By Kelly Adamson
kelly@otrchamber.com
Returning for its 18th year, Second Sunday on Main (SSOM), presented by the Over-the-Rhine Chamber of Commerce, is a free neighborhood street festival in Cincinnati’s historic Over-The-Rhine neighborhood, celebrating community, creativity, and the city’s culture. With support from presenting sponsors P&G and Kroger, the festival continues to grow and thrive, providing vibrant arts and music programming, a diverse vendor market, biergarten lounge, with the backdrop of historic Main Street and its many brick and mortar businesses.
“P&G is thrilled to return as the Presenting Sponsor of Second Sunday on Main and be a part of celebrating the iconic festival’s 18th season and enhancing Cincinnati’s culture by way of its diverse local vendors, music and programming.” said Barbara Hauser, Community Relations Manager at P&G.
Second Sunday on Main, or “SSOM”, started in 2004, as a way to drive more daytime traffic to what was then known as the Main St. Entertainment District. The OTR Chamber, local property owners, businesses and residents started putting together plans for what was then known as “Sunday Markets on Main,” a street fair featuring Main Street businesses, crafty vendors on sidewalks, and pop-up shops in vacant storefronts – which are harder to find these days as Main Street’s storefronts are now full of over 50 diverse small businesses offering all sorts of amazing products, eats and neighborhood services.
The OTR Chamber is also partnering with Model Group, Urban Sites and 3CDC to have representatives from each company available for questions and advice to Second Sunday vendors about the process of opening a storefront in OTR, to increase transparency, share resources and help with referrals.
The event’s monthly themes reflect the culture of the Cincinnati and OTR community, creating a unique space for local artists and musicians to showcase their talents, including the Cincinnati Music Accelerator and their Mobile Stage Trailer.
The festival kicked Sunday, June 12, with “PRIDE on Main” theme, celebrating national PRIDE month and will close out the season on the third Sunday of the month in October, to coincide with this year’s BLINK festival.
Full season dates and themes are below.
2022 Dates:
July 10th – Music City on Main
August 14 – Second Line Sunday on Main
September 11 – Sustain on Main
October 16 – Blink on Main (daytime festival from 12 -5 p.m. biergarten and music on Woodward St. from 6-11 p.m.)
Location: Main Street OTR, Between 12th and Liberty Street
Time: 12 – 5 p.m.
Vendor Registration:Season registration remains open, interested vendors can register at https://www.secondsundayonmain.org/vendorapplications
An estimated 4,000 visitors attend SSOM each month to explore Main Street’s 40+ participating shops, galleries, restaurants, cafes, and bars and more than 100 vendors.
The 2022 Second Sunday on Main is sponsored by P&G, Kroger, ArtsWave, Central Parkway YMCA, U.S. Bank, MadTree Brewing, Revel OTR, Rosemary and Mark Schlachter, and Brave Berlin.
Email: SecondSundayOnMain@gmail.com