The 2002 Ebony Fashion Fair will not hit the runway in Cincinnati this year, but the group's president says it is not because of an economic boycott.

        The annual fashion show and fund-raiser for the Cincinnati Chapter of Links, a predominantly African-American group, has been a staple on the fall scene for 44 years, usually in November.

        “It's purely an economic issue and has nothing to do with the boycott,” said chapter president Theresa Henderson. “Actually, all we've done is postpone it until we can decide if we want to continue with it next year. We'll make a decision later this year on 2003.

        “But in the current economic climate, we think it would be a risk. Attendance was down last year, and I think it was down the year before as well.”

        The Ebony Fashion Fair is a traveling show with 10-20 models visiting about 20 cities a year with 200 or so outfits, drawing about 350,000 people nationwide. It has raised $48 million nationally since its founding by Eunice Johnson of Johnson Publishing Co., parent of Ebony.

        And rightly so, says DeAsa Brown, director of the African- American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. “Women who keep up with fashion look forward to it every year. It's a girls' night out where we see all the trends, and a wonderful night for women who are fashion forward and not afraid to be expressive.”

        During its most successful years in Cincinnati in the 1980s, it sold out all three floors of Music Hall

        The decision to cancel was made locally by the board. Instead of the show, Links will do a series of workshops and programs this year.

        Linda Love, Bootsy Collins' personal designer, will miss it. “You got so many creative ideas there. And it was a fun night out, a place where you could see what was new.”

Prosecutors defend Twitty grand juror
Rules offer insights on grand jury
Deputy's wife reflects on job's danger
Fox interchange wins some help from ODOT
Fall fashion show put off
Hagan's a candidate with a plan
Hoods again allowed in city
Obituary: West side mourns W.J. Seitz
Sabin planners seek breather
School hopefuls coming
Six charged in attack on bus
Tristate A.M. Report
HOWARD: Some Good News
PULFER: Stalking Jungle Jim
RADEL: Something to cheer
Blanket-making teaches teamwork
Pisgah revitalization outlined
Drug charges revived after court decision
Sex offender sentenced to two years
Shooting hearing delayed
Thousands may return to Ohio welfare rolls
Twins battled each other, now ready for life apart
Birth-control change sought
Covington to help fund zone study
Driver rescued from car in creek
Elk roaming outside eastern Ky. fair game
FreshART to raise money, expectations
NKU spearheads drive to improve health
Scout's ouster has mom in knots
Sewer agency is writing rules
U.S. Senate honors top Little League baseball team