BLINK took over the city from Over-the-Rhine through parts of Covington for four days this past weekend. This festival of lights was highly publicized and hyped, and we wondered what our readers thought about it. We asked people to share their thoughts on social media, and the response was a mixed bag.
Many commenters felt as if the 2022 BLINK did not live up to the previous iterations in 2017 and 2019:
- “Underwhelmed. 2017 was great, 2019 was fantastic… 2022 missed the mark. I am very proud of the artists in Covington who stayed true to the concept of Blink .. art! Otherwise, pretty disappointed.” — Renee Bunch on Facebook
- “By comparison to the previous Blink, Covington seemed diminished in its participation in Blink2022. The 3 major murals only had spotlights – no projection mapping – when I was there Saturday night. Traffic was maintained on Madison which took away from fully viewing the projection mapping of those buildings. Kudos to TANK, Covington PD, and the community at Mother of God for opening the church for self guided tours.” — Lisa McCormick on Facebook
- “We were underwhelmed this year. 2019 was wonderful – so many light displays, seemed like you saw something new everywhere you looked walking through Downtown and OTR. This year, Covington and The Banks were the best spots to be. Downtown and OTR, everything was so spread out and I felt like we were seeing barely anything as we walked for blocks and blocks. There seemed to be much more vendors and less displays. Those displays that there were were ridiculously crowded. It also feels as though the event is too short and that makes it more crowded. Maybe if it was over 2 weekends or an entire week, it wouldn’t be as crowded every single evening. The Brent Spence walking lanes on each side were insanely crowded.” — Stacey Delap on Facebook
There was also discussion of the change in leadership among the event’s organizers, namely Brave Berlin, one of the co-founders who were considered the creative force behind the project. The design agency announced on Facebook in July of this year that they were cutting ties with the project over issues with fellow BLINK partners the Cincinnati Regional Chamber.
According to our responses on social media, some felt that they noticed the departure throughout the event:
- “This year certainly felt more like a commercialized or sponsored event. If you paid close attention, you could tell the original crew backed out. There were so many untapped opportunities in the Covington area to make the experience more vibrant. The drone show was engaging yet also felt very ‘put on’ once the sponsor’s name popped up toward the end. I’m glad we went and I’m hopeful future events are more art/artist-focused. It would have been a more memorable experience to have felt like you were visiting different light show art galleries instead, as our out-of-town friends put it, ‘Did the drone show just advertise some sort of bowel-cleansing Metamucil?!?’” — Elise Sebastian on Facebook, referring to the show’s sponsor, Altafiber, flashing its logo using the flying drones at the end of the show.
- “Definitely noticed the absence of the original co-founders of Blink, Brave Berlin. I enjoyed it, but 2017 and 2019 were much better. Loved the drone show and Mother of God and the Urban Oasis at top of Findlay.” — Amy Myhaver on Facebook
Though the reviews reflected mixed feelings among the crowd, many applauded the 10-minute drone show put on Sky Elements Drone Shows:
- “Loved the Drone Show!!” — Jeanne Mistler Buring on Facebook
- “I loved it!” — Sarah Melching on Facebook