ComFest: Columbus’s Revolutionary Festival That’s More Than Music
There’s something special about wandering through Goodale Park on a late June weekend and stumbling into what feels like a time warp. ComFest—officially the Columbus Community Festival—has been happening for over fifty years now, and it’s still one of the most unique cultural experiences you’ll find anywhere.
What started in 1972 as a scrappy little gathering near Ohio State’s campus has grown into this massive, completely free festival that somehow manages to feel both nostalgic and surprisingly relevant. The whole thing began when a bunch of progressive community groups like The Columbus Free Press, The Columbus Community Food Co-op, and The Open Door Clinic decided they wanted to throw what they called “The Party with a Purpose.” Pretty ambitious for a bunch of activists, right?
The timing couldn’t have been more intense. Picture this: it’s 1972, the Vietnam War is raging, and Columbus is dealing with serious social upheaval. Vice President Spiro Agnew had just been in town for a Republican fundraiser where protesters allegedly cracked his limo window, the FBI was investigating activists, and students were literally trying to take over the campus ROTC building. Into this chaos, these community organizers decided to throw a festival. Talk about making a statement.
From Campus to Park: A Festival on the Move
The festival has moved around quite a bit over the years. It started at that triangular intersection where 16th Avenue meets Waldeck—you know, that weird spot near campus that never seems to know what it wants to be. Then it spent about a decade in an empty lot in the Short North in the ’80s, where it really found its groove and expanded from one stage to six. Finally, in 1993, it landed at Goodale Park, and that’s been home ever since.
This year marks the 53rd festival, running June 27-29, and honestly, it’s bigger than ever. We’re talking over 200 musical performances, workshops, and community programming spread across three days. Friday kicks off at noon and runs until 11 PM, Saturday goes from 10 AM to 11 PM, and Sunday wraps up at 6 PM. And here’s the kicker—admission is still completely free.
More Than Just a Music Festival
What makes ComFest different from other festivals isn’t just the price tag. There are no corporate sponsors here. None. The whole thing runs on volunteer power and beer sales from local breweries like Seventh Son Brewing, Good Liar, and Columbus Brewing Company. Those colorful beer mugs you see everywhere? They’re not just souvenirs—they’re literally funding the festival and supporting local community organizations.
The vendor area is something else entirely. You’ll find over 200 booths, but instead of the usual festival merchandise, you’re looking at voter registration drives, environmental advocacy groups, handmade crafts, and organizations you’ve probably never heard of but definitely should know about. It’s like a crash course in grassroots organizing disguised as a street fair.
And the music? It’s all local, all the time. Past years have featured Columbus favorites like Zoo Trippin’, Trachete, The DAMNits, and Gelatinus Cube. This year brings back the Sing-Out Stage and that Silent Disco that was such a hit they had to bring it back by popular demand.
The volunteer culture here is unlike anything else. People don’t just show up to ComFest—they become part of it. There are committees for everything: the “World Peace Rocks Forever Committee” (yes, that’s a real thing), clean-up crews, safety teams, entertainment coordinators. Volunteers get those coveted festival t-shirts with unique logos that change every year, plus chips they can use for food, drinks, or Silent Disco entry.
What’s remarkable is how ComFest has managed to grow from about 2,000 people to around 70,000 annual attendees without losing its soul. It’s still guided by those original principles about collective good over personal gain, cooperation over competition. In a world where everything seems to get commercialized eventually, ComFest remains stubbornly authentic.
Sure, parking can be a nightmare, and yes, it still feels very much like a “hippie fest” as some people call it. But there’s something genuinely inspiring about a community event that has thrived for half a century purely on the strength of people who believe in something bigger than themselves. ComFest proves that grassroots organizing actually works—you just have to stick with it for fifty-plus years.
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