The Pride Parade make it through the heavy rains we've been having - but the Pride Festival in Goodale Park got flooded out.  Next weekend was the Comfest was being held in Goodale Park.  Friday night got washed out, and the first part of Saturday too.  But Saturday night and all of Sunday was fine.

 

Here's a few photos from a larger photo-thread at http://www.columbusunderground.com/photos-comfest-2015-me1

 

 

But the weather was perfect for the 4th of July weekend.  Red, White and Boom went off without a hitch on the 3rd.  Then on the 4th, the neighborhood firework shows and parades.  Including the most unique parade of all, the Short North's Doo-Dah Parade.  Here's a few photos from a larger photo-thread at http://www.columbusunderground.com/photos-doo-dah-parade-2015

 

American Flags are waived a little differently:

 

And commentary on recent local events is on display:

Ouch at that last photo.

Business First: Who's coming to town in August: Cleveland Browns, Japanese anime, Gay Softball World Series, Republican presidential contenders

 

Yea, that pretty much covers everything. :wink:

If you hear a high-pitched noise coming from Central Ohio tonight - that would be the One Direction fans in Ohio Stadium. :roll:

 

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/life_and_entertainment/2015/08/17/one-direction-logistics.html

The Ohio State Fair set an attendance record for a third straight year (as measured since 2004 - when it switched from 17 to 12 days).  The Ohio State Fair reported 982,305 people attended the 12-day event, an increase of 7.2 percent from last year’s attendance of 916,724:

 

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2015/08/10/state-fair-attendance-record.html

Columbus Commons is becoming the downtown go-to spot to be the staging area/opening ceremony location for big events.  Race For The Cure and the Columbus Marathon have used the park in recent years.  So has Pelotonia.  Below is a link to a report on the 2015 Pelotonia event (held two weekends ago) and a photo of the opening ceremony setup in Columbus Commons:

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/blog/2015/08/pelotonia-record-field-raises-millions-for-cancer.html

 

Columbus Commons was also the site of Monday's opening ceremonies for the 2015 Gay Softball World Series.  The Gay Softball World Series is being held at Berliner Park through Saturday:  Photo: Gathering of gay athletes - The Columbus Dispatch

 

 

More about the 2015 Gay Softball World Series:  http://www.gsws2015.org/

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then the Short North Gallery Hop should be very flattered about the monthly summertime Grandview Hop.  The inner-city municipality of Grandview Heights closes off its main drag of Grandview Avenue for its event.  And from the looks of it, Grandview's Hop is doing quite well.

 

Columbus Underground has a photo series of last weekend's final Grandview Hop for 2015 at http://www.columbusunderground.com/grandview-hop-2015:

 

CU also has a photo series of the 9th annual Urban Scrawl event at http://www.columbusunderground.com/photos-urban-scrawl-2015

 

It was held last weekend at the 400 West Rich Street arts complex in Franklinton.  This two-day event was also visited by one of Urban Ohio's founders - MayDay - and shown within his photo-thread at http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,30316.0.html.  Apparently MayDay's photos were taken a little later than Walker's photos (the murals being painted in Walker's photos are completed in MayDay's photos).  Interesting to see:

 

One Direction closed out Ohio Stadium's first concert season after a 12-year hiatus.  And OSU officials are very pleased with the results.  According to Business First's report that is linked below, the Rolling Stones drew 60,000 in a near-sellout (concert capacity) and One Direction attracted about 32,000 mostly teenage girls.  While total attendance for the two-day Buckeye Country Superfest was about 100,000.

 

- Ohio State lauds profitable return of concerts to the 'Shoe:  http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2015/08/21/ohio-state-lauds-profitable-return-of-concerts-to.html

 

 

Now that the Ohio Stadium concert season is over, downtown's Nationwide Arena and OSU's Value City Arena return as the biggest concert venues in Columbus.  And they've lined up an interesting trio of pop talent within the next few days:

 

- Reigning pop queen Taylor Swift has Nationwide Arena booked for the next two nights.  Today (9/17) and tomorrow (9/18) she'll bring her '1989' tour into the home of the Blue Jackets:  http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/life_and_entertainment/2015/09/15/0915-taylor-swift-tour-details.html

 

- Up-and-coming (or already-made-it depending on your perspective) homegrown duo Twenty One Pilots will play to a sold-out Value City Arena on Friday (9/18).  This marks the steady rise of the Columbus/Worthington duo from bars and basements to the Newport Music Hall to the LC Pavilion to OSU's Schottenstein Center:  http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/life_and_entertainment/2015/09/15/0915-taylor-swift-tour-details.html

 

- Finally, the "grandfather of pop" Sir James Paul McCartney will be in Columbus on Oct. 13 at Nationwide Arena.  This is the first of his final five dates on his current multi-year worldwide tour.  And it's his only Ohio appearance:  http://www.paulmccartney.com/live

Independents Day is a festival that keeps getting bigger and bigger each year.  It started out in a lone downtown alley in the late 2000's, spilled onto Gay Street and expanded to a two-day festival.  By 2013, it had gotten too big for its Gay Street location, so it moved to Franklinton.  Now (see the ID15 map below) the two-day festival has taken over multiple streets and alleys - which its East Franklinton locale anchored by 400 West Rich Street to the south and the Columbus Idea Foundry to the north along Lucas Street:

 

Okay, so, Independents Day has become a major event in the Columbus festival calendar.  And it was held two weekends ago on Sept. 19-20.  And I forgot to post anything about it in this thread.  So these next two posts are to make up for that:

 

ID15 WEBSITE:  http://thisisindependent.com/

 

ID15 BAND LINEUP:  http://www.columbusunderground.com/independents-day-2015-band-lineup

 

ID15 PHOTOS:  https://instagram.com/cbusidfest/

 

 

MORE PHOTOS OF ID15 (brief sampling from linked sources - much more at the links):

 

Event photos from http://www.columbusalive.com/content/slideshows/2015/09/22/independents-day-2015-.html

 

 

 

 

CU band photos from Day One:  http://www.columbusunderground.com/independents-day-2015-me1

 

 

 

 

CU band photos from Day Two:  http://www.columbusunderground.com/independents-day-2015-photos-me1

 

 

Cartoon Crossroads Columbus (or CXC as the organizers are calling it) is a brand-new event starting this year.  The full overview can be had at their website: http://www.cartooncrossroadscolumbus.com/

 

- Cartoon Crossroads Columbus co-creators hope inaugural fest becomes destination to celebrate art of comics: http://www.columbusalive.com/content/stories/2015/10/01/cartoon-crossroads-columbus-co-creators-hope-inaugural-fest-becomes-destination-to-celebrate-art-of-comics.html

 

- High-profile cartoonists boost creative momentum:  http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/editorials/2015/09/30/high-profile-cartoonists-boost-creative-momentum.html

 

   

More about CXC:

 

Cartoon Crossroads Columbus draws attention to the art of comics

By Dan Gearino, The Columbus Dispatch

Sunday, September 27, 2015

 

For three days, at venues throughout the city, Columbus will be the center of the cartooning world.  The debut of Cartoon Crossroads Columbus will feature a mix of big-name artists such as Art Spiegelman (Maus) and Jaime Hernandez (Love and Rockets) and relative newcomers such as Dustin Harbin (Diary Comics) and Grace Ellis (Lumberjanes).

 

When organizers announced the festival last fall, they described the 2015 event as a “soft launch” that would expand in 2016.  The plan changed, though, as the lineup for this year began to come together.  “We threw out invites to some of our top-notch guests, and they all said yes,” said festival artistic director Jeff Smith, a German Village resident and best-selling cartoonist (Bone).  So Smith has stopped calling this a soft launch.

 

The festival shouldn’t be confused with what has come to be associated with the term “comic-con,” known for elaborate costumes and the presence of sci-fi film and TV stars.  Instead, this is a comic-arts festival, which is more like an art show, said Heidi MacDonald, editor of The Beat, a comics-news website. “It’s more focused on comics as an art form,” she said. “If you like art exhibits, you would enjoy this.”

 

Cartoon Crossroads — or CXC — is aiming to become one of the leading festivals of its type in North America.  Among the others is the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, which takes place each May and draws tens of thousands of visitors.  Smith and other organizers of the Columbus show don’t offer a crowd estimate.  All they know is that the 2016 event — with added venues — will probably be bigger.  ...  The main event will take place on Saturday, Downtown at the Cultural Arts Center, where artists (including several central Ohioans) will sell their work.  On other days, events will take place at Ohio State University and the Columbus College of Art & Design.

 

MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/life_and_entertainment/2015/09/27/1-drawing-attention.html

A 188-photo slideshow(!) of last Sunday's 2015 Columbus Marathon: http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/blog/2015/10/photos-2015columbus-marathon.html

 

This year's marathon had its largest ever entry poll of 19,000 participants.  Like last year, the start and finish of the race was in the Arena District.  Below are two photos of the race start on Long Street near the Scioto River.  The first is the early start for the professional runners.  The second is a later start for the amateur racers.

 

 

 

This weekend sees the return of the ever-growing Highball Halloween Festival (aka The HighBall) on High Street in front of the Convention Center between Downtown and the Short North:

 

http://highballcolumbus.org/

 

http://www.columbusunderground.com/its-highball-time

 

HighBall was photogenic over the weekend:  http://www.columbusunderground.com/photos-highball-halloween-2015-me1

 

Captain Ohio wants to hear you (maybe Dorothy and the Scarecrow in drag too):

 

Plus a little bit of Doo Dah thrown in too:

More HighBall 2015 photos.  This time from Business First with a 129-image slideshow(!)  But if you're at work, you might want to make sure nobody is looking over your shoulder.  Some of the outfits are little NSFW - especially what the guy in the Ronald McDonald make-up is not wearing!

 

- PHOTOS: HighBall takes over High Street as thousands turn out for annual costume party:  http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/blog/2015/10/photos-highball-takes-over-high-street-as.html

 

Last January, the Winter Park set up in the Arena District for the NHL All-Star Game was a big hit.  Photos from the Columbus: 2015 NHL All-Star Game thread over in the Sports Talk section at http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,29698.msg740891.html#msg740891

 

 

Although the All-Star Game will not be back in Columbus for 2016, the Winter Park will be returning.  The Blue Jackets announced that the Winter Park will returning to McFerson Commons park from Friday, January 22 through Sunday, February 21.  The outdoor ice rink and entertainment tent will be in the same locations as before:

 

More info: http://bluejackets.nhl.com/club/page.htm?id=108419

 

Before the coming weekend starts (and on the day after Thanksgiving) I just wanted to reflect on last weekend's diverse sports scene in Columbus, and to be thankful.

 

I was thinking about this when a Dispatch sports writer wrote this commentary at http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/sports/2015/11/22/weekend-showcases-citys-diverse-sports-scene.html:  "What a weekend.  One hundred thousand fans for college football.  Another 60,000-plus, combined, for college basketball and pro hockey and soccer.  One massive tailgate party — and another Massive tailgate party.  National media draped over the city.  Petty fiefdoms are giving way to something bigger."

 

It started Friday night, when former OSU QB Kirk Herbstreit was in town for ESPN's College GameDay and to broadcast Saturday's OSU/MSU game.  Herbie went to the CBJ game and was interviewed during the first intermission of the Jackets broadcast.  He's done this before when he's been in Columbus for OSU games.  He's actually a big CBJ fan and can talk very knowledgeably with the Jackets play-by-play announcer in these interviews.  During one of the game breaks, the center video screen showed Herbstreit and his family doing the "O-H-I-O" pose.  Below is a pic from the CBJ twitter feed showing this:

 

Then on Saturday morning, the ESPN College GameDay crew set up on the Ohio State campus for the big game with Michigan State.  (Okay, that result wasn't what we hoped for.)  But among the multitude of signs for GameDay were these two Crew SC signs:

 

Which leads to the finale of the sports weekend - the Sunday night playoff match between the Columbus Crew and the New York Red Bulls (much more about that at http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,13478.msg780751.html#msg780751).  This game did give us the result we hoped for!  And to bring this full circle, the MLS Cup was making the rounds throughout Columbus during the weekend.  From Mapfre Stadium (naturally), to Ohio Stadium and to Nationwide Arena.  Where this photo was taken with the CBJ's Brandon Dubinsky for the Crew twitter feed:

Lighting displays for the holiday season in Central Ohio:

 

-- Downtown: Grand Illumunation at the Scioto Mile and Columbus Commons - http://www.sciotomile.com/events/grand-illumination/

 

-- Downtown: State Auto Christmas Corner - http://www.stateauto.com/Christmas/

 

-- Columbus Zoo: Wildlights - https://www.columbuszoo.org/

 

-- Alum Creek State Park: Fantasy of Lights - http://www.alumcreek.com/fol/

 

-- Franklin Park Conservatory & Gardens: Christmas at the Conservatory - http://fpconservatory.org/

 

 

No more LC Pavilion: Arena District concert venue is losing its name sponsor

 

Business First reports that the 14-year old LC Pavilion won't be called that for much longer.  Lifestyle Communities' 10-year naming rights deal for the indoor-outdoor concert facility in the Arena District has expired.  No word on if it will return to its original name - PromoWest Pavilion - or if a new naming rights deal is in the works.

Red Hot Chili Peppers to Headline 10th Annual Rock on the Range in 2016

 

The 10th anniversary of Rock on the Range (ROTR) in 2016 will take place on May 20th, 21st and 22nd at Mapfre Stadium.  The 2015 event attendance was 120,000.

 

After a year, Valley Dale Ballroom set to reopen on New Year's Eve

By JD Malone, The Columbus Dispatch

Thursday, December 31, 2015 - 5:28 AM

 

The Valley Dale Ballroom, its doors closed for much of the year, is now ready for its next act.  The historical North Side event venue, which has hosted Frank Sinatra and B.B. King among many others, reopens Thursday — New Year’s Eve — after a year of turmoil, a change of management and a $1.25 million renovation.

 

MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/business/2015/12/30/valley-dale-ballroom-to-open.html

Saying farewell to Bernie's:

 

http://www.columbusalive.com/content/stories/2016/01/07/last-weekend-at-bernies-bidding-farewell-to-one-of-columbus-legendary-music-venues.html

Saying hello to PromoWest Fest this summer:

 

http://www.columbusunderground.com/promowest-fest-columbus-2016

Business First:  Express buying naming rights to Arena District's Lifestyle Communities Pavilion

 

Columbus Underground:  LC Pavilion Rebranding to Express Live

Express Live sounds WAY better than LC Pavilion.

Still looks and sounds awkward to me, but I'm sure people will get used to it quickly.

Bands will have to play faster because it's Express.

IT'S ARNOLD TIME AGAIN!!!

 

http://arnoldsportsfestival.com/splash/2016/

 

http://www.dispatch.com/content/topic/sports/arnold.html

 

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/business/2016/03/03/1-hotels-gear-up-for-influx-of-arnold-competitors-spectators.html

After another huge weekend, the circus known as the 2016 Arnold Sports Festival rolled out of town last night:

 

- CU has a photo page of festivities:  http://www.columbusunderground.com/photos-arnold-sports-festival-2016

 

- The event is always video gold for the local stations with multiple "Arnold at the Arnold" sightings.  And NBC4 got some when they found Arnold urging on the winning competitor in the Strongman event:  http://nbc4i.com/2016/03/04/strongman-and-strong-woman-competitions-at-the-arnold/

 

- Though they run variations of this story every year, I never get tired of reports about the massive amounts of food consumed during the Arnold Sports Festival:  http://nbc4i.com/2016/03/03/whats-for-dinner-for-arnold-classic-participants-a-whole-lot-of-protein/

 

PromoWest Fest Lineup Announced

By Jenna Taylor, Columbus Underground

March 15, 2016 - 10:09 pm

 

PromoWest Productions has officially announced its plans for the PromoWest Fest, a three day, three stage music festival taking place July 15th-17th in the Arena District.

 

The festival will feature over 40 local, regional, and national acts such as Milky Chance, Snoop Dogg, Walk the Moon, Forest & The Evergreens, LL Cool J, and Lindsey Stirling.  The PromoWest Fest is set to host 20,000 attendees stretching from McFerson Park to Spring Street, which will be closed off for vending and concessions stands, all the way to North Bank Park.

 

MORE: http://www.columbusunderground.com/promowest-fest-2016-lineup-jt1

Major League Gaming is opening its second arena in the U.S. dedicated to video game tournaments in Columbus.  MLG announced it would locating to a 14,000 sq. ft. venue south of Easton and north of the airport at 2188 Citygate Drive.  The location, to be called MLG.tv Arena, will have bleacher seating, soundproof booths for players and the ability to host live commentary.  Officials said it will host year-round events geared towards livesteaming on MLG.tv.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2014/09/23/major-league-gaming-setting-up-e-sports-arena-in.html

 

http://www.columbusunderground.com/major-league-gaming-opening-columbus-arena

 

The above quote from 2014 in the Columbus General Business thread talked about the video-game/eSports company Major League Gaming installing a video gaming arena in Columbus.  Now, MLG is hosting a big video gaming tournament in Nationwide Arena this weekend:  http://www.majorleaguegaming.com/CSMajor?utm_source=EventSection&utm_medium=Button

 

According to

this three-day event (April 1-3) is completely sold out.

Kinda amazing and baffling how big these video gaming/esports tournaments are:

 

- Recapping the grand finals at the MLG CS:GO Columbus major:  http://espn.go.com/esports/story/_/id/15122203/dennis-svenskeren-johnsen-reflects-team-solomid-na-lcs-playoff-victory-cloud9-looks-forward-showdown-immortals

 

It's the easiest thing in the world to get young men to congregate

wow those holiday season lights downtown looked nice.

Slideshow of the 2016 USA Track & Field Half Marathon Championship and the OhioHealth Capital City Half Marathon that started and finished in downtown Saturday:

 

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/sports/2016/04/30/0430-track-and-field-half-marathon.html

 

CU's excellent annual rundown of the upcoming Festival Season:

 

http://www.columbusunderground.com/the-2016-columbus-festival-season

CU's rundown of Central Ohio farmers markets for 2016:

 

http://www.columbusunderground.com/its-farmers-market-time-2016

It was a drizzly and dreary Saturday morning for the 2016 Race for the Cure.  But plenty of pink showed up downtown:

 

http://nbc4i.com/2016/05/14/photo-gallery-24th-annual-komen-columbus-race-for-the-cure/

 

A bunch of photos of the Columbus Underground 2016 Urban Living Tour that took place this past Sunday, May 15:

 

http://www.columbusunderground.com/photos-urban-living-tour-2016

 

10th Annual Rock on the Range festival took place this past weekend at Mapfre Stadium.  Nearly sixty bands performed over three days to a sold out crowd of 120,000:

 

http://www.columbusunderground.com/photos-rock-on-the-range-2016

 

http://abc6onyourside.com/news/local/rock-on-the-range-rolls-on-despite-the-rain

Just caught this CU piece this morning and already missed three concerts on this list!

 

http://www.columbusunderground.com/the-list-12-concerts-you-wont-want-to-miss-in-june

The Memorial Tournament finished this weekend up at Muirfield.  Business First had a brief article looking at the tournament's growth over the past 40 years:

 

- Original Memorial Tournament volunteer reflects on 40 years of growth:  http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/blog/2016/06/original-memorial-tournament-volunteer-reflects-on.html

 

My favorite part:  "Consider, an $8.5 million purse will be doled out this weekend, with the winner getting $1.5 million.  At the first Memorial, in 1976, champion Roger Maltbie earned $40,000 from a total $200,000 purse.  Even adjusted for inflation, Maltbie pocketed the equivalent of $168,198."

^ Recap of #5 on that list who performed over the weekend:

 

http://www.columbusunderground.com/cage-the-elephant-me1

I'm not into country music, but this Buckeye Country Superfest is really growing into something big.  This is the second year for the Superfest at Ohio Stadium.  And well over 100,000 attended this year's two-day country concert event:

 

Good photo thread of the Buckeye Country Superfest at http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/life_and_entertainment/2016/06/20/concert-review-country-superfest.html