Saw on the news this morning there is a festival celebrating Pawpaws at Powhatan State Park near Richmond. September 16th.
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Ohio pawpaw festival is also this weekend.
Maryland pawpaw festival is this weekend
Kentucky pawpaw festival is on the 23rd.
Pennsylvania pawpaw festival is on the 23rd
WV pawpaw festival is on the 30th.
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I need to get a western PA festival going with all the time I donāt haveā¦ Might try for the WV arboretum if the family is in shape for it this year, but unlikely.
Jerry, thanks for sharing the OP! Lots of options popping up these days. Hopefully each region has one in the near future. Weāre already getting close.
TN is a glaring gap in the festival schedule.
It could be done in august if supplied by full-sun growers. My production peaks in mid August.
You could do an āendless summerā of pawpaw festivals starting with a TN one in august and then just move north with the festival season.
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Saw a post on one of the pawpaw FB pagesā¦someone went to a Pawpaw Festival in VAā¦ there was a sign welcoming them to the Pawpaw Festivalā¦but there were no pawpaw fruit, no pawpaw trees, no pawpaw confections, or anything else pawpaw-related, other than one brewery that had a pawpaw beer. They were not pleasedā¦
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Yikes!
I am not surprised as my pawpaws ripen in August in Virginia. The pawpaw festival held in late August in the southeast area of VA usually has a chance of having some wild ones collected by master gardeners for the event.
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My state of WV has a Black Walnut festival coming up. If you like quilts and glass blowers, chainsaw artists, music, parades, a mechanical bull, rock wall climbingā¦ a carnival, beauty pageants, and 50 vendors selling food as well as 100s of vendors selling chinese waresā¦ its great. Just dont ask or look for anything to do with black walnuts.
Also coming up is our Pumpkin Festival. There is a small space with the big 100lb and up pumpkins on displayā¦but other than that not much other than some pumpkin spice coffee and pumpkin spice ice cream etc.
There is an encampment that you walk by that has actors and old cabins and wood fires. Theres cloggers and bluegrass music and a comedy show. There is lots of food vendors selling elephant ears, cotton candy and corn dogs etc. Under tents there are artisans selling quilts and stuff painted on rocks, pot holders and ash trays, also paintings. Some folks will be selling Indian Corn, Apple butterā¦and lots and lots of Salsa. May find sorghum and honey as well. The kettle corn vendor also is roasting corn on the sideā¦ i cant resist it.
Years ago they had mud bogs and demolition derby sometimes a tractor pullā¦ but that was a different time. Parents nowadays dont want their kids seeing that kind of stuffā¦
The last time that i went to any festival that was anywhere related to the subject was an Apple Festival in Ohioā¦ that was years ago though. They had all kinds of apples, apple butter, apple cider, apple pies, fried pies, apple ice cream the works. I looked at their venue for this year and they have something called WV Batman and his Batmobileā¦ also a large parade with a mind boggling 20 marching bands. A pretty baby contest, a baby crawling contestā¦ and a roller blading event and a few motorcycle gangs are supposed to ride thru town. Several bands will be playing from country music to heavy metal. Not much mention of apples.
I think going forward i am going to skip most all of those āfestivalsā and keep going to Preston Court Days in Bath County KY. Its overwhelming and the Amish have apples, pumpkins, walnuts, cornā¦everything u can imagine even hit and miss engines. Every thing that you could dream is there for saleā¦from guns to chickens to pigs and dogsā¦every antique or flea market item that exists. If you somehow walk it all which is probably impossible you can drive up the road a few miles to Court Days in Mt Sterling which is nearly the same but mostly commercialized. Pumpkins, apples, cornā¦etc. Both venues have massive amounts of local foodā¦ the smells are intoxicating with all of the BBQ and corn roasting and every thing else. I would describe the Preston Court Days as a mix of the old timey state fair with a flood of Amish and vendors from all over selling wares. I have been going for years and its funny to remember the change in weather. I have been when it was freezing cold almost bitter cold in Octā¦and when i wore shorts and a t-shirt and was drenched in sweat.
If they ever do true āfestivalsā again i will likely return to other venues but my honest opinion is that they are now catering to the younger crowds which have no care for tradition nor the attention span. I doubt many eat or want to eat a Pawpaw, let alone an Apple or Black Walnut or Pumpkinā¦ they go for the corn dogs, funnel cakes and cotton candy. Maybe a pumpkin spice latte if the weather is cool enough.
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So true.
This was my experience at the 2017 Ohio pawpaw festival. Vast majority of attendees are not interested in pawpaws. However, itās still a Mecca for true pawpaw devotees and a place to
Meet the whoās who of the pawpaw world.
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I got the feeling that the āPawpaw Festivalā that the disappointed Pawpaw Fanatic attended was like, yesterday.
@krismoriah , that Bath County Preston Court Days sounds like a great timeā¦ I have a veterinary classmate (my evil twin! lol) who practices in Owingsvilleā¦ I used to stay over with him and his wife when Iād come up to make presentations at the BTVMA/Morehead Clinic Days veterinary conferenceā¦ but as Iām retired and old news now, I donāt get invited to present any more. Butā¦ Court Days sounds like a good excuse to drive up East and visit with them again.
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A couple of bits of adviceā¦ if you plan on driving there on saturday at noonishā¦you will be in a line of cars for hours. Go early if u canā¦
It takes about 2-3 hrs of brisk walking to even attempt to see most of itā¦so wear comfy shoes.
The Amish family that has baked goods and also has about 1000 bags of apples is one of my highlightsā¦ they are about in the middle right next to the road and will sell every apple they have on Saturday. The fried pies and ice cream are delicious.
On the far end from where you come in there is every kind of BBQ and food that you can imagineā¦ you will smell it all day longā¦ it wears on you.
On the same day you can also go to the Mt Sterling Court daysā¦ also bombarded with trafficā¦and very intense walking. Also lots of guns etc and the National Guard is also present.
If you like antiques and fleasā¦ hit up the Peddlers Mall in Winchester and also in Morehead if you are coming that way. There is also one in Lexington if you venture that far. They turn old Krogers and Walmarts into antique mallsā¦ neat stuff in there.
Im wore out by the endā¦ its a full day if u want it to be.
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i try to keep this list fresh each yr.
a few remain this season. i also track those that did not continue yr-after-yr (bottom of list) in hopes they resurrect their events. glad to see at least three new ones this yr!
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