The Circleville Pumpkin Show is an annual show held in Circleville, Ohio, about 48 km south of the state capital of Columbus. 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.
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.
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 1,964 pounds (891 kg). Recent weigh-ins have had multiple entries that go over 1,000 pounds (450 kg).
Every year, Lindsey’s Bakery creates the “world’s largest” pumpkin pie. 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, 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 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 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. Throughout the event, approximately 23,000 pumpkin pies and more than 100,000 pumpkin donuts are sold from local vendors.
According to en.wikipedia.org; Source of photo: internet
