City of Columbus celebrates its 200th birthday today

COLUMBUS (AP) — Ohio’s largest city is marking a big birthday.

The city of Columbus was founded on Feb. 14, 1812, meaning it turned 200 today.

To celebrate, the city had a weekend fundraising party attended by more than 1,600 people at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. Ticket costs ranged from $125 to $520 each. Organizers didn’t immediately know how much had been raised, but the money will be used to help pay for the city’s bicentennial events throughout this year.

The Columbus Dispatch reported that the operating budget for the bicentennial is $2.7 million.