The 49th annual Pumpkin Fest begins Oct. 27th, and with the date closing in, Sycamore is preparing for their biggest event of the year.

Mayor Ken Mundy said Pumpkin Fest began as a lawn display in Wally Thurow’s yard. Today, Thurow is known as Mr. Pumpkin and the father of the Pumpkin Fest celebrations.

“Some contests were set up for decorating pumpkins, and the whole spirit and intent of that was to offer some things to do that were more constructive than destructive,” Mundy said. “Back 100 years ago, they tipped over outhouses and all those kinds of things. So the intent, I think, with Mr. Pumpkin and those that started this 50 years ago was to create something that was fun for the family.”

Mundy said the intent is no longer to make the event bigger, but to improve on past years’ celebrations.

Mundy said the preparations start long before the actual festival, as the Pumpkin Fest Committee meets year round. However, physical preparations begin the weekend before the big day as the Sycamore Lions Club gets the courthouse lawn ready.

“They bring their trailer down and set up the fence where all the pumpkins will be displayed because there’s a huge pumpkin decorating contest,” Mundy said.

The festival kicks off on Wednesday with a cake cutting ceremony around 5 p.m. as people begin bringing their entries for the pumpkin decorating contest and displaying them on the courthouse lawn. This year’s contest theme is Pumpkins Across America.

Mundy said as time goes by, more preparations are completed, including closing Maple Street next to the courthouse so people can begin setting up booths.

“That will be a main food court area, and a lot of not-for-profits offer food items there like the Kiwanis,” Mundy said.

Michael Anderson, Administrative Sergeant and special events coordinator of the Sycamore Police Department, said major preparations occur before the main events on Oct. 31, the last day of the festival.

“We staff [the opening celebrations] by ourselves Wednesday,” Anderson said. “Then we have activities that go on from Wednesday until Sunday, but Sunday is when we draw in the manpower from the other agencies.”

Anderson said Sycamore Police draw help from DeKalb, NIU, Genoa, Kirkland, DeKalb County Sheriff’s Deparment and Illinois State Police.

Anderson said the National Guard also helps out every year.

Mundy said this is the biggest family event that Sycamore puts on throughout the entire year.

“We’re very happy that everyone works together because it’s hard economically right now and families don’t have a lot of money to spend, but yet they can come down and look at the pumpkins and enjoy some of the rides for the kids and goodies,” Mundy said. “It’s a big family event, and we’re just happy that it’s here and that our police and fire are able to pull it off for another year.”