Festival-goers enjoy the opening of the Bradford Pumpkin Show in 2023. The 95th-annual show returns Oct. 8-12.
Eamon Baird | Miami Valley Today
By Eamon Baird
BRADFORD — An annual tradition returns to the village of Bradford as it holds its 95th-annual Bradford Pumpkin Show with the theme “Family Game Night.”
The festival kicks off with a “house and property” decorating competition on Sunday, Oct. 6, and the Pumpkin Show runs from Tuesday, Oct. 8, through Saturday, Oct. 12.
Jim Wysong, president of this year’s festival, talked about what makes it so unique.
“We’re the only festival that has confetti that I’m aware of,” he said. “I’ve been around different places and talked to people and for some people they reference it as simply the ‘confetti festival.’”
Wysong said the Bradford High School Marching Band bags the confetti for the annual festival and in turn receives a donation for their efforts.
“The money that’s made from the confetti helps us run the festival for the week,” he said.
Confetti will be available immediately after the parades on Tuesday and Thursday. It will also be available on Friday starting at 7 p.m., and Saturday at 6 p.m. There will be no confetti sales on Wednesday, Oct 9. Sunglasses or other eye protection is recommended for small children.
For more information about the confetti including pricing and locations for purchase visit bradfordpumpkinshow.org/confetti.html.
The grand marshal for this year’s event is Dottie (Clark) Carder, who is the owner of Clark’s Pizza House in downtown Bradford. Carder has been a sponsor and chaired the pumpkin pie and pumpkin cookie contests for the last 14 years.
“Dottie has been a big help in the festival,” Wysong said. “Anytime that we need something, we can go to Dottie and she knows a lot of people, and Dottie gets a lot of things done for us.”
Wysong said 16 different houses and businesses are participating in the decorating contest for Sunday in the themes of Family Game Night and “Fall.” Prizes of $100 will be awarded to the top three finishers in each theme in addition to other prizes.
Tuesday festivities begin at 4 p.m. with midway carnival games and food vendors. The daily parade begins at 7 p.m., with the prince and princess contest following immediately after the parade. The midway carnival games will be open until 10 p.m.
Other Tuesday events include the pumpkin diaper derby and pumpkin city run, taking place at the north end stage at 5:30 p.m. near the corner of Oakwood Street and Miami Avenue. The cutest baby voting in front of the Village Hall will be open from 6 to 9 p.m.
Wednesday’s events begin with the bake-a-pumpkin pie and cookie contest from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Clark’s Pizza House. The midway carnival games will again open from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. with rides available and a social tent open until 9 p.m.
The little miss and master pumpkin pageant will take place at 4:30 p.m. at the north end stage, followed by the pumpkin pie and pumpkin cookie auction at 6 p.m.
Thursday will feature a kiddie tractor pull at 4:30 p.m. and a cheerleading competition immediately following the parade at 7 p.m.
Friday the midway will be open from 1 p.m. to 11 p.m. Other featured events will be the school parade at 1:30 p.m. and the big wheel race at 4:30 p.m. The social tent will close at 10 p.m. with last call at 9:45 p.m.
The Pumpkin Show will be packed with events for its last day on Saturday, Oct. 12. The midway will be open from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m., and the social tent open from noon to 10 p.m. The annual Pumpkin City Car Show will take place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Bradford Park.
“We usually draw in like 120 cars and then some antique tractors that people bring in. That’s always a good thing to check out, because there’s some unique vehicles there,” Wysong said.
Other notable Saturday events and activities will include:
• Noon – Opening of the craft show;
• Noon – The pet and novelty parade;
• 2 p.m. – The cutest baby contest on the north stage;
• 4 p.m. – The extravaganza parade;
• 5:30 p.m. – The smash-a-pumpkin contest on the north stage;
• 6 p.m. – The lucky pumpkin sweepstakes contest drawing on the north stage.
Wysong said anyone interested in helping with the Bradford Pumpkin Show can visit the website and attend a planning meeting to prepare for next year’s event.
“We start planning for the next festival in November,” he said.
For more information on the Bradford Pumpkin Show visit their visit www.bradfordpumpkinshow.org/index.html or www.facebook.com/BradfordPumpkinShow.
