Taste takes the Fifth -- finally

And now, for something a little more cheerful: The unofficial start of Cincinnati’s summer season is more than two months away, but there’s something to celebrate already. The Taste of Cincinnati will be back in the heart of downtown where it belongs.

Officials of the annual Memorial Day weekend foodfest announced this week that the Taste will move from Central Parkway, where it’s been held since 1988, to Fifth Street, where it will occupy the Race-to-Broadway footprint familiar to Oktoberfest fans. That’s always seemed a friendlier venue than the more spacious but barren Parkway, which gets really hot on a sunny day, even in late May. I know the festival had to move there when it outgrew its original location, downtown's Piatt Park, but it just never seemed right.

This year, moving back downtown is an especially smart move that will show off the newly rehabbed Fountain Square – assuming that project is finally wrapped up by Memorial Day – along with the redone Government Square and a handful of new restaurants that may surprise people who haven’t been to the city's business core in a while. Downtown could use the kind of good vibe you get from a half-million visitors enjoying Cincinnati-style food, drink and music on a holiday weekend.

If there’s one thing Cincinnati knows how to do well, it’s put on a festival. This kicks Taste up a notch or two.