Red White and Boom

Wow, what a crowd. It was great and I’m glad I went but I’ll stay home in the future. Great fireworks, good food, not enough beer choices — I could only find one craft beer tent. I had a great time and loved it just way too many people for me.

First time to experience Red, White and Boom. I had heard horror stories and raving reviews… so I had no idea what to expect!
Parked on down Spring street with a straight shot into the interstate… good call. The walk wasnt bad except for the ice chest we lugged with us.
After checking out the perimeter we landed at Bicentennial Park. We were able to watch the stage, the parade and the fireworks display. Food trucks were stationed there too-​so we tasted the fare!
A mechanical bull (actually a shark) was a cool little deal. There really wasn’t as much for kids as I would have liked to see; a better variety of vendors was another opportunity that would serve the festival well. One band distributed bubbles and blow up beach balls to all the kids — what a absolutely fabulous thing for them to do!!!
The fireworks spectacular was about 25 minutes long! I have never before seen such a long show! They were so beautiful. Few opportunities but overall fantastic festival for the family (and our out of town guests)!

If you like crowds, drunk people, and a lot of waiting, then this is the place for you! Personally, I enjoy the fireworks just as much on tv as downtown in the crowd. As always, the local pop station made a «poppin» soundtrack for the fireworks. In my opinion, the hassle of the crowd, etc., is not worth the 24 minute show unless you are a HUGE firework fan.

Ive lived in Columbus, Ohio my entire life and ive never had the experience to witness the fireworks up close like I did last night at red, white and boom. It was so amazing to see everything close up. What a way to kick off your fourth of july weekend! Also dating a Cota city bus driver isnt so bad either because i didnt have to worry about parking, his company drove most of the people home for free

Well first time, plenty of room but it is early. 630. .
Love the atmosphere live music, vendor food. byob it’s cheaper. don’t forget your cups.
Parade was cool. No one has been rude. Everyone is having a good time.
Park near the interstate entrance.
Hope the fireworks blow my mind! !!!

Meh, it really wasn’t as good as it’s been before…
Maybe it’s because it rained a little, or because I didn’t feel like waiting at a spot all day, or maybe it’s just not as good as it once was, but I kind of wish I had stayed home or just watched it from the Commons Park.
Perhaps next year I’ll rent a Kayak and just watch the fireworks from the riverfront. As far as the actual fireworks, they seemed a bit short, and nothing stellar to catch your attention. I’ve definitely seen better at previous RW&B and other firework displays.

I have mixed feelings about Red, White and Boom.
I am well aware of the ugly aggressive thugs that find themselves here at RWB, and for some reason they are always out at this event causing problems.
So for the longest time I stayed away from RWB, I don’t want trouble. know what I’m sayin.
But then my girlfriend told me about renting kayaks and paddling out on the onlentangy to watch the fireworks. I thought hey, maybe gangsters cant swim? lol. So we headed out on our rented kayaks and found ourselves having a wonderful time.
The fireworks were popping right above us, and felt like they were coming right at us! and in some ways were haha. There was this dude two yaks over who had a piece of firework land in his lap. «AH HOT!» he said as the fragment landed in his lap and quickly cooled off after it had landed. Once he had gotten over it, ANOTHER FRAGMENT landed on him in the same spot, haha. Move your Yak bro, your in the danger zone.
I found being in the water this year was the way to go, if you don’t mind other ppl bumping you from time to time. It’s kind of understood that nobody has anchors and the current kinda pushes you around. So most ppl don’t really get too upset.
I enjoyed myself, but I’m well aware of the madness on land. So its a 50 – 50 shot with me.

If there’s one thing that mayor Coleman loves more than his «Snow Warriors,» it’s his 18 to 20 minutes of sub-​par fireworks show. Back in 2008, when the city of Columbus’ economy was in dire straits, mayor Coleman laid off 150 employees, but still had enough money for a 3 million dollar fireworks display.
Back in 2010 mayor Coleman decided to break tradition and not play Lee Greenwood’s song, «God Bless the USA (Proud to be an American) during the fireworks show, instead he played «Amazing Grace.» I could have sworn that «Amazing Grace» was a funeral song and not a celebration song. I always thought fireworks were for a time of celebration. Mikey also played A.G. in 2012. Lets see if mayor Mikey keeps tradition this year with A.G.
LAST BUT NOT LEAST, BEWARE of the gangs and thugs of punks causing terror and havoc through the crowds of honest people wanting to have a good time.
Be careful because there are a lot of punk thugs who like to walk around in groups of 15 – 20, and they don’t care who they take down to get what they want. The Columbus Police force isn’t big enough to handle the extremely large crowds.

poor security… ruined the whole night

Considering it was in the high 90’s the Wednesday of RWB, and people always come out early to stake and claim their spot for the show in the sky, I thought the fireworks severally sucked this year! Why is this such a big deal Gwen? Well, last year’s RWB show sucked — I mean a half-​a** job. I was told afterward that the city was conserving on the budget for fireworks last year, because this years RWB show was going to be honoring Columbus’ 200 Bicentennial! Thus, the city was going to put extra funds down to make this year’s sky extravaganza one to remember!
But… It was not spectacular. Yes, there were a few new fireworks, that haden’t ben used before (cubes, smiley faces), but nothing else to make you «oooo» and «awwwwwe». It was promised that it would last 25 – 30 minutes this year — if it did, then the breaks of nothingness helped to fill the void :(
And, for goodness sakes, they still have the nerve, after several years, to still play the same, BORING, music to accompany the show! All the heat, mixed with the disappointed anticipation? Not a happy camper.

Red, White, and Boom is a Columbus must-​do, at least once. Don’t feel like you have to go every year, though.
2012 marked my return to watching the fireworks downtown. Previously, I’d been driven away by the large, obnoxious crowds (but hey! people watching is primo), parking situations, heat, and general discomfort over 15 minutes (at most) of fireworks. This year, however, I have a convenient German Village address, so I had a pre-​party cookout in the comfort of my own home before walking downtown just before the big event. I also have a convenient office in the Huntington Center, so I watched them from the cool, indoor comfort of the 33^rd floor. This made it so I was pretty much eye-​level with the explosions. Pretty neat! Still, I missed that *boom* feeling in my chest watching outdoors and in range of the ash.
As far as the actual show– the idea is that the fireworks are set to sync with the soundtrack on radio station WNCI (97.9). To me, they didn’t seem to match up all that well. Have you ever watched cartoons on mute with rap music on? It was kind of like that. You can’t tell if it’s synced up or if the occasional collaborativeness is coincidental. Also, the songs were too short! I’d totally start getting into a patriotic song, and it would switch to something else. I would have liked more Sousa.
Go experience it at least once in the crowds. After that, don’t go unless you have access to a private viewing party downtown.

Where … where did all of the cartoonish-​looking people come from?!
I went alone last year, using for the first time the COTA to head downtown – as a matter of fact, I think that was my first time venturing outside the OSU area and entering the nucleus of Columbus as well.
As I often do now when I’m off campus in Ohio, I felt like a tourist fascinated by the masses of mid-​American stereotypes most likely pouring into the city from outlying small towns. Mine was an experience perhaps more exaggeratedly American than any I’ve ever had back home in D.C., making Red, White, and Boom an excellent carnival-​food-​scented event for people-​watching and celebrating the original thirteen colonies’ independence from the British Empire.
With that said, the fireworks display was lovely, despite my disdain for loud popping noises (like the kind made by that Civil War-​era cannon across the river that would boom at irregular intervals, maybe roughly every fifteen minutes – appropriately patriotic BUT STILL NOT COOL [and startling]). And because I [am forced to] use public transportation, the traffic gridlock ensuing from the post-​festival mass exodus wasn’t an issue that bothered me as much.

Please let me start off by saying that I live downtown, so I didn’t have to deal with traffic. I knew that my car would be in the garage the entire day, as the event started on Friday morning.
The Arena District featured typical Midway food fare: corn dogs, funnel cakes, lemonade, kettle corn, etc. And the crowd was big, but not unmanageable. I will say that this area has one ATM, and the line for it was about 40 or 50 deep at one point. Good thing I already had cash!
Now for the goods — the fireworks. I’ve lived in St. Louis, Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Chicago. I must say that this was the biggest and best display of fireworks that I’ve seen. I know, they’re just fireworks. But seriously, I thought my sister was going to soil herself during the grand finale! It was AWESOME!
The best part was walking back to my apartment, and looking at the hundreds of thousands of people trying to navigate through the gridlock. Suckas!

This is definitely an event you should partake in at least once here in Columbus, but stay away after that. The fireworks are fine, but nothing special (Dublin does them better!). The crowds are huge and finding a place to sit is damn near impossible. Parking is impossible, so if you live close like I do, walk or bike for sure. If you can avoid eating and drinking from the tents, definitely do as everything is more than overpriced.

Parking downtown seemed near impossible, so I parked on campus and biked in, passing traffic on the way. I arrived at a spot on a hill on Spring Street, near some railroad tracks, in about 15 minutes time. Getting through a large pool of people crowded near the corner of High Street and Spring Street was the most challenging part.
The fireworks were great, especially when you’ve got someone to enjoy them with. My only qualm– the audio had massive delay and echos from the main stage speakers interacting with everyone’s portable radios. I didn’t complain, but it was pretty hard to pay attention to the fireworks with the weird ambience everywhere– nothing but noise. There’s gotta be a better way to broadcast the music during the fireworks– maybe the city could setup portable speakers and simultaneously play the music through a wifi network?
There’s only a few times of the year where you get to see such diversity in one place. Red, White, and Boom seems to do a good job at encourage lots of different types of people, cultures, and demographics to gather– I appreciate that. I think it keeps everyone reminded about what our country has become: a nation for everyone.

Ugh. this gets worse each year. I am somewhat of a hater of large crowds, so this is not really my thang. Parking is a biatch (surprise surprise), lines for beer are redic, and the people seem to get more obnoxious each year.
The first year I went (4 years ago) it was a lot of fun. The2nd time it rained so the crowds were close to non existent! It was great. The next year the crowd was huge and lines for drinks and food were insane. we watched from a parking garage which was kind of cool and different and out of the crowds.
Last year it was really crowded and annoying and full of ignorant people and I swore to never return. The thing that REALLY ticked me off was that a family of 4 would section off close to a ¼ acre of grass with freaking caution tape so their children can play frisbee while the rest of us walk aimlessly looking for 2 ft of space to park our butts on. Ugh!
The fireworks are a good show for sure! I have seen works in Chicago, Louisville KY, and Columbus. Columbus currently ranks 3^rd, but that doesn’t mean they were bad, the other 2 are just that awesome.

This was my first major event since arriving to Columbus. I had heard it all from checking it out to avoiding it like the plague. I took the option of checking it out and glad to say I did.
I lucked out by living in close promixity to being able to park and take the COTA shuttle down to the event. My only complaint was that the bus fare needed to be more publicized. I was charged not only $ 5 for the round trip by the Red, White, and Boom comittee members, but also another $ 2 by the driver of the bus. Not that I am complaining, was definately worth the cost of not trying to fight the traffic to downtown.
I arrived downtown in about 20 minutes and off loaded into the heart of things. I was still about 3hrs before the first firing, so it gave me some time to wander the area and grab a bite to eat.
I found a nice sitting area in the midst of people, even though I felt like the creepy guy since I had just moved here and didn’t know a soul. The fireworks began and while I was impressed with the show itself, I wasn’t overly impressed. I attribute this though to the fact that I was on our volunteer 4^th of July Committee back home, so took special heart to our display thinking it was the best.
At the end of the display, I was able to walk 2 blocks hop the bus and was back home by 11pm.
I am only giving it four stars though because of 3 reasons.
1) I hold that our fireworks back home are the best
2) If you are not a crowd person, this event would not be for you.
3) It was sort of depressing for me, seeing the fireworks alone. Hopefully next year, I’ll have a good group of friends to attend with.

I’m only giving this thing 2 stars because the fireworks were top notch. Seriously awesome fireworks.
How one would ideally watch the fireworks: In an air-​conditioned apartment/​office over looking the river with a nice sandwich platter (from Katalina’s of course!), some beers and a clean bathroom. Then once they’re over, you curl up to bed or crash at your friend’s nice apartment and wake up the next morning.
How I watched the fireworks:
1) Hungry: Oh, there are vendors. I’m sure we can find some food there. Something healthy? Wait no. Fried food galore. ARGH EXPENSIVE!
2) Let’s find a spot: What the hell was up with that?! We went into Batelle park like 3 hours before the fireworks and people had taped off sections of the park. ¹⁄₈ of their taped off section was taken up by them/​their tent and the rest was like a large backyard. Seriously?! You need a freaking backyard to enjoy fireworks?! I’m not saying we should all squish but that was madness. My boyfriend said that it just seemed so typically American.
3) I need to pee: The bathrooms are behind Nationwide, like on the other side. *sigh*
4)Fireworks! Amazing, wait what is this MUSIC? Miley Cyrus? Just because it says USA, doesn’t mean its patriotic! Where’s some darn Sousa marches?!
5) Let’s go home. :SPRINTS TO COTA: I must say I did rather well. My ‘NYC-​getting-​home-​with-​mass-​transportation-​with-​a-​lot-​of-​people instinct’ didn’t let me down. Also my small NY attitude of barking at drunk skanks trying to cut the COTA line in front of a family of small children also served useful. We got on an early bus and although it took an hour to get back to Clintonville, it all turned out okay. HOWEVER, I noticed other buses (I’m looking at you #58 to Dublin!) where it looked like the UN was trying to liberate a refugee camp and everyone was trampling over eachother. Someone looked like they were seriously going to get hurt.
Fireworks were still good though. Also my friends are awesome. Just throwing that out there.

I used to come down to Red, White, and Boom every year and watch it from my father’s office. He worked in the courthouse so it was a great way to not have to look for parking, not have to look for a place to set up, not have to worry about port-​o-​potties, and generally just enjoy the evening. But I’ve only actually been to the epicenter of Red, White, and Boom once when I was 18 and had signed a contract that I would be there.
Once is enough.
If you’ve never been, you really should. Just experience it once and then you’ll never have to again. This year I took part in the Parade with the Red Cross and couldn’t believe how short the parade was and how few floats and attractions there were in it. I watched the fireworks from a friends’ house and they were OK. But they looked pretty much the same as they did when I was 18…
And do I even mention the crazy, drunken drivers all trying to get home?

The show seems to be declining year to year. In 2009 the fireworks seemed to fail for the first couple minutes before they got going. They were nice for the 19 minutes they went off. (the show was slated for 27? Maybe it was the longest version of the national anthem I’ve ever heard played that counted for the rest). The grand finale was a disappointing 45 seconds or so.
In terms of fireworks shows I’ve definitely seen better at RWB, but now on to the worst part. Traffic is the biggest hassle, not so much in as it is out. We parked in the COSI lot, and it took an hour and a half to get down the half mile on rich street to the 71 south entrance. There were no cops or traffic people directing traffic, so everyone parked on the west bank was screwed.
Not as if there were a lack of cops, there were tons, roaming around in packs, doing absolutely nothing to stop people from lighting off illegals in the parking lots right by us, or apparently anything else.
We’ll be doing ourselves a favor and skipping this next year…