Thousands come to see thousand-pound pumpkins at festival in Milton – Huntington Herald Dispatch

Abundant sunshine. High 63F. Winds light and variable..
A clear sky. Low 36F. Winds light and variable.
Updated: October 9, 2022 @ 11:04 am
Three-year-old Megan checks out the giant pumpkins during the West Virginia Pumpkin Festival on Saturday at Pumpkin Park in Milton.
The West Virginia Pumpkin Festival continues on Saturday at Pumpkin Park in Milton.
Six-year-old Laurel Weaver has her face painted during the West Virginia Pumpkin Festival on Saturday at Pumpkin Park in Milton.

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Three-year-old Megan checks out the giant pumpkins during the West Virginia Pumpkin Festival on Saturday at Pumpkin Park in Milton.
The West Virginia Pumpkin Festival continues on Saturday at Pumpkin Park in Milton.
Six-year-old Laurel Weaver has her face painted during the West Virginia Pumpkin Festival on Saturday at Pumpkin Park in Milton.
MILTON — More than 13,000 people passed through the gates at the West Virginia Pumpkin Festival in Milton on Friday, and officials said even more came through on Saturday as Mother Nature provide beautiful sunny and brisk autumn weather for the third day of the four-day event.
“We start the festival on Thursday, and it ends on Sunday,” said West Virginia Pumpkin Festival President Cindy Hinkle. “We have had over 20,000 people attend in two days and think we will have around 44,000 before it ends on Sunday evening.”
The festival was started in 1986 and was designed to help farmers with the raising and selling of pumpkins.
“Today, it has turned into one of West Virginia’s largest festivals,” Hinkle said.
Pumpkins from palm-sized to thousand-pound behemoths — and in every form, from pie to cupcakes to ice cream to crafts — are just part of the fun at Milton’s Pumpkin Park.
“That’s the largest pumpkin I have ever seen in my life,” said George Willis, of Beckley, who was attending the festival for the first time. “Wonder how many pumpkin pies you could make with a 1,600-pound pumpkin?”
Willis was looking at a 1,602-pound pumpkin grown by Albert Robebaugh II, of Craigsville, West Virginia. It was one of seven pumpkins in the Giant Pumpkin Display.
The event also featured farm animals, artists, musicians and various food and product vendors.
“Honestly, I love the food mostly,” said Bianca Effingham of Huntington, who was at the event with her family. “From pumpkin pies to pumpkin rolls, I try to get a little bit of everything.”
Ashley Collins, of Hurricane, brought her 5-year-old son, Jayce, who said his favorite thing at the festival is the balloons.
“I love all the things they have for children,” she said.
The event featured a simulated cow-milking display set up by the West Virginia Department of Agriculture and other agricultural education displays for both children and adults.
“I have come for many years and just think it keeps getting better each year,” Collins said. “It’s a perfect event to celebrate the autumn season.”
Hinkle says the impact of the event continues to grow as well.
“This event helps all types of agriculture and helping our local schools through programs we have set up with them, like the FFA (Future Farmers of America) apple butter and corn roasting,” she said. “We work with the Cabell County Vocational and Technical Center to design all of our T-shirts, and the Putnam County Career and Technical Center produces all of our picnic tables for the festival. So, it not only has a huge economic impact on our local community, but it also has an huge impact with agricultural education in the state.”
The festival continues Sunday with gates opening at 9 a.m., Hinkle said.
“We will be doing our 2022 Scholarship Presentation at the Ohio Valley Bank Outdoor Stage at 2 p.m. and the Giant Pumpkin Auction starting at 2:15 p.m., which is sponsored by Putnam County Bank,” she said. “We hope to see lots of bidders for the giant pumpkins on Sunday.”
Fred Pace is the business reporter for The Herald-Dispatch. Follow him at Facebook.com/FredPaceHD and via Twitter @FredPaceHD.
The West Virginia Pumpkin Festival continues on Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022, at Pumpkin Park in Milton.
The West Virginia Pumpkin Festival Parade takes place on Sunday in Milton. 
Fred has been in the newspaper industry for 30+ years. He continues to be excited to bring readers news that only comes thru local journalism. “Being able to share the passion felt by entrepreneurs in our community with readers is exciting,” he said.
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