Belmont County Ohio Barnesville Pumpkin Festival
On the last full weekend of September, the village of Barnesville in western Belmont County hands its downtown over to pumpkins. For four days, Main Street fills with food stalls, contest stages, carnival rides, a car show and crowds that the village’s own account puts typically above one hundred thousand people. A travel account puts the swell higher still, at more than one hundred fifty thousand; neither figure is a counted attendance, and the two stand unmerged.
On the Wednesday night before the festival, growers bring giant pumpkins to Main Street for the Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off, and the heaviest is crowned King Pumpkin. This is a downtown street festival, not a county fair, and it belongs to Barnesville alone. Saint Clairsville is the county seat of Belmont County, and it does not host this festival.
About the Festival
The festival is run by the Barnesville Pumpkin Festival Committee, the body named in the festival’s own weigh-off rules, where it appears in shortened form as the BPF Committee. No current president, officer list or committee roster is published anywhere in the record, and none is supplied here. Founder Vernon Burkhart served as its first president in the history layer, and Dean Wehr, the weigh-off’s contact and weighmaster in recent layers, is a weigh-off official rather than a festival president.
Other bodies stand in their own roles, never as organisers: the Chamber runs the Pumpkin Wagon, the Village hosts and supports, the Tourism Council promotes, and the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth sanctions only the weigh-off. The festival has no fairgrounds. It takes place on and around Main Street, outdoors since 1968. The weigh-off site in the festival’s own 2024 rules is 102 West Main Street, recorded as that year’s site.
Quick Facts
| Item | Detail |
| Festival town | Barnesville, a village in western Belmont County |
| County seat | Saint Clairsville, which does not host the festival |
| Season | The last full weekend of September |
| Length | Four days, Thursday through Sunday |
| Opening event | The Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off on Wednesday evening |
| Organiser | The Barnesville Pumpkin Festival Committee |
| Admission | Described as free in county tourism layers; the festival’s own site and rules publish no admission price |
| King prize in the 2024 list | Two dollars per pound plus a six hundred dollar bonus |
| Parade | The Giant Pumpkin Parade on Saturday |
| Car show | Classic and antique cars, often more than five hundred entries |
How a Church-Basement Fair Took Main Street
In the fall of 1964, Barnesville resident Vernon Burkhart started a small fair in the basement of Assumption Catholic Church, known then as the Barnesville Fall Fair, to showcase what grew on Belmont County’s acres. A lone travel account dates the founding to 1965 instead; the village and tourism record says 1964, and that is the year used here.
For a useful comparison, see the Auglaize County Ohio Fair Festival for another county festival.
In 1968 the fair moved outside onto West Main Street, a board of directors was formed, the first queen was crowned, and the Mother’s Club added the Little Miss and Mr. Pumpkin contest. The village’s account adds the King Pumpkin contest in that same year, while the tourism council’s history wording traces the contest to a twelve-year-old winner in 1964.
Carnival rides arrived in 1969. In 1970 the name changed to the Ohio Pumpkin Festival, the first street parade marched, and locally manufactured pumpkin ice cream appeared. The Big Pumpkin Auction dates to 1976, the Pumpkin Run to 1977, and the window-display contest to 1968. In 2002 the name became the Barnesville Pumpkin Festival. A shorter retelling compresses the renames into the 1970s; the village’s history, followed here, dates them to 1970 and 2002.
Only once has the full festival failed to run: in 2020, in its fifty-seventh year by the tourism council’s wording, the weigh-ins alone went ahead. The edition billings stand in their own years — fifty-sixth annual in 2019, fifty-seventh year in 2020, sixtieth year in 2024, sixty-first annual in 2025, sixty-second annual in 2026 — and a strict count from 1964 does not produce them, so no founding year is derived from any ordinal. The weigh-off’s own count is separate: the 2024 documents bill a fiftieth annual weigh-off, never the festival’s edition.
What to Expect
Wednesday Belongs to the Giants
The Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off opens the festival on the Wednesday evening before the four days, from six to nine in the evening. It is sanctioned by the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth and open to all persons, with no entry fee required in the festival’s own rules. That no-fee term belongs to exhibitors, not visitors; it is the cost of entering a pumpkin, never a ticket price. Under the 2024 rules, entries remain on display until Sunday afternoon.
The 2024 prize list pays the King two dollars per pound plus a six hundred dollar bonus, with the King Pumpkin Trophy and a Heaviest Overall plaque. Second place earns two thousand dollars, third one thousand two hundred fifty, fourth one thousand, fifth seven hundred fifty, and sixth through tenth five hundred each. The special categories: heaviest locally grown, one hundred dollars with the Founders Cup, local meaning the six-county area of Belmont, Guernsey, Noble, Monroe, Harrison and Jefferson; best looking pumpkin, the Howard Dill Award of one hundred dollars; heaviest squash, a plaque.
The winning King becomes the property of the Barnesville Pumpkin Festival Committee, and its viable seeds are split, seventy-five percent to the grower and twenty-five percent to the Committee, to raise funds for the next year’s event. The King is then sold at auction. The village and tourism layers place the auction on Saturday night, with the buyer taking custody for ten days before the pumpkin returns for seed saving at the next year’s festival. Another account places the auction on the festival’s last day instead, and the two days stand unmerged.
Four Days on Main Street
The festival proper runs Thursday through Sunday on and around Main Street. Its programme, in the village layer’s own inventory, is built from food, contests, displays and music, and no concert headliners are named in any festival-own layer. Concessions serve pumpkin pie, fudge, bread and donuts, with pumpkin ice cream from 1970 and the Chamber’s Pumpkin Wagon at the Bohandy Building. Carnival rides, added in 1969, run as paid amusements, though no ride price is published in any layer fetched. Live entertainment plays on two stages, the car show often draws more than five hundred entries, and the Giant Pumpkin Parade marches on Saturday.
The Contest Card
The village’s inventory names pumpkin pie baking and eating contests, a pumpkin fudge contest and a pumpkin rolling contest, a queen pageant and royalty contests — queen, princess, mini miss, pumpkin baby, Little Miss and Mr. Pumpkin and mascot contests — plus tall tales, hog-calling, tobacco-spitting, beard-and-mustache, banjo-fiddle-and-mandolin, talent and pet contests, horticulture and farm machinery displays, and the Pumpkin Run.
The Record Line
Every record weight belongs to its year and its layer, never to timeless fact. The festival’s own record list names three giants: Todd and Donna Skinner of Barnesville, with two thousand one hundred fifty pounds in 2017, an Ohio state record in that layer; a two thousand one hundred ninety-five pound pumpkin, an Ohio state record in the festival’s list; and Erik Gunstrom of Harrison City, Pennsylvania, with two thousand four hundred five pounds in 2022, the festival’s own layer’s Pennsylvania state record and Barnesville site record.
The two thousand one hundred ninety-five pound record is disputed. The festival’s own list gives it to 2021 and to Jeff Theil of Dillonvale. A later local press account gives a two thousand one hundred ninety-five pound Ohio record to 2022 and to a Belmont County grower. Both attributions are recorded, and neither is printed here as settled.
Bill Neptune of New Concord won in 2019 with one thousand five hundred eighty-eight pounds, his fourth King title in that layer. He won again in 2025 with one thousand nine hundred fifty-two pounds, his fifth King title in the press layer, selling at auction for fourteen thousand dollars in the festival’s own layer. The 2026 champion weighed one thousand eight hundred thirty-seven pounds, with Adam Momirov of East Canton second at one thousand eight hundred thirty; the 2026 champion’s grower is not named in the fetched press layer, and none is supplied here. Neptune also won in 2023, with no weight published in any layer fetched, and the 2024 winner and weight are likewise unpublished in this record.
A village page from 2024 still calls the 2017 Skinner pumpkin the Ohio record holder. That wording is stale and is never printed here as current, all the less because a 2026 press account reports a new Ohio record of two thousand five hundred thirteen pounds grown by Adam Momirov — a different pumpkin from his one thousand eight hundred thirty pound Barnesville entry, never a Barnesville entry and never Barnesville’s King.
Planning Your Visit
When to Arrive
The standing rule is the village layer’s: always the last full weekend of September. The most recent documented edition ran September 24 through 27, 2026, with its weigh-off on Wednesday, September 23. The current year’s dates are worth confirming before travelling.
What It Costs
General admission is described as free, but only on the county tourism record. The tourism council’s director calls admission free, and the council’s own 2019 report calls the festival a free, four-day event. The festival’s own website and rules, as fetched, publish no admission price and no free-admission statement of their own, so the free description rests on the tourism layers.
Carnival rides and games are paid amusements, but no ride or game price is published in any layer fetched. Parking is mostly private in one account’s telling and requires a parking and safety fee, but no figure is published, so no parking price is printed here. Prize and sale money is never admission: the two dollars per pound and the six hundred dollar bonus are prize money paid to the grower, and the fourteen thousand dollars of the 2025 sale is the auction price paid by the buyer.
Getting Around Downtown
There is no fairgrounds here; the festival occupies Main Street and the streets around it, reaching the B and O Depot and Watt Center areas. A press layer centres the 2025 festival on 113 Main Street, while the festival’s place record gives 113 West Main Street. The weigh-off site in the 2024 rules is 102 West Main Street, and the Chamber’s Pumpkin Wagon stands at the Bohandy Building, 102 East Main Street. No festival camping is documented, and no campground is attached to this downtown street festival.
A Weekend in Barnesville
Arrive on Wednesday evening for the weigh-off, when the giants are lifted onto the scale and the King is crowned. Spend Thursday tasting the pumpkin foods and working through the contest card. Keep Saturday for the Giant Pumpkin Parade and the auction evening, and let Sunday be a slower last look at the street and the giants still on display.
Two Ways to Come
Come on Wednesday and the festival is a contest: the pallets, the scale, the twenty-one entries of the 2025 weigh-off, and a King crowned before the festival proper has begun. Come on Saturday and the festival is a street party: the parade, the auction and the car show.
Visitor Checklist
- Check the current year’s dates before travelling; the rule is the last full weekend of September
- Arrive on Wednesday evening if the giants are the draw, since the weigh-off opens the festival
- Head for Barnesville, not Saint Clairsville; the seat town does not host the festival
- Expect a downtown street festival on Main Street, with no fairgrounds and no published gate price
- Treat ride prices and parking fees as unpublished, and do not budget from a gate price
- Keep Saturday for the Giant Pumpkin Parade
- Do not look for festival camping; none is documented
Beyond the Festival Grounds
The fair that began in 1964 set out to showcase what grew on Belmont County’s acres, and the giants still come from farm country across the region. West Main Street and the Bohandy Building are ordinary Barnesville addresses for the rest of the year.
Why the Giants Matter
A church-basement fair that began by showing what local acres could grow now crowns pumpkins weighing more than a ton. The contest is open to any grower, with no entry fee.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the festival free to enter?
General admission is described as free in the county tourism layers, and that is the only basis on which it is called free here. The festival’s own website and rules publish no admission price and no free-admission statement of their own. Rides are paid amusements with no published prices, and the parking fee amount is unpublished, so the free description covers entry alone.
Where is the festival held?
The festival is held in downtown Barnesville, on and around Main Street. It is not held in Saint Clairsville, which is the county seat and does not host it, and it is not held at any fairgrounds, because it has none. The weigh-off site in the festival’s 2024 rules is 102 West Main Street.
When is the festival held?
The festival is held on the last full weekend of September, Thursday through Sunday, opened by the Wednesday evening weigh-off. The most recent documented edition ran September 24 through 27, 2026.
Can anyone enter the weigh-off?
Yes. The weigh-off is sanctioned by the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth and open to all persons, with no entry fee required in the festival’s own rules. The special locally grown category defines local as the six-county area of Belmont, Guernsey, Noble, Monroe, Harrison and Jefferson.
What to Expect From the Next Belmont County Ohio Barnesville Pumpkin Festival
How often is Belmont County Ohio Barnesville Pumpkin Festival held?
The festival is held once a year, on the last full weekend of September. The only break in the recent record is 2020, when the weigh-ins alone went ahead.
When is the next Belmont County Ohio Barnesville Pumpkin Festival?
The next edition falls on the last full weekend of the coming September. The most recent documented edition ran September 24 through 27, 2026, billed the sixty-second annual. No later edition’s dates are published in the record used here, so confirm the current year’s dates before travelling.
Will the dates change?
The dates have shifted from year to year. The festival ran September 26 through 29 in both 2019 and 2024, September 25 through 28 in 2025, and September 24 through 27 in 2026. The rule — the last full weekend of September — holds steady while the calendar dates shift inside late September.
Barnesville’s festival began in a church basement with a small fair about what local acres could grow, and it still measures itself by the weight of a pumpkin on a Main Street scale. The King changes every year. The takeover does not.
