In Cincinnati, Opening Day of baseball means much more than it does in many other cities around the country. The city-wide celebration is commonly regarded as one of the largest gatherings among all 30 MLB teams to start the baseball season.
The Cincinnati Reds are the oldest professional franchise in Major League Baseball and the tradition of Opening Day festivities has become much more than a parade and a ball game. Rather, the day has turned into a symbol that represents summer fun, the start of good weather, and an opportunity for a winning season.
March 26 was supposed to be Opening Day in Cincinnati. However, due to the coronavirus outbreak, all professional sports were put on hold with no true plans for a resolution.
For most cities with professional franchises, this is terrible news.
For Cincinnati, it feels like they lost a widely-celebrated holiday.
The start of baseball is truly regarded as a holiday, claiming as much importance as other major holidays in the Queen City. Family-owned businesses shut down for the day, thousands of people put in a request for the day off from work, a large parade kicks off the afternoon, and hundreds of thousands of people flock to downtown to join in on the celebration.
Streets around the stadium are shut down and completely filled with fans, beer booths, and live music while bars surrounding the area are filled beyond capacity. Several watch parties and events take place all around the city to commemorate the big day. Friends and family make plans months and months in advance to make sure they have their plans in place to take full advantage of all the festivities down by the ballpark.
From the outside looking in, it truly sounds like chaos all for just a baseball game, but the city of Cincinnati truly holds the day in the highest of regards because of the fun and energy that it brings.
Instead of the mass celebration, March 26 instead marks Day 3 of the official stay-at-home order that was put in place by the State of Ohio. Cincinnati will be flooded with reminders through news outlets, social media, and word of mouth as to what this day could have been, and the fans will be sitting indoors and looking out the windows instead of participating.
Instead of one of the happiest days of the year in the Cincinnati, Thursday will instead be one of the saddest.
