Keep Comfest Alive

Keep ComFest Alive! For this generation and the next. Become a sustaining member at comfest.com/give.

ComFest started in 1972 at 16th and Waldeck in Columbus, Ohio, when a group of activists wanted to get the word out about what their community organizations had to offer. Many of the organizers were still in jail that weekend, arrested the day before while demonstrating against the war in Vietnam. Now, more than 50 years later, ComFest is one of the longest-running, volunteer-run community festivals in the country.

Even though ComFest is still the festival we all know and love, the world around it is changing, and a festival that was primarily sustained by alcohol sales is no longer viable. Folks just don’t drink like they used to (which is fine!), but this means ComFest is in a transition period, where it has to adapt or perish. 

It costs roughly $300,000 to run Comfest every year, and it's primary source of income has fallen. Comfest has sufficient reserves to confidently produce one more festival, but without additional sources of support, 2027 could be Comfest's final year

But we have a plan. 

If we can get 2,000 people to give just $5 a month, we can close our gap and start building back our reserves. 

We also take our responsibility to you seriously. If, for whatever reason, we fall short of our goal and Comfest must end, all remaining funds will go into community grants to sustain the folks doing incredible things to serve our neighborhoods. 

Please, if you have ever held your face upward and felt the sun on your cheeks on a beautiful June day, hugged an old friend you only ever seem to run into at Comfest, or just know what Comfest feels like (iykyk), consider helping keep Comfest alive for the next generation.