What once started as a hippie party in the Ohio State area, has now grown into the largest annual community festival in Columbus.The Columbus Community Festival, better known as Comfest, is the best live local music festival all year, said Mark Fisher, one of the organizers on the entertainment committee.The free festival, which runs from noon Friday to 10 p.m. Sunday at Goodale Park, will have six stages featuring over 150 local music artists, a street fair, children’s activities, food and beer. Comfest, which is in its 27th year, gets its roots from the 60s and 70s, said Ro-Z Mendelson, one of the coordinators of Comfest and co-owner of Monkeys Retreat, an alternative media store and Comfest headquarters.”We attract all walks of life, get people from the ‘burbs, and from everywhere in Columbus,” he said.Fisher, who has been involved with Comfest for more than 10 years, said the festival is all volunteer and free from advertisement.As many as 400 volunteers make Comfest possible, Mendelson said. The bands and artists donate their time as well.Wolfgang Parker, a rock-swing singer who has performed at Comfest for the past three years, said the festival is something he enjoys and believes in.”It’s a really good thing for the community, and it’s a good chance to get together and say hi to everyone,” Parker said.Fred Haring and his band “The Franklin County All-Stars” started playing at Comfest last year, but Haring said he had attended the festival before then.”It’s one of the highlights of our year. It’s a good thing to do for the community,” Haring said. But music is just one part of Comfest, said John Baum, another volunteer and owner of HOOT, a local humor newspaper.The street fair, which features local artists, is definitely a draw, Baum said. “It has true craft artists, ones you won’t find just anywhere.”The poet Is Said, who has had a booth for 25 years in the street fair selling shirts with phrases from his poetry, was nominated and voted the 1998 Comfest Honored Artist by festival organizers. “He’s a Comfest legend,” Fisher said. Fisher, who is also a member of Anti-Racist Action, said Comfest is a great place for community organizations with similar social and political ideas to come together. “It embraces community groups and helps them,” he said.”It’s an aging hippie party for us over-the-hill, tie die crew, sort of a reunion of the late 60s” Baum said. “You can get together with old friends and meet new friends,” he said.”We’re in a free zone. It’s a spiritual thing,” Fisher said.Goodale Park is in the Short North, close to the university area. Comfest organizers recommend using public transportation, or parking in pay lots in walking distance of the festival. There will be no public parking around Goodale park.