It’s raining pumpkins!
The leaves are changing, the temperatures are dipping, and pumpkins are popping up at every roadside stand. You know what that means.
The Circleville Pumpkin Show is ready to begin!
Sitting just thirty miles outside of Columbus lies Circleville, Ohio. Home to the renowned Circleville Pumpkin Show, taking place every year on the third Wednesday in October and running through the following Saturday. The town has become the heartbeat for all things pumpkin, from storefronts and porches to main street and beyond.
In 1903, Mayor George R. Haswell held a small pumpkin and corn exhibit to celebrate the harvest season. Pumpkins took center stage, even back then, and the first exhibit was called “The Pumpkin Show.”
The festival was immediately a hit, and in 1905 the first ride was included, and the attractions continued to grow. In the following years, merchants and townspeople gathered to ensure that the festival improved and evolved into what it is today. This pumpkin festival is one you don’t want to miss.
Festivities kick off with the annual weigh-in of pumpkins from around the state, with multiple ones coming in at over 1,000 pounds, and one of the largest was in 2014 at 1,964 pounds. Wow! That is a lot of pumpkin.
The size of everything in Circleville is over the top. Lindsey’s Bakery makes the “world’s largest pumpkin pie” annually. The pie requires over one hundred pounds of pumpkin, twenty-six gallons of milk, and fifteen dozen eggs. The pie pan was so big it had to be moved to a tent in the street.
But the fun doesn’t stop there. Oh no, it is just the beginning.
Come for the pumpkin and stay for the parades, all seven of them. Each parade has a unique theme, and Saturday is a night parade complete with bands and floats.
Bring your appetite. Each year the town becomes a mecca for pumpkin-related food, from the obligatory pumpkin pie and donuts to the more extreme, such as pumpkin buckeyes, pumpkin pierogies, and even pumpkin burgers. Vendors try new ways to make mouthwatering pumpkin-themed food. What have they come up with this year?
And that’s still not all the fun and excitement. There are over fifty rides, cooking demonstrations, and live music, including jazz, country, and pop. And, of course, there is a pie eating contest, pumpkin toss, hog calling, pageants, pumpkin carving, and all the food and craft items throughout the fall festival.
Circleville, Ohio, has created a legacy for their town that continues to be a beacon for the community. The Greatest Free Show on Earth, as it is fondly referred to, is a non-profit that strives to promote goodwill among the community and visitors alike. You can’t call yourself a true Ohioan if you haven’t been to The Greatest Free Show on Earth—The Circleville Pumpkin Show. Visit Circleville Pumpkin Show for all the latest information and the pumpkin show schedule.
