Columbus bars and restaurants gear up for New Year's Eve and Rose Bowl festivities

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- As New Year's is celebrated around the world, local bars and restaurants in Columbus experience a big night.

People began ringing in the new year in central Ohio Tuesday night. Many celebrated at local bars and restaurants around Columbus, with some having parties and specials available to celebrate 2025. One special event was a bar crawl in the city.

“We’re doing a New Year’s Eve bar crawl so there are like four bars that are participating and we’re going to be between all of them and see how it goes,” said local Kathron Zielinski.

“I just want to have fun with all my friends,” said Katie Kilpatrick.

The crawl started at Bernard’s Tavern in the Short North. The place was already busy early on Tuesday night and it was a big night for staff.

“We’ll be doing a champagne toast later. We’ve got the decorations going. There’s a bar crawl going on right now for New Year’s Eve so a lot of fun stuff going on,” said Bernard’s bartender Jada Mason.

Once the New Year’s celebrations were over, Mason said it was back to work early on Wednesday as the staff prepared for the Rose Bowl.

“So for tomorrow’s game, we’re all hands on deck. Pretty much the entire staff is going to be on soldiering through all day,” said Mason. “We’ve been overstocking on everything that we possibly can so we can keep things running as smoothly as possible. Just trying to keep the vibes high and have a good morale about it.”

Although it was a long night for many bar crawl participants, they said it wouldn’t stop them from watching the Ohio State-Oregon game on Wednesday.

“Definitely be watching it, I think it’ll be a good game. I’m picking Ohio State right now, got money on them,” said Trentin Vronhagen, a bar crawl participant.

“They’ve been doing great this year so I’m excited to see how they perform tomorrow,” said Isaac Mirza, another crawl participant.

Mason said Bernard’s will most likely have drink specials for the Rose Bowl and she expected tables to fill up early. Tuesday was a busy night, but Wednesday could prove to be just as hectic.

“I’d say by 4:30 we’ll probably be pretty full. Everybody’s going to be trying a seat for the game and I see us staying busy pretty much throughout the night,” said Mason.

Mason said Bernard’s Tavern will open at noon on Wednesday and the Rose Bowl begins at 5p.