The city of Sycamore will kick off its annual Pumpkin Festival this year with the theme "Forty Years of Pumpkin Memories."

The 40th anniversary begins with the opening ceremony and giant cake-cutting at 5 p.m. Oct. 24 on the courthouse lawn. The festival will run from Oct. 24 to Oct. 28.

Events in the festival include the Sycamore Lions Club pumpkin display, a carnival, various craft shows, a pie eating contest, a historical homes walking tour, food, fireworks, a 10K run and the pumpkin parade.

Pumpkins are put into different categories, including size, carving, paint and decoration, for the annual contest, and the Lions Club judges contest winners.

The pumpkin fest continues throughout the weekend with various activities for the whole family.

Nancy Peltz, recording secretary for the pumpkin festival committee, believes everyone can get excited about the fest.

"One of my favorite things is just seeing all the enthusiasm," Peltz said. "The fact that over 150,000 people come out for the event is great. It is very fun and family-oriented."

In celebration of the festival's 40th year, this year's events will include a fireworks display, held at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 27 at Sycamore High School. Barbara Leach, president of the Pumpkin Festival committee, said the new event will be a big attraction.

"We've spent $10,000 on the fireworks show. The fireworks DeKalb has on the 4th of July are usually around an $8,000 display," Leach said.

The fest will wrap up with the pumpkin parade.

"The parade is shaping up to be one of the best we've ever had," Leach said. "Tony the Tiger is going to be the grand marshall."

Kenda Jeske, advertising committee chair for the festival, also believes the parade is one of the highlights of the event.

"It's been going on for 40 years," Jeske said. "It's a lot like homecoming for Sycamore. You can see all the people that have come back and are just walking around the town eating and having fun."

The festival is not-for-profit, explained Leach. She said all food and craft vendors are from DeKalb County, and they are required to give 10 percent of their profits to the festival. The rest of the money is given to non-profit agencies that help the community.

The Sycamore pumpkin festival began 40 years ago when Wally Thurow, who is known as ‘Mr. Pumpkin,' displayed decorated pumpkins on his front yard. Through the efforts of Thurow and the Sycamore Lions Club, the pumpkin festival became a yearly event for the city.

Seven students of Genoa-Kingston High School were injured Thursday after an explosion occurred in a chemistry room at about 10:30 a.m.

All seven students were transferred to Kishwaukee Hospital in DeKalb.

According to hospital spokeswoman Sharon Emanuelson, four of the students were treated for second degree burns at Kishwaukee and were not expected to be admitted to the hospital. Three of the victims had more severe burns and were transferred to a burn center in Rockford.

Emanuelson would not reveal the name of the burn center, the names of the students or their status.

The aftermath of the explosion resulted in classes at the high school being dismissed for the day.

Seven other fire departments in addition to Genoa-Kingston's responded to the scene.