Punkin' Show 101

Satisfied that I had enough sleep, I got up just before 8am. I made a pot of coffee before engaging in exercise. I was happy to see that the clouds that moved in overnight had all but cleared giving way to clear blue skies. Visiting the Pumpkin Show later in the day would be much more pleasant in the warm sunshine.

After walking Ykraps and spending a little time on the internet I decided it was time to complete my run. I chose to run along Trabue and Hague if for no other reason than to add a little variety into my otherwise repetitive routine. If it was nice before I left, it was even nicer by the time I finished. It was 9:30am. Mindy was up & enjoying her coffee on the deck. I grabbed mine, along with my guitar and joined her. Mindy suggested hot tubbing but then remembered Bella’s return at 10am. We simply spent the time luxuriating in the morning sunshine.

Bella & Jacob stormed in just after 10am. Mindy was a little perturbed that Jacob wasn’t dressed appropriately for the Buckeye game. He would’ve been fine in the sun, but once darkness falls in the second half he would certainly be cold. She saw that he changed out of his shorts and instead into jeans. Jimaken and Jacob left around 10:15am.

Mindy headed off to the shower and later called for Bella to join her. Meanwhile, I did some surfing locking in on the Pumpkin Show’s webpage. I learned quite a bit. Most notably was that this is the 101st version, and that they’re expecting 400,000 visitors over the four days. Glenn rose as Mindy showered. We both got ready over the next 30 minutes and then departed for Circleville around 11am.

We made great time around I-270 until we were just west of rt 23 south. Traffic was practically at a stand still. I was hopeful that it wasn’t going to be bumper-to-bumper all the way into Circleville. I asked Glenn & Mindy if they still wanted to proceed. They did, and luckily, traffic lightened up once we merged onto to 23 south. We stopped at a Dairy Queen north of Round Town so that Bella could pee. She opted for a strawberry milkshake, too. J While there, we ran into Mindy’s friend Kristen’s ex, John (Loy) and their two kids. Very cute kids.

We merged back into the flow of traffic. Unfortunately, we were traveling at a snails pace pretty much the rest of the way in. Lots of folks we turning onto Court St but the line for that turn was long and very slow going. We opted instead to proceed south. At about the same time we saw others doing it, we thought it made since to do a u-turn and head back to Court St. Traffic headed that direction was light. Bottom line, we did it and saved ourselves oodles of time, I am sure. We were parking at the “show” minutes later.

The truth is, I am often troubled by festivals such as this one. I mean, come on, what are you supposed to do that you can’t do more readily anywhere else? With little a variation, the CMH Arts festival, Comfest, and even Red, White, & Boom are simply more of the same: carnies and vendors peddling their food and wares. In addition there are herds of people all moving the same direction, but heading no particular place at all. I’m not so sure that I consider any of that fun – never really have. The variant here, of course, were the pumpkins. But then again, I can see pumpkins everywhere. However, I did see the state’s largest 3 pumpkins: 1st place - 1524.5 lbs - 2nd place - 1230lbs - 3rd place in a blue sweeatshirt 544lbs


A friend of mine’s band was playing so we moseyed on towards the Main St. stage to drink in a little bit of her music (No Such Fate – Deanna Sweeny). I understood her band to be opening for Jacked Up but that wasn’t the case. Instead, they were playing together. We listened to about three songs. Most memorable was Deanna belting out the recent Gretchen Wilson hit, Redneck Woman. We didn’t stay too long, however. We were right next to a speaker tower and it was loud! Bella was a trooper. She sat quietly through those few songs eating a bag of cotton candy.
























We left there walking through the sea of humanity seeking out fair type food. Mindy sought a fired bologna sandwich and had each of us looking out for pumpkin donuts. Meanwhile, Glenn had already found his favorite fair food, Elephant Ears. I decided to try a gyro. Rarely, however, are they that good. I pursued one anyhow. It’s the only thing that sounded good. Today’s was no exception. It was marginal at best.
























After we all had our taste of fair food we headed back towards the beginning. Glenn was bent on getting his pummie’s picture taken with the grand-daddy of all pumpkins – the 1527.5lb first place pumpkin! Mindy’s tip to walk the sidewalks behind the vendor trailers was a good one. There was little foot traffic and lots of shade. We made good time headed back to the east. The event that never disappoints at such venues is the people watching. We saw lots of colorful people enjoying their beloved pumpkin show.

We were back at our car and on the road by 3pm. Mindy placed a call to the Imber’s to check on the clubhouse event. Bob confirmed that it was a go. Cool! We made plans accordingly. Time was moving swiftly. The game began even before we arrived home. Once home, the plan called for a quick walk of Ykraps, a gathering of a cooler, beer, and growlers, and then a quick call to Barley’s to order some wings and sauerkraut balls.

We drove Mindy’s van since if we were to take the Trooper I would’ve had to get gas. We arrived at Barley’s with the game well underway (10-0 Buckeyes). While Katie filled my growlers with beer (one Double Dog IPA and one Pint-of-Joe) Jersey retrieved my football pool winnings. I guess we won the Purdue game pool - $56! Cool!
After getting our order we drove next door to get ice for the cooler and an apple juice for the Peanut.

We arrived at the Imber’s shortly after 4pm. There were just a scant few already in attendance but a good time nonetheless. And as time went on more and more neighbors showed up. The game was non eventful well into the third quarter. In fact, the Buckeyes had Michigan State on the ropes and looking like a high school team. But then things got interesting. A interception and a touchdown, and fumble and a touchdown, soon it was 24-14 and Michigan State still wasn’t done. Eventually, they scored another 3 points via a field goal. Suddenly the clubhouse became more interested in the game as the fourth quarter waned. The Buckeyes showed lots of poise on the final drive grinding out a couple first downs via the rush.

To be continued...