WASHINGTON, Sept. 27, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:

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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27:  PUMPKINS

Profile America — Thursday, September 27th.  While Halloween is more than a month away, the folks in Barnesville, Ohio are staging their 49th annual Pumpkin Festival beginning today and running through Sunday.  Some 100,000 people are expected to see parades, a car show, banjo and fiddle contests, and, of course, the queen's pageant.  One major event will be the King Pumpkin Contest, where giant home grown pumpkins ride by on pickup trucks.  Just over a billion pounds of pumpkins are grown in the U.S. annually.  Illinois is the top producer, growing 427 million pounds a year.  California, New York, and Ohio are also major producers.  You can find more facts about America's people, places and economy, from the American Community Survey at <www.census.gov>.

Sources:  Chase's Calendar of Events 2012, p. 471
www.barnesvillepumpkinfestival.com
U.S. Census Bureau, Facts for Features, CB11-FF.20

Profile America is produced by the Center for New Media and Promotions of the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on a monthly CD or on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look for "Multimedia Gallery" by the "Newsroom" button). 

SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau