Free 803 Day Festival set for Monday in Columbia with canned-food drive
The third annual 803 Day Festival is scheduled for Monday, Aug. 3, at The Mansion on Blanding in Columbia, offering free admission and a canned-food collection for Christian Assistance Bridge.
The public event will be held at 1329 Blanding St. The available festival information identifies it as free and open to the public, so no admission charge is required to attend.
A local celebration with a donation component
803 Day is framed as a celebration of Columbia and the broader 803 region. The event brings a local-identity gathering together with an opportunity for attendees to support a food collection.
Organizers are collecting canned food for Christian Assistance Bridge. The festival information identifies the organization as a Blythewood nonprofit serving Blythewood, Ridgeway and northeast Richland County.
That collection is the event’s stated public-service component. People who attend may bring canned food for the designated recipient, while participation in the festival itself remains free and open to the public.
The announced festival programming combines music, food and arts with the community donation drive. That combination places the event in both a cultural and civic context: a gathering focused on the 803 region that also directs donations to an organization serving communities in the broader Richland County area.
What attendees can expect
The festival is set for Monday, Aug. 3, 2026, at a specific downtown Columbia venue rather than an unspecified or citywide location. The Mansion on Blanding is listed at 1329 Blanding St.
The event page does not provide hours, a detailed timetable, an attendance estimate or an exact number of participating vendors or performers. Those details have not been announced in the available festival information.
Likewise, organizers have not published a target for canned-food donations or an estimate of how much food may be collected. The announcement identifies Christian Assistance Bridge as the recipient but does not quantify the anticipated result of the drive.
Why the event matters
For Columbia-area residents, the Aug. 3 festival provides a defined public gathering centered on the city and the 803 region, with no admission cost stated by organizers. Its food collection extends participation beyond attendance by connecting the event to a nonprofit serving Blythewood, Ridgeway and northeast Richland County.
Residents planning to attend can go to The Mansion on Blanding on Monday and, if they choose, bring canned food for Christian Assistance Bridge. No additional eligibility requirements, admission fee or donation requirement are listed in the available event information.
Sources
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