COLUMBUS, Ohio — Every year, hundreds of thousands of people come to Columbus from all over for Red, White and Boom — the city's annual fireworks show and celebration for the Fourth of July.

What You Need To Know

  • Hundreds of thousands of people came to Columbus for the holiday weekend, boosting the economy

  • USA Fencing Championships is in Columbus, bringing in around 10,000 visitors 

  • The MLS All-Star game will also bring tons of people to Columbus later this month 
 

But once it’s over, many of them stick around for several days to enjoy many of the different things the city has to offer, impacting the Columbus economy. 

“They’re spending money at our local restaurants, our local boutiques, in general direct visitor spending is a huge boost for Columbus,” said Leah Berger with Experience Columbus.

According to Berger, more than 400,000 people have come into the city from out of town this weekend alone.

“These are the busiest months for visitation to Columbus, in particular, April through September are our busiest seasons and July really kicks off such a high time for the city,” Berger said.

Berger said beyond Fourth of July celebrations, there’s plenty of other events bringing people to Columbus this weekend. 

“There’s also picnic with the pops happening on Saturday at Columbus Commons — this is gonna be a wonderful outdoor music event so you can still purchase tickets for that. There’s just so much happening all throughout Columbus and one really unique event that’s happening through July 8 is the USA fencing championships,” Berger said.

That event is drawing a record 6,200 competitors, more than any other fencing event in the world.

The Greater Sports Commission said it’s also bringing in 10,000 visitors from around the world and generating $7 million for the city’s economy.

“From an economic impact standpoint, it’s huge. I mean we’ve got folks, some of them who are here for all 10 days of the competition, that’s additional hotel room nights, that’s additional spending at restaurants and local attractions,” said Glenn Hollingsworth, director of events for USA Fencing.

And with a bunch of big events on tap this summer, the surge is not expected to slow down anytime soon.

“We’ve got the Columbus crew playing several games this weekend in particular, and then it’s the summer of soccer, as we look on to the rest of the month, we have the MLS All-Star game coming to Columbus,” Berger said.