Weekend notes from the council campaign trail

Signs of the campaign season - literal signs and figurative signs - were to be seen in nearly every neighborhood of the city Saturday.

At 1 p.m. Saturday, Republican council candidate John Eby's van and Charterite incumbent Jim Tarbell's motor scooter were seen parked outside Price Hill Chili on Glenway Avenue. Both were inside grabbing lunch and greeting the lunch-time crowd. Incumbent Republican councilman Chris Monzel had worked the breakfast crowd at the restaurant earlier with U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot.

While Eby and Tarbell stumped for votes inside Price Hill Chili, a lone Monzel volunteer stood at the corner of Glenway and Ferguson Road, waving a sign at the passing traffic.

Two hours later, incumbent council member Christopher Smitherman stood alone on a Reading Road curb, just across from Losantiville Country Club, waving a Smitherman sign.

Both mayoral candidates and nearly all the 31 city council candidates made stops Saturday at a Northside event called "The Ultimate Political Party,'' the brainchild of Northside resident and neighborhood activist Heather Sturgill, who said she wanted to create an event "that would celebrate the act of voting.''

"You remember the old movies that showed campaign with big brass bands and parades and big crowds of people excited about democracy?'' Sturgill said sitting under the big white tent erected in a parking lot at the corner of Hamilton Avenue and Lingo Street. "I wanted to recreate that.''

From 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday, a steady stream of local bands - many of them including musicians who live in Northside - played psychedelic funk, Celtic tunes, reggae and rock for crowds inside the tent that varied throughout the day and night from small to large. In between the music, the candidates were invited to the stage to give four-minute speeches and answer questions.

-- Howard Wilkinson