Community Picnic and Moonrise at the Octagon Earthworks

As a part of the celebration of America 250 we want to take time to honor the knowledge and influence that Indigenous peoples have brought to this landscape for millennia. The Newark Earthworks will be hosting a Community Picnic event at the Octagon Earthworks on October 28th, 2026, from 4—9 p.m.

A communal tent with tables and chairs will be set up so everyone can share a meal under the same roof. Food trucks will be available on site between 4:00pm and 8:00pm, but guests should feel free to bring your own meal. Activities will be available for children and those young at heart from 4— 6:30 p.m.

At 7 p.m., Briana Mazzolini-Blanchard, Executive Director of the Urban Native Collective, and her colleagues, will speak about the Ohio Native Land Initiative and Native connection to land and sacred sites and how we can better respect and support Native lifeways, culture, and heritage.

We will finish up the evening by coming together to watch the Northernmost Moonrise at the Octagon Earthwork, an experience intimately connected to Native knowledge and wisdom and the connection we all have to the past and present, the land, and the cyclical nature of our universe.

The moon is set to rise at 8:04 p.m. that night but will make it over the horizon about 10-15 mins after the official rising. This moonrise signifies the 2,000 year-old indigenous structure that precisely aligns the moon’s complex 18.6-year lunar standstill.
We hope you will join us!