Held at Lake Snowden just North of Athens each September (well, almost – COVID messed everything up for a minute), Pawpaw Fest is an absolute staple of local culture in our area. Named after a weird fruit that grows its best fruits in this region for some reason, it’s a goodbye-to-the-summer weekend full of all things local music, arts, food, and, of course, pawpaw.
Understanding the PawPaw Fruit
What is a pawpaw, you ask? The largest edible fruit native to North America, they grow on the Asimina triloba tree, which grows in the Eastern US and Canada. Used by indigenous Americans and First Peoples for millennia before colonization, the name likely comes from a Spanish conquistador in the 16th century.
While it’s known mostly as a food now, precolonial populations also used the tree’s bark to make things like rope and cloth. It may have also had medicinal applications. In fact, the reason it grows so widely throughout the Eastern US is probably due to the use, trade and spread of the pawpaw and its seeds in prehistoric and precontact eras.
The pawpaw fruit is a 2-6-inch greenish fruit that is shaped like a poorly-drawn pear. It has a soft, orange meat, and a line of black seeds that run down the middle. It smells like citrus and flowers, kind of, and most people describe the taste as mango-banana-kiwi-berry-ish with a bitter finish. If that sounds weird and unclear, it’s because it is.
What’s the Ohio Pawpaw Festival?
Held just North of Athens at beautiful Lake Snowden in Albany, this festival loves all things pawpaw. Sponsored by many local and regional companies (including Kleinpenny Rentals!), our communities come together each year for 3 days of pawpaw education and celebration, including things like:
- Competitions for the best pawpaw
- Pawpaw beers
- Pawpaw cookoff
- Eating competition
- Live music
- Local artists and organizations
- Educational presentations on the pawpaw on subjects like:
- Medicinal uses
- Growing
- Cooking
- Biology/genetics
- Topics related to sustainability
Put on by Ohio’s Hill Country Heritage Area, Pawpaw Fest is a Zero Waste EP partner and a Safer Place, which means everyone can feel welcomed and safe at this event – people are looking out for each other.Pawpaw Fest has been a highlight of every September since the late ‘90s; it’s an awesome way to be a part of the fun, heritage and tradition of Southeast Ohio. This year’s fest runs from September 15-17. You can purchase tickets at the Ohio Pawpaw Festival website.