The Hocking Hills keeps a full calendar all year — glass pumpkins and county fairs in the autumn, a six-mile winter hike in January, Bigfoot in August. Old Beech Cottage is about twelve minutes from downtown Logan, so most of it is an easy evening out and back.
Last updated 1 September 2026 · dates change, so please confirm before you travel
Dates were correct when this page was last updated. Festivals do move, so it is worth a quick check before you set out — the Hocking Hills Welcome Center on (740) 385-9706 keeps the full, current calendar.
Front Row Friday at the Logan Theater
The restored theater’s concert night. Angela Perley and Trey Hedrick share the stage from 6 to 8 PM — two of Ohio’s better singer-songwriters, Americana and roots. $29.
Third anniversary at Valley View Hills Winery
The winery turns three and marks it with a concert and fireworks. Free to attend. 29176 Klump Road, Sugar Grove — ten miles north of Logan.
Hocking Hills Trail Run
Running since 1978 and now organised by SEOTR Events, on the trails around the state park. $25 to $35 depending on distance and how early you enter.
Corvette Gathering
The largest Corvette show in Ohio fills historic downtown Lancaster for the day — hundreds of cars, music, food, and free admission for spectators.
Fall Drumming Gathering
11 AM to about 4 PM at Ash Cave — drumming, dancing and a drum healing session around 3:30. Bring a chair or blanket, snacks and your own drum. Family friendly, no alcohol; a hat goes round for the permit.
Hocking County Fair
The county’s own fair at the fairgrounds in Logan — livestock shows, rides, grandstand events and proper fair food. The closest of the big annual events, about twelve minutes away.
Jack Pine Glass Pumpkin Festival
Thousands of hand-blown glass pumpkins fill the studio at Laurelville, with live demonstrations and the release of the Pumpkin of the Year. A VIP preview night runs the Thursday before. Rated third on USA Today’s top fall festivals two years running.
Hocking Hills Artists & Craftsmen Fall Show
The 52nd annual show, at the Hocking Hills State Park Lodge on SR 664 — regional artists and makers showing and selling pottery, woodwork, textiles and painting. 10 AM to 6 PM Saturday, 10 AM to 4 PM Sunday.
Hocking Hills Jeep Run
The sixth annual run, hosted by the Hocking Hills Podcast — a fall-colour drive through the countryside with fun-filled stops and a 100-acre off-road obstacle course, timed for peak leaf colour. $60 a person and $20 a child, with all profits going to Rescue 101 Search & Rescue. Headquarters and registration are at Campbell Cove RV Resort on Lake Logan Road, about fifteen minutes from the cottage. Thursday is a trail clean-up with lunch for volunteers; Friday from 3 PM brings early check-in, a meet and greet with live music, food, and wine and moonshine tastings, and a swap and sell; Saturday runs from 7 AM. Guided off-road rides and a 4x4 training class are booked separately. Register at HockingHillsJeepRun.info.
Nelsonville Bigfoot Festival
The inaugural year, free and family friendly, on the historic public square in Nelsonville — cryptid talks, live music, food and local makers, Appalachian culture, and free inflatables and rides for children. About 25 minutes away.
The Last Canal Boat Musical
The first live theatre production staged in the newly restored Logan Theater — a musical built on Hocking County history.
Oktoberfest at Brewery 33
German beer, food and music all day — noon to 10 PM in the beer garden on College Prospect Drive. Free.
Harvest Crush Party at Valley View Hills Winery
Noon to 8 PM: grape crushing, a winemaker Q&A on how the wine is actually made, barrel signing, behind-the-scenes tours, tastings, a commemorative glass and charcuterie. About $45. 29176 Klump Road, Sugar Grove.
Midnight at Moonville
Two days on the streets of Zaleski, ending each night at the haunted Moonville Tunnel — a haunted trail, wagon rides out to the Ingham Station ghost town, storytelling, roaming spooks, a costume contest, craft and food vendors, and a paranormal investigation demonstration to close. Grown from one night to two. About forty minutes away.
Grandma Gatewood’s Fall Colors Hike
9 AM to 1 PM, free, and timed for peak colour: roughly six miles out and back along the Grandma Gatewood Trail from Old Man’s Cave to Cedar Falls. Rated difficult — dress for the weather and the terrain. Named for Emma ‘Grandma’ Gatewood, who thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail at 67.
Fairfield County Fair
A full week at the fairgrounds in Lancaster, and one of the last county fairs of the Ohio season.
Circleville Pumpkin Show
Ohio’s oldest and largest harvest festival, always the third Wednesday to Saturday of October. Giant pumpkins, seven parades, and free to attend.
Jack O’ Lantern Jubilee
Trick-or-treating, a costume contest, a scavenger hunt and a treat walk around Worthington Park in downtown Logan, 6 to 8 PM. Free. The exact evening is set closer to the time.
Downtown Logan Christmas Parade
Logan’s hometown Christmas parade, free to watch and thoroughly family friendly. It sets off from the Hocking County Fairgrounds at 12 noon and runs through to the West Hunter Street and State Route 664 intersection. Santa rides it, and the shops and town square are in full holiday dress.
Jack Pine Holiday Open House
Hot cider, live glassblowing demonstrations and one-of-a-kind glass gifts at the Laurelville studio. Bring a new, unwrapped toy worth $30 or more for their toy drive and they will give you a free Jack Pine glass ornament. Santa is there Saturday and Sunday, with Storytime with Santa at 2 PM on the Saturday. Open 10 AM to 7 PM Friday and Saturday, 10 AM to 5 PM Sunday.
Christmas in Ash Cave
5 to 7 PM, and free. A luminary-lit trail leads in to Ohio’s largest recess cave for carolers, a crackling campfire, hot cocoa and a visit with Santa. One of the loveliest evenings in the Hills — and all of it outdoors, so wrap up.
Santa Trains, Hocking Valley Scenic Railway
A fully decorated, heated train out of Nelsonville with a visit from Santa for every child — a tradition more than forty years old. Thursday to Sunday from 28 November through 20 December, with 11 AM and 2 PM departures at weekends and a 6 PM evening run on selected days. They sell out, so book early.
Downtown Logan New Year’s Eve Ball Drop
Live music, a DJ, local vendors, carriage rides, Polar Express train rides and the ball drop at midnight. The railway also runs a New Year’s Eve Fireworks Express.
Where a festival has published its 2027 date we give it in full. Where it has not, we show the window it has kept for years, marked “expected” — near enough to book around, but worth confirming first.
Hocking Hills Winter Hike
The region’s signature winter event, running since the 1960s — some 5,600 hikers last January. Assemble at the state park campground any time between 9 and 11 AM. Small groups are led on an interpretive walk as far as the Upper Falls at Old Man’s Cave, then you finish the six miles at your own pace. Free, as are the activities before and after; donations are welcome for the refreshments and the ride back. Commemorative patches and hiking-stick medallions are on sale.
Wildflowers & Waterfalls Hike
Free naturalist-led hikes in Hocking Hills State Park, run every weekday for a week in late April as the spring ephemerals appear — trillium, hepatica and Dutchman’s breeches. Various trailheads, moderate to difficult. The park confirms the week in early spring.
Jack Pine Glass Garden Art Festival
The spring counterpart to the pumpkin festival — hand-blown glass garden art, live demonstrations, artisan vendors, music and food trucks.
Washboard Music Festival
Confirmed by the festival — three days, Thursday to Saturday. Downtown Logan celebrates the washboard as a real musical instrument — jazz, jug band and zydeco — with dozens of musicians playing free all weekend. Logan is home to the last washboard factory in the country.
Lancaster Spring Festival Car Show
Sixty-plus years running at the Fairfield County Fairgrounds — classic cars, a large swap meet and the Old Car Club’s vintage gas station. First weekend of June.
Nelsonville Music Festival
A long-running independent music festival at the Snow Fork Event Center, drawing national names to a wooded site about half an hour away.
Lancaster Festival
Ten days of music and art across downtown Lancaster, opening with the Artwalk. The Lancaster Festival Orchestra under Gary Sheldon has won the American Prize for conducting and orchestral performance, and most events are free. About half an hour north.
Lilyfest
Three acres of gardens, ponds and sculpture at Bishop Educational Gardens in Rockbridge, always the second full weekend of July. Free to enter, with more than seventy artists and makers, plant sales, OSU Master Gardeners on hand, and a Viking village for children. Running since 1992.
Hocking Hills Medieval Fest
Armored combat, Viking folk singing, artisans and period food at the Hocking County Fairgrounds, 100 North Homer Avenue in Logan. Ran 29–30 August in 2026; tickets were $10 booked ahead against $15 at the gate.
Summer Hocking Hills Craft Show
The largest craft event in the region — a hundred booths on a hilltop at 20374 Clay Lick Road, minutes from the state park. Ran 29–30 August in 2026. $5, children free.
Mead Fest at Brewery 33
A day given over to mead, with new meads, ciders and beers released alongside vendors, food and live music. Free. Ran 29 August in 2026.
Hippie Fest
Two days of live music, art and vintage market stalls at the Hocking County Fairgrounds in Logan. Food trucks and a relaxed crowd. 2026 was 8–9 August.
Hocking Hills Bigfoot Festival
Free two days at the Vinton County Fairgrounds in McArthur — speakers, vendors, live music, a howling contest and a Squatchiest Beard competition. A straight run south on SR 93. 2026 was 14–15 August.
Bigfoot night hikes & Moonville ghost hunt
Booked separately alongside the festival. A naturalist leads one group into Vinton County Park District land; a folklorist leads another into Bear Hollow in the Zaleski State Forest with ghost and Bigfoot stories, ending at the haunted Moonville Tunnel. Runs alongside the festival.
These run regardless of when you visit, and most of them are free.
Park naturalist programs
Rangers lead guided walks, evening talks, owl prowls after dark and seasonal hikes — wildflowers, gorge geology, local history — plus beginner archery and raptor presentations. Free. Ask at the Old Man’s Cave Visitor Center or call (740) 279-1177.
Stargazing at John Glenn Astronomy Park
Free programs on clear Friday and Saturday nights, early March to late November, starting about half an hour after sunset. Volunteers work a 28-inch telescope. A free parking pass is required in advance — capacity is seventy cars.
Live music at the winery & brewery
Hocking Hills Winery has live music every weekend on the patio; Brewery 33 runs live music and food trucks through the warmer months. Both post line-ups on Facebook a week or two ahead.
Moonville Tunnel ghost hunts
Guided night hunts at the haunted Moonville Tunnel — a walk along the old rail trail with ghost stories, then ghost hunting inside the tunnel. The tunnel is on public land off Hope-Moonville Road and free to visit in daylight.
Private guided hikes & rappelling
Local outfitters run guided hikes, and Hocking State Forest has a dedicated climbing and rappelling area with guide services available.
Hocking County Farmers Market
Produce, baked goods and local makers in the courthouse parking lot on Main Street in Logan, 9 AM to noon.
Fall dates and festival weekends book first. Check live availability and reserve securely on our booking page.
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