Heart of Northside

02/10/2026

Thanks so much to Gina Ellis and Cincinnati Magazine for this detailed explanation of the concept of "blue zones" and how Dr. Rothenberg has begun to apply those principles right here in Northside!

Enjoying a longer, healthier life is more about lifestyle and attitude adjustments than geography.

02/09/2026

Today noon-1pm is the Freestore Foodbank Healthy Harvest Mobile Market! Check it out in our parking lot behind the Heart of Northside (4222 Hamilton Ave., entrance on Hobart).

The HHMM is small but mighty, packed to the brim with affordable fruits and veggies, eggs, bread, oils, spices and more.

Payments accepted: Cash, Credit/Debit, SNAP/EBT (Food Stamps), Produce Perks, Apple Pay, PRX.

Produce Perks provides a $1 for $1 match for all SNAP purchases, up to $25 in FREE produce. Bring your own bag for 10% off your total!

For more information and the current inventory list, please head to www.healthyharvestmobilemarket.com

It’s an honor to bring the mobile market to the community as a complement to the Northside Farmers Market, Morsel & Nosh, Lierer's Market, and other area grocery options. This is just one important piece of the puzzle to improve the health of the community, and I’m so grateful to be partnering with the Freestore Foodbank on it.

02/03/2026

The Northside Farmers Market takes place in our gymatorium 4-6pm every Wednesday. At 4pm on the first Wednesday of the month, the sanctuary in our historic church hosts a short recital by performers from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music - CCM.

Tomorrow (Wed 4 Feb), come in from the cold to enjoy the ambiance of this beautiful space with historic stained glass windows, curved pews and an organ designed and fabricated in 1982 by Taylor & Boody Organbuilders. In the late afternoon, sunlight streams through the stained glass, creating a rainbow of color in this space!

This performance is free and open to all. Please arrive promptly by 4pm.

01/28/2026

The mission of the Heart of Northside is centered on cardiovascular health. Within Cincinnati’s neighborhoods, there is a 25-year difference in life expectancy based on where you live. For example, on average, residents of the Mt. Adams Community live 15 years longer than Northsiders. Improving heart health in the community will improve our life expectancy. How? We are working to:

- improve access to fresh produce by growing it on site,
- improve health literacy through classes and individual counseling,
- improve community health through listening and outreach.

That last goal is necessarily broad. We know that a feeling of social connection leads to better health, both mental and physical. Community belonging and engagement contribute to a greater sense of identity and purpose, and can help reduce the risk of chronic disease and serious illness, including heart disease.

This is why we open up our space to events like Santamania, Yart Sale and the Northside Record Fair! It’s also why we listen to the community when brainstorming new functions for our space.

We’ve gotten a lot of requests for a podcasting studio right in the neighborhood, and here’s your first peek! We purchased seating from Northside neighbor Building Value and a beautiful vintage rug (to help with acoustics) via Facebook Marketplace.

Stay tuned for the final unveiling. In the meantime, we’re booking events for 2026 and beyond. Booking fees help to offset the costs of maintaining and building, and help support our mission of a heart-healthy Northside. Please head to heartofnorthside.org/contact for a virtual tour and availability, and get in touch with any questions.

01/26/2026

Save the date! Cincinnati couldn’t get enough of Sammy Obeid the last time he performed at the Heart of Northside, and he’s returning on Sat 11 Apr. Please head to www.sammyko.com to purchase tickets before the show sells out!

Born in Oakland, California, Sammy Obeid is a Lebanese-Palestinian-Syrian-Italian-American comedian. He is best known for his 1,001 day streak of consecutive comedy performances. It began on December 26th, 2010, and concluded on September 21st, 2013–four days after an appearance on TBS’s Conan. Breaking the old world record on Day 731, Sammy set the new one at 1,001 Arabian Nights of Comedy.

Sammy appeared on NBC’s America’s Got Talent and advanced to the Las Vegas round, and became the first comedian to perform on The Food Network in Throwdown with Bobby Flay. The New York Times has described his material as “full of wordplay” and “clever misdirection.”

Join globally touring comedian Sammy Obeid, for a hilarious stand-up show packed with clever observations, heartfelt stories, and wildly relatable comedy. This special Cincinnati stop is part of Sammy’s brand-new Wit Supremacy Tour.

01/23/2026

Did you know that the Heart of Northside is an event venue?

Our building offers spaces large and small for community and private events. We have hosted lectures, workshops, artists’ markets, concerts, weddings, repasts, birthday parties, and much more!

Booking fees help to offset the costs of maintaining and building, and help support our mission of a heart-healthy Northside.

Shown here is the sanctuary, a glorious space with original curved pews, historic stained glass windows and our beloved Taylor & Boody Organbuilders organ. In the late afternoon, sunlight streams through the stained glass, creating a rainbow of color in this space!

In addition to weddings and commitment ceremonies, we utilize the sanctuary for community classes, workshops and live performances. This space can comfortably fit approximately 200 seated guests.

We’re currently booking community and private events into 2026 and beyond. Please head to www.heartofnorthside.org for a virtual tour and availability, and get in touch with any questions.

01/20/2026

Have you heard about the Mediterranean diet? It’s not a fad or a gimmick. This is a diet (really, a comprehensive set of principles) that I’ve recommended to my patients as their cardiologist, and I even gave a public talk on this at Urban Artifact as part of the Science on Tap - Cincinnati lecture series. The Mediterranean diet is the only diet out there with clinical trials to back up its claims!

To help introduce our neighbors to the Mediterranean diet, our Northside cookbook is coming soon! We’ve been working hard behind the scenes, developing, revising and testing recipes with useful notes to help explain the benefits of specific ingredients.

The cookbook will be filled with simple, heart-healthy recipes based on ingredients available in Northside, specifically Northside Farmers Market, Healthy Harvest Mobile Market, Lierer's Market, Morsel & Nosh, Francis International Market, Darou Salam Halal Market, and (coming soon!) Dean's Mediterranean Imports' Northside location.

The recipes were developed by Xavier University Occupational Therapy students, chef Aden from Have a Hankering and several fellow Northsiders.

Shown here are some beautiful, delicious tomatoes purchased at last week’s Healthy Harvest Mobile Market: Northside. Remember, the Mobile Market will be in our parking lot noon-1pm on Mon 26 Jan!

01/16/2026

Did you know that the Heart of Northside is an event venue?

Our building offers spaces large and small for community and private events. We have hosted lectures, workshops, artists' markets, concerts, weddings, repasts, birthday parties, and much more!

Booking fees help to offset the costs of maintaining and building, and help support our mission of a heart-healthy Northside.

Shown here is the space we call our gymatorium. This is really the hub of the building and hosts many popular community events, like the weekly Northside Farmers Market (during cold weather) and the semiannual Northside Record Fair.

With our main commercial kitchen located across the hall, the gymatorium is great for large gatherings and receptions. This space can hold 412 standing or 319 seated guests.

We’re currently booking community and private events into 2026 and beyond. Please head to www.heartofnorthside.org for a virtual tour and availability, and get in touch with any questions.

01/15/2026

Winter doesn’t stop us from gardening at the Heart of Northside. 😉

I’ve been working with Jake, a chemical engineering student at UC, to plant our first batch of sweet potato slips! We are experimenting with different kinds of potatoes and different methods. One of the types we are using came from Northside grocery store Darou Salam!

How does this work? We start from the sweet potatoes themselves! You can make the tuber grow roots (that’s what we are doing now), which you cut off when they are big enough and they turn into new sweet potato plants. One tuber will often produce more than a handful of slips. Each slip can grow into a plant that can produce about 6 sweet potatoes.

Thanks so much to the neighbors who have already offered advice and encouragement!

01/12/2026

Today noon-1pm is the Healthy Harvest Mobile Market: Northside! Check it out in our parking lot behind the Heart of Northside (4222 Hamilton Ave., entrance on Hobart).

The Healthy Harvest Mobile Market is small but mighty, packed to the brim with affordable fruits and veggies, eggs, bread, oils, spices and more.

Payments accepted: Cash, Credit/Debit, SNAP/EBT (Food Stamps), Produce Perks, Apple Pay, PRX.

Produce Perks provides a $1 for $1 match for all SNAP purchases, up to $25 in FREE produce. Bring your own bag for 10% off your total!

For more information and the current inventory list, please head to healthyharvestmobilemarket.com

It’s an honor to bring the mobile market to the community as a complement to the Northside Farmers Market, Morsel & Nosh, Lierer's Market, and other area grocery options. This is just one important piece of the puzzle to improve the health of the community, and I’m so grateful to be partnering with the Freestore Foodbank on it.

01/09/2026

Moonrise Music Hall is back, featuring exceptional touring musicians without any of the distractions!

Next up is Djangophonique @ Moonrise Music Hall on Fri 23 Jan! Djangophonique is an award-winning project that delivers the infectious joy, and expressive freedom that is at the heart of Django Reinhardt’s jazz manouche.

Advanced reservations are required and the exact address will be provided after you reserve your seat. It’ll be a familiar spot. 😉 Please head to Moonrise Music Hall for more details and to purchase your tickets!

01/06/2026

The Northside Farmers Market takes place in our gymatorium 4-6pm every Wednesday. At 4pm on the first Wednesday of the month, the sanctuary in our historic church hosts a short recital by performers from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music - CCM.

Tomorrow, come in from the cold to enjoy the ambiance of this beautiful space with historic stained glass windows, curved pews and an organ designed and fabricated in 1982 by Taylor & Boody Organbuilders. In the late afternoon, sunlight streams through the stained glass, creating a rainbow of color in this space!

This performance is free and open to all. Please arrive promptly by 4pm.