Mr. Pumpkin makes his way back to Sycamore every year.

Wally Thurow, founder of Sycamore’s Pumpkin Festival, travels back to Sycamore every October to check up on his festival.

“The concept behind the Pumpkin Festival started when I saw some decorated pumpkins in front of a fruit stand. I had so much fun seeing that display that I started to decorate pumpkins of my own,” Thurow said. “Every year I’d have a different and bigger display.”

Soon people all over Sycamore were decorating their houses and lawns with pumpkins of their own. Finally, in 1962, with the help of the Sycamore Lions Club, Thurow managed to make the Pumpkin Festival an official celebration.

“I started it with the thought in mind as a project for the Lions Club. Nowadays, people tell me, ‘I bet you’d never thought it would be this big,’ and I tell them, ‘Yes, I did!’ When you start something like this, you make it a community project,” Thurow said.

As the popularity of the festival increased, so did the number of activities offered. In 1973, the 12th Annual Pumpkin Festival’s calendar listed events such as a Halloween Dance Party, a Pumpkin Bake Sale, a largest Pumpkin Contest and a Spook House as well as the Giant Parade.

“I made sure that all other parts were welcome. I was always asking, ‘What can we add this year, and what will make it better next year?'” Thurow said.

“I would travel 10, 15, 20 times a year and show slides of the Pumpkin Festival to schools and PTA groups to get more people interested,” he said.

One of the typically largest events of the festival has been the Pumpkin Decorating Contest. In 1973, people of all ages decorated pumpkins to fit one of four categories: Funniest, Scariest, Animals or TV personalities. All entries were put on display in front of the DeKalb County Courthouse.

When the festival was first proposed, Sycamore officials weren’t happy with this location for the decorating contest. “The first year we had a real problem. They thought we’d ruin the grass in front of the courthouse, so I had to promise I’d move the pumpkins over six inches every day so there wouldn’t be brown spots all over the grass,” Thurow said.

Today the Pumpkin Festival is the third largest festival in the state.