Culinary Event: Creekside Blues and Jazz Festival
One of the Columbus festivals I look forward to the most every year is the Creekside Blues and Jazz Festival. This three day extravaganza held in the heart of Gahanna is everything you are looking for in a summer event, filled with incredible music, food, and drinks.
Threats of impending storms didn’t stop me from heading to Creekside on both Friday and Saturday nights, and the weather turned out to be clear and perfect. Friday my group and I set up camp in Acoustic Alley for much of the evening, listening to some great guitar and harmonica duos until trekking to the Community Stage to hear Soul Kitch’n cover some funk and soul favorites. On Saturday we came back to jam to Angela Perley & The Howlin’ Moons, voted best local band in the Columbus Alive awards. Angela and her crew play original tunes that are both dreamy and energetic; she even plays a saw as an instrument to accompany her fabulous vocals. Track down these talented local artists at Columbus music venues too!
The food at the CBJF is wonderful too. In addition to the “typical” fair food selections like corn dogs, lemon shake-ups, and donut bacon cheeseburgers, there are some interesting twists in the form of local food trucks. During my time there, I stopped by Tortilla Street Food for nachos, and Mikey’s Late Night Slice for pepperoni pizza and “signature” sauce. I also couldn’t resist a cream puff from the Schmidt’s Sausage Haus truck. Other possibilities include J. Gumbo’s for Cajun specialties, Pizza Cottage pies, or Koko’s Tea Salon treats. Area restaurants such as Local Cantina, Old Bag of Nails, and Wine Guy Wine Shop are also open for business during the festivities.
When it comes to drinks, options are endless as well. This year, Watershed Distillery created some signature drinks for the festival. My favorites were the Ohio Mule, made with Old City Soda ginger beer, and the Bluesberry Lemonade, accented with Watershed vodka and fresh basil. I also snagged a spot in a whiskey tasting that was offered, which was as tasty as it was informative. For craft beer lovers, Columbus Brewing Company Summer Teeth, Four String Brass Knuckle, Sweetwater 420, and more were available too.
If you missed out on this year’s Creekside Blues and Jazz Festival, make sure you put it on your calendar for next year – it’s a blast!
Keep Connected,
Caroline
Free weekend passes and a t-shirt were provided to this event for Columbus Culinary Connection and a reader. All opinions in this post are my own.