City prepares for masked ball

HOW TO GO

WHAT: Dance: Masked!

WHEN: 8 p.m. to midnight Nov. 8

WHERE: Ryan's Tavern, 241 High St., Hamilton

COST: $5 at the door

MORE INFO: Visit www.tinyurl.com/dancemasked or call 513-737-2200

The bronze population of the City of Sculpture isn’t just dressing up for Halloween by putting on masks this week.

They are also extending an invitation to put the exclamation point back into Hamilton! by attending the HUB’s “Dance: Masked!” event next weekend.

The HUB — Hamilton’s Urban Buzz — is a loose affiliation of local young professionals and artists who have been gathering for a monthly happy hour for the past few years, according to Jenn Acus-Smith, one of the organizers of the masked event.

“There’s really not a lot of events like this in Hamilton,” Smith said, “but something you’d have to go to Cincinnati to do.”

So having come up with the idea of a masked ball, fellow HUB member Jenni Sachiko Hubbard got together with fellow artists Nash Ferguson and Zoey Bryant to create a set of masks for Hamilton’s downtown sculptures, with permission.

“Each sculpture also has a QR Code with information about the party,” Hubbard said.

HUB is encouraging people to follow the sculptures’ lead and dress in black and white for the event. A series of posters will be going up, also shot in black and white, to promote the event.

“We got together with photographer Sam Chase down at the Smart Paper plant to do a shoot,” Smith said. “And there will be a photo booth at the event where people can have their own portraits taken in their masks.”

And it’s all in keeping with the city’s plan to revitalize the downtown area, Smith said, because the event is designed to attract the artists and young professionals that the city has said it wants living in the downtown core area.

“Those are the people that will help improve the quality of life in Hamilton,” she said.

Hubbard said that HUB hopes to add monthly events like the masked ball to its agenda.

“The Northside Tavern (in Cincinnati) and other places has themed dances like this that are very popular,” she said. “We need to have more activities like this in Hamilton so we don’t have to go to Northside to dance.”