NORTHWEST PRESS Your Community Press newspaper serving Colerain Township, Green Township, Sharonville, Springdale, Wyoming and other Northwest Cincinnati neighborhoods
WEDNESDAY, JULY 31, 2019 ❚ BECAUSE COMMUNITY MATTERS ❚ PART OF THE USA TODAY NETWORK
After winning FIFA World Cup, Lavelle deftly maneuvers on hot-button issues Pat Brennan Cincinnati Enquirer USA TODAY NETWORK
Emperatriz Bancayan loads ice cream containers onto a conveyor belt in the Springdale Ice Cream & Beverage plant in Springdale, Ohio, on Tuesday, June 11. MADELEINE HORDINSKI/THE ENQUIRER
Kroger churns out new ice cream fl avors to drive sales Alexander Coolidge Cincinnati Enquirer USA TODAY NETWORK
When you think of ice cream in Cincinnati, you think Graeter's or UDF. But maybe you should think Kroger. While shoppers mostly know Kroger as a supermarket, the company is also a food producer with 37 factories – including fi ve ice cream plants. By comparison, Graeter's has one factory in Bond Hill. More than a third of its ice cream sold at Kroger is made by the grocer itself. Part of Kroger's $22 billion private label brand business, the supermarket operator uses house brands to off er lower-cost but also exotic choices to its customers. In recent years, Kroger has increasingly turned to exotic fl avors to
drive sales. This spring, the grocer introduced Unicorn Swirl and Black Cherry Root Beer Float fl avors under its own Kroger Deluxe house brand ice cream. The company plans to launch a peanut butter and jelly fl avor this fall. Maggie Wilson, a strategy manager for Kroger-branded ice cream, said the company studies food and other trends for new fl avor inspirations. For example, after unicorns became a craze for cupcakes and other desserts and the inspiration of a Starbucks drink, Kroger began looking at how to create unicorn-inspired ice cream. "The unicorn consumer and food trends were the drivers," Wilson said. "The trend of Instagram-able moments and food helped us to develop the ap-
pearance of the ice cream. We knew our Unicorn Swirl ice cream had to be equally beautiful in appearance as it was in taste and fl avor." Wilson said research led Kroger to cake batter-fl avored ice cream with pink and blue swirl colors. Kroger offi cials closely guard their ice cream sales fi gures. But they note Unicorn Swirl ice cream has quickly become a top seller, with 1 million tubs expected to be sold this year. Several local shoppers at Kroger's Newport store said they buy the house brand to delight their kids and save money. Rita West, a 41-year-old waitress from Newport, said she mostly buys See KROGER, Page 2A
Since returning from France and the U.S. women's national team's latest FIFA World Cup triumph, it's been a selfdescribed whirlwind tour of celebrations and media commitments for Rose Lavelle. "It's been busy," said Lavelle, the former Mount Notre Dame and Cincinnati United PreLavelle mier standout, with a wry smile. Lavelle was in Cincinnati's northern suburbs Thursday, July 18 for a media tour prior to more appearances later in the day, including one at the FC Cincinnati versus D.C. United match at the University of Cincinnati. Lavelle said she expects some of the hoopla to die down. Some of it won't die down, of course. That's the nature of being a member of the all-conquering 2019 "USWNT," a diverse and tight-knit collection of players that, collectively, aren't afraid to ruffl e feathers and stand tall in the face of perceived controversy. Lavelle's national team is attached to a host of polarizing issues and conversations, from one of her teammates feuding with President Donald Trump on social media to discussions of gender and pay inequality, among other things. "I think it's been cool to see how this team has used its platform to help kind of push the boundaries and push the status quo, and I think it's great," Lavelle said. "While we've made strides and things have gotten better, it's not where it needs to be. Better doesn't mean it's equal, so I think we still have some steps we need to take, everyone, needs to take for us to get to where we need to be." With Megan Rapinoe taking the lead on issues like opposing the customary trip to the White House for sporting achievements, President Trump himself and the pay gap between the U.S. See LAVELLE, Page 2A
Cincinnati connection to the ‘Cats’ trailer freaking out the internet Carol Motsinger Cincinnati Enquirer USA TODAY NETWORK
There might be one thing that no one on the internet is talking about. Since the "Cats" movie trailer dropped just a couple of days ago, there's been chatter about the uncanny transformation of stars like Taylor Swift and Jennifer Hudson into some sort of cat-like thing (monster?) with digital fur. Callouts about the distressing small size of the cats in the fi lm adaptation of the long-running Broadway hit. Questions of why some are wearing pants. And some aren't. But no one seems to be too worried about the part of the clip that has to do
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with Cincinnati. That's the choreography. Cincinnati native Andy Blankenbuehler created the feline footwork for the fi lm, as well as the recent version of the show. He essentially revamped the original choreography by legendary Gillian Lynne. Blankenbuehler fi rst graced Cincinnati stages like the one at St. Xavier High School. He's gone on to win Tonys in his vocation, particularly for his work in the smash musical, "Hamilton." The movie version of Andrew Lloyd Webber and T.S. Eliot’s "Cats" is set to debut Dec. 20. But as you wait for the movie to hit the
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Taylor Swift in “Cats.” UNIVERSAL PICTURES
big screen, we recommend checking out the #Catsmovie hashtag. Love it – or hate it – the social media comments are entertaining. And there are already GIFs of some of Blankenbuehler's moves.
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