Banana Bar Crawl guests pose with the Banana Bar Crawl mascot. The bar crawl will come to Ohio State campus Saturday. Credit: Courtesy of Aidan Tighe
Ohio State students are no strangers to going bananas over the weekend, attending the bars surrounding campus for a night out with friends. On Saturday, students will give the phrase a new meaning — and potentially break a world record.
From 4 to 9 p.m., the Banana Bar Crawl will bring creative costumes and energy to the bars of Columbus, filling the void left by a bye-week without thousands in the stands of Ohio Stadium cheering on the Buckeyes.
During the event, the group will be attempting to break two Guinness World Records, one for the largest bar crawl ever and the second for the most people dressed in banana costumes at once, Aidan Tighe, co-founder of Banana Bar Crawl, said.
“A banana crawl is something that you will remember for the rest of your life. It really captures the college feel,” Tighe said.
Students are invited to forget their casual night-out attire and trade them in for a yellow banana costume. The event is meant to allow guests a night dedicated to stress-free fun, all while trying to make history in the process, according to the crawl’s website.
The price of admission for the event is $30 and includes merch from the Banana Bar Crawl, along with a banana costume to be worn at the event.
The Banana Bar Crawl Group has hosted events across the United States and Canada. Since 2023, thousands of bananas have been crawling the streets of campuses, creating booze-filled memories.
This year, the organization’s tour consists of 80 colleges across the U.S. and are now making an attempt at world history on one of the largest campuses in the US — Ohio State.
Partnering with several local campus bars — including Three’s Above High, Ugly Tuna Saloona, The Little Bar and more, according to their Instagram — Tighe said the event aims to be the largest banana bar crawl hosted by the international group.
According to their website, honoring the expansive nightlife in Columbus is a unique experience and the organization is excited to take part in it.
The Library Bar, one of the oldest bars around campus, is excited for the opportunity to participate with the company and provide students with a good time during the bye-week, said Quinn Allen, the bar’s owner.
“It isn’t every day that you are going to see a thousand bananas walking throughout campus,” Allen said. “It’ll be great to see.”
As students walk around campus, Tighe said he encourages attendees to personalize their peels, specifically banana “jersey swaps” and written messages on costumes to set each apart from another.
Tighe said students can receive discounted drinks and prizes for completing different challenges along the tour, ranging from doing the worm to signing a stranger’s costume.
“It allows people to act in a way that they wouldn’t normally, and let go of any reason why they would not normally do something,” Tighe said. “We are all in banana suits, so we can be more open to trying things.”
Allen said many of the bars on the tour are in contact to ensure that the night goes smoothly, with the end goal of safety being at the forefront.
Students will still be held to the university’s alcohol consumption guidelines and will be asked to present ID at the entrances of each venue, per the Banana Bar Crawl’s website.
Tickets can be purchased online at the LineLeap website.
