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ComFest celebrates community in all its manifestations. Entertainment provides local music. Street Fair shows off local business, food, as well as arts and crafts. Spirit & Purpose focuses on health and wellness, performance art, and social and political issues of the day with a variety of speakers and workshops.
The ComFest Statement of Principles
The Community Festival is guided by its Principles. The Principles are statements of what the members believe is basically important. They are:
We think that people ought to work for the collective good of all people rather than for personal gain. We support cooperation and collective activity rather than competition and individual profit.
The basic necessities of life are a right and not a privilege. People have the collective right to control the conditions of their lives.
People should strive to conduct their lives in harmony with the environment.We recognize that there are primary attitudes which divide and oppress people. These attitudes are usually shown by prejudice against people on the basis of age, class, ability, income, race, sex and sexual preference/orientation.
We seek to eliminate these attitudes.
The Statement of Principles is more important than any other writings of the Community Festival.
Mission Statement
The Community Festival is an independent, volunteer-organized celebration of creativity and activism in Columbus, OH. Founded in 1972, its purpose is to build bridges between progressive non-profit organizations, artists, and volunteers to raise awareness and promote action within our community. Everything we do is guided by our principles which promote community unity, tolerance, and equity.
We will strive to realize this mission through the fulfillment of the following Organizational Goals:
- Building community bridges and nurturing collaboration through safe, peaceful, sustainable practices
- Initiating opportunities for community involvement and activism including information and workshops at the festival, non-profit networking and communication
- Promoting a more unified, tolerant, and equitable community
- Showcasing and celebrating Columbus and Central Ohio artists, craftspeople, musicians, activists and community organizations
2019 Program Guide
This is a large file (40Mb). We recommend downloading it before the festival. If you're already here, Programs are available throughout the park!
Website
- Go Bananas: Chocolate covered bananas
- CORVA watermelon: Watermelon cubes
Russell & Park Gate
- Franklin Avenue Neighbors: Pop & WATER.— refill your water bottle here
Russell & Park
- D's Dogs: Hot dogs, brats, sausage
- Lavash Cafe: Gyro, fatayer, kabob
- Bubble Tea: Smoothies, teas, juices
- Global Gallery Coffee Shop: Ice coffee, grilled corn, Tibetan momos
- Free Clinic: Sun-brewed iced tea
- Flavors of India: Makhini, curry, saag paneer, samosa
- Queen's Table: Fishboat, fries, fried chicken
- Nida Sushi: Phad thai, spring roll
- Gilligans: Stir fry, smoothies, breakfast
- Whole World: Broccoli burger, black bean wrap
- Firdous: Middle Eastern food
Park St. Midway N to S
- Todd's Lemonade: Lemonade
- Columbus Coalition for the Homeless: WATER
- J-Pops: Gourmet popcicles
- Paddy Wagon: Arrestingly good food
- Dirty Franks: Dogs
- Icee Rainbows: Italian ice
- Todd's Lemonade: Lemonade
- Patty Cake Bakery: Cookies, cupcakes, whoopie pie, sticky buns
- Short North Bagel: Steamed deli sandwiches
- Bubble Tea: Smoothies, teas, juices
- Ecole Kenwood PTA: WATER — refill your water bottle here
- Ribman: Ribs
- Mikey's Late Night Slice: Pizza
- Jeni's Ice Cream: Ice cream
- Short North Bagels & Deli: Deli Sandwiches
- Cupzilla: The new round meal
- Island Noodles: Soba noodles with veggies or meats
- Love Bug: Daily gourmet delights
- 2 Fat Indians: Veggie and non-veggie Indian dishes
- Drank Tank: Bubbly beverages
- Simply Living: WATER — BOTTLE-LESS refill station
- Katie's Snack Food: Jerky (beef, bison, elk, pineapple)
- Red Oaks: WATER — refill your water bottle here.
- Along Goodale you will find the finest in "Fair" food from corndogs and candy apples to pizza and cream puffs. You can't miss the beautiful trailers along Goodale!
Jazz Cap
Bozo Food E to W
Peace Village Food
Near Live Arts Stage
Fair Food
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How much does it cost to get into ComFest?
The Community Festival is free to attend! There are no tickets or cover charges.
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Where is ComFest? How do I get there? Where do I park?
The festival is held in Goodale Park, near downtown Columbus, Ohio.
Because of the traffic caused by our event, and to help the environment, we highly recommend riding a bicycle and using our $1 bicycle valet, or riding the COTA bus which will be running late on Friday and Saturday.
If you must drive, you should park in the Arena District, as most street parking in the neighborhood requires a residential parking permit; cars parked illegally in the neighborhood will be towed. If you must street park, please plan for the new meter system in the Short North and download the new mobile app for parking in the Short North area by searching for: ParkColumbus App. You can also read up on the new parking information by searching for ‘The City of Columbus Parking’.
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When are my volunteer shifts?
If you have already signed up and need a list of your shifts, just send an email to myshifts@comfest.com, and our shift robot will reply with shift details and important info.
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How do I volunteer?
Fill out your volunteer application, where you can pick jobs and shifts that suit your unique talents. Applications are usually available by March.
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What’s the minimum age to attend?
ComFest is open to all ages, however for their own safety, we ask that children be accompanied by a parent or guardian. Parents can get a wristband at KiDSART or Safety Base Station and write a parents cell number on it so we can quickly reunite lost kids with parents.
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Who is performing? What is there to do at ComFest?
Workshops, speakers, dancers, music, arts & crafts, food and vendors—there is so much to do at ComFest. Our performance schedule is available on this app. Even more event information is available in our annual Program Guide.
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Can I bring alcoholic beverages from home?
NO! ComFest is a no BYOB event. Carry-in alcohol is illegal in city parks. Police officers will be present at the event to enforce all laws. ComFest will have multiple Beer and Wine booths on Park Street and Goodale Street. Avoid a ticket (or worse) by buying your alcoholic beverages at the festival. Please cooperate with our NO BYOB volunteers and remove all alcohol from the premises when asked.
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Are coolers allowed at ComFest?
We are asking that you please leave your coolers at home. We also ask that you do not leave backpacks unattended. Stay with your stuff and tag those bags with your name and cell number. If you bring something into the park, please take it back home with you. Otherwise, make sure to clean up after yourself, and use one of the recycling areas located throughout the event.
- How can I have a booth or sell items at ComFest?
- How can I perform at the festival?
Behold, the power behind ComFest – OUR VOLUNTEERS!
ComFest is an entirely volunteer run festival. We literally couldn’t pull this off without our volunteers. Energetic, friendly volunteers are needed all over for a variety of jobs.
We have roughly 3,000 volunteer shifts to fill each year. There's plenty of room for you in the ComFest family!
Welcome to the Utilties Page
About this App
The ComFest app is designed to give you all the information you need on hand at the festival, in a simpler, less intrusive alternate to a traditional phone app. This is our first attempt at a this kind of app, so everything may not run perfectly. Please be patient with us and provide us feedback on what you liked and what you didn't!
Install Instructions
iPhone Instructions
and then tap "Add to Home Screen"
Android Instructions:
Reset
If you're having problems, it may help to reload the app - it's like turning it off and on again
If that doesn't work it may be necessary to reset the app. This will remove comfest's saved files from your browser and request the files directly from the server. It should reset the App completely.
Contact Us
Email us if you like the app, if you have any suggestions to improve it or if you have any problems.