Central Ohio Folk Festival 2025, Headlined by Richard Shindell – 7pm May 3

This Eventbrite listing is to pre-donate to get inside tent seating for the festival's Saturday Night Headliner, Richard Shindell. We encourage a $20 donation per seat. You can also count this as your donation for gaining access to all other festival events over the two days. Please read the entire post to know more about the festival!

Please do NOT buy Sat. night inside seating tickets from anyone offering them via postings on our Facebook page. These postings are NOT legitimate; they are scammers trying to steal your money! If inside seating is no longer available, know there is always plenty of lawn seating. You can also ask at the festival entrance to be put on a wait list for Sat. night, if additional inside seating becomes available.

If you DO NOT want to reserve inside tent seating for Richard Shindell AND you prefer to attend the festival just during the day and pre-donate so you can avoid waiting in a longer line at the festival entrance, click here: https://square.link/u/NTDn2n2b (No concert ticket reserves here).

Originally from Long Island, New York, now residing in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Shindell is a writer whose songs paint pictures, tell stories, juxtapose ideas and images, inhabit characters, all the while vividly evoking entire worlds and expanding our sense of the world as well as just what it is a song can be.

Described as: Innovative, original and occasionally spiritual, Shindell’s songs weave tales that interchangeably champion the downtrodden, exalt the disaffected or wax empathetic to those lost to society’s fringes. From lighthearted ballads, to dirges and diatribes that skillfully skewer politics, prejudice, war and religion, to the comic point-of-view of a cow stuck in a barbed wire fence, he has a unique ability to morph into the soul of the many and varied personalities he casts as narrators in songs—veritable novellas framed in haunting acoustic melodies.

Over the years, he has worked with the likes of Joan Baez, Lucy Kaplansky, and Dar Williams. The Wall Street Journal has called him “a master of the subtle narrative.”

Take a listen: https://music.youtube.com/channel/UC498DVlEEVDDbyQUFdDN5XA

THE CENTRAL OHIO FOLK FESTIVAL is an annual two day family-friendly, free-will donation festival that occurs May 3 & 4, 2025. There are multiple stages featuring a refreshing variety of folk/roots/Americana performances. Daytime performing artists are regional, local, and even national.

Are you a music lover itching to catch some live roots music in a great outdoor setting? Are you a musician who wants tips how better to hone your craft? Do you love the interactive experiences of jamming with other musicians or just singing with others? Are you looking for something that the entire family will enjoy? You'll find it all here!

We offer 30+ music workshops (all levels/various instruments). We have five ongoing jam tents each with a particular focus: bluegrass, old-time, folk/folk-mix, pure song, and a tent for the very beginner. In addition to 3 performing stages, the festival features: music, storytelling, and crafts for kids; young adult offerings; a festival store; beer gardens (featuring local Nocterra craft beer); festival opening and close singing; and a drum circle each day. Food trucks on site or you can bring your own food. NOTE: you are not permitted to bring your own alcohol into the Metro Parks or the festival grounds.

The festival is produced by the Columbus Folk Music Society in cooperation with the Metro Parks and co-sponsored by WCBE 90.5FM. The festival is held in the Big Meadows area of Highbanks Metro Park.

ADDITIONAL INFO about the event at: www.columbusfolkmusicsociety.org/festival

Our festival is a "free-will donation" event. All festival events are accessible by anyone entering the grounds, including the Saturday evening headliner concert and workshops. Saturday night Headliner Concert seating inside the Main Stage Tent is by pre-donation/reservation, but there is also plenty of wide open seating on the lawn.

We have donation tents at the entrance. Know that your generous $$ support makes all of this possible. For a donation of $20 or more, you’ll get a fun flexible flyer, a cookie and a sticker (while supplies last)!

Donations can be made on-site, at the "Donate to COFF" link above, or on this page if you want inside seating for Sat. night. We encourage a donation of $20 for each INSIDE TENT SEAT for SATURDAY NIGHT. Whether you donate via Eventbrite – which will reserve you an inside tent seat for Richard Shindell OR you pre-donate via the donate link above, bring your receipt.

PLEASE NOTE: to keep things manageable, we ask you to donate separately for each INSIDE-tent-seat reservation. One benefit? We are absorbing the Eventbrite processing fee on your behalf! IF you are visiting this reservation site and find inside seating is no longer available, know that lawn seating WILL always be available.

"It's been a joy exploring the festival . . . It's obvious that there's a true passion for artfulness in music. "

“Amazing quality of performers - not a single average act”

“What a wonderful family event! Thank you for helping keep folk music alive! The workshops were very informative and interactive.”

“Jam tent was awesome. Magical how various musicians just ‘walked up’ and started playing ! "

“Love it! Awesome way to introduce our kids to folk music.”

Host or Publisher Columbus Folk Music Society