Pawpaw Festival

Everything I love about Athens all on one sprawling slice of grass next to Lake Snowden. The Pawpaw Festival ostensibly celebrates the native pawpaw fruit, but it’s so much more. While you can learn all about this delectable tree treat and taste it in many ways, you can also savor the oddities and joys of Athens. Pawpaw fest celebrates local food with farmers and cooks, offers a dozen or more craft pawpaw beers, and has crafts, culture and activities from the minute it opens on Friday until the last pawpaw is downed late Sunday. Even if you’re the kind of bizarre person who doesn’t like pawpaws, you’ll love it here.

We have gone to the PawPaw Fest for 4 years now and it has always been fun. This is one of my favorite festivals in Ohio! The pawpaws are delicious, the food is good (somewhat pricey), and the pawpaw beer is worth the drive from Columbus.
We’ve gone on Saturday afternoons and Sundays before. By far, Saturdays are the busiest, but they won’t sell out of items on Saturday. If you wait until Sunday, then you can bet they will be out of beer glasses and souvenirs. This year we went on a Sunday and we got there early enough to get a beer glass (thank goodness), but not early enough for a tshirt (we really liked the design this year!).
The festival has camping, lake activities like paddleboarding, and a children’s area. It’s very Eco-​friendly, has low-​key music, and educational workshops.
All-​in-​all, I would recommend checking out the annual festival. It really is a great atmosphere, family friendly, and relaxing.