Halloween is upon us and what better way to celebrate than with a pumpkin festival?

The Sycamore Pumpkin Festival was started back in 1962 by “Mr. Pumpkin,” aka Wally Thurow, and the Sycamore Lions Club. “Mr. Pumpkin” is at every Pumpkin Festival and, even though he lives in Louisiana, he still rides his bike in the parade. The festival features over 50 vendors and four craft shows, all of which are not-for-profit.

This year, an estimated 100,000-150,000 people are expected to partake in the festival.

“It’s a good family event,” said Debbie Swedberg, vice president of the festival committee. “There is something for everyone to enjoy.”

The festival officially started yesterday, and runs until Sunday, Oct. 27th.

“The two most popular days are Saturday and Sunday,” Swedberg said. “Most crafters come on Saturday and come back Sunday with the family for the parade.”

Every year, the festival has a different theme. The theme is picked among Sycamore school children who submit a paper stating what they think the theme should be and why. This year, 364 kids entered their ideas – one student won and two received honorable mentions. The theme for this year’s parade is Pumpkin Patriotism, from Keriann Treml of St. Mary’s School.

Each day of the fest has something fun and different happening. Last night, there was the pumpkin check-in. People carve or decorate pumpkins and enter them in the pumpkin contest, which is then put on display on the grass in front of the courthouse. There are about 33 different categories one can enter a pumpkin in, like weirdest, scariest, TV theme, fairy tale theme and more. Each category then is judged that night and given 1st, 2nd and 3rd place awards.

“There were about 4,000 pumpkins on the lawn last year,” said Ken Heirbein, who has been involved in the festival for 12 years and is the parade’s director.

The festival also offers a multitude of food. There are pork chop sandwiches from the Shriners, stuffed baked potatoes from the Boy Scouts, cookie and ice cream sundaes from the Kiwanis, hot dogs and pumpkin pie from the Lions and so much more.

At 7p.m. tonight, scary stories will be told at the Sycamore Library. On Friday there will be a carnival and craft shows, and on Saturday there will be events ranging from the pumpkin display, giant pumpkin weigh-in, pig roasts and a pancake breakfast.

Sunday’s events start with the Sycamore Chamber 10,000-meter road run, followed by craft shows, the parade and more. The parade, which starts at 1 p.m. and lasts for about two hours, has floats and 21 marching bands – including NIU’s Huskie Marching Band. This year, the Kaneland Middle School Marching Band, which has about 120 students, will be marching for the first time.

Also, the parade has four judges who pick the top three marching bands and five float judges to pick the best three floats. The best floats are given their trophies and banners before the parade to let everyone know who won.

“We get people from all over who come for this,” Heirbein said. “There are people from the Quad Cities and Chicago that come out.”