It is truly difficult to find anything exciting in the city of Toledo, termed by many, the armpit of Ohio. The city itself contains a downtown the size of a small garbage dump with the homeless people providing the smell. The city used to be a major manufacturer of glass, and the fumes still linger in the clouds over the city blocking out the sun, very rarely is there a beautiful day.
Toledo is majority “ghetto”, the only reason people have heard of it is because the University of Toledo holds great rankings in the Pharmacy and Engineering fields while being affordable to most everyone. In addition, the university has recently graduated a pro-football player named Bruce Gradkowski who now plays as a quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And how could we forget the Nazi rally march that occurred in the city in 2006. Which leads us into the meat of the problem, what is there to do in this city?!!
There are only two best kept secrets in the city of Toledo, the first and most important is their magnificent art museum. It is one of the best art museums in the entire nation, and admission into the museum is free most of the time, except during special exhibitions. The Toledo Museum of Art houses over 30,000 works of art and is ranked among the finest in the country. It contains more than 35 galleries, Sculpture gardens, and a new Glass Pavilion. The museum contains major works of art by great artists such as Cezanne, Cole, Degas, Gainsborough, Holbein, Kiefer, Miro, Monet, Picasso, Rembrandt, Rubens, and van Gogh. In addition, the museum contains masterworks for ancient Europe and Asia, decorative arts, and highlights from their magnificent and renowned glass collection. It truly is remarkable how magnificent and marvelous this museum is, its too bad no one knows of its existence. I have personally went to school at the university for over two years have only recently heard of it, either people from Toledo are uneducated or they don’t give a shit about art. This is beyond question Toledo’s Best kept Secret, not only to Toledo’s aliens but also to its citizens.
Although the Toledo Museum of Art is the Toledo’s Best Kept Secret, there is one other secret that should be mentioned about the city. It is an event that was originated by the university’s students, and is called Alvinfest. This event is basically a huge block party with alcohol and cops that takes place on Alvin Street just a few blocks away from the Universities main campus. Usually students who live on the street possess an abundant supply of kegs and liquor and if they’re lucky the sun will be out and so will the girls in miniskirts. The event occurs within the first two weeks of April every year and is highly discouraged by the university’s president of student affairs. Not too many people know about this event, but unlike the Museum of Art it is eminently celebrated by the students who attend the University of Toledo and is only a secret to the outside world.
