LAKE SNOWDEN — The 26th Annual Ohio Pawpaw Festival will occur Sept. 13-15.
Every year, the event is hosted at Lake Snowden Campground in Albany.
The festival revolves around North America’s largest edible native tree fruit, the pawpaw. Southeast Ohio is home to some of the best wild pawpaw patches in the country.
On Friday and Sunday, passes can be purchased for $20 a day, and $30 on Saturday.
The weekend passes can be purchased for $60 each. Kids aged 12 and under get in free.
Parking is also free, and there will be shuttles at Baker Center and at the Quidel Building on East State Street in Athens.
Information can be found at ohiopawpawfest.com/parking-shuttles/ .
The entire weekend centers around pawpaw-themed entertainment and education, such as pawpaw-flavored food and beverages, and presentations highlighting growing and medical use of the plant.
Some of the activities include competitions for the biggest pawpaw, a cook-off, best art, and the pawpaw-eating contest.
There will also be bicycle routes, a sustainability village, and horse-drawn wagon rides.
While there will be alcohol and events catered to adults, this festival has something for everyone to enjoy.
There will be a kids tent and bouncy house, provided by Rising Appalachia and Climb Athens, where they can play on an obstacle course, giant inflatable bounce houses, a relaxation dome, and a climbing wall.
One of the festival’s founders, Chis Chmiel, described everything the festival has to offer.
“Lots of people will be doing different things,” said Chmiel, “including learning things in one of the educational tents, browsing the many vendor and organizational booths, drinking beer and listening to awesome music, maybe watching their kids play in the kids area, eating pawpaw foods and learning about pawpaws.”
Stop by the Mother Earth News tent from 1-2 p.m. Sept. 15. The Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association (OEFFA) will facilitate a community conversation engaging farmers and landholders in the Athens, Meigs and Vinton county area.
While the region is rich in sustainable agriculture and active community care for the environment, it still faces many of the same statewide challenges of keeping farmland affordable, accessible, and available for those who feed us.
As development pressure increases and farmland prices rise, OEFFA will bring together key stakeholders to discuss the current and future state of land access for new and retiring farmers. Join the conversation and talk with county commissioners, land bank representatives, real estate professionals, and land seekers.
Also, the Athens and Meigs chapters of The Ohio Horse Council invite children under age 18 to live their pony dream from noon-4 p.m. Sept. 14 at Lake Snowden. Come meet and ride Toby, Rico, Cowboy and Paco and other beautiful steeds at the riding ring near the beach house. Volunteers will be there to answer questions about each mount, and about horses in general.
Donations are accepted, but not required.
Not only will there be much entertainment at the festival, but there will also be many different local food vendors.
Some of the pawpaw-themed food and beverages include barbecue, tea, cookies, donuts, rice and noodles, ice cream, cotton candy, burgers, slaw, and even waffles-on-a-stick.
There will also be many different vendors selling pawpaw and Appalachian jewelry and other handmade items.
The complete list of vendors is available at ohiopawpawfest.com/vendors/ .
There will also be live music to accompany the event, with performances such as Fruition, Olivia Jean, Eddie 9V, and Bad Bad Hats.
Although much of the pawpaw tradition has remained the same over the years, there will be some noticeable changes to this year’s lineup.
“This year Mother Earth News is a new major collaborator with a back to the land, sustainable agriculture educational tent,” said Chmiel. “We will also have a new beer can serving tent close to the sustainability village and heritage tent. On Saturday there will also be pony rides. The Ohio Arts Council will be giving an award to a local artist, Suzie Abramovitz on Sunday at 1:45 p.m. Hocking College also has more temporary camping spots available than ever before. On Friday, there will be a new disc golf tournament as well.”
Along with the new beer can tent, there will be a pollinator tent, holistic wellness tent, heritage tent, family care tent, and sustainability tent.
Regardless of the changes, the Pawpaw Festival has a great turnout every year, and is loved by locals and many Ohioans alike.
“This is a very unique event that will make you want to make it an annual pilgrimage,” said Chmiel. “Come on out and have a full body pawpaw experience!”
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