Dispatch top stories for Wednesday, August 5
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- Dueling Axes, an ax-throwing venue, has closed all five of its locations after eight years in business.
- The company’s mobile ax-throwing unit was purchased by Square Canvas, a social art studio.
- The newly acquired mobile unit is already in operation under the Square Canvas brand.
After eight years in business, an ax-throwing venture that originated in Columbus has closed all of its venues.
The original Dueling Axes sports bar and ax-throwing lounge opened in 2018 in downtown Columbus. Since then, the business had expanded with five brick and mortar locations, one in Columbus, Grove City, New Albany, Cincinnati and Las Vegas. There was also a mobile unit.
All brick-and-mortar locations are closed, owerns confirmed. The mobile unit was bought by Square Canvas, a social art studio in Canal Winchester.
The final closures took place on July 31 and resulted from circumstances outside of the business owners control, according to a statement from Dueling Axes founders Jess Hellmich and Paul Sherry.
Hellmich and Sherry expressed gratitude toward their former employees and guests over the years.
“It was a privilege to be part of the communities we served and to help create lasting memories around birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, graduations, date nights and countless nights out. We had an absolute blast, and we will always be proud of what our teams built and the experiences we shared with so many people,” the founders said in the statement.
For now, the founders are wrapping up the company’s operations. They look forward to future plans, but have none to announce at this time.
A new life for the mobile ax-throwing unit
Square Canvas bought the mobile ax-throwing unit mid-July, owner Kristin Harlander confirmed.
The organization previously owned Axes and Easels, a combined ax-throwing and splatter paint mobile unit. The unit the business purchased from Dueling Axes is currently just ax-throwing. Both mobile units are in operation.
“We are pleased that the mobile ax-throwing experience will remain available for events throughout the Columbus market under its new ownership,” Dueling Axes’ founders said in their statement.
Harlander and Square Canvas have already re-wrapped the mobile unit with their logo and branding and with a quick turn-around set the unit up for use at Ohio State Fair.
“My cousin wraps vehicles so he had it re-wrapped for us like the day before we had to be at the fair,” Harlander said.
Now with two mobile trailers, the organization can attend two events simultaneously.
Dispatch reporter Ella Diehl can be reached at ediehl@dispatch.com
