CINCINNATI — The DORA in Westwood is finally celebrating its grand opening Wednesday after its three previous efforts have been canceled due to weather.
The DORA was initially supposed to celebrate its grand opening after it had a soft opening for St. Patrick's Day.
Tonight's celebration will see Mayor Aftab Pureval speak, as well as members of city council. Otherwise, there will be a ribbon-cutting followed by live music from Jake Speed & The Freddies.
The DORA in Westwood stretches along Harrison Avenue from about Wondercade near Montclair Avenue to Ivory House, which is just after Montana Avenue.
You can visit 11 different businesses, including West Side Brewing, to buy a drink and then walk back outside or to other businesses to enjoy it.
The DORA is open from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. on weekdays and noon to 11 p.m. on weekends.
Officials said the goal of the DORA was to continue revitalization in the neighborhood and to attract new visitors and businesses.
Former West Side Brewing General Manager Adam Wiggins previously said before a prior planned grand opening that they had probably seen the most success from the DORA, selling about 1,000 cups since March.
Lauren Shipp, general manager of Nation Kitchen and Bar, also located within the DORA, said they've sold hundreds of cups since the soft opening happened in March.
"Every nice weekend we've had, we've had a ton of people," Shipp said. "We try to push the DORA a little but for people who are waiting to eat at our restaurant so people can walk around and have some fun before they come in and eat."
Keep in mind, if you’re going to purchase an alcoholic beverage to take outside, it has to be in a designated DORA cup — this is not a BYOB scenario.
West Side Brewing hopes neighboring businesses see great success as well.
“I think it's going to bring more people to this area... more people is going to mean better streets, more parking, there's going to be more stuff for this community,” Wiggins said. “Bigger events in the park, more markets, concerts, all sorts of fun stuff.”
Wiggins says some of the hesitation about the DORA was the cleanup and making sure sanitation can keep up with the extra trash. Despite that worry, he said there hadn't been a problem yet.
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