Your Central Ohio spring festival guide
The weather is getting warmer, and that means festival season is upon us.
To honor the season, we're showcasing the spring slate of festivals bringing communities together, celebrating niche interests and in some cases attracting national interest.
Fun fact: You could theoretically spend every weekend between now and the summer at a Central Ohio festival.
Reality check: But between food vendor prices and the going rate for hot-ticket music festivals, be ready to blow your budget if you try.
Heritage
🇩🇪 Maifest at The Mannerchor: April 26, German Village. Free!
🗡️ Ashville Viking Festival: April 26-27, Ashville. Free!
If you can't wait for the Renaissance Festival, get your fix of old-timey feasting and festivities in Ashville.
🌸 Asian & Pacific Islander Heritage Festival: May 16, Bexley. Free!
🏴☠️ Buckeye Lake Piratefest: May 16-18, Buckeye Lake. Free!
🐲 Asian Festival: May 24-25, Franklin Park. Free!
✊🏾 Ohio Black Expo: May 24-25, Genoa Park. $20-$50.
Arts & Science
🧪 COSI Science Festival: April 30-May 3 Franklinton and around the region. Free!
Enjoy nature walks, exhibitions, trivia and art projects.
📚 Ohioana Book Festival: May 3, Italian Village. Free!
🪴 Herb Day Festival: May 3, Gahanna. Free!
🎨 Delaware Arts Festival: May 17-18, Downtown. Free!
🖼️ Columbus Arts Festival: June 6-8, Downtown Riverfront. Free!
The event draws hundreds of artists from across the country.
🧑🎨 Worthington Arts Festival: June 14-15, Old Worthington. Free!
Music
🪕 Central Ohio Folk Festival: May 3-4, Highbanks Metro Park. Free!
🎸 Sonic Temple Art & Music Festival: May 8-11, Historic Crew Stadium. $160-$530.
This year, it's headlined by Korn, Linkin Park and two nights of no-repeat sets from Metallica.
🪩 Breakaway Music Festival: May 30-31, Historic Crew Stadium. $70-$1,000.
🎷 Creekside Blues and Jazz Festival: June 13-15, Gahanna Creekside. $15-$30.
The centerpiece of Gahanna's calendar, this festival has grown from a half-day local event to a three-day regional draw.
🏳️🌈 All Out Music Festival: June 14, Kemba Live! $60-$90.
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Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
2025 Bentonville Film Festival to Open with Kate Beecroft's Sundance Hit ‘East of Wall'
The BFFoundation (BFF), in collaboration with founding partner Walmart and presenting partner Coca-Cola, has today announced the full lineup for the 2025 Bentonville Film Festival (BFF), launching next month. As ever, the festival remains committed to building a slate around inclusion and authentic representation. This year's festival will showcase 28 feature competition films, including 9 world premieres, plus the newly-launched Homegrown Competition highlighting powerful stories from filmmakers based in or filming in Arkansas. Of this year's competition slate, 66 percent of the films are from creators identifying as female or gender non-conforming; 51 percent identify as BIPOC, Asian, or Pacific Islander; 29 percent identify as LGBTQIA+; 18 percent are filmmakers over the age of 50; and 12 percent identify as a person with a disability. 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And, on Tuesday, June 17, beloved weather anchor and producer Al Roker will join the festival for sneak peek and discussion of his new animated series, 'Weather Hunters.' Created by Al Roker Entertainment, the show 'blends education and entertainment, helping kids understand the science of weather through fun, accessible storytelling.' The following projects are confirmed for the 2025 Bentonville Film Festival competition, with all synopses provided by the festival. , USA (Director/Writer/Producer Kate Beecroft; Producers, Shannon Moss, Melanie Ramsayer, Lila Yacoub) An authentic portrait of female resilience in the 'New West' inspired and played by the women and girls who live it. Set in the Badlands of South Dakota, Tabatha, a young, rebellious rancher, who rescues and resells horses, must make hard decisions to deal with her fractured family, financial uncertainty, and unresolved grief, all while providing refuge for a group of wayward neighborhood teens. Cast: Tabatha Zimiga, Porshia Zimiga, Scoot McNairy, Jennifer Ehle , USA After a series of plagues and wars leaves society in ruins, the Freemans are surviving —even thriving — on a farm in the middle of nowhere… so long as they repel the occasional raiding party. Former soldier Hailey and her partner Galen fled the collapse along with their children, training them to fight (and, yes, kill). But now Hailey's eldest Emanuel is a young man, and when he meets a young woman in the forest beyond the fence, his need for human contact could place the whole family in jeopardy. Cast: Danielle Deadwyler, Michael Greyeyes, Kataem O'Connor, Milcania Diaz-Rojas USA (Directors/Producers, Perri Peltz and Matthew O'Neill; Producer, Lisa Binns) An impassioned look at the advocacy of Allyson Felix, the most decorated track and field athlete of all time. 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Forbes
7 hours ago
- Forbes
Linkin Park's Debut Album Remains A Force To Be Reckoned With
Linkin Park's Hybrid Theory climbs on five Billboard charts this week, outperforming every other ... More album from the band's catalog, even the newly-re-released From Zero. Linkin Park during Slipknot performs at 2001 Ozzfest at PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, New Jersey, United States. (Photo by KMazur/WireImage) It was only a few weeks ago that Linkin Park re-released its most recent album, From Zero, adding several tunes to its tracklist and turning it into a highly-anticipated deluxe edition. Just a short time after that title surged on the Billboard charts, it has all but disappeared, but Linkin Park's name has not gone with it. Instead, fans of the hard rock outfit have refocused their listening on Hybrid Theory, the project that turned the group into superstars decades ago and which remains one of the most successful efforts in hard rock history. Linkin Park sees four albums appear on Billboard's rankings this frame, and Hybrid Theory is the top performer among them all. At the moment, it lives on five rosters, and it's climbing on each and every one of them. It's the only one of the group's efforts to find space on that many tallies and to uniformly step up. Hybrid Theory lives inside the top 10 only on the Top Hard Rock Albums chart, where it settles at No. 6. It can also be found inside the top 20 once more on both the Top Alternative Albums and Top Rock Albums lists, ascending to Nos. 13 and 19, respectively. The project also pushes half a dozen spots north on the Top Rock & Alternative Albums ranking, where it currently appears at No. 24. Consumption of Hybrid Theory grew by a little more than 5% in the past tracking period, as Luminate reports that it shifted a total of 11,300 equivalent units between sales and streaming activity. The figure is enough for the full-length to jump 10 spaces on the Billboard 200, launching from No. 130 to No. 120. This week, Hybrid Theory outperforms its successor Meteora, but not by much. That sophomore release from Linkin Park lives on four rosters, including all the ones where Hybrid Theory can be found — except for the Top Rock Albums chart. That project rises by a few spots on three tallies, but holds steady on the Billboard 200. Meanwhile, both Papercuts and From Zero can only be located at the moment on the Top Hard Rock Albums chart. The former, a compilation of many of Linkin Park's most popular tunes, lifts several spots, while the group's comeback effort declines to last place.
Hamilton Spectator
8 hours ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Renaissance Faire festivities in North Glengarry
For the second year, the Maxville Fairgrounds were transformed into a Renaissance Festival complete with medieval merchants, birds of prey, entertainers and incredible jousting knights aboard their brave steeds. Attendees were decked out in their finest gowns, tunics, vests & cloaks, along with lots of elfish ears were seen. Despite the cold, over 8,000 people attended the Faire on the first day of the two-day event, and expectations for the second day were set at another 8-10,000 attendees. Shoppers browsed tents selling beeswax candles, floral wreath crowns, hand-crafted pipes, honey & mead and jewellery, along with various renaissance and medieval clothing pieces and accessories. Longbottom's leaf creates handmade long stem pipes from different types of wood. Longbottom attends various renaissance festivals and events to sell the pipes. Long-time costumers Baroness Snert, aka Debora Fleming, and 'her slightly honourable court' Lady Pifflewump, aka Vanessa Passmore, entertained attendees with their basse dancing while flutists Brenda Nobbs and Deborah Quigley played. This travelling troupe has been making their own costumes for 30 years, outfitting a royal court that attends renaissance faires to entertain crowds. The troupe said the Glengarry Renaissance Faire was an enjoyable, well-organized event. Jean-Luc Sabourin was a wandering minstrel playing the hurdy gurdy, a French instrument from the Middle Ages. Jean-Luc built and taught himself to play by purchasing a kit online from The Netherlands. Everyone enjoyed the antics of Zoltan the Adequate, while anticipating the main event of the Faire. The grandstand was filled when the knights and horses come onto the field and the exciting jousting began. The knights for the day were Sir Nicholas riding Dave the Shire horse, Sir Andrew riding Sirus, Sir Tyler riding his Percheron horse King Levon and the only lady rider participating in full-contact jousting, Dame Fiona riding a horse in training. Before the games began, the knights handed out roses to their chosen lady or lord symbolizing their devotion. The games to teach a knight how to be a man- or lady-at-arms began with mounted games of skills, using a spear to capture rings, then throwing the spear towards a target. In the sport of extreme jousting, the knights and horses head towards each other at speeds of 25kmh, carrying an 11-foot wooden lance that packs a 5,000lb punch per square inch. The crowds clearly enjoyed the excitement of the mounted games and the knights displayed bravery as they faced their opponent at the opposite ends of the riding lists. With the large turnout of attendees in costume, the Renaissance Faire in Maxville has proven to be a popular event, well worth checking out. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
