So Long Independents’ Day, We Hardly Knew Ye

So Long Independents’ Day, We Hardly Knew Ye

by Matt Monta, Image Courtesy of Independents’ Day

For all of its growth, complexity, and weirdness Columbus can still be a simple town. We loves our free festivals and hates when our signature businesses, building, and events disappear. This September, as the celebrated Independents’ Day Festival marks its final voyage, its loss will hit the heart of Columbus hard.

The Independents’ Day Festival emerged in downtown Columbus in 2007 as a shoestring, two-alley, one-day DIY event amidst a vast ocean of decades old festivals. Its founders didn’t have big money-backers to realize their vision—they did it themselves. “I actually had to put my credit card up as collateral for the stages because we had no money – we were totally banking on selling enough beer to pull it off,” recalled founding member and Independents’ Day Board Vice-Chair Andrew Dodson, “and somehow we did.”

Every event has its purpose whether to celebrate a particular culture (Asian, Irish, Italian, Greek, etc.) or perhaps just feeling and doing good things (Comfest), and for Independents’ Day, the driving force was tethered to Columbus’s ubiquitous undercurrent of desire to put its deep artistic and musical talent on display. “We felt like there was so much awesome […] that most of the city didn’t know about,” Dodson remarked. “We were super proud of our friends and wanted to show them off to the world.”

Through the grit and grind of its founding members along with a growing army of volunteers and City-level support, ID grew to one of the more formidable Columbus events with a six-figure professional budget, sprawling footprint in Franklinton, and two full days of live art, music, and family-friendly programming.

Though its continuous growth in attendance and participation was a clear and direct sign of its success, the city in which Independents’ Day first set sail is vastly different than when it was launched. In this new landscape, the event leaders saw a new vision for what Independents’ Day means and how it serves Columbus. “Instead of continuing to grow for growth’s sake, we decided that we really wanted to focus on providing platforms for unique ideas, and to do so by embracing risk and change.”

Though the Festival itself will go the way of many beloved Columbus institutions, its spirit and original mission will re-emerge throughout new concepts and programs yet to be imagined. “We also want to include more people from more backgrounds and we didn’t want the perceived expectations to box in anyone’s ideas,” Dodson explained. “We’re not sure what the next route is, but we’re we are super excited to bring in new people to help us figure that out.”

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