Summer in Columbus: Festivals, Sports, Food and More

Looking to make a Columbus road trip this summer? From major festivals and cool conventions to women’s sports events and America 250 celebrations, Ohio’s capital city is packed with reasons to visit. Meet artists and voice actors at Animate! Columbus or roll the dice at Origins Game Fair. Catch a spectacular capital-city fireworks display and enjoy a full slate of America 250 activities to honor our nation’s semiquincentennial. See top women athletes face off during the NWSL Challenge Cup and check out restaurants that are quickly becoming Columbus culinary destinations. 

Cool Conventions 

Animate! Columbus, June 12 through 14, turns the Columbus Convention Center into an anime, animation and cosplay wonderland, where fans can listen to and meet animators and voice actors from their favorite shows and movies. This year’s guests include actors from shows such as “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” “The Legend of Korra” and Disney’s 1992 classic movie “Aladdin.” Disney fans will also be able to meet animator Peter Raymundo of “Mulan” and “Lilo & Stitch” fame. For night owls, late-night programming this year includes dance parties, karaoke and cosplay competitions. An exhibitors’ area will sell toys, comics and more. 

Origins Game Fair arrives in Columbus June 17 through 21. (photo courtesy of Origins Game Fair)

Try your luck at Origins Game Fair, June 17 through 21. The gaming convention celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2025 and is expected to welcome more than 20,000 tabletop gamers this year. There are more than 8,000 events scheduled across five days, including tournaments, panel discussions and free-play sessions. Games span favorites like “Pokémon” and “Magic: The Gathering” to board games based on properties such as Batman and Dune. Attendees will be able to meet artists, shop from on-site vendors and try escape rooms or live-action role playing. 

“Origins is on a larger scale,” says April Hill, events manager at Columbus-based GAMA: The Tabletop Game Association, which organizes the event, “but it has a hometown feel where people can experience everything they want to and play the games they want.”

Celebrate the peculiar at World Oddities Expo, June 27 and 28, which features tattoo artists and a Lost Curio Marketplace stocked with taxidermy, macabre art, jewelry and goth-themed home decor. Add-on convention workshops include taxidermy, diorama-making and insect-pinning.

The Columbus Eagles women’s soccer team plays at Fortress Obetz (photo by Nicole McCray)

Women’s Sports

The Columbus Fury women’s indoor volleyball team serves up high-energy action at Nationwide Arena. Cheer on our Major League Volleyball team as new mascot Lumi the Lightning Bug buzzes around the stands. After matches, players such as Ohio natives Raina Terry and Abby Walker, and Regan Pittman-Nelson, who is a frequent league leader in blocks, often sign autographs. 

Columbus Eagles games are another great way to connect with players. Competing in both the Women’s Premier Soccer League and Major Arena Soccer League Women, the Eagles take the pitch at Fortress Obetz. Cheer on 2024 leading scorer Nikki Cox and goalkeeper Celeste Sloma at the family-friendly and affordable matches. 

With a National Women’s Soccer League team coming to Columbus in 2028, the NWSL 2026 Challenge Cup (June 26 at Columbus’ ScottsMiracle-Gro Field between top teams Gotham FC and Kansas City Current) introduces fans to one of the top women’s soccer leagues in the U.S.

Gotham FC forward Khyah Harper is looking forward to her first Challenge Cup after playing in 12 regular-season games for the league champs in 2025. She’s eager to show fans how exciting an NWSL game is. 

“It’s a great opportunity for Columbus to see some of the top teams in the league competing against each other to see how good women’s soccer can be,” she says. “[Cincinnati-born Gotham FC and United States women’s national soccer team midfielder] Rose Lavelle is a huge Ohio girl, so I think that a lot of fans will come there just for her.”

Participants during the 2025 Pride march in downtown Columbus (photo courtesy of Stonewall Columbus Pride and Emma Parker Photography)

Festival Fun  

One of the largest Pride festivals in the Midwest, Columbus Pride 2026 arrives June 19 and 20. Entertainment and exhibitors are part of the two-day event, and the heart of the celebration is the June 20 march.

Celebrate America on July 3 with Red, White & Boom! The enormous fireworks show brings more than 400,000 revelers to downtown Columbus. The 24-minute spectacle, which blasts off at 10:06 p.m., is just part of the fun. The all-day celebration features music from Elaina Arthur, the Grove City Big Band and the Basement Bangers. Food vendors include Schmidt’s Sausage Haus, Donatos Pizza and others. 

Bookworms visiting our capital city will want to check out the Columbus Book Festival July 11 and 12. Launched in 2023 for the Columbus Metropolitan Library’s 150th anniversary, the festival takes over the main library with author talks, book signings and a festival bookstore. The fun spills outside to neighboring Topiary Park with book-themed vendors, food, drink and entertainment. More than 200 authors will be in attendance. 

“There’s something really exciting and powerful about being with your people,” says Mikalene Guiser, the library’s event manager. “These are people who love to read and open their minds to new worlds through stories.”

America 250

The Columbus Air Show lands at Rickenbacker International Airport from June 19 through 21. Featuring more than a dozen high-flying acts such as the United States Air Force Thunderbirds and Canadian Forces Snowbirds, the event also offers attendees the chance to take flight themselves aboard a 1928 Ford Tri-Motor or a B-25 bomber. 

The July 4 Signature Homecoming & Picnic in Columbus promises music, food, history and fireworks to ring in America’s 250th birthday across three city venues. During the day, music acts perform at the Ohio Statehouse alongside food trucks and artisan vendors. Movies such as “Cars” and “Forest Gump” will play at the Ohio Theatre, and Columbus Commons hosts a free evening concert from the Columbus Symphony. 

For America 250-Ohio Commission co-chair Doug Preisse, the public reading of the Declaration of Independence will be a personal highlight. His ancestor, John Hart, was one of its signers. 

Catch “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” the 1980 movie about country singer Loretta Lynn that won Sissy Spacek the Oscar, July 22 at the Ohio Theatre in Columbus as part of America 250-Ohio’s Ohio Goes to the Movies series. The film also stars Columbus native Beverly D’Angelo as Patsy Cline. 

“It’s an important exercise and one that should happen more often,” he says. “It’s a foundational document with lofty, aspirational, memorable words — life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It’s important to read it out loud.

Linguine al mari dish at Metsi’s in Columbus (photo by Brock DuPont for Metsi’s)

Food Finds

Veritas has been part of the Columbus dining scene since opening downtown in 2012, and the restaurant continues to keep things interesting. Through July 3, it’s offering an Around the World tasting menu that features a sampling of street-food traditions from 16 countries, including Singapore, Mexico and Peru. The cocktail list has a similarly travel-inspired glow with drinks such as a lychee highball or banana soda made with rum.

One of the Short North Arts District’s newest hot spots, Metsi’s trades the traditional Italian red-sauce pastas for dishes such as radiatori alla amatriciana or linguine ai mare with poached lobster, mussels, clam soffritto and white wine sauce. 

“Italy is a really big country and cuisine, and we landed on a different take than what you typically find,” says chef and owner BJ Lieberman, who opened the restaurant in June 2025.  

Fans of traditional Italian cuisine will find Chef Greg’s Famous Bolognese, which Lieberman says is simple and incredible. The cocktail list has five takes on the negroni and wines are curated to pair with Metsi’s dishes. 

The restaurant’s open kitchen includes a wood-fired hearth where a handful of dishes are made, such as the snapper acqua pazza and an osso buco pork shank served with creamy polenta and butter-braised carrots.

“We burn logs and we burn charcoal, and that’s how the food comes to life,” Lieberman says. “There’s a nostalgia and comfort to having a grilled piece of zucchini with Parmesan cheese and garlic oil that is kind of untouchable.”  

When You Go
For more information about these and other events and destinations in Columbus this summer, visit experiencecolumbus.com.

Conventions

Animate! Columbus
galaxycon.com/pages/animate-columbus

Origins Game Fair
originsgamefair.com

World Oddities Expo
worldodditiesexpo.com/columbus-oh

Women’s Sports

Columbus Eagles
columbuseaglesfc.com

Columbus Fury
provolleyball.com/teams/columbus-fury

NWSL Challenge Cup
nwslsoccer.com

Festivals

Columbus Book Festival
columbusbookfestival.org

Columbus Pride
stonewallcolumbus.org/pride

Red, White & Boom!
redwhiteandboom.org

America 250

Columbus Air Show
columbusairshow.com

Ohio Goes to the Movies
ohiogoestothemovies.org

July 4 Signature Homecoming & Picnic
america250-ohio.org

Food Finds

Metsi’s
metsisitalian.com

Veritas
veritasrestaurant.com

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