The West Virginia Pumpkin Festival is a huge shopping festival as there is a plethora of vendors. There are also all sorts of entertainment and activities, food, and pumpkin treats.
2024 DATE: TBD
Location: Pumpkin Park
1 Pumpkin Way
Milton, WV 25541
Website: https://wvpumpkinpark.com/
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This post documents my experience on October 7, 2023.
Festival Advice: Do as I say, not as I do.
The WV Pumpkin Festival was my third festival that day, having been to festivals in Ohio and Kentucky before making my way to Milton, WV.
It was probably around two o’clock by the time I got to Milton.
While I knew it wasn’t the best time to come to such a popular festival, I had hoped that the rush of incoming traffic had died down by that point since the doors opened at 9 that morning.
I got off the highway and followed signs that led me on the green arrow route…
…only to get caught in a line for parking a half mile before even entering Pumpkin Park.
It would eventually take 30 minutes before getting to park in the church lot (a volunteer on a golf cart offered me a ride to the entrance) and I noticed that exiting traffic was also moving super slow as they followed the blue route.
So, with that story, I just wanted to say to either get there early, give yourself plenty of time for the extra wait, or don’t go on Saturday.
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Festival Structure
Once inside Pumpkin Park, you’ll see that the festival grounds are huge.
At first, I started to walk down the middle and then I veered to the right, headed to the middle again, realized I missed a bunch to the left and then had to stop.
In the end, a simpler way to approach this festival is by moving in a circle for shopping, entertainment, activities and attractions. The middle is mostly food trucks, food products and some pumpkin products to take home.
In fact, in this post, I’ll talk about all the stuff in the outer circle first, saving the food and pumpkin products for last.
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Attractions and Entertainment
Wherever you went on the festival grounds, there was something to find…
…from blacksmithing and apple butter stirrin’…
…to a living history encampment…
…with a jelly shop, apothecary…
…and museum tent…
…filled with all sorts of arms to see up close.
There were ponies to ride, farm animals to feed…
…fish in a trailer, a Bat with a car…
…an ice cream show on wheels…
…as well as puppet comedy shows, karaoke…
…enthusiastic clogging (Lincoln County Cloggers)…
…great musical acts (The Avalons)…
…and several displays that included a quilt show…
…a magical pumpkin carriage…
…and a display of giant pumpkins…
…which made for a nice photo op.
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Vendors
With over 100 juried arts and crafts and over 150 commercial exhibits…
…there were vendors inside every building…
…and under every covered structure…
…offering everything from Croc charms, toys and accessories…
…to fine woodworking and American folk dolls.
Plus there were boutique clothing and West Virginia tee shirts…
…purses and macrame…
…3D printed critters and Mexican wrestling masks…
…all sorts of outdoor decor…
…and then some metal pumpkins…
…painted and stained glass pumpkins…
…pumpkin pillows…
…and various pumpkin products at Halfway Market…
…which included pumpkin butter, fudge and good old pumpkins.
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Food
While I did notice pumpkin foods like fudge and cookies…
…there definitely could have been more.
Granted, some vendors sold out of their pumpkin item, like the pumpkin macarons at Mrs. Mel’s…
…so that’s my fault for not getting their earlier.
But among the various food trucks with burgers, steak tips…
…nachos and burritos…
…I only noticed the pumpkin cheesecake ice cream at this truck.
Fortunately, there were some pumpkin items nearby with various desserts…
…including pumpkin doozies…
…and pumpkin popcorn which was more of a spiced popcorn.
But Huskey’s, who sold pumpkin ice cream and dumplings, was definitely the go-to place…
…and it only took one lick to understand why.