The State Pumpkin Capital Is Hiding In Small Town Iowa And It’s As Weirdly Wonderful As You’d Expect

Are you looking for something new to do in Iowa this fall? Iowa always puts us in the mood for pumpkin-picking. Try a trip to Anamosa, the weirdly wonderful Pumpkin Capital of Iowa! Every year, they hold a world-famous Iowa state pumpkin festival, and this year the Anamosa Pumpkinfest is taking place on October 7th - the first Saturday in October. It's a celebration of everything fall, complete with a street fair, games, and a grand display of the largest pumpkins in all of Iowa. We look forward to seeing the details of this year's event every year - and so does all of Iowa!

In 1993, by the authority of the Iowa State Legislature, the pumpkin capital of Iowa was officially named.

The town selected for this high honor was Anamosa, Iowa.

What's so pumpkinesque about Anamosa, Iowa? Well, this little town began hosting a pumpkin weigh off several years prior to this designation -- an event that had grown in popularity to the point that the state legislature took notice!

Anomasa has embraced the designation; and each fall, this little Iowa town fills to the brim with pumpkins.

Take the fall festival held annually in Anamosa, for example. Anamosa's Pumpkinfest is good, old-fashioned fun, drawing thousands to this small town.

One of the centerpieces of the festival is the Ryan Norlan Giant pumpkin weigh-off. This competition, a continuation of the original pumpkin weigh-off, no longer satisfies itself with just finding the largest pumpkin in the county or state, which it does have categories and prizes for. No, now it aims to find the most gargantuan pumpkins in the world!

It helps that the prize for first place is $5,500, and also that there are prizes all the way down to $30 for 15th place. Curious how much the heaviest pumpkin weighed in the 30 years since the weigh-off has been running? It was over a ton (an incredible, mind-boggling 2,114 pounds) and grown by a couple from Wisconsin in 2020.

One thing is for sure, stay out of that pumpkin’s way or you might get squashed. And who knows what sizes subsequent years will bring!

Make it a fall tradition to take a leaf-peeping drive through Iowa to Anamosa to pick out a pumpkin from Iowa's pumpkin capital. Or come a bit before the leaves reach their peak and catch the actual weekend of Pumpkinfest - always the first Saturday in October.

Want an advanced look at this year's Anamosa Pumpkinfest? Local radio station Mix 94.7 KMCH posted this hometown tour on YouTube in early 2023.

Have you attended this Iowa state pumpkin festival in past years? Tell us your plans for Anamosa Pumpkinfest in 2023 in the comments section!

The Anamosa Pumpkinfest website and Anamosa Pumpkinfest Facebook have all the details on this year's event. If you're looking to make a mini-vacation of your trip to Anamosa, book a room at the AmericInn by Wyndham Anamosa.

What other quirky "capitals" are hiding in Iowa besides the Pumpkin Capital? We know about a few of them already - the Flag Capital, for example!