Unique Columbus Foundation event forges community connection, action, all through conversation

Just people. A gathering place. And real conversation.

The event series, which has been held since 2016, is predicated on the idea that communities can only be as strong as their relationships. It involves community residents gathering together, putting down their devices and connecting face to face.

The Big Table, a unique community-building event hosted annually by The Columbus Foundation, is in many ways easier to define by what isn’t. No pomp, no pretense, no red tape. It simply involves community members gathering together to talk, and everyone is on the same level, whether you’re a CEO, councilperson, or stay at home parent.

The Big Table, which is open and free to all, will be held Oct. 21 at locations across Central Ohio. You can find a table to join here, or learn how to host one yourself here.

And even though The Big Table serves as a distilled form of community connection, it’s regularly turning about results on a large scale.

According to Dr. Katelin Hansen from Community Development for All People, a simple Big Table conversation led to the creation of a new, ongoing festival that’s held each summer, and that’s building bridges across neighborhoods.

“At The Big Table, we were really convicted around the notion that our local public spaces should be spaces for all people,” she said.

Using Parsons Avenue—which naturally falls near the borders of multiple Columbus neighborhoods—a Big Table conversation eventually led to the now-annual Avenue for All Festival. The celebration brings together denizens of Southern Orchard, German Village, Merion Village and more for food trucks, family fun, and neighborly connection.

“We created a festival with all the things that a festival should have, but we also celebrate the experience of community itself: the beauty and abundance of being together across a wide range of backgrounds,” Dr. Hansen said. “We want everyone to experience this as something good, and we want to preserve it as being something good.”

So whether you want to launch a cross-community festival or just talk about change, it all starts with a conversation.

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