It’s a rare presence at the top of any destination travel list, but a quick visit to Cincinnati, Ohio proves that the city warrants a closer look for those seeking more about the American experience. It’s a relatively compact city, with a population of just 309,000, and it’s also an old one, dating back to its founding in 1788.

That’s good news for sports fans – especially baseball fans. The Cincinnati Reds is a storied club, whose legacy includes dominant, back to back championships in 1975 and 1976. But the age of the club ensures that the opening day of play each season is a special treat that is not repeated in any other Major League Baseball city. 

That is, the Cincinnati boys of summer are the only MLB team to open their season exclusively at home. Other teams may kick off their seasons on the road, but that’s never the case with the Reds, who get this annual home opener treat by reason of being the oldest professional ball club on the continent. The Reds have been playing ball as a pro club since 1869, first as the Cincinnati Red Stockings, then as simply the Reds as of 1890.

This adds a little extra historic incentive to Canadian baseball fans who might want to make the trip to Cincy to start the season. They will take in the home opener at Great American Ball Park, a modern stadium with all the expected amenities, but built specifically to showcase baseball in a more traditional way, with a smaller attendance capacity of 42,000.

Following are a few more pleasant surprises that await visitors to Cincinnati:

Fans heading to Cincinnati to attend the opening day baseball game should also take in another long-standing Cincy tradition – the Findlay Market Opening Day Parade. This has taken place on the Reds’ opening day game for more than a century, and is the only parade amongst MLB cities that is held specifically to mark the start of the baseball season. It is such a favourite in the city that thousands of local fans join fans from afar to line the street and witness all manner of floats, marching bands and various entertainers. Cincy city politicians have even considered the possibility of making this a public holiday, given that so many parents take their kids out of school on that day to attend the event.

Those who need more to further fulfill their Reds experience should get a ticket to visit the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame & Museum, which is a large, permanent space at Great American Ball Park. This hall and museum are in fact the largest dedicated facilities of their kind in the MLB, at 16,000 sq. ft, and the exhibits and attention to historic detail and accuracy is impressive. For example, on-demand tech is put to good use for quickly searching the stats, photography and films of famous players like Pete Rose, or more recently, Canadian-American all-star Joey Votto.

The location of this museum on the banks of the Ohio River is heavy with symbolism. Across the river on the south side is the state of Kentucky, a supporter of slave ownership during those dark times. On the north bank is Ohio, aligned with those northern states seeking to abolish slavery. The river serves as the border between Kentucky and Ohio, so freedom for slaves escaping their owners was symbolized by the sight of Cincinnati. The legacy of that freedom trek from south to north has been preserved at Cincinatti’s National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. The museum faces the river and invites visitors to see and feel more about the slave experience. One key exhibit, for example, is an original slave prison, found on a Kentucky farm and reconstructed at the Freedom Center.

A museum for signs?? Yes, they have one of those in Cincinnati too. A short drive from the city core is a relatively anonymous warehouse district, in which resides the American Sign Museum. The sign displays are assembled according to a recent chronology of modern commercial sign tech, and they get progressively more colourful and bright on the walk-through. But aside from the technical aspects of signs through recent history, the signs presumably provide personal touchstones for visitors that echo memories of road trips, get-togethers and more. In any case, Cincy is replete with lots of other attractions, museums and art galleries. These include the 19th-century Over-the-Rhine district, with its historic Findlay Market; the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden; the Cincinnati Museum Center in the art deco Union Terminal; and the Cincinnati Art Museum, one of the oldest in the country. You can even stay at an art hotel, taking time to view the art exhibits displayed at the 21c Museum Hotel before heading up to one of the spacious, stylish rooms at the property.

Flights from Toronto on Air Canada are the only direct, non-stops to Cincy from Canada. They operate on a daily basis from YYZ on a flight that lasts about 95 minutes. There are plenty of other flight options from Canada that require one stop on route to Cincinnati.