Findlay Market Opening Day Parade

Findlay Market, the heart of the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood, has been a gathering place for political, religious, and social events since opening in 1855. Inspired by the Cincinnati Reds World Championship in 1919, a group of fans known as rooters from Findlay Market organized a parade to celebrate the start of the team’s 1920 season. The parade became an annual event, with marching bands, horse-drawn Tally-Ho wagons, and rooters processioning to Redland and later Crosley Field, where they presented gifts to Reds officials. The team’s move into Riverfront Stadium in 1970 injected new life into the 50-year-old tradition. A new route for Opening Day 1971 took the parade through downtown, past Fountain Square, and brought the procession more attention and participants. A century after the first parade, it had become a focus of Opening Day festivities, and the day itself had become an unofficial city holiday.

Cincinnati, Ohio · United States