Experience Birthday Events Throughout Columbus

In commemoration of the 200^th anniversary of Columbus’ founding on February 14, 1812, 200Columbus and other area organizations have planned more than 40 events, exhibits, shows and other celebrations that will take place in February. From family-friendly activities to a vast array of arts and cultural exhibits as well as live performances, there is something for everyone.

Below is the list of events taking place around Columbus’ birthday on February 14, which are open to the public. Following that is a list of long running exhibits and shows taking place during the month of February and beyond. Times, dates and locations are subject to change. Events are listed by start date. Long-running events are listed at the end.

For a printable list of events with all details, click here.

Don’t forget: the Bicentennial celebration lasts all year long! Check out all the other events happening in 2012 via the 200Columbus event calendar.

Birthday Events

Current as of 2/6/2012.

Free events include:

FEBRUARY EVENTS

02/01/2012. The Women’s Sports Report presented by Key4Women. The Greater Columbus Sports Commission hosts its 2nd annual The Women’s Sports Report breakfast in celebration of the 26th annual National Girls and Women in Sports Day. Get details.

02/02/2012. A Fabulous 165^th Birthday Party for Clintonville. Kick-off the year-long birthday celebrations for both Clintonville’s 165th and Columbus’ 200^th. This event will feature special guests and presentations, free cake, ice cream and more. Get details.

02/02/2012 to 02/12/2012. BalletMet, Jazz Arts Group and WOSU present Jazz Moves Columbus. In conjunction with WOSU Public Media’s “Columbus Neighborhoods” series, the CJO and BalletMet celebrate life in Columbus through a synthesis of music, movement and imagery. Get details.

02/07/2012. Champion of Children 2012 Signature Event. Join United Way of Central Ohio as they honor two outstanding Champions of Children and unveil the latest research on local students. Get details.

02/08/2012. 200 Columbus Celebration – On Your Mark. Learn about 200Columbus The Bicentennial at this Columbus Metropolitan Club luncheon. Mayor Coleman expected to speak. Get details.

02/10/2012. 200Columbus Celebration: Meet the Mayors! Welcome Columbus’ Sister Cities Mayors as they visit Columbus to celebrate 200Columbus bicentennial with us. VIP visitors from: Ahmedabad, India; Dresden, Germany; Odense, Denmark. Get details.

02/10/2012. The Bicentennial Birthday – a Celebration of the Centuries. Celebrate our city’s Bicentennial as we come together for a Celebration of the Centuries – an unforgettable evening of entertainment and festivities. Get details.

02/10/2012. Illuminate Columbus. Buildings and properties in downtown Columbus will be lit in honor of Columbus’ birthday, including the Ohio Statehouse and the Nationwide Plaza One Building, which will spell out “COLUMBUS 200” in the windows. Get details.

02/11/2012 to 02/15/2012. 200Columbus Days. Experience great things that make Columbus Columbus, and enjoy discounts on entertainment and shopping. Get details.

02/11/2012. 2012 Bicentennial Artists’ informal. All artists (starving to well-established) and art supporters are encouraged to attend this fun event to represent and celebrate the huge number of local artists who live and work in our city. Get details.

02/11/2012. Columbus Birthday Parties. Celebrate at Columbus birthday parties at each of the 21 Columbus Metropolitan Library branches scattered throughout the city. Get details.

02/11/2012 to 02/12/2012. Columbus Family Weekend at COSI. COSI celebrates Columbus’ bicentennial by exploring what life was like when Columbus was founded. Interact with science and technology from the early 1800s, play games and activities from that era, and see Columbus’ history come to life. Get details.

02/11/2012. The Ruby Elzy Story. This show tells the story of Ruby Elzy’s path to celebrity, while spotlighting some of the best student performers from the OSU School of Music. The evening promises to bring further recognition to a significant personality from Columbus’ past. Get details.

02/12/2012 So You Think You Know Columbus? Bus Tour. This tour is a rolling overview of the city we love—featuring what Columbus Landmarks Foundation does best—connecting buildings and stories, issues and neighborhoods, astonishing facts, and yes, a scandal or two. A 3-hour bus tour with a few interesting stops. You will never look at Columbus the same way again. Get details.

02/12/2012. Kids, Courage and the Civil War: Presented by the Imaginating Dramatics Company. Come see this child-friendly play with music that dramatizes the effect of war on children. Get details.

02/12/2012. New Albany Symphony: Portraits of a Columbus Bicentennial The New Albany Symphony celebrates the 200th birthday of our city in this multi-disciplinary effort featuring local photography and the quintessentially-American music of Aaron Copland. Get details.

02/14/2012. Celebrate Columbus’ 200th birthday with the Columbus Historical Society and COSI. Join us for a first look at the Columbus Historical Society’s new home at COSI, and the opening of our newest interactive exhibit showcasing Columbus’ unique past. Get details.

02/14/2012. Columbus Blue Jackets Hockey vs. St. Louis Blues. Carry the flag as Columbus Blue Jackets take on the St. Louis Blues on the evening of Columbus’ 200th birthday. Get details.

02/14/2012. WOSU Presents Columbus Neighborhoods: Franklinton/Downtown Premiere. Join us for the premiere of the documentary that details the history of Franklinton/Downtown. Get details.

02/18/2012 to 02/28/2012. C-BUS Rocks: A Bicentennial Exhibition. This is going to be a show for every artist who is proud to live and create in Columbus. Let’s help the city bring in the bicentennial with a showcase of C-bus pieces! Get details.

02/18/2012 to 03/24/2012. Exhibit: OhioCentric.In honor of the Columbus Bicentennial, City Center Gallery hosts its first juried exhibition: OhioCentric, which will showcase artists from all over Ohio, past and present. Get details.

02/24/2012 to 02/26/2012. Columbus Gay Men’s Chorus: Home and Country. Get details.

02/25/2012 to 03/04/2012. Central Ohio Home & Garden Show. Celebrate Columbus’ Bicentennial with the home and garden show’s birthday party for the city. The gardens will be redesigned this year with a new format and themed to incorporate a party atmosphere! Get details.

02/29/2012 to 03/03/2012. Columbus State Theatre: Titanic: A Retrospective. In this centennial year of the sinking of the Titanic, this new, original play centers on the actual words of Titanic survivors and tells the story of Isidor and Ida Strauss, who started one of the first department stores in Columbus and later died in the ship’s sinking. Get details.

02/29/2012. State of the City. Join Mayor Michael Coleman as he gives the annual State of the City address for 2012 – Columbus’ Bicentennial. Get details.

LONG-RUNNING EVENTS

Through 02/12/2012. Exhibit: Caravaggio: Behold the Man! The Columbus Museum of Art offers the rare opportunity to view the work of this Italian Baroque master. Get details.

Through 02/10/2012. Exhibit: Bright, Black and Veiled. City Center Gallery launches the New Year with an exhibition from Jan. 6-Feb. 10 of large-scale paintings by local artists Stefan Hoza and Adam Johnson. Get details.

Through 02/11/2012. Exhibit: Global Textile Trades. Global Textile Trades is an exhibition that explores the aspects of the meaning of the word ‘trade’ as it relates to clothing and textile objects. Get details.

Through 03/03/2012. Exhibit: Object/Imprint. Object /Imprint showcases the work of regional artists who utilize individual artistic approaches to expand on conventional ideas about the historical definitions of art, art categorization, and the art object itself. Get details.

Through 03/10/2012. Exhibit: Cityscapes Yesteryear: Past & Present. Local painters, Harvey Gilliam, Leon Page, Roman Johnson and photographer, Kojo Kamau share a common bond in documenting urban surroundings that connect communities from the 1950′s to the present time. These original works of art capture Columbus’ neighborhoods, homes, landscapes and people of yesteryear. Get details.

Through 03/15/2012. Finding Time: Columbus Public Art 2012 – Stuart Williams: Breath of Life. The facades of two historic buildings are temporarily transformed. Rhythmic waves of light create a visual suggestion of respiration, and make for a poetic metamorphosis of the inanimate to the animate. Get details.

Through 03/24/2012. Exhibit: Tracing Lines Project. This exhibition explores themes of power, communication, energy, mobility, global desire, progress, consumption, and contemporary culture through photographic imagery and other works of art in an attempt to reveal deeper connections and support ongoing dialogue around these subjects. Get details.

Through 04/08/2012. Orchids! Vibrant Victoriana. Escape to an era of elegance and luxury with the exotic mystique of the orchid. These infamous blooms exude beauty and grace in an artful display of splendor and warmth, while featured work from glass artist Debora Moore presents an imaginative interpretation on these wonders of nature. Get details.

Through 04/08/2012. The History and the Mystery. A fire at Columbus City Hall in 1921 destroyed local records, creating gaps in the history of Franklin Park and the Conservatory. This new exhibition, researched and developed by Conservatory staff, shares and challenges accepted facts and oral histories of the institution’s past, and reveals the way in which the community, Franklin Park, and the Conservatory have developed together over the past 150 years. Get details.

Through 04/15/2012. Exhibit: 100 Years of Art: Celebrating Columbus’ Legacy. Curated by Melissa Wolfe from the Columbus Museum of Art, this exhibit covers more than 100 years of artistic endeavors, including a variety of media and artistic styles, in order to present a sense of the city’s arts community as it looked, changing over the years in response to both local and national artistic developments. Get details.

Through 04/27/2012. Exhibit: Columbus Cartoonists: A Bicentennial Celebration. An extraordinary number of notable cartoonists have lived, worked or been educated in Columbus, Ohio. This exhibition features original cartoon art and other artifacts created by many of them, including Billy Ireland, Milton Caniff, Harry J. Westerman, Eugene Craig, Doc Goodwin, Bill Crawford, Edwina Dumm, Dudley T. Fisher, James Thurber. Get details.

Through 05/06/2012. Race: Are We So Different? Developed by the American Anthropological Association in collaboration with the Science Museum of Minnesota, Race is the first nationally traveling exhibition to tell the stories of race from the biological, cultural, and historical points of view. Get details.

Through 05/13/2012. Exhibit: Monet to Matisse: Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the Sirak Collection. CMA celebrates the 20th anniversary of the Sirak collection with a special exhibition of the entire collection of 78 works by masters such as Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Pierre-Auguste-Renoir, Paul Cezanne, Paul Klee, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Chaim Soutine, and Henri Matisse among others. Get details.

Through 05/27/2012. Exhibit: Columbus Views. The exhibition, drawn primarily from CMA’s collection, gathers works by artists such as George Bellows, Emerson Burkhart, Edmund Kuehn, Robert Chadeayne, and others, who were compelled to translate the charms of the city’s various locales and neighborhoods onto canvas. Get details.

Through 12/31/2012. Finding Time: Columbus Public Art 2012 – Chimes. Twelve composers, ranging from contemporary masters to jazz musicians to writers of sacred and secular music, have been invited to create new pieces for the bells at Trinity Episcopal Church. Hear them ring all year long. Get details.