Watch Pumpkins Fly and Archaeology Come to Life at Pumpkin STEM

There aren’t many places where you can watch a 19-foot trebuchet send a pumpkin sailing across a field or try your hand at ancient technology and call it a science experiment. But that’s all part of the fun at the Archaeological Research Institute’s annual Pumpkin STEM Fall Festival.

We’re bringing the festival back for its third year on Saturday, November 7, 2026, with a free day of archaeology, engineering and hands-on family fun at Carriage House Farm in North Bend, Ohio, about 20 minutes from downtown Cincinnati and just across the Ohio River from Lawrenceburg, Indiana.

Whether you’ve joined us before or have no idea what to expect, bring your curiosity. We’ll give you plenty of ways to put it to work.

What Is Pumpkin STEM?

It’s our free, family-friendly fall festival that combines seasonal fun with archaeology, hands-on science and ancient technology.

At ARI, we believe the best learning happens by doing. Pumpkin STEM gives kids and adults the chance to experiment, ask questions and discover together how science and engineering can help us understand the past and the world around us. And there’s plenty of food, music and fall fun along the way.

Discovering Ancient Innovation Through Archaeology

Archaeologists don’t have instruction manuals for technologies developed hundreds or thousands of years ago. Instead, we study the objects, materials and other evidence left behind for clues about how earlier civilizations lived and solved problems.

Watching a pumpkin fly through the air and smash into the ground is fun, but there’s more to the trebuchet than the spectacle. It gives us a glimpse into how earlier civilizations applied principles like force, leverage and motion to solve complex problems.

At ARI, those are the kinds of questions that get us excited. By recreating technologies from the past and putting them to the test, we can explore how they worked and what they can teach us about those who used them.

Put Your Curiosity to Work

And at our fall festival, you get to join in! There’s plenty to see, try and discover throughout the day:

• Watch pumpkins fly as our 19-foot trebuchet’s throwing arm puts the science and ancient engineering behind it into action.
• Try your hand at an atlatl, an ancient spear-thrower designed to launch darts with greater force and distance.
• See historical skills in action with demonstrations of flintknapping, blacksmithing and glassworking.
• See modern STEM at work with hourly LEGO League demonstrations of engineering, building and problem-solving.
• Get creative in the Kids Zone with pottery, cordage, looms, pumpkin crafts, pumpkin decorating and more.
• Browse the artisan marketplace, grab food and drinks and catch live music throughout the day.

There’s Always More to Discover

At ARI, discovery is about more than learning what happened in the past. It’s about asking questions, trying things for yourself and finding new ways to understand the people and technologies that came before us.

So, if you’re looking for things to do near Cincinnati with the family this fall, join us on Saturday, November 7, 2026, from 11 a.m.–6 p.m. at Carriage House Farm in North Bend, Ohio.

General admission is free, so plan your visit to Pumpkin STEM and see where your curiosity takes you.