Creekside Blues and Jazz Festival

A festival of music and food. Gahanna puts alot in a little space. I go every year though. Nice variety of music and food.

Parking garage was closed, the lot was full and every street was littered with police no parking signs. During my half hour hunt for a place to park, I found a hand full of spaces that locals ruined by double parking. Roll all that up with their intention to charge me admission to get at some food trucks and whatever dive bar clown was screwing around on stage and you’ve got the perfect formula for «nope».
Seriously, if the city Hall is going to destroy all the parking like that just rename it to the gahanna resident only community fair.
On the plus side, the drive leaving gahanna is always scenic.

I think I expected too much.
A musician friend and I went to the Creekside Blues & Jazz Festival and listened for several hours to some kitschy jazz fusion and by-​the-​book blues. I hate to sound like the snobby critic, but guitar solos were spelled out P-​E-​N-​A-​T-​O-​N-​I-​C and notes were sourly missed. My friend and I exchanged many «ehk» glances as a lead guitarist could be accurately described as a «bad game of guitar hero.»
As a longtime fan of blues, I was disappointed. Maybe it was the crackling speakers, or the overzealous sub bass that clouded out the music factor? But to the credit of Gahanna, Creekside is a beautiful spot. Additionally, the vendor and food truck lineup was impressive. There was much to eat. Nevertheless, you can feed me all the cinnamon sugar almonds you want, but it won’t change my taste for good blues.
By the end of the night, we left the main stages and followed our ears through an alleyway. At the end of the alley, we stumbled upon a quant, patio-​like setting, and a blues fusion band who actually had some chops. The sound here was the best we heard all night– kudos to the audio engineer who knew how to dial it in.
I watched with appreciation as the lead guitarist skillfully played some unpredictable scales, but I couldn’t help but remember the days of Josh Krajcik laying down a heartfelt blues at Victory’s– a blues that made even the bartenders weep. Those days seem long gone, replaced by fusion, fried foods and friendship bracelets.
I’ll be back again next year, questing through the Creekside alleyways for authentic, soulful blues.

Blues Baby!!!

I went a few years ago and the year after and it was a great time, free admission, good music, great food available, lovely setting of Gahanna Creekside.
The last couple years they started charging admission to get in, and that made it not worth going, anymore.

I’ve lived in Columbus almost all of my life and while I can say that I’ve been to nearly every festival in the C-​bus, I’d never been to the Creekside Jazz and Blues Festival until a few weeks ago. I was pleasantly surprised! The Creekside area is absolutely adorable and I plan on going back there for dinner sometime simply for the atmosphere in old Gahanna. The festival itself wasn’t as crowded or as large as other festivals in Columbus and the music was quite good. The fact that the festival was alongside the creek was very romantic — moonlit paths with the faint sound of jazz music in the distance — it doesn’t get better than that!

I had the pleasure of visiting Gahanna’s Creekside Blues and Jazz Festival on Friday, June 18, 2010.
The Place: the Festival is held in Olde Gahanna, primarily on Mill St. between Granville St. and Walnut St. Most of the food and beverage vendors, as well as craft and merc. vendors, are along Mill St. There are a few vendors down Walnut St. and Town St. as well. Walnut and Town run east from Mill, and a few hundred yards down each street there’s a stage. Walnut St. played host to the Jazz Stage, while Town St. housed the Blues Stage. West of Mill St. there’s a city commons-​type area with a water feature and the «Community Stage,» as well as a few other attractions. Across Granville there are amusement rides for kids.
This is a fun location. Olde Gahanna is pretty, comfortable and quaint. The area was clean and easy to navigate.
The Music: I only saw one band while at the festival — a blues group called the Jimi Vincent Band. They were quite good. I heard Jazz and some other Blues groups from afar while I walked around, and they seemed to be quite good as well. Unfortunately I was only able to spend 2 hours or so at the festival, so I didn’t get to see many bands — next year I’ll stay longer and take in more of the entertainment.
The Food: standard festival fare. There were lots of fair food type offerings (funnel cakes, elephant ears, Bavarian nuts), as well as stands offering BBQ chicken, Greek and Oriental food, roasted corn, sandwiches, and the great festival stand-​by: Schmidt’s brats, bahama mamas, hot dogs and cream puffs. Restaurants in the area were also welcoming festival-​goers. Those restaurants included: Gahanna Grill, Old Bag of Nails Pub, Mezzo Italian, El Acapulco, and a few bars and coffee shops.
The Drinks: soft drink and smoothie/​ice cream stands, as well as beer vendors pouring Miller Lite and Coor’s Light.
The Price: $ 3 admission to the festival. Not a bad price considering the number of bands playing, but free festivals still strike my fancy more, to be sure. The beers were $ 4 for 20 oz. drafts (a GOOD price). The food was a bit high-​priced, but that’s to be expected at festivals such as this.
The Crowd: I went on Friday at 9:30 or so, and the place was incredibly packed. It was a 15 min. wait for food, and a few-​minute wait for beer. It was hard to get within 50 ft. of the Blues Stage. There were lots of kids and teenagers about, but the crowd overall was pretty well behaved. I didn’t see a HUGE police presence, but there were enough around to keep everything under control.
Overall: I was impressed by the size of the festival. With 3 stages, vendors spanning perhaps ½ mile of road, and a separate area devoted to rides for the kids — this is a very large festival. The food and drink selection and price were fair, the atmosphere of Olde Gahanna was great, and the music was high-​quality. I’m knocking off one star because of the $ 3 entry fee, and the suffocating crowd. I will be returning next year, and will plan on spending a lot more time enjoying the atmosphere and entertainment.

Little Gahanna is all Grown Up! If your craving some culture in your life… The Creekside Blues & Jazz Festival is one event this summer that you can’t miss! The talent is exceptional! Great MUSIC fills the air and your soul comes alive with Da… naaaaa… na… NA!
(2008)
Friday, June 20 5 p.m. — 11 p.m.
Saturday, June 21 11 a.m. — 11 p.m.
Sunday, June 22 11 a.m. — 6 p.m.