Liberty FallFest - Smoked Meats - Hot Air Balloons - OSU vs. ND on the Big Screen

 The schdule, details an more.

Smoked Meats Compeition

The 3rd Annual Smoked Meats Competition has three catagories to enter 1)  Brisket 2) Pork and 3) Chicken.   You can enter as an amatuer any or all three catagories or all three.  As a professional your need to enter at least two of the three catagories.  We define a professional as someone who is a professinal chef, owns a resteraunt or food truck/trailor.  If you have a food truck trailer, please contact us.  We will see if you can sell within the park during the event as long as insurance and applicable food service permits are held.  Amatuer are welcome to provide event attendees samples at no charge.   

Entries will be need to be turned in starting at 3:00 p.m. for Chicken, 3:30 p.m. for Pork and 4:00 p.m. for Brisket with winners being announced at 5:45 p.m on Satuday, September 23. The first place winner of each catagory and pro division will recieve $500 and the second place winners will recieve $250.  

All cooking must be performed onsite in your assigned 10' x 10' coorking area and bring your meats and everything you need to smoked it.   We will have one standard electrical connection if request per cooking area, please bring your own extention cords. You can enter the park starting at 3:00 p.m. Friday, September 23 and you and your team ca request to stay in the park overnight.  Entry to the park is restricted after 9:30 p.m. 

Hot Air Balloon Festival  and Night Glow

Hot Air Balloons will lift off weather permiting at approximately 7:00 a.m on Saturday and Sunday of the event and 5:30 p.m. on Satuday.  We will have the balloon pilots return and re-inflate balloons during the Ohio State vs. Notre Dame Game half-time (estimated around 8:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.).  Tickets are avaiable to purchase Hot Air Balloon Rides, one ticket per person.  Each passager will need to provide weight, age and sign a release and be able to climb in and out of the basket safely.  The pilots generally will on take passagers 6 years and older and over and must have their legal guardian also purchasing a ticket and flying with them. Total weight of passangers does impact and vary with weather conditions.  We may have to spolit groups based on flight time and weather.  Pilots and balloons are FAA certifed.  We expect 15 or more balloon teams for the 2023 event.  The balloons flights are dependent on wind speed not exceeding a certain knots, wind direction  and visibility.  Flight times range from 30 minutes to an hour with flights landing 5 to 10 miles from the launch site.  The balloon pilots chase team will provide transportation back to Liberty Park.  

Ohio State vs. Notre Dame - Live in Liberty Park with pre-Game Analysts 

Join current High School Football Head Coach and Ohio State Quarter Back Stanley Jackson at 6:15 p.m. to get the inside preview of the "Big Game" for Sepetmber.  Stan will be bring with him some well know Ohio State Buckeye Football Alumni who give you the latest thoughts on the game, stats, and of course the big predictions.   We will have the Game on a 9' by 12' LCD Team, so bring your chairs, grab food, a beer or cocktail from Nocterra or Noble Cut and cheer on the Buckeyes.  

Live Music, Craft Cocktails and Beer, and Food Trucks 

We have live music from Twisted Britches kicking off at 2:30 p.m. and playing through out the afternoon.  We will have craft beer from Nocterra (Powell) and special craft cocktails create from Noble Cut (Gahanna) for purchase and a wide variety of food trucks.  There also will be samples of the Smoked Meats entries offered throughout the day by many of the teams.