video D. shot during festival.

Toledo’s Historic Old West End Association

Our lazy weekend included pasta and vino outdoors at R. and M.’s place…

A leisurly dinner at the Real Seafood Co…

And a Sunday Brunch at Manhattan’s. Hope your weekend was relaxing… not too sluggish.

We also did a little ‘Toledo Economic Development’ by giving a tour to a new friend from NYC, who is interested in moving to our awesome city. He seemed pretty impressed so we may have a couple new Old West End residents soon.

Both Saturday and Sunday, house tours will be featuring beautiful historic homes. Also to enjoy: an art fair, live entertainment on a stage at Woodruff, children’s activities, food, and of course yard sales.

More information is available on the Old West End Association’s site.

Below is a Google Map of the parade route on Saturday:

Old West End/Ottawa Tavern Thursday strikes again! A group from the OWE met up and rode our bicycles for a bit, and met up with other cyclists at the Ottawa Tavern for food, drinks, and music.

The camaraderie inside the Tavern was great but I was really impressed by the camaraderie outside…

…beginning with this wonderful coupling.

Sweet handlebars.

Nice groupshot!

And more…

Parking permitted, this side of sign!

Adult tricycle! I feel like I’m in Florida.

Thanks to the Dirty Damn Band for tonight’s entertainment.

OWE/OTT was great fun. A group met up in the Old West End for a bicycle ride down to the Ottawa Tavern.

M. brought Z. and they rode a tandem!

It was an easy ride for the most part, so we kept riding… past the OT, through Downtown, down to the river, and back.

At Ottawa Tavern we all had something to quench our thirsts. And were met by friends sans bicycles. Jeff Stewart, local musician extraordinaire, was performing when we arrived.

May is National Bike Month, but events like this will be happening throughout the Summer and I will make sure to attend as many as possible.

Upcoming:

Toledo Bicycle Extravaganza

This Saturday, May 16th — Bike with your neighbors and friends to the downtown Toledo Farmer’s Market. Around Noon there will be a group ride from the market to Manhattan’s for a lunch buffet and live music! A group of Old West Enders are meeting at The Commons [Bancroft & Robinwood] at 9:30 am. Check out this PDF flyer and map for more details.

This afternoon I got the first plants of our 2009 garden in the ground. We built two raised beds this weekend and had soil put in a couple days ago. We haven’t had time to plant shop yet but thanks to some totally awesome Old West End neighbors we already have a bunch of plants ready to go. Courtesy M. down the street are a bunch of greens and cabbage. This morning I opened the door to our neighbor across the street, M., who handed me some tomatoes, pumpkins, a gourde, and peppers he’s been growing. And later in the afternoon A., on the next block, brought over some cherry tomatoes. Thanks, everyone!

This is just another example of why I love living in this neighborhood–OWE people are really friendly and always looking out for each other. That and having a program like the Old West End Private Security Co. during tough times like these is a total plus. If you live in the OWE and aren’t a subscriber, do look into it. I’ve been seeing more and more patrols over the past week–and that’s a good thing.

D. and I pulled the bikes out Friday afternoon and rode downtown. The city was full of activity, including a MudHens game.

We closed the night with a couple manhattans… at Manhattan’s.

Saturday was the second Artomatic 419! weekend for ’09, so we spent our day with several hundred fellow Toledoans enjoying local visual and performing arts.

Artomatic has been a complete success… so do come out next Saturday for the final day (May 2nd).

Post-Artomatic activities included dinner at the Oliver House, more bike riding, and cocktails with friends on the back patio of Wesley’s.

D. started his Sunday with a visit to the Toledo Bicycle Co-op!

They have a gazillion bikes ready for you to claim and ride away with.

Next up…

The Ice Cream Social!

Thanks to everyone who came out, supported a great local business, and enjoyed some ice cream! I had a really great time celebrating the 1st birthday of this little Toledo blog with all of you.

… and this entirely pleasant dog! An extra special thanks to Marcia and co. at Lickity Split!

A few hours later had us enjoying R.’s birthday BBQ in the Old West End. A popular dish was the red hot sausages, but they frightened me a little so I declined.

All said and done, it was a great Toledo weekend–we have so many more to come!

Manhattan’s | 1516 Adams St | (419) 243-6675

Artomatic 419! | 201 Morris St | 419-254-ARTS (2787)

Wesley’s | 1201 Adams St | (419) 255-3333

Toledo Bicycle CO-OP | 2272 Collingwood (St. Mark’s Episcopalian Church) | (419) 386-6090

Lickity Split | 2021 Glendale Ave | (419) 382-3285

The Rosary Cathedral was on the Tours de Noel OWE home tour this year. It was beautiful, moving and I’m surprised at myself for not visiting earlier. We arrived in time to catch the beginnings of their Advent Lessons & Carols Service.

Rosary Cathedral | 2535 Collingwood Blvd. | Old West End

Whitaker-Casper Home

A little over a week ago D. and I took our first home tour in the Old West End. Tours de Noel is an annual event produced by The Women of the Old West End featuring 7 homes and sites in one of this country’s largest historical districts.

Our first stop was Mansion View, a property the Old West End neighborhood association owns and runs as a bed and breakfast and is rented out for parties and events. It is a beautiful house, like many in the neighborhood, featuring amazing architectural features like woodwork you simply don’t see in cookie-cutter modern homes.

We enjoyed each stop on the tour, including Our Lady Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Cathedral and the Park Lane Luxury Apartments which held a holiday boutique and “cookie walk” as part of the event. I did have a favorite… the Whitaker-Casper home (pictured above).

Keep an eye out for the home tours that usually accompany The Old West End Festival in June of each year!

More about The Women of The Old West End.

J. graciously opened his home on Tuesday for his, now second, election night party. Guests brought a ton of food and tended the bar while others had their eyes glued to the TVs. Towards the end of the night revellers pushed out of the house, into the yard, and celebrated with some fresh air.