Fall is in the air and that can only mean one thing… the Barnesville Pumpkin Festival is right around the corner! For the 4th consecutive year, JB Digital Media is proud to be partnering with Belmont County Tourism to produce the live broadcasts of the Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off (September 23rd) and the Giant Pumpkin Parade (September 26th). The Barnesville Pumpkin Festival enters its 62nd year; bringing thousands of visitors to the heart of Barnesville for 5 fun-filled days.

With the live broadcasts bringing in over 100,000+ viewers over the past 3 years, the adage “go big or go home” means more additions, and a few changes, are in store for the broadcast this year. “We’re always working on new ways to tell the story of the Weigh-Off, the Pumpkin Festival, and most importantly, the community of Barnesville,” said owner Jonathan Burkhart.

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As in years past, leading this year’s production is the return of an 18ft JIB, Roaming Cine Rig, and CraneCam. Some exciting additions this year include a ScaleCam- which will feature a close-up look at the Pumpkin for all weigh-ins, a ForkliftCam- which will allow for extra shots of the Pumpkin on its way to the Pumpkin Patch, additional PTZ cameras, and a few surprises that are still in the works.

The biggest change for viewers is the addition of a vertical Altcast of the Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off. Belmont County Tourism’s Facebook page will still be home to the traditional livestream, while the new vertical Altcast will be on their Instagram page. “Our goal is to provide a different viewing experience for the same story. A lot of people consume content vertically now, so we wanted to give that as a viewing option,” Burkhart said. The Altcast will be a completely reimagined stream- featuring a constant Leaderboard, ScaleCam, Weigh-Off Timer, and Entries Ticker. Viewers can still catch the interviews, community content, and more on the Altcast.

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Both broadcasts will receive slightly updated graphics, featuring a memorial logo for long time Pumpkin Festival Committee President, Tim Rockwell, who sadly passed away this summer. A tribute video for Tim will air prior to the Weigh-Off kicking off at 6:00pm. “Tim was always extremely kindhearted and welcoming to us. Our first year producing the event, I was discussing adding the JIB and other camera locations with him, and he said ‘Doesn’t matter to me where they go as long as you’re able to capture what you need. If you need any help with anything, let me know.’ I think many would agree with me he did everything to make the Festival the greatest it could be and was proud to do so. He will be greatly missed.”

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On the audio side of the production, a new audio map was designed from the ground up. While last year featured 5 microphones, this year’s broadcast will feature over 10. “We really wanted to take a look at how we can capture the event and bring it into the viewer’s home,” said Burkhart. “It’s not like a traditional sports broadcast. We want to hear the crowd, the crane, the excitement of the growers as they await the results." Additional mics located around the crowd, a mic on the Crane, and several shotgun microphones located around the weigh-off area. Additional mics will also be added to the Giant Pumpkin Parade broadcast to provide better audio for the marching bands and performance groups.

For the first time since partnering, the Giant Pumpkin Parade will be broadcasted live on the Belmont County Facebook page. In years past, the number of people in the area bottlenecked the available bandwidth, making it nearly impossible to send out a stream. Networking upgrades, including a network bonding interface, was tested last year and proved successful to decide to broadcast the parade live this year.

The Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off broadcast will begin at 5:30PM on September 23rd and the Giant Pumpkin Parade broadcast will begin at 12:30pm on September 26th.

A LOOK FROM THE JIB AS A GIANT PUMPKIN GETS WEIGHED-IN AT THE 2025 BARNESVILLE PUMPKIN FESTIVAL GIANT PUMPKIN WEIGH-OFF