I just went to the Columbus Museum of Art annual fundraiser. There are two parts to the event: Art…read moreBall-$500 ticket which includes a sit down dinner, open bar, a band, dancing and desserts all night. And ArtFUSION-a$100 ticket, young professional mixer with heavy hors d'oevres, open bar, music, dancing and desserts all night. $60 of the Art FUSION ticket was tax deductible! Art FUSION was held in the Museum's sculpture garden on top of the pond! It was covered with clear floor panels. The food was delicious and the drinks were plentiful. The signature drink, the PomFiz Fusion was extremely refreshing and easy to drink. It consisted of pomegranate juice, champagne and pomegranate seeds. Try it at home...delish! It was an Ohio State football game night, so to accommodate, the museum set up a big screen theater which broadcast the game. Following the Art Ball dinner, Art FUSION guests were encouraged to mingle with Ball guests and to walk through the new exhibit: The Ohio State University's Objects of Wonder Exhibition. During which dancing, music, desserts and the open bar continued to entertain. This is an annual event and would highly recommend attending! At first thought, the $100 ticket price seems steep, but after considering the drinks, food, entertainment, networking, art and fun, it's more than appropriate!

Via Colori is a two day festival at Goodale Park where local artists, under sponsorhip from local…read morebusinesses, chalk huge drawings on the streets and sidewalks around the park. The festival takes place as the artists are doing the work, so you can see the art develop and multiply throughout the day. I walked over just to grab a bite of festival food before work. I was surprised in two ways. One, I thought it would be a more extensive festival. But then, I've only been to Comfest, which is the biggest festival of the year at Goodale Park. Two, I was impressed both at how good a lot of the work was, as well as how different everyone's technique was. Some artists were sprawled out on the ground like a 5 year old kid with a coloring book. Others sat upright detailing the huge pieces with wet paint brushes. Overall, it's just one more reason why I like living in the Short North.

I was quite excited to see this festival of chalk. Parking is nearly impossible on a weekend in the…read moreshort north so I opted to park in the Giant Eagle parking lot(off of Neil Avenue) in hopes that I wouldn't get towed. The festival is only a couple blocks away at Gooddale Park and as I am entering I hear belly dancing music. (Yes, there was belly dancers on a stage.) Strange but entertaining. The artists are lined up on two streets surrounding the park and each is given their own square to create art with chalk. I was impressed with each artist and that they have the courage to draw in front of many spectators. Many with zoom camera's. I ventured to the park for awhile and decided to relax. There was a nice breeze that day and it was refreshing to sit under a tree for a moment. I then hear blues music from that same stage. Later....I walked over to see the progress of the artists but was distracted by the amazing lily pads in the pond. Be sure to check that out! All n' All very fun afternoon but I do suggest going later in the day/evening because the artists are then done creating their masterpieces. Art, Music, Live Entertainment, Food.

I feel really awkward reviewing a charity event, so please don't take this as mean-spirited…read morecriticism--but rather, feedback to hopefully help one of my favorite events get back on track. I've been coming to Slice Of Columbus for about 8 years, and I look forward to it every time. It has always been a relatively chill event: tasting pizza, drinking beer, listening to live music, and supporting a good cause (Nationwide Children's Hospital). I was thrilled when it moved to the Commons, which has so much space for hosting events. But this year was different. I'm not sure how to better say this, but this year was a disaster--IMO. Here's what went wrong: -There were simply too many people. I could understand it better if this were an open event where you couldn't predict the attendance, but this is a ticketed event. The organizers were in complete control and sold too many tickets. -Because of the size of the event, the lines were disgusting. Ridiculously long. Almost every line had a 20-30 minute wait--for a teeny tiny slice of pizza! -In addition to being the biggest crowd ever, SOC decided to heavily market this year's event toward kids and families. Part of me is definitely a hater and loved how "adult" this event felt in the past, but I understand wanting to make it family-friendly. Here's the problem though... they already oversold the event, and then they attracted truckloads of families. Imagine the Commons completely slammed and hundreds of strollers pushing through the park. Everything moves a bit slower with kids (no hate, I swear), so this definitely slowed the lines. -While we're talking about kids, there were so many kid activities happening on the west side of the park. The pizza lines were so long that they kept running into all the kids! -The number of attendees appeared to have doubled, but the number of pizza vendors did not. Yep, you guessed it--another factor in the miserably long lines. -The vendors each brought several types of pizza, and with long lines filled with lots of kiddos--making a decision took longer than it should have. -The beverage situation is crazy. At first glance, it looks like you need a ticket for any drink. But then you can magically buy water without one. It's confusing. This is another case of bigger not being better. Although more people means more money, sometimes you have to make sacrifices for the good of the event--and for the experience of the people attending. If it's a great experience, they'll come back next year. Or you can cram as many people into the event as possible and risk having many of them never return.

This is a great, small to medium-sized festival. Usually held at Columbus Public Health, this year…read moreat Hamilton Park, a few blocks north. Parking was tight, but there were still a few spots on the surrounding streets, so we only walked half a block. Two stages that I saw (and heard,) a dozen food vendors, other vendors of all things, facepainting, art cars, free kids' books, friendly people. And absolutely perfect weather today. We wandered around, and back and forth, got fair food, listened to several bands, talked to vendors, and just generally relaxed. Some very cool crafts for sale if you want any, and clothing, etc. A bit of a Comfest vibe, though much less crowded.

Day #2 of Hot times 2023! Goes through Sat till 11pm. Sunday the 10th is the last day from…read more12pm-7pm. Awesome music, arts, tons of vendors and food. Located at Columbus Public Health grounds at 240 Parsons Avenue. Always one of my favorite Columbus festivals and this year is already one of my favorite years! Some great energy and vibes. Come check out some music, grab some food, and check out all these awesome small business vendors.

Not gonna lie, I totally thought this was called d(onkey) fest…read more But I like donkeys and I like beer, and together it became a perfect way to spend a Saturday afternoon together with some great Columbus community members. Entry was free for this kid-friendly event, though the majority of the people that would enjoy definitely need to be over 21. There were tons of microbreweries from around Ohio present sharing some of their popular brews. There were at least 20 different booths and a couple of food trucks to help satisfy those munchies. Booths would sell their drink in either a sample cup or a standard pint (12oz.), which would vary across different vendors. One ticket would get a sample, but two is required for a full pint. In the future, definitely advisable to go for the full size cause you'd end up with more bang for your buck. On average, a ticket was $3 which is pretty reasonable for an outside fair. With loud music, good food and a chill crowd, Dig (not d------) Fest was awesome and I'm sure its success will lead to future ones as well! Cheers!

This was a good time. With a couple of major flaws. First, you get one cup for drinks. Couldn't…read morefind extras anywhere. Secondly, you buy drink tickets in one place, buy your drinks elsewhere. Almost every drink stand ran out of beer and other drinks way too early. Lots of people got stuck with worthless tickets. And the food stands ran out of food! Probably won't be back until I hear that these things will be fixed.

PHOTOS ATTACHED BELOW…read more I attended the Arnold Sports Festival in March 2023. It's a huge sports event started by the famous actor and bodybuilder, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Thousands of people from across the US and abroad attend this very popular event. There may be probably over 4000 people coming in and out the convention center so if you don't like crowds then this event is not for you. It happens once a year and the main sponsor is Rogue Fitness. Prior to 2023, I had attended the sports festival three (3) times before. It used to be called the Arnold Classic so I don't know when they changed their name. EVENT -- There are so many competitions to watch such as Crossfit (intense), pole dancing, powerlifting, etc. I really enjoyed watching the weightlifting (lifting barbells) and crossfit competitions. Both male and female athletes compete for a prize. I believe many of the competitors are amateur and not elite. VENUE -- It's inside the Columbus Convention Center in downtown Columbus, Ohio. PARKING -- There are many garages to choose from but I do not recommend a garage because getting out of one may rake a long time with the amount of traffic/people in town during the Arnold Sports weekend. Overall, I recommend this festival for fitness enthusiasts. **** - 39/150 total reviews in 2023 - 590 total overall Yelp reviews - Reviewed on 25 March 2023

Family of 5 came out from Florida with plane tickets, hotel, etc and the venue kicked all…read morespectators out because they were closing. The venue was running behind on events. Kicking everyone out made our family miss nearly every event we came to see support our friend. Certainly not pleased with the venue for doing this. Not the only event run at the convention center. They should be able to understand requirments for an event like this, especially for multiple people coming from far distances. If they are running behind it should be their responsibility to take care of this oversight.

Live Music, Food trucks galore, and various Art & Crafts, Vintage and other vendors everywhere! Got…read moreto love it. What an awesome time and recommend going if you can. Located downtown Columbus on The Scioto Mile or Scioto Peninsula or whatever we are calling it but it's downtown positioned around Cosi. We took a ride share in but there was plenty of garages around for parking. I found it easy in and out of the festival. We enjoyed a variety of delicious foods, including burritos, empanadas, crunch wraps, nachos, funnel cakes, popsicles, and ice cream. We visited: Big Pappy's BBQ Spanglish Latin Street Food Empanadas and More Rime Time Pops Glaze'em Gourmet Funnel Cakes Johnson's Real Ice Cream Music was great, the crowds were tolerable but very busy. Only complaint is that you could not just get a water or pop. You had to purchase tickets and it had to be purchased just like the beer and alcohol. All beverages required a ticket, individual trucks could not sell drinks, and the lines were long at the beverage tents. Not a fan of this design. My pro-tip is to bring cash. You can save money as the vendors we went to factored card charges and there were two sets of prices upon payment (cash vs card). Also, several beverage ticket areas - i recommend the one by Junto. It never seemed to have the crowd the others did. Check it out. The festival is here through Sunday. For more info, check out https://columbusfoodtruckfest.com/

I'm a bit late with this review but the festival was kind of underwhelming this year. It was in…read moreHilliard and lacked the atmosphere and vibrancy of it being downtown. We went on a Sunday and honestly it was pretty boring, just walking around in a circle looking at the trucks and vendors. We tried some food from a Brazilian truck and that was probably the best food we had all day. Everything is super pricey now and most of the food was okay at best. I spent close to $30 on a plate and beef patty from ire jam grill and it was probably my least favorite thing I ate. Idk man Caribbean/Jamaican food in Columbus is not it. Also any time I go to a festival the first thing I look for is funnel cakes. No offense to the ladies with the glaze em gourmet funnel cakes truck there, but sometimes the classics are the way to go, just a normal funnel cake with some powdered sugar, without all of the frills. I wound up ordering one from them anyways for my son at close to $16, all of the toppings, glaze and extras just made it soggy. The icy paw and empanadas and more food trucks were probably the best ones I tried. I'm kind of torn about going next year, spent way too much on food I didn't like.

We are lucky to have access to such a great metro parks system here in central Ohio. High banks is…read moreno exception: well-maintained trails, gorgeous green space, and host to a fun (and free!) festival, the Central Ohio Folk Festival. Upon driving 1.5 miles into the park to reach the fest, we saw some nice park pavilions with hosted parties. Made a mental note that it's a great location for an outdoor party! Scenic, fun to spot wildlife (we saw turkeys!) and easily reached from the highway. It was our first time visiting the folk music festival and, on a gorgeous sunny day, we couldn't have asked for more. Friendly volunteers, gorgeous green open area, talented musicians throughout the 2-day event, a handful of great vendors and food choices, and awesome kid's crafts. It's family and dog-friendly. It's not crowded nor overpriced. I look forward to visiting next year!

The one word I can use to describe this festival is "kumbayah." I've only attended once found the…read moremusic to be 'authentic" and 'real'. The Columbus Folk Music Society partners with Metro Parks to present a 3 day hootenany of banjo pickin', old time country songs and folksy jam sessions. Friday night kicks the event off with a potluck dinner and the "world's worst song' contest. If you've got a really bad song in ya, you could possibly win a major award! Saturday and Sunday brings workshops, concerts and gospel sings. If you are a fan of bluegrass or folk music, I'd highly recommend checking out this festival for at least a day. It's a hippy-jam-fest-of-a-blast.