Welcome to the Farm rocks a bison as its mascot. Credit: Michael Goulet | Campus Photo Editor.
Welcome to the Farm, a country music-themed bar and entertainment venue, will host a grand opening for its third location in the Short North Arts District Thursday at 5 p.m., following a soft opening to the public on Aug. 22.
The country-concept bar was founded by country music artist Chase Rice in collaboration with Forward Hospitality Group — owners of national bar chain Good Night John Boy. Welcome to the Farm will share a location with the Short North Arts District’s Good Night John Boy in its newly renovated ground floor at 906 N. High St, according to a press release from Forward Hospitality Group.
“The response to Welcome to the Farm has been amazing,” Rice said in a press release. “My dad grew up just outside Columbus in Grove City, so this has always been one of those places I’ve loved coming back to. Bringing The Farm to Short North just feels right, and I can’t wait for everybody to come hang with us this summer.”
Welcome to the Farm aims to foster genre-bending collaboration, as it shifts between the laid back atmosphere of the country bar to the dance-forward environment of Good Night John Boy, said Zosimo Maximo, chief marketing officer at Forward Hospitality Group.
“Country music is something that continues to grow and it’s part of our mainstream culture now,” Maximo said. “You can come pregame here, have a couple drinks, eat and then make your way up and dance the night away over at Good Night John Boy.”
The bar will offer an extensive drink menu, Maximo said, featuring a variety of options of whiskeys, bourbons, beers, cocktails and seltzers and will serve food from Sexton’s Pizza, a Columbus-based eatery and chain.
Welcome to the Farm’s debut menu. Credit: Michael Goulet | Campus Photo Editor.
With a goal of establishing a lasting presence in the Columbus community, the bar will also serve as a live event venue, and plans to host local music artists, Maximo said.
“We are going to have acoustic [music], but we are going to supplement that with having DJs,” Maximo said. “It’s like country meets electronics, but most of the time you’re gonna hear good, solid country music.”
Welcome to the Farm has two existing locations in Cleveland, Ohio and St. Pete, Florida, which also serve as live music venues, Maximo said.
“In both of our locations, we have a lot of our regular lineup consisting of local artists,” Maximo said. “We feel Columbus is rich with a lot of music and singers, and we would love to feature and discover some here.”
With wide-screen televisions in multiple areas of the bar, Maximo said, welcome to the Farm hopes to establish itself as a premier game day location for Ohio State students to celebrate the Buckeyes.
The new bar also aims to attract a new audience, bridging the gap between Ohio State students and other young adults in the workforce, Maximo said.
“You can have your campus experience, and not even half a mile away, come into something a little bit richer or more elevated,” Maximo said. “It takes the upperclassmen, your juniors and seniors or grad students as they’re 21 and over, and it kind of helps them transition out of college life to the young professional [life].”
Maximo said in addition to connecting students with other young adults, he would like to focus on drawing in an older audience.
“The biggest group that is starting to come out a lot more is Gen X, because their kids are older now and they’re empty nesters,” Maximo said. “It’s like, ‘We invented the party. We are a big part of developing the Short North in this whole scene.’”
Looking ahead, Maximo said he is confident in Welcome to the Farm’s potential and its goal of establishing a lasting impression in the Columbus community.
“We’d love to become a staple,” Maximo said. “We want to put our foot down here in Columbus, and now having?a second venue to go along with [Good Night] John Boy, it kind of gets us a little deeper.”
