TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — Project pawpaw hosted their second annual pawpaw festival today at Merom Bluff Park.
They had live music, food trucks, and more pawpaw than ever before.
Pawpaw is a little-known tree, native to Indiana, that produces a large, delicious fruit. However, the life span of the fruit is short, so most people have never heard it.
Because of this, a festival has been started at Merom Bluff Park, in Merom, Indiana, to educate and allow people to try the fruit, that some call the “Indiana Banana”.
It’s the Indiana banana and there wasn’t a festival for the Indiana banana, so now there is. I started it last year and it’s starting to grow. This is the second year and it’s taking off really good.
Isaac Bisby – Leader – Pawpaw Festival
The festival takes place over the course of two days with live music, food vendors, and fresh pawpaw.
Bisby says they showcase all the ways that the fruit can be enjoyed.
“Pawpaw everything. We have pawpaw ice cream, we have pawpaw cheesecake, we have wild pawpaws, we have name variety pawpaws, if you want to try one. You name it, we got it.”
On Saturday, the festival held a pawpaw contest. People brought their best of the fruit and were judged based on appearance, size, taste, and the number of seeds.
The winner was Mark Hildebrand, who has been working on pawpaws for over a decade.
I’ve been probably finding them in the wild for 30 years. As far as the named cultivars and grafting them, probably 15 years. I joined the Indiana Nut and Fruit Growers Association and there’s some people in there that are very knowledgeable and more experienced than I am, and they help you.
Mark Hildebrand – Pawpaw Contest Winner
The festival had guests from a number of states and hopes to make pawpaws bigger every year.
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