COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Arena District hosted the Columbus Hard Cider and Doughnut Fest on Saturday. The gathering was organized by Wicked Events, a business which plans celebrations nationwide. Hundreds of people, mostly millennials with a few dozen older folks mixed in, filled the streets and the four venues.
Eventbrite touted the occassion on their website, “Part Bar Hop, Part Sweet Celebration! Featuring [4] bars & restaurants, premium hard cider & 2,000 doughnuts! The official kick off to fall season has arrived!”
German Village Inn tweeted:
Columbus Hard Cider & Doughnut Fest
Sat, Oct 19, 3 – 9 PM
Bar Louie – Arena District
504 North Park St, Columbus, OH”
Columbus Hard Cider & Doughnut Fest
Sat, Oct 19, 3 – 9 PM
Bar Louie – Arena District
504 North Park St, Columbus, OH pic.twitter.com/AFbV6usbnx— German Village Inn Columbus Ohio (@InnGerman) September 18, 2019
Registration occurred between 3:00 and 5:00 PM. The activities were scheduled to last until 9:00 PM or when the freebies ran out, whichever came first. Most doughnuts were sold out by 6:30 PM and the cider tastings ended early as well.
The first stop was Bar Louie where attendees signed in and received their wristbands to access the venues, one free doughnut coupon and one of two “free” tastes of cider. There were just a few tickets left at $25 per person not including tax and handling. That bought access to the bars and discounted cider and seltzer at $4 each while doughnuts varied from $1 to $2 a piece for wristbands wearers.
In addition to Bar Louie, Callahan’s Columbus, Park Street Tavern and BBR were in the line up for visitors.
Bakeries participating included Buckeye Donuts, which provided blueberry and pumpkin donuts at the last stop, BBR.
Peace, Love and Little Donuts from Worthington brought their mini creations for festival partakers to enjoy, including pumpkin pie, bacon maple, Boston cream and heath bar, to name a few of their offerings.
Since most of the doughnuts were gone by early evening, the festival wound down, but the night was just heating up. The Columbus Blue Jackets had a home game against the New York Islanders and Jackets’ jerseys were almost as prolific as costumed bar hoppers, in spite of the fact the “Official Halloween Bar Crawl” isn’t until Saturday, October 27th.
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Beth Lear is a reporter at The Ohio Star. Follow Beth on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
