We’re here to help you celebrate spring by planning the perfect picnic. So, check the weather forecast and use our tips to picnicking in CBUS.
🧺 Buy your basket
First things first — you can’t enjoy a picnic without a basket. Longaberger, the former Ohio-based basket maker, has a wide-range of handcrafted picnic baskets to browse online. Bonus: The former headquarters in Newark also features the world’s largest basket, which is still standing at seven stories tall, so pencil this in as a must-see next time you drive east of CBUS.
Make your picnic even sweeter by customizing your own fruit and cheese board. | Photo by @black.radish.creamery
🧀 Find the right foods
Here are some local food spots to help you fill your picnic basket:
- You can’t go wrong with a bagel sandwich. Snag one from The Lox Bagel Shop, Broad Street Bagels and Deli, or browse other bagel shops the locals love.
- Cheese, please. A local picnic won’t be complete without Ohio-made artisan cheese from Black Radish Creamery at North Market Downtown. Bonus: If you’re feeling fancy, curate a custom cheese board .
- Keep it light with our salad superlatives list featuring five solid salads in the city.
- Grab fresh fruit or vegetables from local farms like HTH Farm Market or Doran’s Farm Market .
Bring a picnic blanket and sit in the downtown greenspace. | Photo by @thesciotomile
🌳 Pick your park
- If you want skyline views, we recommend downtown parks along the Scioto River. Pro tip: Do not feed the downtown geese, or they will crash your picnic.
- If you’d like a more private picnic, bring a picnic blanket to any of the local metro parks , many of which have designated picnicking areas and hiking trails for a post-meal walk.
- Some of the most scenic picnic views in the city will be at Topiary Park or Franklin Park .