Why Celebrate Mulberries?
When you think of Cincinnati you may think about the the long history of German breweries, the booming pork industry, or even shipping down the Ohio river. There is a little known history of Mount Healthy’s potential silk farm.
In 1835 Charles Cheney, an entrepreneur and conductor on the underground rail road, bought up land and created a farm in Mt. Healthy. While there he planted and established a mulberry seedling nursery to try and capitalize on “Mulberry Mania”. Mulberries we used as feed for the silk industry that used silk worms. Unfortunately his farm went bust in 1839, but many of the trees are still spread throughout the city.
The First Fest
The Mt. Healthy Mulberry Festival was started in a text message chain in 2024 through a grassroots campaign of local residents to celebrate the city’s unique history with mulberry trees and the love of nature. Inspired by Cajun festival culture and the Strawberry Festival in the movie To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar .
The first fest began as a baking competition with less than a dozen entries. It included a walk lead by Pull Together Mount Healthy, a non-profit focused on ecological restoration, to forage for the abundant native red mulberries.
We Keep Growing
In 2025, the Mt. Healthy Mulberry fest grew substantially. The Mulberry Walk grew to over 20 people collecting pounds of the tasty natural food source, and many of those berries were used in baked goods that were entered into the baking competition. The baking competition grew to having dozens of entries, many vendors joined us to sell their wears, live music, beer from Northern Row Brewing, a food truck, free games for the wee little ones, and a chance to SLIME the Mulberry Monster. Seeing everyone having fun and coming together as a community, we knew this was something that would come back year after year.
2026 - Bigger than Ever
This year, 2026, we have added even more contests, food, and fun. We have added a Cryptid Costume Contest, more bands, and a Mulberry Monster Mascot! We will have beer alongside a new food truck, Pi Pizza which serves Neapolitan-style pizza cooked in an Italian pizza oven. We are expanding the area for more small business vendors and educational booths too.