Sports and Recreation
Whether a fan or a participant, Columbus offers plenty to get your heart pumping.
Local sports
- Columbus Blue Jackets, National Hockey League
- Columbus Crew, Major League Soccer in the first soccer-specific arena in America
- Columbus Clippers, AAA Major League Baseball affiliate of the Cleveland Indians
- PGA Memorial Golf Tournament hosted by Jack Nicklaus
- NCAA Division 1 athletics: 36 varsity teams represent The Ohio State University, including the perennially ranked football team, which plays in the 102,780-seat Ohio Stadium
- Ohio High School Athletic Association: high school state championship tournaments are hosted annually in the Columbus area
Sporting events and happenings
- The Arnold (Schwarzenegger) Sports Festival: four days, 60+ sports and 12,000+ athletes from around the world
- Nationwide Children’s Hospital Columbus Marathon
- Pelotonia: three-day fundraising bike tour, with 100% of all rider-raised dollars going to cancer research at Ohio State
- 59 golf courses within a 15-mile radius of Columbus
- Eldorado Gaming Scioto Downs harness racing
Parks and recreation
- Newly renovated downtown riverfront park system
- CoGo Bike Share
- SegAway Tours of Columbus
- Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course
- 330-mile Ohio to Erie Trail for biking
- Water recreation areas including Hoover Reservoir, Alum Creek Lake, the Scioto and Olentangy rivers and nearby Buckeye Lake
- 20 metro parks with more than 200 miles of trails and 28,500 acres
- Dawes Arboretum
- Five Ohio ski resorts two hours or less from Columbus
- 75 state parks and 142 nature preserves, including nearby Hocking Hills
Art, Entertainment and Dining
From ballet to rock music, symphony to modern art, Columbus is bursting with creative talent for you to experience and enjoy.
Art events
- Fashion Week Columbus — our city has the third-highest concentration of fashion designers in the nation, just behind New York and Los Angeles
- Columbus Arts Festival — since 1962, with more than 250 global artists
- The Short North Arts District and monthly Gallery Hop
- Columbus Symphony Orchestra Masterworks programs and Picnic with the Pops
- Opera Columbus
- BalletMet
- Columbus Museum of Art
- Wexner Center for the Arts
- Thurber House literary center for writers
- Express Live! — America’s first indoor/outdoor concert venue
- Newport Music Hall, the longest continually running rock club in the nation
- King Arts Complex — celebrating African American artists
- Cultural Arts Center
- Glass Axis, offering hands-on workshops and exhibitions
- Shakespeare in the Park
Entertainment for kids
- COSI (Center of Science and Industry)
- Columbus Zoo and Aquarium
- Columbus Metropolitan Library
- Ohio State Fair — nearly 950,000 visitors enjoy this 12-day event
- Ohio History Center and Ohio Village
- Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens
- Zoombezi Bay water park
- Olentangy Indian Caverns
- Columbus Children’s Theatre
- Red, White and Boom —the largest Independence Day fireworks festival in the Midwest