CIRCLEVILLE, Ohio — Circleville’s 119th annual Pumpkin Show will open this year with a new ceremony tying the century-old harvest festival to the nation’s 250th anniversary, the city said in its October newsletter.
The four-day festival, which typically draws more than 400,000 visitors downtown, runs Oct. 21-24. Before the traditional Tuesday night preview, the city will hold special opening activities at 5 p.m. Oct. 20 at Pumpkin Show Park, kicking off a new program called “Pumpkin Show Celebrates 250 Years,” followed by a parade celebrating the region’s agricultural heritage at 7 p.m., according to the newsletter.
Circleville has joined America250-Ohio as an official “AM 250-OH Community” and is folding the nation’s Semiquincentennial into several Pumpkin Show traditions this year, including a patriotic pumpkin-decorating category, a “Happy 250th Birthday America” theme for the flower show, a “Celebrating America’s 250th!” float category and a “Red, White and Winkie” theme for the annual downtown window-trimming contest, the city said. October’s statewide America250-Ohio theme is “Ohio Grows — Food & Farms.”
“Our small town traditions and our national story aren’t separate things,” Mayor Michelle Blanton wrote in the newsletter, noting the Pumpkin Show and the country’s founding have been linked “since George Haswell first asked local farmers to bring their harvest downtown back in 1903.” Blanton said she hopes to see residents at the parade route, at the pumpkin weigh-in or walking Court Street “with a pumpkin donut in hand.”
The city also announced two temporary street closures this week tied to community events. East Mound Street between South Court and South Pickaway streets will close from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Friday for the Circleville City Schools homecoming parade, and South Court Street between Franklin and Mound streets will close from 10 a.m. to noon Monday for Haven House’s Silent Victims March and presentation, according to the city.
Separately, the city released results of an active transportation survey completed by more than 375 residents over the summer. Respondents identified poor sidewalk quality and coverage, a lack of dedicated bike lanes, gaps in connectivity between parks and trails, and limited accessibility as top concerns, with busy intersections and high-speed traffic cited most often as safety issues, the city said.
The newsletter also updated several parks projects: splash pads across the city will close for the season Oct. 5, the playground at Mary Virginia Crites Hannan Park remains closed pending replacement parts, and the city said it has secured 22% of a $2 million state capital budget grant toward funding a new municipal pool.
City council is scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. Oct. 6 and Oct. 20 at City Hall, according to the newsletter.
The information contained in this story was obtained from the City of Circleville’s October newsletter, “The Circleville Loop.”
