The votes are in. After a close battle, Cottontown Art Crawl clinched 58% of the vote to be named the best fest in Cola by our readers.

Congrats, Cottontown Art Crawl.

Friendly competition, anyone?

VOTE HERE

With the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments just around the corner, we’re joining the fun of bracket competitions with a face-off of our own.

Last year, y’all helped us name the best local brewery: Savage Craft. This year, we asked you to share your favorite local festival in Columbia. Now — thanks to you — we have the official lineup for our bracket.

Cottontown Art Crawl and the Greek Festival go head-to-head for Cola's best fest. | Graphic by COLAtoday

Round 3

What is March Madness without the madness? As they say, “this is why you play the game.” In a round 2 upset, Cottontown Art Crawl took down St. Pat's in Five Points to make it to the finals against the beloved Greek Festival. Vote for your favorite downtown area festival, here.

See your pick to the finish by voting in our final poll now through Friday, March 31, at noon.

The final four of our 2023 festival bracket feature some Soda Citizen favorites. | Graphic by COLAtoday

Round 2

We’ve got some readers who love their local fests. Here’s who will advance to round two:

St. Pat's in Five Points vs. Cottontown Art Crawl
Greek Festival vs Mardi Gras at City Roots

Round 1

Who’s in the running

Going head-to-head in the first round are:

St. Pat's in Five Points vs. Jam Room Music Festival
Cottontown Art Crawl vs. Rosewood Crawfish Festival
Greek Festival vs. Columbia Food and Wine Festival
Mardi Gras at City Roots vs. Kinetic Derby Day

How it works

Beginning today, we will host several voting rounds within our newsletters and social channels to determine Cola’s best annual festival. Who moves on is up to you. Vote for your favorites, and the event with more votes moves on. Simple as that. We’ll go until we have a champion, which will be announced in our Friday, March 31 newsletter. You will be able to vote once per round.

How to participate

Vote for the event you’d like to see advance to round two using our poll. You can vote for all four spots or as little as one. Once we count all the votes, we’ll share an updated bracket and new poll in an upcoming newsletter.

Want to fill out a bracket to see if you can guess who will win? Download and print the image above to take the competition up a notch. If your bracket is correct, send us a photo for a shoutout + bragging rights.

Ready to cheer your “team” to victory? Cast your vote at the button below.