Seven tips for Ohio's Lost Lands Music Festival

THORNVILLE, Ohio (WCMH) — From Apashe to Zubah and about 160 bands in between, the Lost Lands music festival near Thornville is open until Sunday.

About 25,000 cars from all over the country — as well as people from Australia, Great Britain, and France — will travel toward Thornville and Legend Valley, where the Licking County Sheriff’s Office said it expects 47,000 festival goers, a.k.a. headbangers, to camp and listen to music.

Below are some tips to make your visit enjoyable.

Tip 1: Follow signs, not your GPS

Although the GPS will take you to Legend Valley Public Entrance, that’s not the traffic pattern set up by the sheriff’s department and it will add an extra five-mile loop to your trip. In that kind of “traffic down a two-lane country road” way, five miles could mean hours, so follow the signs.

“It’s going to be a lot of traffic,” said Col. Chad Dennis of the sheriff’s office, who worked on the new traffic patterns. The highest volume of traffic arrives in the early hours of the morning. “We expect traffic to pick up at 4 a.m. through 6 a.m.”

Tip 2: It’s going to be hot, then cold

Keep up with the forecast on NBC4’s weather page, which shows, for the weekend, Friday’s high at 67 degrees with a low of 51 degrees. Saturday’s high is at 71 degrees with a low of 55. Sunday’s high is 76 degrees with a low of 55.

“Bring plenty of blankets for when the temperature drops,” Dennis said.

Tip 3: Leave your knives and hatchets at home

Lost Lands Festival has a PDF to download for camping comfort and essentials. No fires are allowed (including spinning fire — sorry, hoopers), so you won’t need to cut kindling.

“No campfires allowed because of the volume of tents and people,” Dennis said.

All cars get checked going into Lost Lands, including with drug dogs.

Tip 4: Water supplied

Bring reusable containers and hydration packs, not packs of throwaway plastic water bottles which, with 47,000 people expected, would be a serious trash problem on cleanup day.

Tip 5: You can’t take your car out for supply trips without paying

Check social media for on-route stores that have stocked up for the festival so you don’t wait until it’s too late for that last-minute bag of chips, pack of earplugs, or neck brace for the dedicated headbangers in your car.

Per festival rules: “Note that there is no re-entry for any camping vehicles. If you drive out of the campgrounds and try to drive back in during the festival, you will be directed to purchase a parking pass and park in the South Parking Lot.”

However, festival attendees are free to enter and exit the festival grounds on foot by going through the security checkpoints.

Tip 6: Medical staff won’t incriminate anyone

Medical tents with staff 24/7 will be on site to help anyone who has a problem. So get help early.

In past years, there have been hazards at Lost Lands: two overdose deaths in 2018, and an overturned tractor in 2021 saw people life-flighted out of the festival.

However, the Lost Lands management and Licking County sheriff are highly motivated to keep people safe.

“We have officers from five counties working 378 shifts, with most shifts having between 24-28 officers on site,” Dennis said. “For the most part, the crowd is pro-police and respectful.”