CINCINNATI — Friday marks the return of the "First Friday" shows at Bellevue Park in Clifton Heights, a growing hot spot for music and art in the Cincinnati college scene.
The events are run by Monigold Studios, a Cincinnati-based recording studio with a big focus on the University of Cincinnati's music scene, also known as "the Clifton music scene."
Every first Friday of the month from May to October, local and regional underground, up-and-coming bands play a concert at Bellevue Pavilion. Local artists and vendors also flock to the park to set up pop-up shops to showcase and sell their unique work.
The event is mostly run and attended by college students but Nolan Monigold, the creator of Monigold Studios said his goal is to create a family friendly environment where people of all ages can come and experience the vibrant art and music scene around the university.
Monigold said the idea for having shows in the park started because he wanted to find a way to take the college house show scene out of a cramped basement.
"There's some really chill parents, but you don't really always want to invite your parents to come to a college basement to see you play," Monigold said. "I always loved Bellevue Park and the pavilion and everything up there. So we started making calls, seeing who was in charge of it."
Monigold got a approval from the city and the CUF Neighborhood Association in early 2021 and started putting on events in June of that year.
Over the past few years, Monigold said he and his friends Brenna Campbell, Frank Cassidy, Collin Hater and Jack Martin, along with others in the music and arts scene have been working to restore the park.
"We made it part of our mission to prove to the city and the parks and to the community that that park is something that people care about. It's more than people just like driving up and sitting in their car, looking out over the view," Monigold said. "It's one of the cornerstones of the Cincinnati College community here."
Since the shows at the park started, Monigold and a group of volunteers haves been able to make improvements to the pavilion including graffiti removal, and the construction of new picnic tables.
"At the end of every single event, you can walk around and the park will be cleaner than we found it at the beginning of the day," Monigold said.
Monigold said last year, they were even able to open a concession stand during the concert events.
Now this year, Monigold said he is opening an information booth so that during every event, people can learn more about the mission and how they can get involved, whether that be with the music scene or just park cleanup events.
He's also creating a photography pit for the first time this season.
"One of the things that we found is people love coming and taking pictures at the facility," Monigold said.
This photography pit is a win-win, Monigold said. Amateur photographers will get the chance to practice shooting at live outdoor concerts and bands will get quality photos and videos of their performances.
The first show of the season is this Friday. It features five local bands including Patchwork Rose on the Avenue, Mosant, and The Paper Earth, along with a performance by Jenna Reel and Ethan Kimberly.
There will also be "a ton of great vendors," Monigold said.
"This season is on track to be really, really good."
If you are in a local band or are a vendor and want to get involved, click here.
The pavilion at Bellevue park was designed in 1955 by architect R. Carl Freud, originally designed to serve as an outdoor dancing venue, according to the City of Cincinnati.
"The fact that music has kind of saved the park that was originally built for music is kind of a kind of a cool thing," Monigold said.
Bellevue Park was once part of The Cincinnati-Clifton Incline Plane, aka the Bellevue Incline. According to the city, the incline once connected Elm Street in Over-the-Rhine to Ohio Avenue in Clifton Heights. At the time, it was touted as "The only direct route to Burnett Woods Park, Zoological Garden and Clifton," the city said.
Along with a view of downtown and the Ohio River, the park also features a playground and a walking path.
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