February 2000

Ran Mullins, iRhine Founder, creates the initial vision for a community marketing initiative for Over-the-Rhine and the domain name iRhine.com is registered on February 27th.

August 2000

Ran Mullins shares his initial vision for iRhine with Johnathan Holifield of the Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce in an effort to support the Regional Technology Initiative and strengthen the Over-the-Rhine community.

December 2000

iRhine continues to take shape and is shared with Metaphor Studio employees as research begins. Ran Mullins seeks council from friends and city leaders regarding having Over-the-Rhine treated as well as any other neighborhood in the Greater Cincinnati Region.

January 2001

The intitial identity is developed by Ran Mullins and Metaphor Studio with the tag line "Where Dot-Com Stands for COMMUNITY". iRhine is presented to Marge Hammelrath, Executive Director of The Over-the-Rhine Foundation. Calls are made to Judith Osbourne of the Over-the-Rhine Chamber of Commerce. Attempts are made to contact Over-the-Rhine Community Council, Peaslee Center and the Drop-in Center with no response.

February 2001

Research into the history and the political web of Over-the-Rhine continues. On February 26th Metaphor Studio and iRhine volunteers Yul Butler and Philip Thornberg present the iRhine vision to Johnathan Holifield and Raymond Buse, III of the Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce and receive encouragement and verbal support.

The concept for iRhine is formally developed and presented to The Over-the-Rhine Foundation's Board of Directors on February 27th.

March 2001

Ran Mullins and Metaphor Studio staff continue to work towards completing the comprehensive plan for the implementation of the iRhine community marketing initiative. Fundraising begins.

April 2001

April 9th meeting with Chris Frutkin, President of the Over-the-Rhine Chamber of Commerce. iRhine is officially moved into action. iRhine sees an early launch out of a genuine need to strengthen the community following the April riots that occurred downtown beginning on April 10th.

The Web site developed by Metaphor Studio, iRhine.com, is officially launched on April 20th filled with current neighborhood data and history. The Cincinnati Business Courier prints an article by Rachel Melcer on April 20th covering the launch of iRhine, and the goals that it plans to achieve. The Web site receives over 15,000 visitors within weeks of being launched.

iRhine's Mission

iRhine.com also promotes shopping at Findlay Market on Saturday, April 21, 2001 by sending out an e-mail to a database of thousands of individuals. iRhine shows support by organizing 15 volunteers including the Metaphor Studio staff to canvas the Market area spreading the word about OTR information available online at iRhine.com.

Shop Findlay Market

iRhine volunteers also assist the Over-the-Rhine Foundation in spreading the word about the Neighborhood Pot-luck on Main Street on Sunday, April 29th.

May 2001

City officials and Over-the-Rhine business leaders announce plans to support Over-the-Rhine businesses in an effort to attract patrons back to the community following the April riots. This initiative includes financial support as well as an effort to clean up OTR.

MOTION (Rebuilding OTR)

iRhine assists by posting financial need request forms online and works with Cincinnati City Councilmember Pat DeWine to match funds from the city and the Greater Cincinnati Foundation for small business owners. iRhine.com also features an article outlining this initiative.

Community Affairs

June 2001

iRhine promotes "Bridging the Gap." Main Street Ventures, Gaskin Productions, The Black Lawyers Association, Councilmember Alicia Reece, and Councilmember Pat DeWine, meet at the Barrelhouse Brewing Company on June 19th for a Happy Hour to help Cincinnati "Bridge the Gap". This event is held in an effort to stimulate communication between community leaders regarding the state of OTR and Cincinnati following the April riots.

Bridging the Gap

July 2001

iRhine promoted the Celebrity Chef Cook-off on July 14th, which was produced by Downtown Cincinnati Inc. to encourage continued patronage of one of Cincinnati's oldest and greatest traditions, Findlay Market. Celebrity chefs from downtown restaurants created special recipes using only ingredients from market merchants, and demonstrated their cooking skills at the open-air market. iRhine includes the event as one of the first editorial cover stories on the iRhine.com web site.

Findlay Market Cook-Off!

iRhine celebrates the second anniversary of Main Street Ventures and the Digital Rhine and runs the story and thank you to the founders for pioneering the marketing of the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood to start-up technology companies.

Digital Rhine Celebrates Year 2!

August 2001

Pat DeWine announces a plan to help increase police visibility, and lower crime. This plan calls for an increase in overtime hours for officers, as well as an increase in funding to be used for increased police visibility. iRhine helps to promote this initiative by featuring a story that outlines Councilman DeWine's plan.

Dewine's Plan to End Violence

September 2001

During September, the streets of Over-the-Rhine are overflowing with the beautiful flowers of the Miracle Mile. "The Mile" is part of an initiative to help resurrect Over-the-Rhine and the surrounding community. iRhine takes time out to photograph these stunning flowerboxes and share them with everyone on iRhine.com. BriAnna Butler a teenager from Detroit, Michigan writes the story on a trip visiting her father in Cincinnati.

Miracle Mile - Just Because...

iRhine also features the Downtown Tour of Living, produced by Downtown Cincinnati Inc. and the Downtown Residents Council to promote city living and the development of unique residential apartments and loft spaces in downtown and Over-the-Rhine.

Downtown Tour of Living

October 2001

iRhine features a story covering the new kids on the block: Media Bridges. During the month of October, Media Bridges works hard to finish up work on their new home at the corner of Central Parkway and Race Street. iRhine, welcomes Media Bridges to Over-the-Rhine by featuring them on iRhine.com during the month of October.

Media Bridges Moves to OTR

Later in the month, iRhine features Enjoy the Arts/START, another local OTR non-profit organization that is aimed at introducing people to the arts in Cincinnati. iRhine assists in promoting ETA gallery openings and promotes Final Fridays on Main and Pendleton Arts Center.

Visit Enjoy The Arts in OTR

November 2001

With election time early in November , iRhine introduces iVote. iVote serves as a way for people in the community to hear how Over-the-Rhine fits into the plans of city council candidates. iVote offers visitors the chance to compare the platforms of each candidate conveniently by visiting iRhine.com.

iVote for Over-the-Rhine

LUMINARIA: Harmony of Light.
Ran Mullins, Gina Hartmann and Yul Butler of iRhine, assist Thomas Courtney the LUMINARIA Committee of volunteers and several local sponsors, holding the first annual OTR Luminaria. The event is planned to bring the community of Over-the-Rhine and the city of Cincinnati together during the holiday season.

LUMINARIA: Harmony of Light

December 2001

LUMINARIA: Harmony of Light, On December 8th, historic Washington Park in Over-the-Rhine becomes the brightest spot in the Tri-state thanks to the vision of Thomas Courtney and the work of LUMINARIA and iRhine volunteers.

iRhine assists in the planning and promotion of the event, working with DCI(Wordsworth Communications), and the Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce to promote the event to the media. Ran Mullins and Metaphor Studio design the identity and marketing materials.

iRhine also features LUMINARIA on the Web site cover page of iRhine.com. Speakers include Thomas Courtney, Mayor Charlie Luken, Councilman Jim Tarbell, Councilman David Crowley and hosts Regina Carlswell and Andy Tiernan from Fox19 television. Sponsors include Duro Bag, Candle-Lite, Hilltop Concrete, the Cincinnati Parks Board, General Electric, Turner Construction, Metaphor Studio, WVXU, Fox 19, Elegant Fare Catering, Kwik Copy Printing and The Over-the-Rhine Foundation. The event is a huge success thanks to the many people working together.

The iRhine.com Web site also wins by recruiting a couple for the event from Plymouth, Michigan to volunteer and experience what Over-the-Rhine in Cincinnati, USA has to offer. They are considering moving to our city...

LUMINARIA: Thank You!