Neighborhood Festivals
Cincinnati has festivals out the wazoo. There are large festivals downtown & smaller festivals in the neighborhoods throughout the year. It's amazing Cincinnatians aren't the fattest, drunkest people on the face of the planet. The thing is, the neighborhood festivals that bring in people from outside the city are few and far between. This is a shame because people that just see the downtown don't get to see what a great place this is to live. Driving everybody to the central business district is not likely going to procure any new residents.
One of the festivals that did bring people from the region into the neighborhoods was the Gay Pride Celebration. It was kind of unique in that it was held in two neighboring neighborhoods, Northside and Clifton and tied them together with a parade over the Ludlow Viaduct (that always seemed like it would be fun). It will be moving downtown this summer as well as moving from June to July 4. This has some Northsidians upset but I doubt the Pride crowd accounted for much of the Rock-n-Roll Carnival & 4th of July Parade crowds. It still sucks in promoting the neighborhood, tho.
I doubt the Harvest Home parade brings in many out-of-towners except for ex-residents. Hyde Park used to host a huge flower show that moved out to Coney Island & has now moved out to the middle of nowhere. Hyde Park is definitely a neighborhood the city should be promoting.
The Pagan Pride celebrations that brought people in from throughout the region used to be in Covington's Goebel Park but had to move for fire and late hours. They operate out of friggin' Batavia, now. That demographic isn't too strong on home buying, tho.
While it's great to bring people to the CBD, it's been discussed ad nauseum about how the sports facilities bring people in but they tend to just shoot right out again after the event. They might spend some money at a bar or restaurant or maybe even stay at a hotel, but I doubt they do much to lure new residents. Showing off our neighborhoods is important to growing the city in a way downtown events just can't.