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COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — With the Buckeyes off this weekend, it is the perfect chance for people to hit the road and explore central Ohio’s festivals and outdoor fun.
The Jack Pine Glass Pumpkin Festival in Laurelville features thousands of hand-blown pumpkins and live glassblowing, while the Mohican Bigfoot Festival in Loudonville offers everything from river trips to Bigfoot speakers and photo ops. Runners and hikers can head to Hocking Hills State Park for the 47th annual Trail Run through caves, waterfalls, and scenic gorges.
For sports fans staying in town, the Columbus Clippers wrap up a series against the Omaha Storm Chasers at Huntington Park, and the Columbus Crew takes on Toronto FC at Lower.com Field.
Live entertainment lovers can catch MadLab’s surreal play “Clowntime is Over,” or laugh along at Comedy Night at Nostalgia Brewing in Gahanna.
Rounding out the weekend are events for every interest, from the North Market Wine Fest at Bridge Park to the Short North Tour of Homes & Gardens and DogFest North Central, a family- and dog-friendly fundraiser featuring service dog demonstrations. Additionally, the citywide Cartoon Crossroads Columbus festival showcases comics and animation through films and discussions. Families can enjoy free activities and entertainment at the Maloney Park Cap City Festival.
Various locations around Columbus, through Sept. 22
• Cartoon Crossroads Columbus (CXC) is an annual comics art and animation festival across the city of Columbus. The event brings internationally renowned cartoonists and animators to give talks, presentations and sell their work. This year’s show features Jhonen Vasquez, John Musker, Charles Burns and more, as well as a new international manga programming track.
Huntington Park, through Sept. 22
• Columbus Clippers, Triple-A Affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians, will play the Omaha Storm Chasers…
Home » Destination News » Journey to Loudonville, Can This Surging Ohio Town Truly Compete With Iconic Adventure Hotspots in the United States?
Published on September 18, 2025
Observers of tourism growth explained that Loudonville, situated in the center of Ohio, was no longer viewed as just a small-town destination. They described it as the gateway to Mohican Country, stressing that its evolution had positioned it as a model for how rural communities could contribute to global tourism trends.
Industry analysts remarked that the town’s strength was not defined by its size but by its ability to provide authentic experiences. They suggested that visitors to the region often discovered much more than scenic trails or flowing rivers—they uncovered cultural meaning, unique accommodations, and local businesses that reflected the area’s true identity. Experts emphasized that this shift was not merely regional; it had begun influencing the wider travel industry, especially at a time when the call for sustainable tourism was growing louder on a global scale.
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Seasonal Travel and Its Global Impact
Tourism experts noted that Loudonville had once been busiest in summer and fall, when warm weather attracted crowds. However, they explained that the town had transformed into a year-round attraction, significantly expanding its influence. They pointed out that winter tourism activities such as snowmobiling, cross-country skiing, and access to nearby skiing at Snow Trails showed that the destination no longer depended on a single season.
Researchers suggested that this change altered how both domestic and international travelers organized their trips. They said that the new seasonal flexibility allowed visitors from abroad to confidently plan their journeys to Loudonville at different times of the year. They added that the region’s cultural depth, expressed through indigenous history and local museums, gave travelers reasons to extend their…
LOUDONVILLE, Ohio – Tucked away in southern Ashland County is Ohio’s outdoor adventure center — Mohican country, a mecca for hikers and mountain bikers, canoers, rafters and horseback riders.
And the gateway to all that fun? Tiny Loudonville, population 2,780, a small town with a large embrace of the outdoors.
To be sure, Loudonville isn’t Moab, the fun, funky Utah town between Arches and Canyonlands national parks, a haven for adventure seekers. And north-central Ohio isn’t exactly southeastern Utah.
Still, for outdoor explorers in Ohio, Mohican has long been a top destination. And Loudonville, with its retro downtown and unique places to stay, is part of the reason why.
I’ve been to Loudonville many times over the years, usually a quick stop before or after hiking at Mohican State Park. On this trip, I made the town the focus.
My first stop: The Cleo Redd Fisher Museum, the local history museum, which traces the region’s past from its days as the former hunting grounds of Delaware Indians to the founding of the town in 1814 to the longtime headquarters of the Flxible Co., which first produced motorcycle sidecars, then funeral cars, ambulances and buses before going out of business in 1996.
Mohican State Park, one of Ohio’s first, was originally called Clear Fork State Park, established in 1949, the same year that the Ohio Department of Natural Resources was created.
After brushing up on my history and enjoying a tasty lunch at downtown’s Black Fork Bistro, I had some shopping to do. My first stop: Creative Outlet, with a large collection of Native American arts and crafts, including turquoise jewelry, dream catchers, moccasins and a drum circle upstairs. Owner Jill Dunlap regularly travels to New Mexico to replenish her inventory.
Next door is Buzzard’s Family Shoes, a…
LOUDONVILLE — Discover Mohican and the Mohican Area Chamber of Commerce invites Bigfoot believers and skeptics alike to Loudonville’s Bigfoot Festival Sept. 19 and 20.
The festival kicks off Sept. 19 at Lost Horizons Campground where there will be a foot casting activity for kids at 5 p.m. In addition, a thermal drone demonstration and community campfire after sunset are also planned.
On Sept. 20, the festival will transfer to downtown Loudonville where visitors can enjoy food and merchandise vendors, face painting and other kids activities in Central Park.
A nine-foot Bigfoot statue will be available for photo opportunities at the Four Seasons Flowers & Gifts, located at 221 West Main St.
There will also be a Bigfoot sighting board for visitors to pin their sightings on a map and a walk-like-Bigfoot contest.
But the highlight of the festival will be the speaker series at the Ohio Theatre, located at 156 North Water St.
Speaker series
- 9:30 a.m.: Angie Heimberger, owner of Four Seasons Flowers & Gifts, will talk about the event and its sponsors.
- 9:45 a.m.: MC Larry Sidwell is a Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization investigator who has gone on 40 expeditions to pursue Bigfoot sightings.
- 10 a.m.: Suzanne Ferencak and Mark Maisel are Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization investigators.
- 11:30 a.m.: Rob Rodabaugh is a Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization investigator who has attended nine Bigfoot expeditions.
- 1 p.m.: Bea Mills is a Bigfoot investigator and founder of the Hocking Hills Bigfoot Festival. She was awarded Bigfooter of the Year by Bigfoot Times in 2019.
- 2:30 p.m.: Shane Grove and Shane Leuthold host the From the Shadows Podcast, which discusses paranormal, supernatural and cryptozoology topics.
- 4 p.m.: Keynote speaker Matt Pruitt is the author of The Phenomenal Sasquatch: Seeking the Natural Origins of a Cultural Icon.
General admission…
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[lively string and flute music]
Electa Quinney: First Teacher in Wisconsin
Narrator: Electa Quinney was heartbroken to leave her home. She was barely ten years old, and she and five other Mohican girls were going far away to school. It would be a long time before they would see their families again. But they knew that education was their best chance at surviving. To understand why, we have to go back to the years before Electa was born.
[dramatic music]
Electa and her family were Mohicans. The Mohicans lived in a thriving community in the state now known as New York. But by the 1700s, more and more European invaders were coming to America to seize land and resources. Colonization, war, and European diseases decimated the Mohican populations and homelands. In order to survive, the Mohicans were forced to move.
In the 1730s, they decided to live alongside some English colonists and form the town that became Stockbridge, Massachusetts. There, the Stockbridge Mohicans raised families, farmed and hunted, and participated in town life. When the Revolutionary War broke out, the…
The Mohicans
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The kid was probably 11 years old, red hair and even redder skin scorched by a lack of sunscreen, as he floated on his rented yellow kayak.
“You having fun?” I asked in dad mode, as I saw no parent or guardian in any direction.
“I lost my group. They wanted to stop for drinks and I got stuck on a rock and couldn’t move for 20 minutes,” he said.
“You can use my phone and call your parents or whoever,” I offered.
“My mom don’t got her cell and I don’t know her boyfriend’s number.”
Hard to tell whatever happened to that child, but we left him on a campground bank and had to proceed, as our mission was Goon Fest.
Located just north of Brinkhaven on the Mohican River, Goon Fest 2025 was a three-day, two-night music and camping festival centered around jam band, folk and psychedelic rock.
Sure, that sounds like a hundred other festivals, but Goon Fest was different in that there was more community, relaxation and room to separate from the masses but still be connected, all while refreshing your mind through the chords and drums humming through the tree canopies.
Too much hippie nonsense for some of you readers? OK, let’s switch to freedom and bald eagles and Ohio State football along the river.
South of Loudonville, across from the Mohican State Park main entrance and sharing the parking lot with the mountain bike trail access point, is the Paddling River Access boat ramp. The plan was to make way in my 17-foot aluminum canoe and travel south along the always-oxbowing mighty Mohican 11 to 13 miles to the festival.
Geographically, the journey began at the lower sharks fin of Ashland County, then halfway through the expedition we’d dip into Knox County around where…
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LOUDONVILLE — The Mohican Area Growth Foundation wants to connect the Loudonville Mohican Bike Path to Mohican State Park.
Right now, the path ends on the west side of State Route 3, meaning if trail users want to continue to Mohican State Park, they must cross State Route 3.
Councilmember Matt Armstrong said the MAGF is working through options to secure funding to expand the bike path at Loudonville’s Village Council meeting Sept. 2.
Armstrong is vice president of MAGF.
He said the first option is to partner with the American Electric Power Foundation to create a shared utility and multi-use trail corridor.
AEP is building new transmission lines on the east side of State Route 3. Officials believe the transmission line corridor right-of-way would make adequate space to accompany a bike trail.
Armstrong said this option is promising because AEP will have to clear the area of trees to create a path for the power lines, which means most of MAGF’s work will involve paving.
In a document attached to the meeting agenda, MAGF said this trail option would span roughly three-quarters of a mile and cost an estimated $765,000.
But Amrstrong said the most promising option would be to work with Mohican State Park to designate the path a special project.
The designation allows Mohican State Park to secure additional funding so the park does not have to dip into its general fund.
Armstrong said the park’s cable bridge is an example of a special project. It was funded through the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
MAGF previously worked with Mohican State Park’s manager to get right-of-way on the park land and applied for ODNR’s Clean Ohio Trails Fund grant.
The grant is designed for local governments and park districts to apply, not for state-owned land, so…