By Jess Coffin
What’s fresh in Missouri in August? Yup! It’s the “Missouri banana,” aka the pawpaw!
Missouri’s favorite funky fruit is getting the star treatment at Ferguson’s 2nd Annual Pawpaw Fest, hosted by EarthDance Organic Farm School and the Ferguson Farmers Market on Saturday, August 23, 2025, from 8 a.m. to Noon! The fest promises a flavorful, educational, and quirky (like the fruit!) celebration of the largest edible fruit native to North America.
Pawpaws’ creamy, custard-like flesh tastes like a tropical mashup of banana, mango, and melon — but they grow wild in Missouri woods, not the rainforest. And, believe it or not, they are classified as berries! EarthDance will offer multiple varieties of fresh pawpaws at the fest, each with its own unique flavor notes – some a bit more citrusy, others leaning nutty or vanilla-like.
EarthDance growers and Forest ReLeaf of Missouri tree experts will be on hand info for aspiring backyard or community orchard growers, and there will even be pawpaw seedlings available. You’ll also learn about the fruit’s ancient roots. Pawpaw trees date back over 50 million years and once fed megafauna like mastodons, who helped spread their seeds across the continent with a little help from their digestive systems. Today, pawpaws are still a favorite snack for opossums, raccoons, foxes, and other forest critters who follow their noses to the fruit’s ripe, tropical scent.
Pawpaw blossoms are considered botanically “perfect.” This means each deep burgundy blossom has all of the necessary parts to reproduce. They are protogynous, which means they are one sex when they open, then they transition to another as part of their natural developmental process. They’re pollinated not by bees but by flies. Since flies aren’t always reliable, some growers hang rotting meat from branches to attract the flies, or hand-pollinate with paintbrushes. “We hand pollinate, but we haven’t tried hanging meat yet,” Production Manager, farmer, and educator Will Delacey says. “As a teaching farm, it seems like an experiment we need to try though.”
Of course, the festival is also about flavor. Treats will include pawpaw ice cream sandwiches from Sugarwitch, pawpaw beer from Natural History Brewing, and pawpaw kombucha from Confluence Kombucha. And more local vendors will join the fun with pawpaw-forward pancakes, sauces, baked goods, and more.
For anyone who wants to bring the taste home, a pawpaw ice cream recipe is included in this edition of the Ferguson Neighborhood News – just right for making your own creamy pawpaw treat after the fest.
Kids and curious adults can enjoy hands-on pawpaw activities throughout the morning, and taste this short-season fruit rarely found in a grocery store while it lasts — it ripens for just a few precious weeks each year.
Whether you’re a pawpaw pro or a curious first-timer, come out to the Ferguson Farmers Market for a fruity morning of flavor, folklore, and fun.
Pawpaw Fest 2025
📅 Saturday, August 23 | 🕗 8 AM – 12 PM
📍 Ferguson Farmers Market, 501 S Florissant Rd
🥭 Admission is free, and everyone is welcome.