The Columbus Taco Fest Grab-N-Go will be held Oct. 10 and Oct. 11 from noon to 7 p.m. at the Ohio History Center. Credit: Courtesy of Hugo Albornoz
The Columbus Taco Fest is returning for its third year this weekend, but this time there’s a twist.
To maintain state health guidelines, the beloved Columbus Taco Fest is changing it up and is now the Columbus Taco Fest Grab-N-Go. The event will be a carryout-only festival, in which customers must pre-order their food online and take it to go after picking it up. The festival will take place Saturday and Sunday from noon to 7 p.m. at the Ohio History Center.
“Our main focus for this year is to just make sure it’s done safely, make sure everyone feels safe coming to Taco Fest too, because as we all know, COVID-19 is a scary thing to deal with,” Sydney Kondas, director of public relations for the Columbus Taco Fest, said.
In order to keep everyone safe, the event requires masks and guests are encouraged to “stay at least 10 tacos apart” to promote social distancing, Hugo Albornoz, founder and executive director of the Columbus Taco Fest, said.
Some of the food featured at the event include Cazuelas Food Truck, Holy Taco, Tortilla Street Food and Nando’s Tacos & More, according to the festival’s website.
“It’s all about local, you know?” Albornoz said. “That’s what we’re trying to do here, support our community and be safe at the same time.”
The event’s vendors will center their menus primarily on tacos, but some vendors will still be offering other simple items in addition to tacos, Albornoz said.
“We will be focusing on food items that do not take a long time to cook. So some of them have chips, some of them have quesadillas. There won’t be only tacos, but there will be mainly tacos,” Albornoz said.
The idea for the event originated after Albornoz saw a taco fest in another state and noticed that there was a need for a similar event in Columbus, Kondas said.
“He is the one that really saw an opening for a taco fest and really saw how much our community loves to support local food trucks, local food and how much it actually does love tacos,” Kondas says. “So that was his idea, to bring it to Columbus and make it this really fun event where people can go, we can have margaritas, you can try as many different tacos as you want, all from local vendors.”
Despite the event’s tradition of being a hub for live music, dancing and socialization, large gatherings will not be permitted, Albornoz said.
“Each vendor will be able to sell their beverages. But to avoid mass gatherings, we’re not going to have what we usually have, like drink stations with alcoholic beverages,” Albornoz said.
Although there will be restrictions, both Albornoz and Kondas said they are excited to reopen the taco fest after having to cancel the event in May due to COVID-19.
When the pandemic began, Kondas said organizers considered canceling the fest altogether but wanted to find a way to support food vendors and lift the spirits of Columbus residents.
“Columbus is a social city. Columbus loves its food, it loves to get outside when it has nice weather, and that’s one of my favorite parts about living here,” Kondas said. “We thought, ‘So what can we do in 2020 that serves both of those purposes?’ That’s when we came up with carryout only.”
The Columbus Taco Fest Grab-N-Go will be held Saturday and Sunday from noon to 7 p.m. at the Ohio History Center. Guests are encouraged to order ahead of time through the Street Food Finder app.
