KENOVA. W.Va. (WOWK) — A major tourist attraction in Kenova is returning this weekend ahead of Halloween.

The Kenova Pumpkin House display is nearly complete and owner Ric Griffith says they’re hopeful to have everything done by Friday.

“It’s the entire month of October. For one week, we do 500 pumpkins. It’s a lot of work, but we have 1,500 wonderful volunteers though,” Griffith says.

The tradition started in 1978 when Griffith carved and set up four pumpkins on his front porch.
It’s grown significantly since then.

Now, it has more than 3,000 pumpkins on display with multi-media elements looped in. Griffith says seeing the excitement on people’s faces each year, makes it all worth it.

“The thing that that pleases me most is the family gatherings, people that say, I came here as a small child, and now I’m here with my children. It’s a common date, experience that people have, and they often share with me, you know, before we were married. We came here as a couple,” Griffith says.

The display is expected to be complete by this weekend and it will be set up until October 31st.