Guy Fieri's canceled Columbus Flavortown Festival 'still will happen'

Watch a previous NBC4 report on Guy Fieri's new Columbus restaurant in the video player above.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Although Guy Fieri's inaugural Flavortown Festival set for Columbus was canceled, the celebrity chef said at the opening of his new central Ohio restaurant that the weekend-long event "still will happen."

The Ohio-born chef said at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for "Guy Fieri's Trattoria," a new Italian restaurant now open inside Scioto Downs, that the festival "still will happen, we've just got to make sure we've got the right people in the right positions making this fly." The event was scheduled for June 1 and 2 at The Lawn at CAS, but then canceled earlier this year due to "unforeseen circumstances."

"I don't do things half-assed," Fieri told reporters during a May 31 press conference. "I'm an all-or-nothing guy. It's go big or go home. And if it's not time to go big, then we go home, you know?"

The festival promised a fusion of food and funk, with rock band Greta Van Fleet and country star Kane Brown as headline performers. Along with the Mayor of Flavortown himself, the festival would have featured eats and experiences from some of Guy’s favorite Triple D restaurants from the Columbus area and around the country while offering the ultimate experience for foodies.

Fieri also noted he plans to bring "more of a lot of things" beyond his new Scioto Downs trattoria, which features "an old-school Italian feel polished with textured glass screens, rustic wood finishes, an open pizza & pasta prep station and gallery walls."

Menu offerings include Italian staples such as primetime meatballs, pasta fagioli, chicken parmigiana, and 68-layer homemade lasagna. The space also features two main dining areas, a private dining room and a lounge-like bar.

"I've been coming to Columbus for quite a while, and the food scene has just ratcheted up," said Fieri. "And even some of the places that might not have been so foodie back in the day have even upped their game."

Fieri's restaurant group is home to 17 "Flavortown Hot Spot" concepts, including a taco joint, sandwich shop, pizza parlor, chophouse and a smokehouse. Born in Columbus in 1968, Fieri briefly operated a ghost kitchen concept named Flavortown Kitchen in Ohio's capital city that closed in 2023.