10 Best Performing Arts Venues in Columbus, Ohio

The largest fitness expo in the world routinely draws 17,000 athletes and more than 150,000 spectators. A training seminar, eight title contests, and 650 expo booths keep people coming back.

The sights, sounds, and tastes of Asia are captured at this event, held in late May. Sample Asian cuisine from a gamut of countries, shop the Asian market, keep the kids active with hands-on activities, and be entertained by the stage performances and cultural booths.

Watch runners wind through 26.2 mi of streets in the downtown area and surrounding suburbs. The three-day event includes a free sports and fitness expo on Friday and Saturday, a children's run on Saturday, and the marathon and a half-marathon on Sunday.

The three-day, late-September extravaganza boasts three stages of music with everything from polka to hard rock, plus German food, arts and crafts, and a kinderplatz (child's place) area with kids' entertainment. While past Oktoberfests were held in the Brewery District, the current site lies in the northeast corner of the German Village.

In early June, more than 300 of the nation's best artists display their works at this annual three-day street festival and show along the riverfront in downtown Columbus. Music, food, and art activities add to the festivities.

It's not summer until you see the life-size butter cow at one of the largest state fairs in the country. Nationally known musical acts, one of the world's longest sky rides and the largest junior fair in the nation highlight the show. Agricultural displays, children's contests, tractor pulls, laser light shows, and, of course, the butter cow draw crowds as well.

The annual Independence Day celebration held on July 3, full of live music, a parade, and food, is topped off by one of the most extravagant fireworks displays in the Midwest.

Under the guidance of music director Junichi Hirokami, the Columbus Symphony Orchestra also performs at the Ohio Theater.

Value City Arena at the Jerome Schottenstein Center is home court for Buckeye basketball and home ice for hockey. Concerts and touring productions as diverse as the Three Tenors, Simon and Garfunkel, and Sesame Street Live also use the space.

In a dramatic building designed by Peter Eisenmann, the Wexner Center for the Arts houses contemporary art—including performance art and mixed-media works. The cabaret-style theater features intimate concerts, rarely screened movies from independent film makers, and discussions or lectures with filmmakers, artists, and performers.