Celebrate Over a Century of the Circleville Pumpkin Show

Every October, the Circleville Pumpkin Show takes over the streets of this Pickaway County town. The festival began in 1903 as a humble agricultural exhibition, but it has since grown into a two-day extravaganza full of fall flavors, carnival fun and plenty of pumpkins. 

Former Circleville mayor George R. Haswell held the first Pumpkin Show in front of his home on West Main Street. Pumpkin Show treasurer Nanisa Osborn says the event’s original purpose was to give area farmers a reason to come to town, show their crops and discuss farming methods. 

“He set up this display that was 30 feet long that included pumpkins and corn stocks and all the things that fall farms bring,” Osborn says. “That was the first display that was done for Pumpkin Show, and it has kind of grown from there.”

In the years following that first exhibition, the event became the street fair we know today. A merry-go-round was introduced in 1905. Various themed parades were held and local merchants started selling their wares on the city’s streets. Today, the Pumpkin Show spans nine blocks of downtown Circleville and is built on more than a century of tradition, featuring vendors, fair games and rides, arts, baking, crafts and agricultural showings. It runs Oct. 21 through 24. 

 The stars of the show are still the pumpkins of all shapes and sizes grown locally and displayed on Court and Main streets. Each is hoisted onto a scale, and a prize goes to the heaviest. Last year’s largest pumpkin weighed in at 1,972 pounds. 

“[Circleville] is a community that works together with a lot of effort to make the Pumpkin Show come together every year,” Osborn says. “I want [visitors] to appreciate how much work goes into it and what a great festival it is for your family to enjoy.” 159 East Franklin Street, Circleville 43113, 740/474-7000, pumpkinshow.com

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