GGB Cincinnati – Geekmas Brunch
There’s a chill in the air and that means that Geekmas is here once again. For this pan-fandom brunch, we met up at the new Taste of Belgium location on The Banks. Taste of Belgium is a local chain that began inside a Findlay Market produce store and has expanded to five locations in Cincinnati and one in Columbus. They take American, Belgian, and French classics and make them their own. Oh, and their Belgian Mules are pretty great, take it from Amanda.
We had two new members join us this time around (yay!), so we chatted about our favorite fandoms and podcasts while we waited for our food to arrive. There’s a growing number of librarians or library paraprofessionals in our little chapter, as well as other educators. Oddly enough, Amanda and one of our new members grew up in the same part of Cleveland. Small, nerdy world.
For our game, we had members guess the number of Santa hat Hershey Kisses in a jar. Elizabeth turned out to be our lucky winner and went home with a goodie bag of geeky gifts, sugary treats, and a cute holiday mug.
Afterward, we walked a couple blocks over to Fountain Square for the Cincideustch Christkindlmarkt, a German-style Christmas market that has been running since 1988. The tradition itself dates back to the 17th century in Germany and is held in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Similar to the markets in Europe, the Cincinnati market features wooden stalls where local vendors sell handcrafted items and treats. You can get a glass of Glühwein (mulled wine – with or without a shot of rum) or hot chocolate to keep yourself warm. There’s also an ice skating rink where Santa makes surprise visits – we happened to see him while we were at the market.
All in all it was a fun afternoon, and we were excited to see some new faces. We hope to see more at our next brunch in February 2017. Anyone up for a blind date with a book?