Pawpaw Festival - Duncansville, PA

08/01/2026

We reached our fundraiser goal to have a Native Plant Ecosystem Mural painted by No Ka 'Oi Art Studio and Gallery at Duncansville Memorial Park to represent at our Pawpaw Festival - Duncansville, PA and reflect all of our ecological restoration work done by Restoration Landcare, Ecotopian EarthCare, Wildones PA Ridge&Valley, all of our local conservationists and the Borough of Duncansville at this park and throughout our region!
We are so thankful for the pledges by the following donors that will be included on the mural!
Clark Stapelfeld with New Pig
Kimberly McElhatten with OpenRoads.Life
Shannon Morris with Sprinkle Kindness
Frankie Lechner with Bag Carriers
Lightning Bug Gift Co.
Donna Dicker Gority with ArtsAltoona
& Jenna Price.

07/25/2026

Update on our Native Plant Mural fundraiser for a pavillion at Duncansville Memorial Park.
We are currently at $1,750.00 total in pledged sponsorship from 5 different local businesses/non-profits.
Our goal is $4,590.00 and we would like to reach this goal by the 2nd week of August.
Our 3rd annual Pawpaw Festival is September 20th and it would be wonderful to celebrate with beautiful art by No Ka 'Oi Art Studio and Gallery that will honor and highlight our Native plant restoration where we hold our Pawpaw Festival - Duncansville, PA annually.
New photos of Michelle McLoota's 1st sketch of the potential mural that consists of many species of native fruiting trees, flowers, and pollinators.
We see the importance of blending local art with ecosystem regeneration.
Our mission to is to reconnect our community with nature through ecological restoration and wild foraging for native plant food and medicine.
This mural will inspire this mission to help Mother Earth within our youth and the youth within all of us.
Reach out to me via email - [email protected] for a pdf. of our fundraiser information. Please share this information with any local business or person you think may be interested in donating. All donors will name or logo incorporated in the mural.

07/22/2026

07/19/2026

850 sprouting Pawpaw seeds have been planted in their own pots from the Pawpaw fruit we shared together as a community from last years Pawpaw Festival - Duncansville, PA.
We are currently a little over half done with giving the sprouting seeds their own pots with an estimate grand total of 1,500 pawpaw seedlings for 2026!!!
Thanks to Makenzi Angel for the tedious task of planting them all. Thanks to our team who gathered the fruit for free taste testing at last years festival which required us to separate all the seeds from the fruit, clean the seeds, and cold stratify them in our home refrigerator all winter!
The wonderful humid hot and rainy weather our plant world has been blessed with this growing season is also a reason to give thanks!!!
Pawpaws seeds grow 6 inches of root before they even sprout above ground.
Pawpaw seeds take longer to sprout than most plants and I am finding this to be the same with Passion Vine which is just starting to sprout for us too. We are at the northern range of both of these tropical native species that require a lot warmth and humidity to grow!
Our Pawpaw festival is still open for vendor registration. If you would like to be vendor please sign up soon, and look to the flyer in the photos to see how to sign up.
We are also looking for Environmental Stewardship Speakers for on stage presentations that will be mixed in with Music so if you have something you are passionate about and would like to speak on it involving Ecology please reach out to me!
In the future Blair County will be full of fruiting Pawpaw Trees!

07/11/2026

Meet the artist of our 3rd annual Pawpaw Festival - Duncansville, PA t-shirt design - Jonna (with the blue hair.)
Jonna is an 11 year old local artist with drawing skills beyond her years. We know the importance of celebrating art and representing the youth.
Hoping that we acquire enough funds through our mural fundraiser so that Michelle from No Ka 'Oi Art Studio and Gallery can paint a mural at the park and then we can have Jonna stop by to see a bit of the mural process for future inspiration as a young artist.
In this picture, Jonna and her two sisters Makenzi & Jemma are rocking the people's favorite color in mustard yellow. These shirts also come in Red, Blue and Brown. Shirts are locally printed by Lightning Bug Gift Co. and are 100% soft cotton.
Pre-ordering these shirts helps us make our Pawpaw Festival possible so we are grateful for the support.
Here is a link to the pre-order form - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScEUPHqdF5nl0XWdrHjpibnST-D8_qJYJb9aDkk_RaV_i9vrg/viewform

07/09/2026

🍈 Support the Pawpaw Festival! 🌿
Now’s the time to purchase our official Pawpaw Festival shirts!
The artwork was created by 11-year-old local artist Jonna, and the shirts are being printed locally by Lightning Bug Gift Co.
100% Cotton Gildan soft style with 4 colors to choose from.
It’s a wonderful way to support both a young artist and a local business.
👕 Pre-order link in the comments!
Every shirt purchased helps make our 3rd annual Pawpaw Festival - Duncansville, PA possible.
This festival is important because it brings our eco-minded community to celebrate and share together every year as we continue to spread ecological consciousness, environmental justice and perennial food sovereignty!
Mmmm Pawpaw...

06/22/2026

LOCAL MURAL SPONSORSHIP FUNDRAISER: (Please Share)
We are looking for Local Business sponsorship for a mural at Duncansville Memorial Park representing Pawpaws and other native plants along with wildlife.
We would like to have this mural painted on one of the pavilions this summer in time for our 3rd annual Pawpaw Festival - Duncansville, PA.
Please reach out to one of us if you are an interested business or know of a business that may be interested in sponsoring a beautiful and educational mural at a local park that has had a lot of ecological restoration in recent years.
I can email a proper pdf. of these screenshots.