A Zero Chill Weekend: Five Festivals, Three States, September 18–19
Some weekends on Appalachia's Front Porch give you one good festival. This one gives you five, and it does not apologize for the scheduling conflict.
September 18 and 19 stack Poage Landing Days in Ashland, Greek Fest and Oktoberfest in Huntington, the Lawrence County Honey Fest in Willow Wood, and the Mothman Festival in Point Pleasant right on top of each other, along with an art walk, a juried art show, and enough live music to soundtrack the whole thing twice over. This is not a chill weekend. This is a zero chill weekend, and here is exactly how to run it.
Friday, September 18: Ashland Opens the Gates, Huntington Joins In
Late Morning | Highlands Museum Used Book Sale, Ashland, KY
Ease into the weekend at the Highlands Museum & Discovery Center's Annual Used Book Sale, starting at 10 a.m. in downtown Ashland. It is a low-key way to start a high-energy weekend: table after table of donated books at yard-sale prices, with proceeds going right back into the museum.
Midday | Poage Landing Days Opens, Winchester Avenue, Ashland, KY
Poage Landing Days opens at noon right on Winchester Avenue, and this is the anchor of the entire weekend, a three-day street festival running through Sunday. Walk the vendor booths, grab lunch off a festival food truck, and let the afternoon move at festival speed.
Late Afternoon | Art Walk, Downtown Huntington, WV
Around 4 p.m., cross into Cabell County for Huntington's Art Walk, a self-guided stroll through downtown galleries and businesses. It is an easy, unhurried way to shift from one state's festival into the next.
Early Evening | Oktoberfest at Bahnhof, Huntington, WV
At 5 p.m., Bahnhof WVrsthaus and Biergarten, 745 7th Ave, kicks off its Oktoberfest with a full German menu and steins to match. Brats, pretzels, and the first proper Oktoberfest pour of the weekend.
Evening | Greek Fest Opening Night, Huntington, WV
A few blocks over, St. George Greek Orthodox Church, 701 11th Ave, opens its 44th annual Greek Fest at 6 p.m. Church tours, live music and dancing, and a plate of pastitsio and baklava you will be thinking about on the drive home.
Local Insider Tip: Art Walk, Oktoberfest, and Greek Fest are all within a few blocks of each other in downtown Huntington, so you can walk between two of the three. The one thing you cannot shortcut is the roughly 25-minute drive back to Ashland, so build that into your night before you commit to a Poage Landing Days start time.
Night | City Heat at Poage Landing Days, Ashland, KY
Head back to Ashland for City Heat, taking the Poage Landing Days stage at 7:30 p.m. The festival runs well into the evening, so there is no need to rush the drive back.
Saturday, September 19: Ohio, Huntington, and Point Pleasant by Night
Early Morning | Wild Ramp Farmers Market, Huntington, WV
Start Saturday at Wild Ramp, Huntington's year-round local farmers market, open at 7 a.m. It is the kind of stop that rewards showing up early, before the good produce and baked goods are picked over.
Mid-Morning | Lawrence County Honey Fest, Willow Wood, OH
From Huntington, it is about a 20-minute drive into Lawrence County, Ohio, to Wilson Family Farm, 14552 OH-775 in Willow Wood, for the Lawrence County Honey Fest, running 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. A dozen local and regional beekeepers set up in the barn with honey to sell, plus honey-based lotions, chapstick, and baked goods. You get a small wooden spoon and free rein to sample your way through, and admission is free.
Late Morning | Fall Art in the Park, Ritter Park, Huntington, WV
Back across the river by late morning, head to Ritter Park near the fountain for Fall Art in the Park, the Tri-State Arts Association's juried outdoor show. More than 20 artists set up with paintings, photography, pottery, and mixed media, and it is a genuinely good place to find something worth bringing home.
Late Morning | Greek Fest, Day Two, Huntington, WV
Greek Fest reopens at 11 a.m. at St. George. If you did not get your fill Friday night, this is the return trip for more baklava and loukoumades before the church's afternoon services begin.
Local Insider Tip: Willow Wood sits on the Ohio side, so the Honey Fest is the one true detour of the weekend rather than a stop along the route. If your morning is already tight, it is the easiest thing to trade away and still leave you with a full day of festivals in Huntington.
Early Afternoon | The Drive North
This is the pivot point of the whole weekend. Grab a quick lunch downtown, then point the car north on WV Route 2, which follows the Ohio River the entire way to Point Pleasant. It is about 42 miles and just under an hour, and it is one of the prettier drives in the region, river on one side the whole way.
Afternoon and Evening | Mothman Festival, Downtown Point Pleasant, WV
The Mothman Festival kicks off Saturday around noon in downtown Point Pleasant, free to attend, and this is the festival that turns the whole weekend into a story worth telling. Browse the artisan vendor booths, catch a guest speaker, tour the TNT Area, and if the weather cooperates, get in line for the Mothman Hayride, a Saturday-only ride through the site's strange history. Stop by the Mothman Museum and get your photo with the statue while you are there. As afternoon turns to evening, grab dinner downtown and let the live music close the night out.
Choose Your Ending: Poage Landing Days runs through Sunday, and Saturday night there also belongs to JIGJAM at 7 p.m. and the Kentucky Headhunters at 9 p.m. back in Ashland. You cannot be in Point Pleasant and Ashland for both headliners in the same night, and that is fine. If Mothman is the priority, close your weekend there. If you would rather end back in Ashland under the Kentucky Headhunters, skip the drive north and stay put. Either way, Poage Landing Days is still going Sunday if your crew wants one more state before heading home.
