Third in series of five
To mark National Economic Development Week, the city of Covington is presenting the first-annual “Authenti-CITY Awards” to acknowledge five places, events, people and organizations that make The COV an authentically cool city in the Tri-State.
The City staff will be presenting the award, a certificate, balloons and goat-shaped cookies to five winners each day this week.
Today’s winner is “Badminton Brawl” by Hub + Weber Architects PLC.
The winner? An event we bet no other city around here can boast.
The Hub+Weber “Badminton Brawl” is an annual tournament first held in 2016 that – as we hear the rumor – might return this summer after its pandemic year off.
How big is the event? Sixty (60) people competed in 2019.
Where? (Let’s set the stage … er, court):
Hub+Weber’s offices are in the fabulously rehabbed space of the old train depot at Pike and Russell streets. On the Russell Street side is a brick courtyard (The Cov’s version of Boston Garden’s iconic old parquet floor).
One day a year, three badminton nets are set up on the brick as spectators come from blocks and blocks around to eat, drink, and watch the racket-wielding athletes, who signed up via Eventbrite.
It’s a one-loss-and-you-sit format (“unless you cry really hard, and then we might let you play another match,” said office manager Jen Barnett).
The winner’s name is added to a poured concrete trophy topped with a floating bronze “birdie” (technical name “shuttlecock”), which the winner gets to keep for a year before passing on to their successor, a la NHL’s Stanley Cup.
By the way, Hub+Weber’s affinity for badminton isn’t just a one-day thing. It’s not unusual to see a net stretched across the high-ceiling’ed office and employees whacking a birdie back and forth to relieve stress and advance the team-building (which of course is the situation we found when we showed up with the Authenti-CITY swag).
Is it Olympic-level play? (Let’s just say that Chen Long, P.V. Sindhu, and Nozomi Okuhara won’t be knocked from the medal stand anytime soon by anyone from The COV.)
Nevertheless, we hear there might be some Badminton Brawl news soon, which – if true – would arrive via Instagram @hubweber or Facebook Hub+Weber Architects, PLC
Tomorrow: Winner #4