The Circleville Pumpkin Show is an annual

festival A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival ...

held in Circleville,

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, about south of the state capital of

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

. The festival, which is held to celebrate local agriculture, is headed up by the Circleville Pumpkin Show Corporation. Considered to be the biggest festival in the United States dedicated to the pumpkin, it is billed as ''The Greatest Free Show On Earth''. Attendance has topped 400,000 for the four-day event, which is free to enter.

Dates

The Pumpkin Show begins on the third Wednesday of October and lasts until the following Saturday. In recent years, a Tuesday preview night "for locals" has been introduced, adding an unofficial half day to the event.

Locations

Starting on the Sunday before the festival, work begins to restrict traffic in downtown Circleville. The restricted areas dedicated to the show are from South Scioto Street on the west to Pickaway Street on the east, and Watt/Pinckney Street on the north to Franklin Street on the south. More than 12 blocks are restricted by this event, which causes massive detours throughout a major portion of the city, including State Route 56 and

U.S. Route 22 U.S. Route 22 (US 22) is a west–east route and is one of the original United States highways of 1926, running from Cincinnati, Ohio, at US 27, US 42, US 127, and US 52 to Newark, New Jersey, at U.S. Route 1/9 in the Newark Airport Intercha ...

. Because there is no organized parking system, many small businesses, individuals, and non-profit organizations provide parking for varying fees.

History

In October 1903, Mayor George R. Haswell decided to hold a small pumpkin-and-corn exhibit in front of his store to celebrate the local harvest. This small exhibit featured corn, carved pumpkins and other harvest-themed displays. Because of the prominence of pumpkins in this first exhibit, the name "The Pumpkin Show" was then coined. In the following years local merchants were attracted to improve the size, scope and attendance of the festival. By 1905, the first ride was installed. Soon after, with the success of the shows, an annual festival was organized to be held on the city streets to attract merchants, patrons and improve the quality of the festival. The Pumpkin Show has been held annually since 1903. Despite it still being held during the influenza outbreaks of 1918–1919, the Pumpkin Show was silenced for one year during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, two years during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, and in 2020 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. The Pumpkin Show became the sixth largest festival in the United States by 2007, attracting more than 300,000 people to the city every year.

Traditions

Every Pumpkin Show officially kicks off with the weigh-in of large pumpkins from around the area. The largest pumpkin to date was grown by Bob & Jo Liggett, with their entry from 2014 weighing in at . Recent weigh-ins have had multiple entries that go over . Every year, Lindsey's Bakery creates the "world's largest"

pumpkin pie Pumpkin pie is a dessert pie with a spiced, pumpkin-based custard filling. The pumpkin and pumpkin pie are both a symbol of harvest time, and pumpkin pie is generally eaten during the fall and early winter. In the United States and Canada it is u ...

. Visitors can be in line for over an hour to see the pie. At the 100th anniversary Pumpkin Show in 2006, the bakery had to make a much bigger pie compared to previous years to officially reclaim the title of world's largest. The pie pan was so large that it was moved outside of the bakery window and into a tent out on the street. Another long-standing tradition of the Circleville Pumpkin Show is a pageant to crown the Little Miss and Miss Pumpkin Show Queen. The Little Miss Pumpkin Show Queen must be in the 2nd grade at a school in

Pickaway County Pickaway County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 58,539. Its county seat is Circleville, Ohio, Circleville. Its name derives from the Pekowi band o ...

, while the Miss Pumpkin Show Queen must be a junior from one of the six local high schools. Once crowned, they lead off each parade for the rest of the event. Seven parades in total are held during the event (two on Wednesday-Friday, one night parade on Saturday). These parades have many different themes, including the Pet Parade and Baby Parade. These parades also feature performances by many local high school and middle school bands, as well as other organizations. The Ohio University Marching 110, which is often referred to as "The Most Exciting Band In The Land," has made numerous trips to highlight Thursday night's parade of bands. The 2006 Pumpkin Show welcomed

The Ohio State University Marching Band The Ohio State University Marching Band (OSUMB) is a university marching band named for and a part of the Ohio State University. The band, popularly nicknamed The Best Damn Band in the Land (TBDBITL), performs at football games and other events d ...

. They came back in 2010 to march in the parade of bands again and hold a concert afterwards.

Facts

The Pumpkin Show features several different pumpkin related foods, including pumpkin donuts, pancakes, burgers, ice cream, cookies, fudge, brownies, cream puffs, waffles, pumpkin seeds, and pumpkin pie. Over the course of the event, approximately 23,000 pumpkin pies and more than 100,000 pumpkin donuts are sold from local vendors. There are also many other festival foods available at various stands throughout the event. Due to its popularity, the Pumpkin Show also has a song, "The Punkin Show," written and composed by M. W. "Burk" Burkhart in 1952 (published in 1977). People from over 34 states and 13 different countries have been documented to have attended the festival in the most recent years.

References

External links

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Circleville Pumpkin Show website

America's Pumpkin Festivals

Photos of the 1976 Circleville Pumpkin Show
Circleville, Ohio Festivals in Ohio Food and drink festivals in the United States Tourist attractions in Pickaway County, Ohio Pumpkin festivals