104 years of celebrating pumpkins, people.
And celebrating deep-fried everything, of course.
Do you think the very first Pumpkin Show was full of corndogs and chocolate-covered frozen cheesecake on a stick?
Or do you think they just stood around and worshipped the giant gourd? (This year’s was the largest ever!)
That’s right. 1600 pounds of pure pumpkin.
It’s certainly changed from when Tracey and I first started going as kids. There are now BLACK PEOPLE there. And people speaking SPANISH. And this guy, whom I spotted almost as soon as we got there the first day.
“Serious or ironic?!”, I whispered to Tracey when I saw the back of his jacket. “Oh, my god, we have to find out,” she replied, a mischievous gleam in her eye. And then he turned around, and he was wearing a vest and tie. And then his boyfriend walked up. Swoon, swoon, swoon.
Some things will always be the same, though, like this ancient carousel that shows up every year.
And like the display of the outfit belonging to the current Miss Pumpkin Show. (When I showed my diverse group of co-workers the photos of the past Miss Pumpkin Shows, one of them said, “They’re all white!” And I was like, “I’m sorry, this surprises you somehow?”
It was the 10th anniversary of Tracey dragging her friends Justin and Dayna to the Show to eat wildly inappropriate-looking fruits-made-unhealthy,
so she made them some adorable commemorative pumpkin pins.
Whether we planned to or not, we ran into absolutely everyone we knew in the three days we went to the Pumpkin Show, including my cousin Bethany and her brother’s baby daughter, Kaydence. Don’t fear; I have an entire series of photos of Bethany peeking out from behind the foods we ate, all creepy-eyed like that, which I’ll post over at donuts4dinner.
I have a long history with the Circleville Pumpkin Show, you know. Why, my great-aunt was even featured on a magazine devoted entirely to it back when she was a mere girl.
But I have an even longer history with Pickaway County itself, which is celebrating 200 years of existence this year.
And I’m sure glad it exists.
