Ric Griffith is a Democratic member of the West Virginia House of Delegates for the 19th District, which encompasses part of Wayne County. He assumed office on December 1, 2020. His current term ends on November 30, 2022.

Early life and education

Griffith graduated from

Ceredo-Kenova High School Spring Valley High School is a high school located in an unincorporated portion of Wayne County, West Virginia, United States, with a postal address in the nearby city of Huntington. It is part of the Wayne County Board of Education system. Mis ...

and received a degree from the University of Toledo College of Pharmacy.

Government service

Griffith served two terms as Kenova City Council President and two terms as Mayor of Kenova.

The Pumpkin House

Griffith is well known for displaying several thousand

jack-o'-lantern A jack-o'-lantern (or jack o'lantern) is a carved lantern, most commonly made from a pumpkin or a root vegetable such as a rutabaga or turnip. Jack-o'-lanterns are associated with the Halloween holiday. Its name comes from the reported phenomen ...

s on his property each

Halloween Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observanc ...

. Carving all the pumpkins is a community event, with around 20 dedicated volunteers helping. The pumpkin display is part of Ceredo-Kenova AutumnFest, a community-wide event which has a parade, scavenger hunt, and haunted trail. In 2019, he displayed over 3,000, one for every resident of his home town of Kenova, West Virginia. During 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 identif ...

, Griffith decided it was too risky to do the display at his home due to the large crowds that congregate to view it. He opted instead to have members of the community come by and pick up a pumpkin so it can be carved and displayed at their own homes. He created printed out instructions to go with each pumpkin to help the children and their families carve them.

References

Democratic Party members of the West Virginia House of Delegates Living people Year of birth missing (living people) University of Toledo alumni People from Kenova, West Virginia {{WestVirginia-politician-stub