Lost Skills Gathering to Bring Hands-On Heritage Festival
A hands-on heritage festival bringing old skills, local history, and practical knowledge back into living practice
COSHOCTON, Ohio – A new regional festival rooted in heritage, practical skills, and community learning is coming to Coshocton County this fall. The Lost Skills Gathering, a one day hands-on festival created and hosted by the Woodland Herbal family behind Green Path Academy: School of Herbalism, will take place Saturday, October 3, 2026, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Clary Gardens in Coshocton, Ohio.
The Lost Skills Gathering is designed as more than a craft fair or market. It is a living classroom where teachers, makers, elders, families, young learners, and community members come together to preserve and practice the useful skills that shaped everyday life for generations. Guests can expect a full day of hands-on learning, demonstrations, storytelling, traditional trades, plant wisdom, old-fashioned crafts, family activities, food, music, and a marketplace of useful and
handmade goods.
Festival offerings are expected to include traditional skills such as herbalism, foraging, blacksmithing, broom-making, mushroom inoculation, fire-starting, homesteading arts, fiber work, practical household skills, food preservation, gardening, woodworking, nature-based learning, and other demonstrations connected to land, craft, resilience, and cultural memory. More teachers, demonstrators, vendors, musicians, family activities, and schedule details will continue to be announced as the event approaches.
“At a time when so many people are rediscovering gardening, sourdough, herbal remedies,
foraging, mending, woodworking, preserving food, and living closer to the land, we felt there needed to be a place where these skills could be learned face to face,” said Brandon Elijah Scott, founder of Woodland Herbal and festival co-director of the Lost Skills Gathering. “This gathering is about honoring the people who still carry these skills, creating space for hands-on learning, and helping pass that knowledge on before it disappears from everyday life.”
The festival is being held at Clary Gardens, a botanical garden and outdoor gathering place in Coshocton. With its gardens, wooded paths, open spaces, pavilion, and natural beauty, Clary Gardens offers a fitting setting for a day centered on land-based learning, family discovery, and community connection.
Historic Roscoe Village’s involvement as a sponsor co-host strengthens the festival’s connection to regional heritage and hands-on history. Known for preserving and interpreting canal-era life in Coshocton, Roscoe Village brings a natural alignment with the festival’s mission to keep practical knowledge, traditional crafts, and local history in living motion.
“The Lost Skills Gathering reflects many of the values that shaped our region: craftsmanship, ingenuity, and the sharing of knowledge across generations. As a sponsor co-host and supporting partner, Roscoe Village Foundation is proud to help bring this event to Coshocton and create opportunities for families, educators, and visitors to engage with heritage in a meaningful, handson way,” said Sharon Bucey, Executive-in-Residence, Historic Roscoe Village.
The Lost Skills Gathering is also made possible through the support of sponsors and community partners who recognize the value of preserving traditional knowledge and creating meaningful regional events. Current sponsors and supporters include Historic Roscoe Village, Green Path Academy: School of Herbalism, Woodland Herbal, Shamrock Printing, Lity’s Scrapyard, and Central Ohio Technical College.
Organizers hope the event will become a gathering place for multiple generations, from elders with knowledge to share to children learning the joy of making, noticing, growing, and trying. The festival’s focus is intentionally broad, bringing together traditional trades, plant medicine, foodways, storytelling, outdoor confidence, useful household skills, and cultural memory under one welcoming regional event.
The Lost Skills Gathering will be held rain or shine. Guests are encouraged to plan for a full day outdoors, bring cash for teacher donations, vendors, food, and handmade goods, and check the festival website for updated announcements as the teacher lineup, schedule, food vendors, marketplace, and family activities continue to grow.
Event Details
Event: Lost Skills Gathering
Date: Saturday, October 3, 2026
Time: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Location: Clary Gardens, 588 West Chestnut Street, Coshocton, Ohio 43812
Hosted by: The Woodland Herbal family behind Green Path Academy: School of Herbalism
Sponsor co-host: Historic Roscoe Village
Festival Directors: Brandon Elijah Scott and Jenni Parsons
Website: LostSkillsGathering.com
Email: Connect@LostSkillsGathering.com
Phone: 740-327-2700, Woodland Herbal office
Admission: Presale and day-of tickets available. Children age 3 and under are free. Discounted
tickets are available for youth, elders, military members, and active emergency responders.
About Lost Skills Gathering
The Lost Skills Gathering is a one-day hands-on heritage festival in Coshocton, Ohio, created to preserve and celebrate traditional skills, folk knowledge, practical resilience, and intergenerational learning. Through demonstrations, workshops, storytelling, music, makers, family activities, and community teaching, the festival brings together people who want to learn, share, and carry forward the skills that still matter.
COMING IN FROM OUT-OF-TOWN?
Visit Coshocton can assist with nearby accommodations and ideas of other things to do around the area.
A HISTORIC ROSCOE VILLAGE ROAD TRIP
Pack up the car, put Historic Roscoe Village into your GPS, and hit the road! Summer is the perfect time to visit Coshocton County, where you’ll find beautiful outdoor areas, unique shopping and dining, and living history, all within Historic Roscoe Village. Visitors of all ages will enjoy the Canal Town Discovery Walk, a ticketed living history tour, and see what day-to-day life in an 1800s canal town was like. Watch metalworkers in the blacksmith shop, weavers using a loom, broom makers crafting a broom, and tour a canal-era doctor’s office. Living history tours are available 10am-4pm daily.
CLICK HERE to learn more. (Sponsored 5/26)