KENOVA, W.Va.– West Virginians and tourists will soon be able to see the famous Pumpkin House lit up again, when the 3,000 pumpkin display is finished this weekend.
Every year Ric Griffith, the owner of the house, and 1500 volunteers design and carve pumpkins to display around the house.
A volunteer of 25 years, Fox Heaberlin said that the display became a huge deal for the town of Kenova, which prompted them to make an entire weekend out of it.
“Ric started doing this and then the town realizing how many people it draws in, they thought it be a good idea they start a fall festival, so it’s all kind works together, so there are several things going on,” Heaberlin said.
And with the festival, Griffith said that last year they saw 300 people come from different West Virginia counties, visitors from 24 different countries and 45 states. Griffith also said that the impact has been so great that a couple from Oklahoma, who came to look at the house, on Tuesday, is thinking about moving to West Virginia after they retire because of what the Pumpkin House is doing.
The pumpkins that get designed and carved are done by Ric and others. For instance, this year they had help from Spring Valley High School students who carved the pumpkins that are going to line the roof when there put up there by a lift.
“They draw the pumpkins and there’s a couple of other people that draw some of them, and then we have volunteers to do the cutting,” Heaberlin said.
And this year they’ll have their usual pumpkin designs, like U.S. Presidents, Marshall related, and more but Griffith said this year there is something different.
“We have famous West Virginians down through here, that were going to be doing (carving) this evening,” Griffith said. “I wanted those to stay fresh, so were doing them at a later time.”
The famous West Virginians display will see Shelley Moore Capito, John Davis (who was the first and only WV presidential nominee), Joe Manchin, Brad Paisely, Jennifer Garner, Jim Justice’s beloved English bulldog, Babydog and more.
And while there down to the wire, Griffith said the pumpkins should all be lit by Friday evening.
“We’ll have all 3,000 out and they will be lit, relatively clean,” Griffith said. “The color is one of the appeals to me. It’s just different, than anything else I can think of. You have all that yellow glow from the pumpkins all over the yard and the roof.”
While visitors are enjoying the pumpkin display, they’ll also be able to enjoy food and drinks from different vendors.