CINCINNATI — From asking someone where they went to high school to "Please?" to having strong opinions about certain culinary items, Cincinnati has its day-to-day quirks.
But sometimes something happens that is so Cincinnati it reverberates through the city, sparking hot debates and snarky social media commentary for much longer than that.
This year, that happened kind of a lot.
Here are the top 9 "most Cincinnati" things that happened in 2024:
9. Are we living in a world where Skyline Chili ice cream exists?
Is it the most Cincinnati collaboration of all time, or a complete affront to the senses? The jury may still be out on that — though we saw you all commenting "I'd try it" on social media.
In October, a listing on Kroger's website seemed to show a Graeter's Skyline Chili ice cream pint being sold for $7. This sparked plenty of online debate about whether or not this product was a very real food item that could be obtained.
"A daring fusion of flavors in a Cincy chili-flavored ice cream: the creamy ice cream is infused with warm chili spices. Swirled throughout are crunchy oyster crackers and shreds of cheese that provide a tangy contrast to the sweet treat. This unconventional union offers a bold, adventurous taste experience that combines zesty ice cream with crunchy elements in every bite," the website said.
Ultimately, a spokesperson with Graeter's told us the artwork seen on the Kroger site is simply concept art. A spokesperson with Skyline said that while there certainly is a collaboration in the works between Graeter's and Skyline, the ice cream is still in the research and development phase and not yet ready to be sold.
Still, not everyone expressed unbridled joy at the very "Cincinnati" collab.
"President Trump and I will stop this," Tri-State native and then-Vice Presidential nominee JD Vance said on X (formerly Twitter) in response to the news.
8. Hope always springs eternal — where playoffs are concerned
Even before the Bengals broke the curse and made it all the way to the Super Bowl in 2022, Bengals fans have been annually doing the mental math on the team's path to the playoffs, whether it's been a winning year or not.
Now, in the years since that magical 2021/2022 season, Cincinnati Bengals fans are even more fired up about their team's chances.
To put it plainly, this...has not been a great year for the Bengals.
The Bengals started the season with an 0-2 record — for the third season in a row. But, like in recent years, the team has picked up momentum heading toward the end of the season and by the start of Week 17, playoff dreams still aren't completely dead.
There's not a big chance of a Super Bowl run — ESPN's projections of a Bengals postseason is at around 6% or so — but in Cincinnati, any chance means hope.
7. Bridges at the center of drama
There's always a Cincinnati bridge at the center of conversation somewhere.
This year, we started off with debates about how to design the new Brent Spence Bridge corridor and ended it with the full shutdown of I-471 south on the Daniel Carter Beard Bridge after it was severely damaged by a fire.
Somewhere in between, a chunk of sandstone fell from the Purple People Bridge, prompting a months-long closure to the pedestrian-only crossing.
The Big Mac Bridge's closure, however, has had long-lasting consequences for commuters throughout the Tri-State. The suggested detour to avoid I-471 south has been the Taylor Southgate Bridge — which has caused traffic headaches downtown and in Newport — and Cincinnati's favorite functionally obsolete river crossing, the Brent Spence Bridge.
In contrast, it's been a little while since the Roebling Bridge and Western Hills Viaduct have made a peep, but we're still knocking on wood.
6. Cincinnati things went viral
Every so often something uniquely Cincy leaves our little Tri-State bubble and goes viral.
That happened a few times in 2024 — and some of it was downright weird.
In February, Joey Kinsley AKA Sir Yacht — despite being a Cleveland native — documented himself eating nothing but Skyline Chili for every meal for one week.
One month later, we were all marveling over a mystery Covington man at the center of a very odd billboard. The billboard shows a man wearing a Cincinnati Reds t-shirt.
"This man consumes over 20 gallons of liquid cheese in a year," read the billboard. "We can not stop him."
We spoke to the man behind the billboard about why it ever existed and how he felt about it going viral.
In May, a Cincinnati photographer did a photo shoot with a tiny tot who had a mean side-eye. People all around the world shared baby Trent's grumpy little face — and who can blame them?
Seniors at Taft High School won the hearts of the world in October with a sweet teacher appreciation video. Athletic Director Austin Gullett shared a video showing what the football team's seniors did ahead of the Senators' Senior Day on Oct. 19.
"In honor of Senior Day tomorrow, our senior football players chose one staff member who has had a positive impact on their life to wear their jersey to the game tomorrow afternoon," Gullett wrote in the TikTok's caption.
5. The return of the soda wars
This year, a beloved Cincinnati restaurant chain decided to swap pops and the masses revolted. Wait, what year is it again?
Although Gold Star made the swap first, the announcement that Skyline was switching to Coca Cola over Pepsi is what really caught fire.
"Power couple," read Skyline's social media post, but Cincinnatians were quickly asking for a break-up.
Much of the outrage was over losing Mountain Dew as a pairing to the Cincinnati-style chili offerings. The discourse also went viral after thousands of fans signed a Change.org petition to keep Mountain Dew on the menu at Skyline.
Enter Brian Baumgarter from "The Office."
Baumgarter's iconic chili-dropping scene is one of the most well-known moments from the popular show; he weighed in on social media that he was "closely following the breaking Cincinnati-style chili news."
He teased that Mountain Dew fans would be able to enjoy the soda with the purchase of "any chili, anywhere in Cincinnati."
Days later, Mountain Dew announced it was partnering with Camp Washington Chili, Price Hill Chili and Moerlein House to provide free chili and Mountain Dew on March 28.
That promotion was a one-day only thing, though. Only time will tell if Cincinnatians will win this soda war, like they eventually were victorious in the 2013-2018 saga against Frisch's.
4. If you owned two miles of unfinished subway tunnel, what would you do with it?
It's a question Cincinnatians love to ponder once in awhile since, you know, we do have two miles of unfinished subway tunnel built within the city.
In October, the city of Cincinnati decided to formally ask that question.
The council submitted a Request for Information, meaning the city is looking for information from businesses capable of improving the space. The request is not an ask for formal proposals — that could come later after the city has gathered the information it's seeking through this request.
"I would, with cost not being a factor, would love a regional subway system," council member Mark Jeffreys told WCPO. "Obviously, we also have to be practical; how would we fund a regional rail plan? So, it comes down to what (is) practical, versus the realistic.”
Cincinnati's never-utilized subway system is considered the nation's largest abandoned subway tunnel. For over 50 years, the two-mile stretch has been silent, its doors blocked by steel fences that have been vandalized over and over throughout the years.
Social media reactions predominantly favored a front-runner idea for what to do with those tunnels: Build the subway. It remains unclear what proposals city council may have received, or what next steps the city may take toward reclaiming this most Cincinnati of things.
3. BLINK 2024
The four-day arts and lights festival made its biennial return in the fall and the year's celebrations were a big success.
The event brought 17 new murals to Cincinnati and drew in record-breaking crowds. The Asianati Night Market alone closed out its inaugural year at the festival estimating over $200,000 in sales for the businesses that participated.
Thousands of people flooded the streets of Downtown, Over-the-Rhine, the Banks and Northern Kentucky to see the hundreds of installations created by artists from all around the country, and from the region.
BLINK executive director Justin Brookhart told WCPO after BLINK ended that attendance at this year's festival was higher than in 2022 — and plans for BLINK 2026 are already in the works using lessons learned from this year's event.
BLINK attendees had the opportunity to visit the Asianati Street Market, a fashion show and skate park project. The event also featured new attractions like projection mapping at Eduardo Kobras' Neil Armstrong mural on Fifth Third Bank headquarters and expanded even further into Northern Kentucky with installations and events in Newport.
2. Cincinnati on the silver screen
The Queen City has been a star in many a Hollywood production in recent years and 2024 was no exception.
The Ohio Department of Development announced state support of more than $44 million in tax credits for filming TV shows and movies in Ohio this year — a large chunk of that for the Cincinnati area.
Perhaps most notably, film crews were spotted at Union Terminal, where we spied a very specific flag flying atop the outside flag pole.
While the recently released teaser trailer for the new "Superman: Legacy" movie didn't show us any satisfying or identifiable glimpses of Cincinnati, we know they likely shot in the region.
Aside from the Metropolis flag spotted outside of Union Terminal, Warner Bros. crews also shut down the Lytle Tunnel for filming — and while the studio didn't say what was being filmed, there have been clues.
Sylvester Stallone also chose the Greater Cincinnati region to film two of his upcoming movies. Both "Alarum" and "The Epiphany" were granted multi-million-dollar tax credits by the state of Ohio.
Also receiving tax credits to film in Cincinnati is "Oscar's Options." IMDb describes the film directed by Cincinnati native Jon D. Wagner as a movie about a series of midlife mishaps that force a writer to abandon his dreams and return home.
The film "Stained Glass" will also be shot in Southwest Ohio. The movie's contact as listed on the state's tax credit database is Karri O'Reilly, a Dayton native who was previously a production manager on "Carol" and co-producer of "Goat."
"The Marshal," a movie that the state's database shows is connected to the Traveling Picture Show Company, will also be filmed in Southwest Ohio. There were no details on the plot or exact filming locations.
Rough House Pictures, the production company co-founded by Danny McBride, will film "Nutcracker's Mustache" in Dayton and Cincinnati.
M. Night Shyamalan also received tax credits last year for the film "Trap," which filmed in Cincinnati and released in theaters in August.
1. Having one last burger at your local Frisch's Big Boy location
This year marked the end of an era for one very Cincinnati staple.
While not every Frisch's restaurant is in danger of closing its doors forever, many neighborhoods lost their beloved location in 2024.
More than 20 Frisch's Big Boy locations have permanently closed since October when the local franchise's owners, Florida-based company NNN REIT LP, began filing eviction notices against them.
The WCPO I-Team's research shows Frisch’s Restaurants Inc. has at least eight different landlords in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana — but only one of them is actively pursuing evictions right now: NNN REIT LP, or National Retail Properties.
Most recently, the iconic Mainliner location closed its doors for good. According to Frisch’s website, the Mainliner restaurant was Cincinnati’s first year-round drive-in named after the first tri-motor passenger airplane. To this day, a replica of that plane remains on the restaurant’s sign.
Now, amid the eviction hearings, several vendors have also filed lawsuits against Frisch's.
FC Cincinnati alleges the company owes $150,000 in unpaid sponsorship fees.
Schreiber Foods based in New Jersey claims the restaurant owes them $18,547.20 in unpaid invoices. Joffrey’s Coffee and Tea based in Florida also claims Frisch’s owes them in total $30,166.63 with interest.
