Ladysmith Oldtime Gathering is a festival where the participants make the magic happen! 
The First Annual Ladysmith Oldtime Gathering! September 2025
LOG 2026 - September 18th - 20th
EARLY BIRD Weekend passes available NOW ** EXTENDED until July 31st - $50
Regular Price Weekend passes available starting August 1st - $65
Day Passes (Saturday only) available starting July 1st - $30
What to expect
Ladysmith Oldtime Gathering (LOG for short!) is a unique experience of camping and jamming - no concerts!
Come and spend the weekend playing and learning tunes while building music-community in a beautiful setting! Or, just come out for the Saturday and enjoy workshops, jamming, and a community chili dinner.
Ladysmith Oldtime Gathering is a participatory music experience that celebrates Appalachian-style old-time traditional music. There aren't many festivals like this in Canada, in fact, this might be the first official one! Similar festivals in other countries focus on sharing old-time music in a very natural organic way - in a circle, from one person to another, in a friendly learn-as-you-go kind of way, where everyone is welcome!
This gathering is not performance-focused and there are no concerts. Workshops are held on Saturday, and help share knowledge and wisdom about instruments, tunes, and techniques. The jam circles form naturally and take place around the campground, or out in a quiet meadow, up by the barn, or around a campfire late on a cold night, often running into the wee hours of the morning. On Saturday we share a big delicious community chili dinner - sharing a meal is a great way to build connection.
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workshops 2026
Have You Got the Runs? (Guitar runs, that is):
11:00am Saturday
Denis has been playing up and down the fretboard for over 45 years, using creative bass runs to lead from one chord to the next. Join him to pick up a few tips that can take your guitar playing for old time music to new and inspiring places. Grab your guitar and learn how to get “the runs”.
Hosted by Denis Drouin
Tune Transformation and Rehabilitation
1:00pm Saturday
Tired of retuning whenever the session changes keys? Or maybe you haven't yet learned to play in that tuning, or are bored with a particular tune. Come to this workshop and explore alternatives to retuning or sitting out the tune. You might even enjoy playing that tune again! The workshop is appropriate for clawhammer banjo players of all levels. Players should be comfortable with the basic clawhammer style and standard G tuning.
Hosted by Mary Gick
Mountain Songs: Sing'em Like You Mean It!
3:00pm Saturday
Find your voice and your best key, and damn the fiddler! We'll belt out some songs, maybe even throw in a harmony or two. Take your vocal cords on a ride, and come sing your heart out with Ann and Tina. All ages, all abilities!
Hosted by Ann Downey and Tina Therrien
What the World Needs Now - the Sunday Morning Sing-along
11:00am Sunday
When voices are joined together in song, we all feel a little more like things are going to turn out okay. So let's gather in the barn on Sunday morning to sing a few of our favourite classic feel good songs - from The Beatles to Johnny Cash, The Carter Family to Neil Young, Old Gospel tunes to New Country - bring your suggestions and instruments and join in!
Hosted by Pam & Jeff Gleeson
Denis Drouin
Mary Gick
Tina Therrien
Ann Downey
Pam & Jeff Gleeson
Workshops presented by:
Born into a musical family, Denis Drouin has been playing bluegrass and country music since the age of 13. The guitar was his first love, but he is also adept on the bass, and loves sawing out greasy old time tunes on the fiddle. With a repertoire spanning cajun to old time to Americana, Denis is like a chameleon–he can fit in and find the groove. To name a few bands Denis has been a part of - Blue Meanies, Crawdad, and the Fieldville String Band.
Mary Gick has been playing clawhammer banjo since 1976 when she was living in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She has taught privately and at the Ottawa Folklore Centre, and has done banjo workshops at the Ottawa Folk Festival and Ottawa Grassroots Festival. Mary enjoys making up tunes, some of which can be found on bandcamp. 
https://marygick.bandcamp.com/ These days you can find her at Appalachian old time sessions in the Ottawa area, and at Maberly Quarterly dances with the Buckdancer's Choice. Mary also performs occasionally with her husband Chris White, and with the string band Hurley's a Howlin'.
Ann Downey has been singing for as long as she can remember. Harmonies, yodelling, and wacky songs are her favourites, with the occasional heartfelt weeper thrown in for good measure. Evidence can be found in Finest Kind, Toasted Westerns, and Sneezy Waters recordings, and wherever people are belting out fiddle tune words or a chorus song. (*photo credit Peter Jackson)
A choir girl at heart, Tina Therrien loves singing - from madrigal to medieval to old country and back again. As one-third of local faves Paugan Dames, she loves finding sweet harmonies. An old-time enthusiast and lover of cajun music, Tina has been hollering for most of her life.
Pam & Jeff Gleeson are Ottawa based musicians who have a love for all kinds of music, but especially music that is shared around a campfire and with friends. They've recently formed an Indie-folk duo called Quiet Sky which features Pam's song-writing and Jeff's guitar wizardry. Quiet Sky can be found playing shows around the Ottawa area. www.quietsky.band
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