Grove City's Broadway Trades Its Pizza Passport for a Holiday Glass This November

The Visit Grove City Pizza Trail closed on Monday, Nov. 2, after a run that began Aug. 27. The Holiday Cocktail Trail opens Thursday, Nov. 19, and runs through Jan. 4, 2027. They are listed as two separate promotions, but they mostly use the same half-mile of addresses. Of the ten cocktail stops, seven have a Broadway address. Five of the eight pizza stops do too. One business, Broadway Plates & Pints at 4008 Broadway, is on both lists.

So downtown Grove City is running one food-and-drink corridor in two shifts. The fall shift was built for families, while the winter version is aimed at adults and reaches its busiest point on parade night.

The Fall Shift Was Designed Around Kids

The pizza trail's rules show who it was for. The passport is free and digital, run through BrightrTravel. Each check-in takes a minimum $5 purchase per person and a scan of the QR code at the counter, and a business counts only once even if it has two Grove City locations. Five of eight stops earned a pizza cutter or kitchen towel, and all eight earned a T-shirt printed by MoB Apparel. New for 2026, families could register children, who earned an apron after five check-ins.

The stop list fits that design. Skate America at 4357 Broadway was one of the eight. Visit Grove City traces the trail back to the Pizza Trek in 2019 and says many of the original partners are still on it. Austin Ulrey manages Flyer's Pizza's Grove City South location, and his grandfather started Flyer's in 1976. He told Ohio Magazine that "Grove City is a big pizza town" and that the trail brings in people "that normally wouldn't come down to our neck of the woods."

Broadway, in Address Order

Here is how the corridor reads if you walk Broadway from north to south by street number. Each stop is labeled with the trail it belongs to.

1. Broadway Standard, 3911 Broadway: cocktail trail
2. Local Cantina, 3937 Broadway, Unit A: cocktail trail
3. Grove City Brewing Company + Plum Run Winery, 3946 Broadway: cocktail trail
4. Tammy's Pizza, 3984 Broadway: pizza trail
5. Town Center Pub, 3998 Broadway: cocktail trail
6. Broadway Plates & Pints, 4008 Broadway: both trails
7. Plank's on Broadway, 4022 Broadway: pizza trail
8. Grandstand Pizza Shop, 4034 Broadway: pizza trail
9. Dapper Dog Tavern, 4057 Broadway: cocktail trail
10. White Horse Saloon, 4318 Broadway: cocktail trail
11. Skate America, 4357 Broadway: pizza trail

The pizza stops cluster in the middle of the street. The cocktail stops sit at both ends of it and in between. Broadway Plates & Pints is the one door on both lists.

The stops off Broadway follow the same split. The pizza trail reached out to Flyer's Pizza & Subs on Hoover Road and London Groveport Road, Romeo's Pizza on Stringtown Road and The Original Josie's Pizza on Holt Road in Columbus. The cocktail trail adds Cimi's Bistro at 1500 Pinnacle Club Drive, The Jackpot Lounge at 3977 Jackpot Road and The Upper Deck at 4063 Hoover Road.

The Winter Shift Has Its Own Rewards

Visit Grove City's 2026 trail post says a minimum number of check-ins earns a branded whiskey glass, and checking in at every location earns a T-shirt. Last season worked differently. Columbus Navigator reported a flask for seven of nine stops. This year's list has ten stops and a different prize. Visit Grove City has not yet published the 2026 minimum, so check the passport when it goes live on Nov. 19 before you plan your route.

The featured drinks already announced:

• Broadway Plates & Pints: Grinch Mimosa, White Christmas Margarita and Trace of Peppermint, which is a twist on hot chocolate
• Cimi's Bistro at Pinnacle: Wonderland Sangria, made with Sauvignon Blanc, peach schnapps and cranberry juice and topped with ginger ale and frosted cranberries; Peppermint Twist, made with Disaronno, peppermint schnapps, sour mix and a mini candy cane; and the Mistletoe Margarita, served with a salted or sugared rim
• Grove City Brewing Company + Plum Run Winery: Fireside Frost and Winter Blush
• Town Center Pub: Santa's Night Cap and Jingle Juice
• The Upper Deck: Nancy Apple

Five of the ten stops have posted their drinks so far. Broadway Standard, Local Cantina, The Jackpot Lounge, White Horse Saloon and Dapper Dog Tavern are on the trail but had not announced featured drinks when this was written. Dapper Dog Tavern is the newest name on the list. Owners Caitlin and Spencer Campbell opened it on June 1, and Ohio Magazine describes an industrial-style tavern serving small plates such as smoked brisket and jalapeno-cheese soft-pretzel bites. Visit Grove City asks participants to drink responsibly and to use a designated driver or a ride-share service.

The Sixteen Days Between Trails Belong to Veterans

From Nov. 3 through Nov. 18, neither passport is running. Town Center and the streets around it hold a cluster of veterans events instead:

• Friday, Nov. 6, noon to 3 p.m.: Veterans Resource Fair at the Evans Center, 4330 Dudley Ave.
• Saturday, Nov. 7, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.: Treats for Troops with Buckeye Military Moms at 4011 Broadway, across from the trail stops.
• Wednesday, Nov. 11, 11 a.m.: Veterans Day Ceremony in Town Center Park, 3359 Park St.

The dates for all three are posted on the City of Grove City calendar and in CityScene's November and December listings. One more date falls in this window. The city's Christmas Lights Disposal starts Nov. 16 at various locations and runs through Jan. 3, so the drop-off points open before most people have put their lights up.

Parade Night Lands Two Weeks Into the Cocktail Trail

The winter shift gets busier fast once Thanksgiving passes. The Nutcracker Hunt starts in Town Center on Nov. 27 and runs through Jan. 2. Letters to Santa opens the same day at the Welcome Center and Museum and runs through Dec. 6. The Tree of Remembrance at Visit Grove City follows on Nov. 30 and stays up through Jan. 1.

Then comes Friday, Dec. 4, the busiest night on the calendar. According to Grove City Town Center, it runs in this order:

1. The Mistletoe Market opens at 4 p.m.
2. The Christmas Parade and City Tree Lighting begin in Town Center at 7 p.m.
3. The market keeps going until 9 p.m.

That night, the parade route, the market and seven cocktail-trail stops all share the same blocks. Anyone working through the passport can collect several check-ins before the parade and after the tree lighting without moving the car.

Saturday, Dec. 5, is more spread out. The Mistletoe Market returns from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. with food trucks, shopping and holiday activities, and the Grove City Holiday Celebration fills Town Center during the same hours. From noon to 4 p.m., Century Village holds a Holiday Open House at 4185 Orders Road. Ohio Magazine places the Southwest Franklin County Historical Society's 11 historic structures a little more than 2 miles from downtown. That makes the open house the one stop of the weekend that takes a short drive.

What Comes After Jan. 4

The cocktail trail ends on Jan. 4, 2027. In its fall issue, Ohio Magazine lists Grove City Parks and Recreation's indoor Winter Farmers Market at the former Brookpark Middle School as the next local draw once winter arrives, running select Saturdays from Jan. 9 through April 3. After that, the Pizza Trail is the next passport on Visit Grove City's calendar. Its 2026 run started in late August, and Broadway Plates & Pints will likely be the stop where the cocktail crowd and the pizza crowd overlap again.

If you live within walking distance of these Broadway stops, you know that a home near Town Center comes with a busy calendar. If you're curious what that location is worth right now, the team at Kim Kovacs and Partners can put real numbers to it. Get your free home valuation before the Mistletoe Market weekend.