Picktown Palooza will not return after its final summer festival in Pickerington. Panger Productions, the nonprofit organization behind the event, announced on October 22 that its board voted to end the festival following this year’s celebration, which was held July 9-11. The announcement closes a run that began in 2017 in Pickerington and Violet Township.
The festival started in 2017, and its first year presented an early challenge when flooding forced organizers to move the event. Despite that beginning, Picktown Palooza continued each summer and grew over the following years into an event that drew thousands of people annually, including visitors who traveled from outside Ohio to attend.
The final festival, held over three days in July, featured 10 bands. Headliners for the closing edition were Buckcherry, BulletBoys and L.A. Guns. The schedule also included the Freedom 5K, a car, truck and bike show, and Business Showcase Row, which gave local businesses a place in the festival program alongside the music.
Beyond the concerts and activities, organizers said the festival’s charitable efforts generated tens of thousands of dollars for local organizations over its run. That work was recognized locally in 2025, when the Pickerington Area Chamber of Commerce named Panger Productions its Nonprofit of the Year.
Founder and president Chris Stein said in the announcement that the event was about more than its lineup. “Picktown Palooza was never just about the music,” Stein said. He said it was about bringing people together, and about the memories and the community that formed around the festival during its years in Pickerington.
Stein thanked the volunteer board that ran the organization, along with the hundreds of volunteers who worked at the festival. He also thanked the event’s sponsors and vendors, public safety partners, and the attendees who came to the festival over the years. Organizers gave no reason for the decision to end the festival.
With the board’s vote, the July 9-11 celebration stands as the last Picktown Palooza, ending the festival after a 10-year run from its 2017 launch through its final summer. No successor event was announced in the October 22 announcement, and Panger Productions did not announce plans for a future festival to take its place.