8 Flavorful Ohio Food Festivals You Should Visit

Crisscrossed with cornfields, the Buckeye State is made up of 14 million acres of farmland. And Ohio knows how to celebrate when it comes to food-themed events and festivals. Here are a few top Ohio food festivals to add to your culinary calendar.

Circleville Pumpkin Show

Circleville

Fall means pumpkins, and at the Circleville Pumpkin Show, you’ll see more than 100,000 pounds of them, along with gourds and squash. Held the 3rd Wednesday through Saturday in October, this pumpkin show is the oldest and largest festival in Ohio. Dating back to 1903, you’ll find plenty of pie-themed goodies to eat like pumpkin taffy, pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin waffles, pumpkin milkshakes, pumpkin cream puffs and, of course, pumpkin pies. In fact, about 23,000 pumpkin pies are sold during the festival.

See more: Farm Facts: Pumpkins

Geauga County Maple Festival

Chardon

Northern Ohio is maple syrup country, and the Annual Geauga County Maple Festival has celebrated this sweet, sticky treat for more than 90 years. As part of this springtime festival, there’s an impressive baking contest starring maple syrup as the key ingredient. Other festival happenings include fair-like rides, parades, a kid’s tractor pull, bathtub races and a lumberjack competition. Perhaps one of the most unique competitions at the festival is the Beard and Mustache Competition, a tradition since the 1950s that includes categories like Fullest Beard, Best Mustache and Longest Beard, among others.

See more: Ohio Maple Syrup on Tap

Germantown Pretzel Festival

Germantown

Get ready for authentic German fare at the Germantown Pretzel Festival. For more than 40 years, this festival has been baking up soft and salty, ready-to-pull-apart pretzels in tasty combinations, including some stuffed with jalapenos, cream cheese and cheddar cheese. Other inventive pretzel concoctions include those peppered with pizza fixings or even refashioned as sandwich buns. Of course, there’s other food available too, like ribs, pork chops and other barbecue options. Held since 1980, this September festival also includes rides and entertainment.

Marion Popcorn Festival

Marion

As one of the top producers of popcorn in the world, the town of Marion has a special connection to everyone’s favorite movie-night snack. Each year, the Marion Popcorn Festival draws in over 250,000 popcorn-loving visitors. Held the first weekend after Labor Day, the festival features games, entertainment and plenty of activities, but the real star of the show is the popcorn. The event even includes a recipe contest in which contestants must use popcorn as an ingredient.

Ohio Pawpaw Festival

Albany

Have you ever had a pawpaw? The green- to black-colored fruit has an almost tropical flavor, like a combination between a mango, a banana and a lemon. Ohio happens to produce a bit of a bumper crop of these flavorful fruits, and the Ohio Pawpaw Festival has been serving up pawpaw-flavored fare for more than 20 years. Here’s just a few foodie finds to sample: Pawpaw Cookies, Pawpaw BBQ, Pawpaw Salsa, Pawpaw Waffle-On-A-Stick and even more creative dishes like Pawpaw Adobo Chicken, Pawpaw Funnel Cake and Pawpaw Mousse. At this fall fest, you might also enter the pawpaw cook-off or even the pawpaw eating contest.

See more: Young’s Jersey Dairy Offers Agritourism Attractions for Every Age

Ohio Sauerkraut Festival

Waynesville

The biting taste of sauerkraut can elevate even the most ordinary foods. If you’re already a fan, you’re not alone –more than 350,000 visitors turn out each year for the Annual Ohio Sauerkraut Festival on the second full weekend of October. For more than 50 years, the event has offered festivalgoers a chance to dine on creative dishes like sauerkraut donuts and fudge. Attendees can even try a German “sundae” made with mashed potatoes instead of ice cream and topped with sauerkraut, cheese, sour cream and an olive. Of course, you’ll also find more traditional dishes, too, like cabbage rolls and hot dogs brimming with sauerkraut.

Taste of Cincinnati

Cincinnati

Over Memorial Day Weekend, the Queen City transforms into a foodie haven for Taste of Cincinnati, one of the nation’s longest-running free culinary arts festivals. The main challenge of attending is trying to decide what to eat first. Over 50 area restaurants and food trucks attend to showcase their culinary best. You might start with kimchi fried rice with pork belly before downing Nutella poppers, turtle fried cheesecake and chocolate baklava. Still hungry? There’s plenty more to fill your day and your stomach. Look for the menu items awarded with the Best of Taste Awards leading up to the event.

Swanton Corn Festival

Swanton

For more than 100 years, the Swanton Corn Festival has been delighting locals and visitors alike. The one-day Saturday festival held in August (there is a smaller gathering the night before that’s also open to the public), starts with a Grand Parade featuring several corn-themed floats. Along with fair-style food, attendees will have the chance to sample fresh-cooked ears of corn. There’s even a competition to determine who can eat corn-on-the-cob the fastest while blindfolded.