2024 Festival Event Lineup

Friday, October 25th

Pre-planning Symposium
Location: Routsong Funeral Home
Time: 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Lunch Provided for attendees

9:05 AM Downsizing and Legacy – Explore techniques to manage your “stuff” to prepare for a move to a smaller place, plan to give to future generations, or both! Join Denise Swick for this important conversation that all of us who are aging need to have.

10:00 AM Estate/Trust Planning – Learn the importance of having your “legacy house” in order so your wishes are followed and the burden of death without proper legal planning is not left to your family. Nancy Roberson navigates this critical legal component of death and legacy.

11:15 AM Cemetery Pre-planning – Angie Bowling and Misty Sayre share the ins and outs of picking a final resting place the works for you and your family.

11:45 AM Funeral Pre-planning Panel Discussion – Sam Routsong and Erika Knox facilitate a question and answer period regarding funeral/life celebration pre-planning.

1:30 PM What You Need to Know About Hospice – Think Hospice is all about impending death? Rick Kaufhold explains how hospice is misunderstood and so much more.

Memorialization in an Age of Cremation and Green Burial
Location: Routsong Funeral Home
Time: 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Funeral Director CEU Credit Hour Available. With so many new choices in the market for final disposition, memorialization can take on many different forms. Neil Fogarty reviews the latest industry trends in memorializing a life well lived and creating a lasting vision of love through memorialization.

Murder, Mystery, and Mayhem Tour – SOLD OUT
Location: Woodland Cemetery, Dayton
Time: 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Event Cost: $25.00 per person
Includes: Food truck meal tickets, drink tickets, and tour

Register Today!

Saturday, October 26th

Navigating Grief Symposium
Location: Routsong Funeral Home
Time: 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Lunch Provided for attendees

9:05 AM Navigating Grief – Grief is a complicated experience for both the griever and those supporting them. Dr. Rachel Nolan discusses how we grieve and how best to help those navigating grief.

10:00 AM Grieving the Loss of a Child – The loss of a child creates powerful and unique grief that is seldom understood, much less addressed. Maria Lees-Dunlap and Hope Reger share how they channeled their personal grief experiences into helping others navigate child loss and provide insight for those who accompany the griever.

11:20 AM Grief Panel Discussion – Ask our grief experts any questions you like from how to deal with grief to how to accompany grief.

1:15 PM Easing Grief by Creating a Death Plan – Whether death is near or far away, creating a death plan and communicating it to your loved ones is a way to ease the grief that will arise upon your death. Jen will discuss the basic components of a death plan and encourage you to create your own.

2:00 PM Honoring Legacy: Memorial Cleaning and Genealogy – Tim Walters discusses memorial cleaning/restoration and its importance to the preservation of genealogical resources.

3:00 PM Death Cafe – Dr. Rachael Nolan facilitates a Death Cafe. This is a place to discuss death without agenda, philosophical/religious biases, or product pitches. Attendees provide the agenda through open questions as our experts help find answers.

Social Hour and “Behind the Scenes” Tour of the Funeral Home
Location: Routsong Funeral Home
Time: 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM