COLUMBUS, Ohio — Halloween arrives a week early at Polaris Fashion Place on Saturday, Oct. 24, when Boo & Brew takes over the outdoor Polaris Lifestyle Center from 2 to 6 p.m. with live music, food and drink sales, contests, a vendors market and a full lineup of kid-friendly attractions.
The bash, held near The Cheesecake Factory, Benihana and COhatch at 1500 Polaris Parkway, mixes family activities with a charitable twist. Adult attendees can purchase beer and hard seltzer, with proceeds from drink sales benefiting the Columbus Young Professionals Club’s charities, and food trucks will offer options for all ages throughout the afternoon.
Children can stay busy with inflatables, pumpkin decorating, face painting, balloon art, caricatures and carnival games, plus a costume contest of their own. After the young contestants show off their Halloween looks, dogs get their turn in the spotlight, competing for the title of best canine costume.
The contests will be judged by characters from "KPop Demon Hunters," who also will perform during the event. Long Play, a Westerville band, will play hits from the 1970s and 1980s throughout the afternoon, covering artists such as Queen, Foreigner, Peter Gabriel and Styx. Organizers suggest bringing a lawn chair to enjoy the show.
Adults looking for a scare of their own can enter to win two tickets to Fear Columbus Haunted House. Entrants must be 18 or older, with a limit of one entry per person and email address, and the winner will be contacted by email on Oct. 26.
Boo & Brew is one of several fall celebrations filling central Ohio calendars in the final stretch before Halloween, as malls, neighborhoods and community groups lean into costume contests, trunk-or-treats and family festivals across the Columbus area this weekend.
Polaris Fashion Place has leaned into seasonal, family-focused programming in its outdoor lifestyle center in recent years, using events like Boo & Brew to draw shoppers to the north Columbus retail district on fall weekends. Saturday’s event is free to attend, with food, drinks and some activities available for purchase.
Full event details and contest rules are available online at polarisfashionplace.com/booandbrew. The event runs rain or shine in the outdoor lifestyle center, and families planning to attend the costume contests are encouraged to arrive early in the four-hour window.
Photo: DrBob317, CC BY-SA 2.0