The festival, which is held to celebrate local agriculture, is headed up by the Circleville Pumpkin Show Corporation.

Considered to be the biggest festival in the United States dedicated to the pumpkin, it is billed as The Greatest Free Show On Earth.

In recent years, a Tuesday preview night "for locals" has been introduced, adding an unofficial half day to the event.

Starting on the Sunday before the festival, work begins to restrict traffic in downtown Circleville.

In October 1903, Mayor George R. Haswell decided to hold a small pumpkin-and-corn exhibit in front of his store to celebrate the local harvest.

[3] The Pumpkin Show became the sixth-largest festival in the United States by 2007, attracting more than 300,000 people to the city every year.

The largest pumpkin to date was grown by Bob & Jo Liggett, with their entry from 2023 weighing in at 2,388.5 pounds (1,083.4 kg).

At the 100th anniversary Pumpkin Show in 2006, the bakery had to make a much bigger pie compared to previous years to officially reclaim the title of world's largest.