Raw States
Morton Pumpkin Festival
Morton, IL · Food & Drink
- When
- September 16–19, 2026
- Where
- Downtown Morton · Morton · IL
- Cost
- Not confirmed
- Status
- Confirmed from the organizer's published schedule
Morton calls itself the Pumpkin Capital of the World, home to the Libby's cannery that processes most of the nation's canned pumpkin. The town has held its Pumpkin Festival since 1966, with a parade, pageant, and pumpkin-themed food filling downtown each September. The 2026 festival marks its 60th consecutive year.
The history within reach
- Morton Pumpkin Festivalsame spot
Morton calls itself the Pumpkin Capital of the World, home to the Libby's cannery that processes most of the nation's canned pumpkin.
Two California firms merged and moved the works to the Illinois River, where the track-laying tractor became the machine that built the interstates, the Alaska Highway and most of the airfields of the Second World War.
- Will it play in Peoria?8.6 mi
A vaudeville town of the right size in the right place, so booking agents used it to find out whether an act worked on ordinary audiences before spending money on the cities.
Corn, coal, river and rail in one place made this the largest distilling town on earth, and for years Peoria County paid more federal liquor tax than any other district in the country.
- Richard Pryor8.6 mi
Born in Peoria and raised in his grandmother's brothel, where his mother worked, a childhood he later put on stage without softening any of it.