Kenova's Pumpkin House — Attraction in Kenova

SUMMARY: I visited the Kenova Pumpkin House for the first time with a group during the week of Halloween 2024. The pumpkin/Jack O’Lantern display is impressive, and the carnival atmosphere of the event is loads of fun.

Note that the event is very well attended. I arrived at dusk as the pumpkins first turned on. It was already crowded, and within a half hour, thousands of people were in attendance. Set aside at least an hour to park and see the pumpkins. It’s definitely worth a visit; just be sure to plan ahead!

FAMILY-FRIENDLY: Yes. The event featured Jack O'Lanterns, music, and vendors. Many kids and a few adults attended in costume. In other words, it's non-scary Halloween fun suitable for all ages.

PARKING: Parking is limited. Local businesses loaned their lots but even those filled quickly. Plan accordingly, and meet at a separate location to carpool if possible. Accessible Parking is available, but that, too, is limited.

FOOD & DRINK: There were a dozen or so vendors selling carnival food. I saw funnel cake, donuts, kettle corn and BBQ. There were also others I can’t recall.

RESTROOMS: Unsure if there were restrooms on-site. I didn’t look for them.

ACCESSIBILITY: Accessible parking is offered approximately two blocks from the venue. The number of accessible parking spaces is limited.

The pumpkin display can be seen from the street, but the best views require visitors to pass through an entrance archway into the front yard of the house. The yard is unpaved and on a hill. Visitors in powered wheelchairs were able to easily traverse the yard, but the slope and ground may present a challenge to unpowered wheelchair users and those with canes or other walking assistance devices.

The attraction is primarily sight-based. Music plays near the pumpkin wall.

PUMPKIN DISPLAY: The walk-through display featured 3,000 hand-carved pumpkins. The Jack O'Lanterns are carved by volunteers and come in a wide, WIDE variety of shapes, sizes, and artistry. There is even a giant wall of Jack O'Lanterns with lights timed to music!

The display turns on at dusk. It takes about 10-15 minutes to walk through and see everything, but visitors can take as long or move as quickly as they like.

The display area does get crowded. While I was there there was not much of an order to the way visitors were moving through the display. Expect some bottlenecking, and to have to wait to see some partners of...

The Pumpkin House in Kenova, West Virginia is truly an amazing experience! Arrived early to see all the beautifully hand carved pumpkins in the daylight. Met a wonderful young lady who comes all the way from Germany every year just to visit the Pumpkin House! There is a guest book and signing in is highly encouraged. Found out people come from everywhere just to visit the Pumpkin House, like Alaska, Hawaii and Switzerland! The owner of the house started the Pumpkin tradition when his 3 daughters were young and every year since has grown into this marvelous event that's free for everyone to enjoy. The first thing you notice is "The Wall of Pumpkins!" The wall is enormous with all the lite pumpkins syncrenized with the music! And of course, John Denver's famous, "Take Me Home, Country Roads," is one of the songs! No matter where you look, you will see pumpkins, all hard carved and spectacularly beautiful! It takes many volunteers to carve over 3000 pumpkins, so for 3 days the volunteers must carve over 500 pumpkins a day! Each pumpkin has a special place too, they are not just placed anywhere they fit, so there is a method to the madness. For example, the Pumpkins carved with all the president's faces go on a specially made shelf, or all the musical instrument pumpkins go on "The Wall of Pumpkins," where the lights are synchronized to the music. The Pumpkin House is truly an amazing experience, one of which I plan on making a yearly tradition! In my book, The Pumpkin House IS Almost Heaven, in a little town...

First time visitor. My family came down from Parkersburg on opening night. Very pretty. The house itself,underneath all the pumpkins, was absolutely gorgeous( would love to see the inside)! But the diplays themselves were really cool and gave so many photo ops. Definitely a sight to see if you've never been. I read the reviews before going and am somewhat bewildered at some people's way of thinking. I saw mostly rave reviews(and found out why). There were also some terrible reviews for things like "it was muddy"...it's outside. "It's just pumpkins" ...did you expect christmas trees,it's the pumpkin house. Can't begin to imagine the time and effort put into the setup,much less the cleanup when it's over with. If they charged even a dollar a head,with the crowd of that night alone,they'd make a small fortune. There is no charge however. This is done out of the goodness of someone's heart simply to spread joy. Be nice if everone took a minute to soak that in. So to the owners for all their time and effort and graciously welcoming the public onto their property,to the community(as this is most definitely a community effort)for all their time and effort...THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THINKING OF OTHERS!!! My family...