Cultural Celebrations Near Me

Saturday Mornings @ East Market

Let's grab some coffee/food and share a morning chat! The East Market has an ample parking lot and outdoor and indoor seating. Grab a cup of coffee from Winston's Coffee & Waffles or on your way to East Market and meet us on the second floor - table behind or east of the elevator. Per what this group is about: "Everyone is welcome! International transplants to Columbus who want to improve language skills, Columbus residents who enjoy talking to people from other countries, and those who would like to discuss international travel and culture, and who enjoy getting together for good conversations."

2nd Anniversary Celebration!All are welcome! 😁🥳🎈🎉

**Let’s celebrate our group’s 2nd anniversary together! All are welcome even if it’s your first event! If you would like to join in a fun gift exchange game. Please bring a $10 wrapped gift! Such as gift cards, sweet treats,lottery tickets,Fall decor etc. I can’t wait to celebrate! 🎉**

Pot Luck at a member's home!

Inspired by our successful events like "Saturday Mornings @ East Market" and other "Pot Luck in the Park" lunches, this gathering promises to be a blend of fun conversations, language exchange, and cultural insights, all while sharing wonderful foods with each other. This time, we will meet at the home of one of our members. Address will be given to those attending prior to the event. **Please bring a dish to share and anything you would like to drink.** We will provide plates, plastic silverware and napkins. So, come hungry and ready to chat! Note: We are asking that our members help out by contributing $5 or whatever they are able to at each Pot Luck Gathering to offset costs. Many Thanks! Lisa Arzate

Taco Tuesday

FREE annual HALLOWEEN COSTUME CRAWL with Columbus social connection

Japanese Language Exchange at Dublin Library

Come and join our lively Japanese language meetup, where language learning is combined with fun games and interactive conversation practice. Whether you're just starting out or already advanced, this meetup provides a laid-back atmosphere to enhance your language abilities while mingling with fellow Japanese enthusiasts. After the library we'll take a leisurely walk together to get food/drinks. There are many options around including North Market Bridge Park. It's a perfect opportunity to continue our conversations and enjoy each other's company over a meal.

Creativity Circle: Mask Decorating

WQC has some blank base masks that need some color! Come celebrate the season of dress up and creativity by decorating your own mask. Seats and supplies limited! Come while you can for as long as you like! Westerville Public Library in Meeting Room C.

FREE Annual Columbus Halloween Costume Crawl 🎃 w C.O.F

🎃 Columbus’ **ONLY FREE** Halloween Crawl is back! **Read in its entirety** Join **Central Ohio Friends + Columbus Social Connection** for our annual Halloween Costume Crawl! Please only rsvp with one group. Last year 60+ people joined us—come solo, bring friends, **wear a costume** and get ready to meet some new people. 👻🍻 🔮 THE **ROUTE IS A MYSTERY** until you arrive at the first stop Only the **starting location will be revealed**. You must check in there **between 6:30-7:30** to discover where we’re going next! We’ll be leaving first location no later than 8:00pm. You must be signed in before **7:45** We’ll haunt a new bar about every hour, so don’t get left behind. ⭐ At **check-in** you’ll receive your **Gold VIP Wristband.** Some stops ***may*** offer exclusive event specials for wristband holders. 🎃 **Costumes encouraged** 🍻 Multiple Columbus bars 🔮 Secret route ⭐ Gold VIP wristband 👥 **Great for meeting new people** 💰 100% FREE to attend **IMPORTANT**: Arrive at the **starting location on time.** Cash out after each drink—we’re only at **each stop** for about an **hour**. 📝 **Waiver required**. Link will be **posted** in the comments. 💙 This **event is free.** Though **contributions** to help support future events are appreciated link will also be in the comments. 📸 Photos/video may be taken during the event. Drink responsibly. Be responsible for your own transportation and safety. **Stop scrolling. Start doing stuff.** Get out of the house, throw on a costume, and come meet some new people. 🎃 RSVP now🎃

Teas, Campfires, and Lawn Games

This will be an outside meetup, so dress warmly and bring a blanket or coat if the weather looks chilly. We will have a campfire. Wear shoes you don't mind getting a little dirty. We will be brewing smoky tea, such as Lapsang Souchong and Russian Caravan. Feel free to bring any other brewed tea that you want to share with others and/or any fall themed snacks, such as anything with pumpkin or apple etc. flavors. There will be lawn games set out. Some possibilities are bocce, croquet, badminton, corn toss, volleyball, ladder ball, etc. If it rains, we will move to a different date. This event will be at a private home in Hilliard. The address will be sent out a day or two beforehand.

COSI After Dark - Halloween Tattoo Carnival

Nature Loving Fest | Autumn Edition

Join us for the Autumn edition of [Nature Loving Fest](https://www.facebook.com/events/26278108015134799), a small, thoughtfully curated outdoor gathering celebrating comforting vegan eats, handmade goods, and the turning of the season. Formerly known as our Vegan Pop-Up, this gathering remains a space rooted in nature, community, and intentional living. Expect around 20 local vendors offering seasonal vegan comfort food, small-batch bakes, handcrafted goods, and earth-conscious products inspired by harvest time. This is a welcoming space to gather, reflect, and enjoy the cozy, grounding energy of autumn. Come support local makers, share good food, and welcome the harvest season with us. Admission is Free.

Trails & Ales! Blacklick Woods Metro Park / Eastside Brewing Co

**History** The deep indigenous history of the land comprising [Blacklick Woods Metro Park](https://www.metroparks.net/parks-and-trails/blacklick-woods/) came to light in stages, beginning with a major discovery during the park's mid-century expansion. In 1961, the park district acquired a 100-acre parcel of land where a previous owner had stripped away topsoil and gravel from a five-acre section. Beneath the surface, workers uncovered 16 ancient fire rings buried roughly 30 inches underground. The park district promptly invited Dr. Raymond S. Baby, the respected Curator of Archaeology at the Ohio State Museum, to evaluate the site. After a thorough review, Dr. Baby confirmed the authenticity of the find and determined that the fire rings were the unmistakable remnants of a prehistoric Late Woodland period Indian village dating between AD 600 and AD 1200. This incredible area was proudly highlighted as the "Indian Village Site" on official Blacklick Woods park maps throughout the 1960s, anchoring the park's identity in Ohio's rich indigenous heritage. Decades later, the park's archaeological timeline expanded significantly when a completely separate, grander feature was discovered hidden just west of Blacklick Creek. In 2017, David Lamp, an eagle-eyed former archaeologist from Lancaster, was systematically analyzing historical aerial photographs kept by the USDA to locate undocumented native structures. While examining a photograph captured in 1954 -- back when the property was still a rural farm owned by the Ashton Lamp family -- he spied a massive, distinct dark circle. Because perfect circles are an extreme anomaly in the natural world, Lamp immediately recognized the shadow as the footprint of a forgotten indigenous monument. Before the land became a protected park, decades of heavy agricultural plowing and livestock grazing had flattened the ground, wearing the structure's physical height down to an easily overlooked 10 inches tall. To verify Lamp's incredible aerial find, a team from the Heartland Earthworks Conservancy partnered with park staff to clear away dense brush and trees covering the site. Renowned volunteer archaeologist Jarrod Burks led a sophisticated geophysical survey on September 24, 2017, inviting the public to watch the science unfold in real time. Burks pulled an array of highly sensitive magnetometers across the soil, measuring minuscule variations in the ground's magnetic content. Because topsoil holds a higher magnetic signature than deeper substrate layers, the instruments clearly mapped a massive, ancient ditch that had filled with topsoil over centuries of erosion. This advanced technology produced a stunning, flawless digital visualization of a hidden prehistoric circular earthwork buried right beneath the feet of unsuspecting park hikers. The data collected by Burks revealed that the Blacklick Circle originally featured a three-to-five-foot earthen embankment pairing with a distinct interior ditch. The structure is estimated to have a total diameter of just under 100 feet, and the magnetic imaging perfectly captured the precise location of the circle’s original eastern entranceway. Archaeologists attribute this monumental construction to the ancient Adena or Hopewell cultures, pushing the park’s human history back roughly 2,000 to 2,200 years. While the Adena and Hopewell peoples are famous throughout the Ohio River valley for building giant burial mounds, circular enclosures like this one served distinct communal purposes. Because these earthworks do not contain human remains, they are understood to be highly sacred, carefully engineered gathering spaces for spiritual ceremonies and social alignment. Today, the Columbus and Franklin County Metro Parks system treats this miraculous discovery as a crown jewel of regional cultural heritage. Rather than excavating and disrupting the sacred ground, the park utilizes a creative technique known as interpretive mowing. By cutting the grass at strategic heights, rangers visually outline the exact contours and entrance of the ancient circle so visitors can appreciate its scale from the adjacent recreational trail. Educational signs and informative placards now stand near the site, teaching families about the advanced architectural and mathematical skills of the region's first inhabitants. The discovery stands as a powerful reminder that our local green spaces are not just nature preserves, but deeply sacred, historical landscapes that have drawn human communities together for millennia. **Map of the Park** Here is a [map of Blacklick Woods](https://www.metroparks.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/BLK-map-May-2025-with-extended-greenway_1980px.jpg). **Summary** For this event, we will hike about 4.5 miles by doing a couple loops of the Buttonbush, Tucker, Maple Loop, and Beech trails. Blacklick Woods is a very nice park, but it is generally flat and not strenuous, so this will be one of our easier hikes. **Where We'll Meet** Drive all the way to the back of the park to the parking lot that is nearest the Nature Center. There are restrooms here next to the [Canopy Walk](https://www.metroparks.net/parks-and-trails/blacklick-woods/#canopy-walk). We'll meet near these restrooms. **After the Hike** Afterward, we'll head over to [Eastside Brewing Co](https://www.eastsidebrewingco.com/) for drinks and [food](https://www.facebook.com/p/Smash-N-Eatz-61578406199442/). The actual address of the brewery is [1421 Davidson Dr, Reynoldsburg, OH 43068](https://www.google.com/maps/place/1421+Davidson+Dr,+Reynoldsburg,+OH+43068/@39.9541807,-82.8056303,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x8838648e132b4655:0x9d9c1d48e854e09b!8m2!3d39.9541807!4d-82.8056303!16s%2Fg%2F11bw49sw7m?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDkxMy4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D). We should be there by 5 if you can't make the hike and just want to join us for drinks.