FOSM’s Summer Solstice Celebration Festival
Join us, June 20-22, 2025, as we celebrate the first few days of summer among the foothills of the Appalachia mountains.
Our annual festival highlights the area’s history, heritage, ecology, as well as the multitude of aspects associated with the Serpent Mound Park. The Great Serpent Mound effigy, built by the Ancient Indigenous Peoples, incorporates alignments to the rising and setting of the sun and moon on the solstices and equinoxes. The summer solstice sunset alignment is through the open jaws and across the oval.
There are many theories, stories, ancient knowledge, and unknowns with Serpent Mound. The Friends of Serpent Mound started this festival as a way for the public to share and learn about the many facets of Serpent Mound. Our presenters vary from locals, historians, Indigenous Americans, Scientists, Spiritualist, Musicians, and more. Learn about Serpent Mound and the surrounding area’s history, uniqueness, wildlife, and ecology, along with some fun family friendly summer activities!
FOSM’s Summer Solstice Celebration Festival Rules
- This is a family friendly event – there is to be NO alcohol, drugs, guns, or nudity!
- Children are welcome and must be supervised by a parent or guardian at all times.
- There is no smoking in the Main Tents, in the port-o-lets or within the group hikes. There are proper places to put one’s cigarette butts, so please do not throw them on the ground.
- Dogs are permitted, but must be leashed at all times, next to owner, and must be cleaned up after.
- The back gate to the Serpent Mound Park is closed. One can use the Buckeye Trail to access the park during open hours.
Our 2025 Main Tent &
Workshop Schedule
Scroll to the right to see the Workshop Schedule.
Scroll down to see full description of presentations.
This years Festival Theme
“Ancient Tools, Textiles, and Traditional Skills”
Join us any or every day of the festival, for FREE.
No registration required to attend.
Sorry, we don’t have any public camping.
Visit Adams County Travel & Visitors Bureau,
Visitor’s Bureau of Highland County,
or Visit Pike County, Ohio
Scroll down to learn more about our presenters.
the WORKSHOP SCHEDULE is here.
Festival Hours
Friday
3 pm – 7 pm
Saturday
10 am – 7 pm
Sunday
10 am – 7 pm
Festival Parking
Anyone planning to spend the day with us, should enter the festival from Horner Chapel Rd and park in the field. Anyone parked at Serpent Mound may visit us via the Buckeye Trail, but you will have to pay a parking fee. Look for our sign behind the large conical mound and follow the Buckeye Trails’ Blue Blazes to our other signs.
Friday Main Tent Schedule
The views and opinions of the presenters are their own and not that of the Friends of Serpent Mound’s.
This is a work in progress.
3:00 – 4:00
Opening Prayer & Welcome
Opening Prayer, Welcome, & Tent Dedication
Opening Prayer by Dr. Catherine McNabb & Welcome by Delsey Wilson, Executive Director of Friends of Serpent Mound. Join us as we honor a fallen soldier, beloved friend, and FOSM supporter John “Barney” Barnhart. We will name our education tent, “The John “Barney” Barnhart Memorial Education Tent”.
4:00 – 5:00
Nikki Allen
Hiking Buckeye Trail
Description
5:00 – 6:00
Okandada Spirit Wind Drum
Inter-tribal Drumming
Okandada was founded at Pine Ridge Agency in 1979 as a ceremonial group for the Okandada medicine Society. Our drum was donated to Slaysafar from the Porcupine Singers and has since become a teaching drum for those called to sing and drum. We play for donations and do not charge for playing as our drumming is looked at as a sacred calling. Okandada Drum welcomes all who wish to learn and welcomes all nations. When the Black Wolf Singers Drum joins them, they are known as the Voices of Thunder. A-Ho. Come join the dance.
6:00 – 7:00
Lead – Lawrence Greene
Community Drumming
Bring your hand drum of choice and join in on this Community Drumming and drum the festival closed for the day.
Saturday Main Tent Schedule
The views and opinions of the presenters are their own and not that of the Friends of Serpent Mound’s.
10:00 – 11:00
Lawrence Greene
Friends of the Plains Mounds
Lawrence R Greene is a founding member of the Friends of The Plains Mounds a new non profit formed to preserve the mounds and educate people about them. He is the lead Natural and Historical interpreter with Rising Appalachia in Athens county Ohio. Lawrence is also the lead drummer and founder of Ugata: drum and dance, a Pan African drum group in southern Ohio and West Virginia.
He will be speaking about the formation of the Friends of The Plains Mounds and why it is such an important site in Ohio.
11:00 – 12:00
Aries Grant
How Serpent Mound is Calibrated to the Sun & Moon
Aries Grant is an aficionado a of archeology more specific ancient structures. He calibrate them based on their
alignment with the solstice. So far, he has done Stonehenge, the pyramids of keys, and as of late,
Serpent Mound. He will present how Serpent Mound is incorporated with the moon phases and mathematically how we’ll be able calibrate it and other structures around the globe.
12:00 – 1:00
John Hardin
Electric Didgeridoo Solstice Journey
John Hardin lives in his solar-powered recording studio, off-grid, deep in the forest of California’s “Lost
Coast,” His works includes more than 25 albums of original music, 3 feature documentary films,
hundreds of radio and TV shows, and almost 1,000 articles in publications ranging from 5th Estate,
The Journal of Anarchist Thought and Action, to the Lincoln Journal Star, a conservative Midwest
newspaper. His activism in the Anti-Nuclear Movement, and the struggle to legalize marijuana led to
the films Nukebusters (1998) and Hemp Disconnected (2024). He co-founded Mass Cann, the
Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition, and worked for Greenpeace USA. John’s steadfast
dedication and original approach to the instrument makes him one of the preeminent didgeridoo
players in the country today
He will introduce his musical performance with a story about his experience at the Serpent Mound.
Following that, he will lead participants on a trance journey through music and ecstatic dance in a
performance that celebrates the power and energy of the Summer Solstice.
1:00 – 2:00
Nathan Noble
The Bullroarer, A Universal Human Experience
Nathan has spent over three decades exploring eclectic pathways, and lives his life as a unique cross section of those teachings. For the last fifteen years, he has studied and explored the possibilities of an instrument/device called a Bullroarer…
Bullroarers are the most universal sound-making device found across history. They transcend all cultures,beliefs,and regions of the world. If you’re a human, at some point in your ancestry, you used, or experienced the sound of a bullroarer. He will show different types of bullroarer, explain their uses across cultures, and touch on their benefits. Afterwards people will be invited to explore them for themselves. There will also be a variety of hand-made bullroarers for sale at his vending booth, along with personalized instruction for anyone interested in taking the experience home.
2:00 – 3:00
Steve Free
Folk Music
Among contemporary Singer / Songwriters Steve Free is one of the most versatile artist on The Americana Music scene , an unorthodox tunesmith and smooth voiced troubadour with a voice comparable to James Taylor and John Denver … yet with a timbre uniquely his own. Combined with heart – felt lyrics and well crafted story – songs that have continued to win him legions of fans worldwide – Power Source Music Review Nashville
3:00 – 4:00
Jeb Bowen
Ancient Pottery in the Serpent Mound Region
Jeb Bowen is a PhD Anthropology from Ohio State University and resident Archaeologist at the Clarke-May Museum in Circleville, Ohio. He will tell about the production technologies, functions, and decorative designs of pottery vessels in the Serpent Mound Region from 1500 BC through AD 1650.
4:00 – 5:00
Voices of Thunder – Okandada Spirit Wind Drum & Black Wolf Singers Drum
Inter-tribal Drumming
Okandada was founded at Pine Ridge Agency in 1979 as a ceremonial group for the Okandada medicine Society. Our drum was donated to Slaysafar from the Porcupine Singers and has since become a teaching drum for those called to sing and drum. We play for donations and do not charge for playing as our drumming is looked at as a sacred calling. Okandada Drum welcomes all who wish to learn and welcomes all nations. When the Black Wolf Singers Drum joins them, they are known as the Voices of Thunder. A-Ho. Come join the dance.
5:00 – 6:00
Ohio School of Falconry (OSF)
The Nature of Flight!
Come join us and discover the Nature of Flight! As we learn about the many types of raptors (owls, hawks, falcons and buzzards) that can be found around the world, we will explore their unique powers of flight and how each of the do it a little bit differently. Want to be a participant? Prior to the show, purchase a ticket, those tickets will be drawn throughout the show
6:00 – 7:00
Ohio School of Falconry (OSF)
The Nature of Flight!
Almost 2 hours long
Sunday Main Tent Schedule
The views and opinions of the presenters are their own and not that of the Friends of Serpent Mound’s.
10:00 – 11:00
Deo Abellera
Plays Crystal Singing Bowls
Deo Abellera is a member of the Great Serpent Mound Society of Dowsers. Along with volunteering many hours throughout our community here in Adams County. He loves sharing his enjoyment for Singing Bowls. He will do a demonstration at 10:00 AM on Sunday. Visit his tent any time to learn more on the subject of self healing.
11:00 – 12:00
Joanie Boyle
Sound Healing & Meditation
Joanie is the owner & operator of The Gaia Den in Princeton WV, a healing arts studio & metaphysical shop. She offers a variety of classes and services: she is a CYT, meditation & breath-work facilitator and also a Tarot reader and astrologer, with over 20 years experience in her modalities.
Using a drum and 7 crystal quartz sound healing bowls, attuned to each of the 7 main chakras, she will guide people through a meditative sound journey, including light breath work.
12:00 – 1:00
Kathleen Spiritwolf
Ancient Ways Learning Circle & Singing
Description
1:00 – 2:00
Crystal Judge
Musician & Herb Enthusiast
Crystal Judge teaches Herbal Learning classes and makes herbal remedies for Gracious Farm, a 5 acre land that she and her family steward while growing native and naturalized plants for medicinal use and sustainability. Crystal has been a student of herbs for 28 years, although her interest was peeked at a very young age. She received knowledge from many mentors who were often women passing down information learned through generations. For years, she would offer work trade to these women who needed help maintaining their abundance so that she would be able to spend time with plants intimately, learning about them, and harvesting. Plus, she can sing!
2:00 – 3:00
Mike Buford
Musician
Music
3:00 – 4:00
Jeffrey Wilson
Textiles Found at Serpent Mound
Learn about textiles found at Serpent Mound park.
4:00 – 5:00
Voices of Thunder – Okandada Spirit Wind Drum & Black Wolf Singers Drum
Inter-tribal Drumming
Okandada was founded at Pine Ridge Agency in 1979 as a ceremonial group for the Okandada medicine Society. Our drum was donated to Slaysafar from the Porcupine Singers and has since become a teaching drum for those called to sing and drum. We play for donations and do not charge for playing as our drumming is looked at as a sacred calling. Okandada Drum welcomes all who wish to learn and welcomes all nations. When the Black Wolf Singers Drum joins them, they are known as the Voices of Thunder. A-Ho. Come join the dance.
5:00 – 6:00
Panel of Serpent Mound Enthusiasts
Serpent Mound Q & A and Discussion
Open Discussion of Serpent Mound. An open Q & A about all things Serpent Mound.
6:00 – 7:00
FOSM
Driving Tour to the Crater’s Rim
Carpool to the Crater’s Rim Viewing
Where is Soaring Eagle Retreat?
Soaring Eagle Retreat is east of Serpent Mound and the Ohio History Connection has asked that all of our participants come in from the Horner Chapel entrance and park in our field. One can assess Serpent Mound park via the Buckeye Trail during Park hours.
375 Horner Chapel Rd., Peebles, OH 45660
1-937-205-0094