Where to Bike, Bus, Ride and Park at the 2023 Columbus Arts Festival

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Approximately 450,000 people attend the Columbus Arts Festival, which has become the city’s “welcome to summer” event. With such large crowds and the road closures to accommodate more than 225 juried local and national artists, three stages, kid’s activities and all of the other great food and fun the festival brings, here are some transportation alternatives, as well as parking information.

Bike

With multiple bike lanes and the Scioto Greenways paths, biking to the Festival is easy. In addition to ample bike parking along the riverfront, the Festival has partnered with Franklinton Cycle Works to provide FREE bike parking during Festival hours. Bike parking is available on the east side of the river at South Civic Center Drive at West Rich Street. The bike corral is monitored, but guests should secure their bikes.

There are also CoGo Bike racks at:

• Bicentennial Park
• South Front Street north of Town Street
• Washington Boulevard and West Broad Street
• West Town Street at Lucas Street

Bus

COTA will be running all weekend long, with stops along High, Front and Broad streets throughout downtown. Festival patrons can explore the best routes to get to the Columbus Arts Festival at ride.cota.com. Local fare is $2, or buy a day pass for $4.50. Riders can pay by cash (exact change only) or by downloading COTA’s Transit app: cota.com/transitapp.

Rideshare

The recommended addresses for rideshare drop off or pickup are either COSI (333 W. Broad St., 43215) or The Junto (77 E. Belle St., 43215) west of the river. Both of these locations are easily accessible off West Broad Street and provide multiple points of access to the Festival.

Parking

Parking is available on surface lots both east and west of the river, at paid kiosks or through the ParkColumbus app on surrounding city streets and in garages throughout the downtown and Franklinton area, including (note that not every parking garage may appear on the ParkColumbus app):

• Columbus Commons garages
• Starling Street Garage on the Scioto Peninsula
• RiverSouth garage at Front and Rich
• LeVeque Tower garage at Broad and Front
• National Veterans Memorial & Museum lot (across Broad from COSI)
• Scioto Peninsula Underground garage (west of COSI, under Dorrian Green)
• River and Rich garage at Rich and McDowell in Franklinton

The city of Columbus offers paid parking through the nearest kiosk or with a mobile device by downloading the ParkColumbus app from the Apple App Store or Google Play, texting “park” to 77223 or scanning a QR code found on signage throughout downtown.

The ParkColumbus app not only provides an easy way to pay but shows where there is parking, and can send guests text notifications when their time is running out. Festival-goers can reserve parking through ParkColumbus here: parkcolumbus.parkmobile.io/venue/bicentennial-park/events

When parking for the Columbus Arts Festival, guests should also note:

• Parking rates vary day by day, and during special events are often higher than standard rates. (The Columbus Commons garages at 55 W. Rich St. and 191 S. Third St. are farther away (0.4 mile) but may offer lower rates.)
• Temporary no parking signs must be obeyed even if the ParkColumbus app shows the zone as available.
• While guests aren’t able to reserve an ADA space in a garage, ADA spaces on the street are still marked and parking garages also provide ADA spaces on a first come, first served basis. Guests with mobility concerns may also consider using the designated rideshare drop off locations.

More information on transportation to the Columbus Arts Festival can be found at columbusartsfestival.org/visit/parking/.

Festival Hours: Friday, June 9 from 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.; Saturday, June 10 from 10 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.; and Sunday, June 11 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Please note: on Friday and Saturday artists have the option to close at 9 p.m.)

To volunteer at the Columbus Arts Festival, please go to columbusartsfestival.org/engage/volunteer/.

For more information on the Columbus Arts Festival, call (614) 221-8625 or visit columbusartsfestival.org.

Download the Columbus Arts Festival app through the Apple app store or Google Play at guidebook.com/app/cafg/.

For a selection of high-res images, visit the Festival’s press media page.

The Columbus Arts Festival is produced by the Greater Columbus Arts Council.

The 2023 Columbus Arts Festival is presented by the American Electric Power Foundation. Additional sponsors and partners include Art for Life, Bank of America, Bath & Body Works, Battelle, Cardinal Health, Columbus Downtown Development Corporation, COSI, Deloitte, Encova, Graeter’s, High Bank Distillery, Holiday Inn Downtown, Hotel LeVeque, Huntington, IGS Energy, JP Morgan Chase, The Junto, King Business Interiors, ML Concessions, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, The Ohio State University, OSA Technology Partners, Paul-Henri and Erika Bourguignon Charitable Trust, Pepsi, Priscilla R. Tyson Cultural Arts Center, Rhinegeist, Toyota, The Westin Great Southern Columbus, White Castle and Whole World Lemonade. Media sponsors include ABC6/FOX28, CD92.9, Dispatch Media Group, Lamar Outdoor, Ohio Magazine, Orange Barrel Media, RSVP, WCBE, WOSU Public Media and WSNY/Mix 107.9.

Mission of the Greater Columbus Arts Council: To support and advance the arts and cultural fabric of Columbus. www.gcac.org

The Greater Columbus Arts Council receives major financial support from the city of Columbus, Franklin County Commissioners, Ohio Arts Council and The Ohio State University. There are no funds from the city of Columbus, Franklin County or Ohio Arts Council used to support the production of the Columbus Arts Festival.

# # #