Newsletter
8th Annual RoeblingFest 2012 Saturday: June 23 10:00 AM until 11:00 PM
The date has been set and a cast of hundreds are already in motion planning for a Fresh, bigger and better event, gathering ideas, seeking sponsors, enlisting volunteers, and asking you to mark your calendar and join in the fun. We are pleased to partner with Gateway Community College, Roebling Point Business Association, the City of Covington and Boone County to make the 2012 RoeblingFest Family and Pet friendly.
There will be historic and educational tours, exhibits form local museums, children activities and contests, arts and craft exhibits and sales, period dancers and personalities, great food and drinks, live music by local groups, raffles and silent auctions, plus .......
Your participation and ideas are welcome. We encourage you to come forward to present them to the organizing committee.
The CCSBC Board Remembers a Shining Light - Thomas Robert (Bob) Armstrong
The Board will miss it Friend and Past President who gave us his knowledge, dedication, and leadership during his years on the CCSBC Board. He advanced our "Bring History to Light Campaign" with his technical expertise and business acumen.
Mr. Armstrong, of Milford, died of cancer at home on Dec. 27. He was 67.
Thomas Robert (Bob) Armstrong Jr.’s first claim to fame was singing back-up and playing The Hammond B3 organ with Cincinnati band The Casinos. In 1967, he was there when The Casinos made a little history – the band went to No. 6 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart with the doo-wop classic “Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye.”
The Casinos went on to tour as opening act for The Beach Boys, but Mr. Armstrong ultimately decided against making music his profession. Instead, he joined his father at his company Becker Electric as an electrical engineer.
With a business degree from Xavier University and a master’s degree in engineering from the University of Cincinnati, Mr. Armstrong embarked on a successful business career.
He especially enjoyed working with bridge lighting designs, beginning with the Roebling Suspension Bridge in 1984 when he and brother Mark Armstrong were partners in Garfield Electric. Mr. Armstrong’s innovations with the Roebling Bridge project led to several contracts for decorative bridge lighting of spans across the Mississippi at Memphis, Quad Cities and New Orleans in the 1980s. He counted the Sterner Lighting Design “Bringing History to Light” award among his many national recognitions.
Mr. Armstrong was a longtime member and past president of the Covington-Cincinnati Suspension Bridge Committee and did the latest lighting re-design, including the new “necklace lights,” which is approaching completion.
Mr. Armstrong was a musician all his life, said wife Brenda (nee Spears) Armstrong. She and Mr. Armstrong first met when he was playing with The Casinos. They re-kindled their teen romance a quarter century later.
Mr. Armstrong started playing ukulele at age 5 and guitar at age 7, when his hands would finally fit the neck. On The Casinos’ web site, Mr. Armstrong recalled he “had a Gibson guitar with a ‘twangy bar’ just like Duane Eddy.”
By age 14 he was playing lead guitar with The Ramrods, who scored a regional instrumental hit with “Ghost Riders in the Sky.” He went on to play with other area bands during his high school years, also learning classical piano and electric piano.
Mr. Armstrong’s road to the CODA (Cincinnati Oldies and DooWop Association) Hall Of Fame began in earnest when he joined The Vikings, the back-up band in the early days of The Casinos. Band members came and went, then in 1965, The Casinos blended the band and vocal group.
Mr. Armstrong provided what’s been described as the “swelling” electric organ sound that was a group signature.
After The Casinos ended their run, throughout his life Mr. Armstrong continued playing with band members Ray White and Mickey Denton.
“We’ve played together since 1964,” said White, of North Bend. They’ve played with Carl Edmonson and The Driving Winds for more than a decade. Mr. Armstrong was most recently on stage in August, at River Days in New Richmond, Ind.
“He was like a brother to me,” White said. “He was fun to be with, he was very kind. He helped a lot of people. And he was a great musician, probably the best keyboard player in the city, in my opinion. I loved him dearly.”
One of Mr. Armstrong’s great delights, said his wife, was sharing the stage with his son, percussionist Bobby (Thomas Robert Armstrong III). “He was so proud of him!”
Mr. Armstrong continued to play even after melanoma forced the partial amputation of his thumb a few years ago. “He loved to play,” Brenda Armstrong said, including playing organ for their own parish church St. Jerome Roman Catholic Church and St. Peter’s in New Richmond.
Mr. Armstrong is survived by wife Brenda of Milford; son Thomas Robert (Bobby) Armstrong III (son of Bonnie Armstrong), of Anderson; step-daughter Rhonda Cisco of Eastgate, Aaron (Amy) Ellerman of Batavia, and Sonya (Joe) Myers of Blanchester; and siblings of Bill (Kathy) Armstrong of Eastgate, Beth Smith of Chapin, S.C., Barb (Ron) Gallagher of Gilford, Ind., Mark (Michelle) Armstrong of Norwood and Mike Armstrong of San Francisco. He also is survived by five grandchildren.
World Choir Games, Update
The CCSBC met with Karin Kraeling Administrative Assistant, Choir Games Coordinator for Cincinnati Sister Cities from the World Choir Games and after much discussion it was decided that the date for RoeblingFest would not be altered to coincide with the Grand Finale of WCG. Instead a June date will be picked that will reflect a continuance of our prior years schedule.
World Choir Games, July 2012
The Board of Directors will be visited by a World Choir Games representative at the November CCSBC meeting. The intent is to ascertain if a change of date for RoeblingFest 2012 to coincide with the WCG is beneficial to both parties. The CCSBC expressed concerns that the format of the WCG may not work to the benefit of RoeblingFest. Changing the date would mean abandoning the relationships built with Covington Quest, PaddleFest, and other Covington-Boone County events.
RoeblingFest Committee Needs Volunteers
As planning get underway for RoeblingFest 2012 the Committee is seeking more volunteers to assist with the planning, preparation and execution of the daylong RoeblingFest. Volunteers are needed in every area of responsibility. Contact us via email to find out how to get involved with the Festival, the CCSBC, and Board of Directors.
Bridge Lighting Update, October 2011
President Bob Armstrong reported to the Board of Directors at the October 17th meeting that the "necklace lights" are close to 100% operational. It ahs been a tediuos and frustrating task to replace faulty induction bulbs from the initial installation last Fall but the project is nearly complete. The cause of the inconsitancy of lumen output and failure to work in low temperature was at the manufacture in quality assurance. The lighting vendor has been working with us to improve his product and replaced the defective bulbs at their expense.
Our Bridge will have been fully retrofitted with the last few of the replacement bulbs in short order. We appreciate your patience and understanding. Get your cameras out and shoot away!
p.s. The CCSBC is still short of its fundraising goal. the next phase will be replacing the Pier lighting fixtures.
President’s Message (Retrospective from Fall 2010)
We are all enjoying glimpses of the new and improved painting of our beloved Roebling Suspension Bridge. I was down there today with the painters and KDOT folks discussing many issues all concerning the final outcome of the painting and our re lighting project. As some of you know we have begun prep work on the brackets and lighting fixtures which will enable us to have the assemblies painted to match exactly the blue on the Suspension Bridge itself. This means that for the first time our decorative lighting package will blend in completely with the structure itself.
The HPS (High Pressure Sodium) “necklace” lights are going to be replaced by induction lamps. This will require all the fixture housings to be completely re-fabricated to accommodate the new energy efficient lamps and globes. Maintenance cost will be substantially reduced, and lamp life will be around 100,000 hours plus. This compares with the 24,000 hours roughly we were experiencing with the HPS lamps and fixtures.
According to the painting contractor, they are ahead of schedule which is very good for us in trying to get the decorative lighting system back up and running by November 4. This is our yearly bad weather deadline and the point at which we must be off the bridge. We are hopeful and confident that the funds needed to complete our project will be raised in time. Please tell everyone you know how important this project is to the revitalization of the river front for both Northern Kentucky and Greater Cincinnati.
Robert Armstrong President Covington-Cincinnati Suspension Bridge Committee
Roebling Bridge Subject of Winning History Entry
Two 8thgrade students from Mercy Montessori Center in Walnut Hills have won the state-wide Ohio History Day competition with their video documentary of the Roebling Bridge.
Peter Felton and Matthew Meister took first place in the annual event with the guidance of long-time teacher Sister Aloyse Gerhardstein. The subject of this year’s contest was “Innovation in History: Impact and Change”.
The Mercy Montessori students entitled their documentary “The John A. Roebling Bridge: An Impact on Engineering and a Change on the Queen City”. The students chose the Roebling Bridge as their subject matter as it “is something we see every day and sort of take for granted. We wanted to learn more about the Roebling Bridge and discovered that it fit the theme perfectly since so many other bridges were impacted by its innovative design,” said Peter Felton.
Peter is the son of Heidi Mechley-Felton and Michael Felton; Matthew Meister’s parents are Debbie Lydon and Michael Meister. The students are currently re-editing their video for the national competition in June at the University of Maryland.
