For those of you with kids, you may be in back-to-school mode lately. For us, there are always mixed feelings: excitement for the school year, the joy of a regular schedule, the disappointment that summer adventures have come to an end. But we’re still making the most of things, and judging by the calendars on ColumbusMakesArt.com, there’s plenty to do.

Case in point: festivals are still going strong. This weekend alone you can attend…

• The final night of the King Arts Complex’s Heritage Music Festival on Thursday, Aug. 18.
  
• The Columbus Food Truck Festival takes place at the Franklin County Fairgrounds Aug. 19-21.
• The Columbus African Festival on Saturday, Aug. 20 at Franklin Park Conservatory.
• The Clintonville neighborhood celebration CrestFest that same day.
• The new CBUS Soul Fest, put on by Experience Columbus and Columbus Recreation & Parks, celebrates Black culture, music, history and more from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. in Bicentennial Park on Saturday.

And there’s plenty more by way of exhibitions, theater productions, live music, film:

• The Columbus Museum of Art hosts the 10th-annual Kleibacker Film Festival, Aug. 18-20. Tickets are only $5.
• Actors’ Theatre joins forces with PAST Productions to present the final play in its 2022 summer season: August Wilson’s King Hedley II. It opens this Thursday, Aug. 18 and runs through Sept. 4.
• Loads of great music at Natalie’s this week, including Jason Eady at Worthington and Teeny Tucker at Grandview on Thursday, Aug. 18.
• Red Herring Productions opens a new play, The Niceties, on Thursday. It’s about a Black college student who is called into her white professor’s office to discuss her paper about slavery and its effect on the American Revolution.
• Fans of Parks & Rec will enjoy Global Gallery’s next free concert: the Cones of Dunshire perform on the patio on Friday, Aug. 19.
• On Friday High Road Gallery in Worthington opens a new exhibition of Bev Goldie’s work, Deliciously Luminous. Once a month they also host an Art Brunch; the next is this Saturday the 20th, with live music, a food truck, demos and more.
• Stick around Worthington that day, because the McConnell Arts Center hosts The Moonbats in concert followed by a screening of Across the Universe Saturday night. Both events are free!
• Kingdom Image Arts hosts a Back to School Carnival on Saturday, Aug. 20, with school supplies for kids, live music and more.

Kingdom Image Arts and Red Herring Productions are Arts Council Project Support grant recipients.

(Image credit: CBUS Soul Fest)

Nick is marketing, communications, & events administrator for the Arts Council. He’s also a food/travel writer penning works for Columbus Monthly, Ohio.org, Ohio Magazine and on his own site BreakfastWithNick.com. He’s not ready for summer to be over, but he’s always ready for fall.