MacGahan Festival

03/31/2026

The festival is held on the second Saturday of June, unless otherwise stated. In 2026, that will be June 13.

The program begins at MacGahan's tomb in New Lexington Cemetery (formerly known as Maplewood Cemetery) at 11:00. After the cemetery we travel to MacGahan's statue across from the Perry County Courthouse. Finally we have the banquet, with games and entertainment. In 2026, the banquet will be at the Perry County Library in New Lexington.

05/14/2024

There seems to be a deeply rooted belief that MacGahan's writings motivated the Russians to attack the Ottoman Turks in Bulgaria.

The fact is that the Russians were already fighting the Ottomans. MacGahan went to Bulgaria to cover that war. At that time, the British government would have stood in the way of the Russians completely driving the Turks out, because they wanted the Ottoman Empire to survive as a counterbalance to the Russian Empire.

MacGahan's writings caused a shift in British popular opinion, which in turn caused a change in the official British policy. They would not stand in the way of the Russians, although they did use some "gunboat" diplomacy when Russia threatened the Ottoman capital.

05/02/2024

The MacGahan American Bulgarian Foundation was formed in 1978 to commemorate the life of Januarius Aloysius MacGahan, a journalist and war correspondent born near New Lexington, Ohio in 1844.

It was MacGahan, whose vivid dispatches from Bulgaria in 1872 to the London Daily News, detailing the atrocities of the invading Turkish forces, that helped mobilize world opinion to stop the slaughter of innocent Bulgarians.

Profoundly affected by MacGahan's accounts of the conflict, the Czar of Russia dispatched his army to march on Bulgaria and drive out the Turkish troops. MacGahan himself joined the Russian army in the campaign, which expelled the Turks and restored peace to the region thus earning him the title of "Liberator of Bulgaria".

Every following the inception of the Foundation, in tribute of MacGahan and in celebration of the Bulgarian culture and heritage that he helped to preserve, a memorial is held in his honor.

They year's 46th Annual MacGahan Festival will be held Saturday, June 8, 2024 in New Lexington. Click on the flyer below for more details of the event.

11/22/2023

New Lexington Police Chief Doug Gill knocked on my door and gave me this shoulder patch featuring MacGahan and the county courthouse. The design has been adopted for the town's police uniforms.

06/02/2023

Seth and Jim have the gravesite looking good for the start of the MacGahan Festival tomorrow morning at 11:00.

Reminder: Due to predicted heat, the cookout/picnic at the library (starting around 12:30) will be in a shaded area with easy access to indoor seating.

05/26/2023

05/08/2023

This year we will have prizes for game tournaments and door prizes, including a four-burner gas grill.

As always, everything is free.

03/24/2023

This year's festival will begin at MacGahan's grave at 11:00 on Saturday June 3. As usual, we will proceed from there to the statue.

For the first time ever, the banquet will be a picnic/cookout (weather permitting) and we will have games. Rain or shine, the location will be the Perry County District Library at 117 South Jackson Street, New Lexington.

05/16/2022

The Festival will be back to normal this year, EXCEPT we will hear Bulgarian students reading scholarship-winning essays in addition to Perry County students. Also, the main ceremony will begin at 11:00 instead of 10:00.

For those who are in the New Lexington area on Friday evening, June 3, there will be an informal meet-and-greet (with food) at the Knights of Columbus Hall, 800 North Main Street (point #1 on Map A) beginning around 6:00.

On Saturday, June 4, we will convene at 11:00 at the New Lexington (formerly Maplewood) Cemetery. The entrance to the cemetery is at 440 Swigart Street, (point #2 on Map A). The traditional Orthodox liturgy at MacGahan's grave will be followed by a visit to the nearby grave of Carma Jean Rausch, who was the "face of the festival" for forty years.

Next will be floral tributes at MacGahan's statue at 105 North Main Street (point #3 on Map A, point #1 on Map B).

From the statue we will proceed to the New Lexington First United Methodist Church, 126 South High Street (point #4 on Map A, point #3 on Map B) for the banquet and speakers' (including scholarship winners) program.

02/02/2022

Applications for this year's MacGahan scholarships should be available at all area schools and all branches of the county library. Or you can print it out from this post.
Changes this year include:
1. Amount for Perry County recipients is $1000 each.
2. The two winners will be selected from all qualified Perry County Residents, rather than one from the New Lexington school district and one from elsewhere in the county.
3. The essay topic is "Why It's Important to Learn about Januarius MacGahan."
4. Two separate awards will be made to students in Bulgaria. Details are still being finalized.

This year's festival will be Saturday, June 4. We plan to resume the banquet tradition this year, which will be held at the Methodist Church in New Lexington. Along with the Perry County scholarship winners, the Bulgarian winners will hopefully be able to read their essays (in English) to the assembly through Zoom or something similar.