ALBANY, Ohio — This year’s Ohio Pawpaw Festival will mark the 26th time that Albany has invited pawpaw lovers from all over the world for a weekend of pawpaw-themed events.
Athens County Commissioner and Integration Acres owner Chris Chmiel first proposed the idea of a pawpaw-themed festival to the Albany Business Community Development Committee in the late 1990s.
“They were looking for ways to boost business in Albany,” Chmiel said. “They had discussed having a festival and I suggested we have a pawpaw festival. They went along with it.”
Since that first festival in 1999, the popularity of the annual event has only grown, with an estimated 10,000 attendees expected this year. Factors contributing to the growth include the festival’s move to Lake Snowden in 2001, the availability of beer and alcohol since 2002, and the expansion of live music.
The musicians, selected by local music booker Brian Bucher, have become a particularly popular attraction. Chmiel shared that this year he is looking forward to Olivia Jean’s performance and that Fruition is another popular band that he is keeping an eye on.
To better accommodate the crowds, the festival added extra parking near the Lake Snowden dam last year. An extra beer serving station is planned this year to reduce wait time.
This year the festival has added Mother Earth News, a bimonthly magazine focused on homesteading, sustainability and more, as a major partner. According to Chmiel, the connection was made in part due to a member of Mother Earth News having attended Ohio University and frequented the Ohio Pawpaw Festival.
“We’re going to have a Mother Earth News tent,” Chmiel said. “It’ll be full of educational things like homesteading, sustainable agriculture, local foods and more. That’ll hopefully be a longer term relationship if things go well.”
This growth hasn’t been without its drawbacks though; some residents feel they are being priced out of attending the festival. A full weekend pass costs $60, while day passes cost $20 for Friday and Sunday and $30 for Saturday.
Chmiel said he sympathizes with the complaints and has taken steps to try to keep the festival affordable, offering $10 off to Albany residents, senior citizens and veterans. Early bird tickets were also available during the summer.
“Compare us to Nelsonville Music Festival,” Chmiel said. “We are very affordable. We pay people and it just costs money to do things.”
Pawpaw Cooking 101
At its core, though, the festival remains committed to its original goal of championing the pawpaw. One particularly avid champion of the pawpaw is Rob Brannan, an Ohio University food scientist who has extensively researched the fruit.
Pawpaws are unusual because they belong to the botanical family for tropical fruit, Brannan said. “Pawpaw is the only genus and species in that family that will grow in a temperate climate.”
Most of North America has a temperate climate, with moderate temperature fluctuations as the seasons change. As such, pawpaw can be found from northern Louisiana up to southern Ontario, Canada.
The fruit’s rising popularity has resulted in it occasionally being labeled as a so-called “super fruit,” which Brannan is quick to correct whenever he hears it.
“I don’t think there is any more or less benefit to eating pawpaw than there is any other fruit,” Brannan said. “People want to use the term ‘super fruits,’ like blueberries, pomegranates and more. If you take a few steps back from that and look at fruits in general, that whole category is gonna be pretty darn healthy. You’re not gonna go wrong eating an apple.”
One group that still thinks pawpaw’s are super though, is the brewing and distilling industry, the primary consumer of pawpaw in the country. They like the unique flavor of the pawpaw — described by some as a mix of banana and mango and by others as a combination of papaya, pineapple and coconut.
For Art Oestrike, President of Jackie O’s, the decision to brew pawpaw beer was an easy one.
“It’s a natural fit,” Oestrike said. “There’s a pawpaw fest in Athens, Ohio. There’s pawpaws grown in Athens, Ohio and we’re a brewery in Athens, Ohio.”
This year Jackie O’s used 440 pounds of pawpaw puree to make its Paw Paw Wheat and Paw Paw Cherry Perpetum. Both of these beers will be available on tap at the Ohio Pawpaw Festival.
The fruit’s culinary uses shine at the festival’s Pawpaw Cookoff. The trick, Brannan said, is adding the pulp at the optimal point in the recipe.
“One of these things we’ve learned is that a lot of these winners often use pawpaw that isn’t cooked or added right at the end as opposed to at the beginning,” Brannan said. “Pawpaw seems to have a flavor that gets cooked out.”
Chmiel agreed, noting his personal preference for pawpaw recipes.
“It’s sort of a subtle flavor, certain combinations work better than others in my opinion,” Chmiel said. “Seems like when they combine with dairy products it’s pretty good – ice cream, cheesecake, crème brûlée. That’s the sweet spot so to say.”
Future of Pawpaw
Another potential boost to pawpaws’ popularity is in the works: adding it to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Data Central program. The program is a library of food information, providing information on nutrition, serving size and more.
“That’s exciting for us — that gives the pawpaw some legitimacy.” Brannan said. “Think about a dietician who is going to say, ‘You need to consume more xyz’ and the patient says, ‘Well, what can I consume?’ The dietician is gonna look at Food Data Central and make recommendations.”
The plan, Brannan told the Independent, is for eight pawpaw growers from all over the country to send different pawpaw varieties to a USDA facility at Virginia Tech for analysis. If all goes well, pawpaw will be added to the program in April 2025.
