The signature pawpaw mascot took pictures with locals, visitors and students alike as people overflowed the banks of Lake Snowden for the 15th annual Pawpaw Festival.
The event, which ran over three days beginning Friday, drew more than 8,000 people to the area, said Chris Chmiel, founder and main coordinator of the festival. As of press time, Chmiel was unable to supply the Post with official attendance numbers.
“It went super well,” he said. “We basically couldn’t have asked for better.”
A flock of vendors set up tents for the weekend, including growers of the northernmost tropical fruit. As the sun set on Saturday, Neal Peterson was counting up the profits from the weekend. He had been giving out samples of his six different types of pawpaws.
“There’s an incredible interest in the pawpaw,” the owner of Peterson’s Pawpaws said. “We had (at one point) a line of 30 people. They’re catching on.”
Peterson said he describes the pawpaw’s flavor as a cross between a mango and a banana, while the texture is “custard-y,” something that’s not found in many fruits. He began breeding pawpaws in 1981 and set up a nursery in 2004. When demand was found to be too high, he began licensing nurseries to produce the fruit in 2010.
Although Peterson said giving the pawpaw samples out served an educational purpose, he added that visitors came to the festival for more than just fruit.
“It’s a community event,” he said. “There’s so much more here than just pawpaws.”
Another vendor also came to educate, but to educate their solar-powered oven rather than the famed fruit. Patrick Sherwin and Matt Gillespie were talking to attendees about their company, GoSun Stove. The oven converts 90 percent of absorbed energy into cooking heat.
“Cooking times depend on what you’re cooking,” said Gillespie. “To boil water it takes about 50 minutes, but if you’re frying vegetables it takes about 20 minutes.”
Gillespie said the company had a “natural connection” with the area, which brought it to the Pawpaw Festival. Sherwin was a 2001 Ohio University alumnus where he did his undergraduate work in biology. Gillespie added they both felt “tied to the bioregion.”
“Coming here is kind of like our vacation,” he said.
At the time of the festival, fundraising for GoSun Stove opened nine days prior on Kickstarter. Gillespie said they raised more than $70,000 so far.
While Gillespie and Sherwin were cooking with technology, others went back to basics. A Living History group — which creates interactive historical displays — set up shop on one side of the festival and was cooking pawpaw-marinated jerky. One of the group’s own, Gary “Flatrock” George, had shot the deer for himself with a gun he had made himself.
This was George’s 10th time at the festival. He and his three companions were camping out near the festival grounds. Throughout the year they go to different “rendezvous” where they meet up with other people who participate in Living History, live outside and camp over a fire.
“We want to keep the old ways alive,” George said.
Also at the festival was a tent from the Hocking College Nature Center, which shifted the attention from pawpaws to another Athens superstar.
Godzilla, a ball python formally known as Delilah, was released by its owner during the summer, causing an alert in Athens. The ball python now belongs to Dawn Robotyn, a student at Hocking College.
The snake was one of many in the tent, some were handled and others behind glass. David Sagan, director of the center, said the goal was to demystify some misconceptions people have about snakes.
“This is one of our easier crowds,” he added. “The Pawpaw Festival has a more of a down-to-earth crowd. The fear of snakes is real, but there’s no substance behind it.”
Chmiel said part of what visitors enjoyed about the festival was the diversity of vendors and booths, of which there were more than 100.
“I think it does speak to Athens,” he said. “It just highlights a lot of great stuff in our community.”
eb104010@ohiou.edu
@EmilyMBamforth
