Columbia’s Finlay Park is a day away from its grand reopening. 

Over $25 million and two years have been spent on the project, Assistant City Manager Henry Simons said. 

The park opens for visitors at 9 a.m. on Saturday, and a reopening ceremony will happen an hour later. The 2025 Jam Room Music Festival will follow from noon until 10 p.m. 

New design and new amenities 

The new and improved park will have event space, playgrounds, outdoor exercise equipment and more. Pickleball courts will become available to reserve on Monday, and there is a nine-hole disc golf course that utilizes the park’s different elevations. 

Some parts of the park will remain about the same, such as the fountain overlooking the grounds. 

“We wanted to make sure that icon remained as it was,” Simons said. 

Water moves down from the fountain through various channels and waterfalls. The large pond at the base of the park’s hill pumps the water back up. 

That pond is smaller than the one in the old Finlay Park, said John Katz, program director for the park. The new main stage is in an area that used to be underwater. 

The largest playground in the park is built into the side of a hill. There, visitors can roll or slide their way down an astroturf slope. 

Elsewhere, eight sculptures sit along a walkway. One Columbia for Arts and Culture runs the installation. New pieces will replace the existing ones every two years. 

The park has several new safety features, including emergency call boxes and security cameras. Soft coolers, camera bags and some small bags will be allowed.

There is a dedicated team of park rangers, police officers and maintenance workers. Security guards will monitor the park after closing time. 

A clear bag policy was amended after pushback from the public. People said on social media that they wanted their visits to the park to be more spontaneous.  

The city redesigned the park with sustainability in mind, Simons said. Funding for the park’s operations and upkeep will be included in the city’s annual budgets.

“The goal is to not only create a new park, but a park we can sustain for years to come,” Simons said. 

Opening day

Jam Room Music Festival was preparing to set up at its regular Main Street location when David Stringer found out that Finlay Park’s reopening was scheduled for the same day. 

Stringer, board chair for the Jam Room Foundation, reached out to a contact at the city to express his concern about the reopening drawing away the festival’s crowds. That contact responded by suggesting the festival move to the park, Stringer said. 

“It’s just a huge, iconic event for Columbia,” Stringer said. “Yeah, we couldn’t turn down the offer to be part of that.”

Jam Room Music Festival started in 2012 as a 25th anniversary celebration for the city’s Jam Room Recording Studio. 

The move to Finlay Park brings some logistical benefits to the organizers. Using Main Street as a venue means paying for blocking the street, hiring police officers for security and more, Stringer said.

The festival also had to rent and set up stages and sound equipment. Jam Room will still rent a second stage for Saturday’s concert, but Finlay Park’s main stage has its own sound equipment. Renting the park is a lot cheaper and easier than setting up a festival on Main Street, Stringer said.

Finlay Park has a history of concerts that goes back decades. Hootie and the Blowfish brought thousands to the park in 1996. Stringer has fond memories of seeing shows at the park when he was in college, he said.

He hopes to have Jam Room return to the park in future years. The change in location is already boosting the festival’s status. 

“What we’re able to establish this year is going to be very beneficial going forward,” Stringer said. “We’ve been able to get more sponsor money this year than we’ve ever had before. We’ve sort of got a firmer footprint now that we can call Finlay Park our home.”

Among the headliners is Steve Ray Ladson of Hopkins, South Carolina. Ladson appeared on America’s Got Talent earlier this year. DIIV and White Denim are two other headliners. 

“They all have incredibly high reviews of their music and are super well respected in the music community,” Stringer said.

Although Jam Room is moving from Main Street, Finlay Park’s reopening will not detract from other parts of the city, Simons said. Rather, the park will develop a unique cultural identity, he said. 

“As time evolves, we’ll have specific acts that will be here routinely,” Simons said. “So we will really begin to identify the true character (of the park), like Main Street has, like the Vista has, like Bull Street has.” 

The renovated park will give the surrounding areas of the city an economic boost, Simons said. Park visitors, for example, might decide to walk to the Vista or Main Street for dinner, he said

“There’s significant growth happening in this city, and Finlay Park is the core of the growth,” Simons said.