About 400,000 people descend on the city of Circleville, the Pickaway County seat, for the annual pumpkin show every fall. At the information booth one of the ladies passing out programs for the four-day event tells me that most years it rains. For the moment it isn't. "Be sure to see the giant pumpkins right over on Main St. and go down Court St. to see the world's largest pumpkin pie too."
I ask if there was any favorite food she would recommend. At first she is hesitant to plug any one given vendor and then she said, "There are 23 different foods made from pumpkins here you know. I can't say I have tried them all, but you really can't go wrong with pumpkin pie."
BROWNIES: I'm a pretty big fan of chocolate, but pumpkin works too.
So I start with a piece of pie supplied by the Junior Women's booth. "Whip cream with that?" a young, young junior asks me. "That's the only way to eat it," I reply.
It's all down the throat from there. If you love the taste of pumpkins, this is place to be in late October. Enjoy a slide show of my visit and imagine the great tastes.
BROWNIES:
I'm a pretty big fan of chocolate, but pumpkin works too.
ROYAL RINGS:
The show queen and her court were roaming the grounds the morning of my visit and they got pretty competitive with each other when it came to a simple game of ring toss. The queen her court from left are second attendant Callen Ett, Queen Hannah Zimmerman and first attendant Nikki Young.
BUTTER:
OK I didn't actually try this one but it sounds good.
BURGERS:
This served as pretty good lunch item – low fat I'm told.
PUMPKIN PADDOCK:
The horse in this pasture would have all the pumpkins he could eat. More than 100,000 pounds of pumpkins, gourds and squashes are on display at the show.
COUNTING HEADS:
Who would ever believe that if you put a mask on the growing pumpkin fruit it will develop into a pumpkin with a face? And how did they figure it out in the first place?
GRANDPA'S HELPER:
Dale Ferguson, from Tarleton, helps his grandfather Gary Hardman who displays some 280 varieties of pumpkins at the show's central table.
SEEDS:
We always fry a few pumpkin seeds when we are carving a pumpkin. These had some seasonings I have not yet tried.
BREAD:
Pumpkin bread is a staple throughout the fall. It goes well with Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner too.
PIZZA:
OK I didn't actually try the pumpkin pizza, but by the time you get all the toppings on it how much would you actually taste the pizza anyway?
CREAM PUFFS:
Yep, these get the A plus rating.
COOKIES:
I had to have something to take home and this treat worked well.
BIG PIE:
Maybe you can't tell by the photo but this pie is huge, 6 ft. in diameter and weighing over 400 pounds. It was made by Lindsey's Bakery and displayed at their store. Here's the recipe: 100 lbs. of cooked pumpkin, 40 lbs. of sugar, 26 gallons of milk, 15 doz. eggs, 4 lbs. of cornstarch, 1 1/4 lb. pumpkin spice, 1 1/4 lb. of salt, 42 lbs. of pie dough. Bake 6 hours. Cool 6 hours. At the end of the show, the giant pie is donated to area hogs who, I'm told, really look forward to the treat.