From cinematic pumpkins to hometown VIPs and autumn vibes, the 2025 Sycamore Pumpkin Festival is poised to bring the flavor of fall to anyone who attends this month.

The 64th annual 2025 Sycamore Pumpkin Festival will kick off at 5 p.m. Oct. 22 with a ceremonial cake cutting on the corner of State and North Maple streets. Activities run through Oct. 26, ending with a parade that will wind down the streets of downtown Sycamore. The festival, taking place near the corners of Main and State streets, also will feature a smorgasbord of vendors, carnival rides, pumpkin displays, daily events and more.

The carnival runs Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Sycamore Pumpkin Festival committee president Cole Regnery said the festival also serves as a fundraiser for local nonprofit organizations.

“We are an opportunity for family to come together at a family-friendly festival, and also an opportunity for DeKalb County not-for-profits to raise money,” Regnery said. “I’m just trying to get that message out there as much as I possibly can so that people understand why it’s so important we preserve our intellectual property.”

The annual event brings together more than 30 DeKalb County nonprofits. The Sycamore Lions Club will play a central role in the pumpkin display and theme contest that fills the lawn of the DeKalb County Courthouse.

This year’s theme, “Pumpkins at the Movies,” was crafted by Rayven Rosas, 12, for the festival’s 50th annual theme contest. As the contest winner, Rosas will get to ride in the Sycamore Pumpkin Festival parade as a dignitary.

“We’re super grateful for such an exciting theme,” Regnery said. “I think the pumpkins are going to be fantastic. It’s always my favorite part, to go look at the courthouse lawn and see how everybody around DeKalb County decorated their pumpkins.”

Sycamore Pumpkin Festival committee treasurer Jerome Perez, who’s also a member of the Sycamore Lions Club, said the pumpkin display is his favorite part of the festival.

“The pumpkins that they do, I mean, some of them are really spectacular,” Perez said.

The Sycamore Music Boosters will host the annual Autumn Craft and Treasures Market Oct. 25 and 26 at the Sycamore High School fieldhouse, 427 Spartan Trail. The Sycamore Chamber of Commerce’s annual 10K Pumpkin Run and Family Fun Run will start at 8:30 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 26, at the Sycamore Armory, 516 E. State St.

Grammy and Tony Award-winning drummer, vocalist, composer, arranger, orchestrator and band leader, Bryan Carter, will serve as the grand marshal of this year’s parade.

“He’s definitely a bigger name than we usually are able to get,” Perez said. “I mean, he’s won a Grammy.”

This year, Carter returned to Broadway through a stage adaptation of the six-time Academy Award-nominated play “Good Night and Good Luck,” written by and starring Academy Award winner George Clooney. That production, which Carter served as composer, arranger, orchestrator, music director and co-music supervisor, was the first Broadway production to be broadcast live. That performance was seen by millions of viewers on CNN and HBO Max.

Carter graduated from Sycamore High School in 2008 and went on to train at The Juilliard School, a private performing arts conservatory in New York. He has performed as a drummer for NBC’s “Maya & Marty,” “Sesame Street” and has frequently appeared as a guest with The 8G Band for NBC’s “Late Night With Seth Meyers,” according to the festival.

Regnery said Carter’s willingness to participate in his hometown’s marquee festival speaks to the kind of city Sycamore is.

“I think that people love Sycamore, they love Pumpkin Fest so much that even when they go on to these fantastic, amazing careers, they make time to come back, especially for Pumpkin Fest,” Regnery said. “I think it’s just a testament to how great of a place we live in and how lucky we are.”

The Sycamore Music Boosters helped Carter travel to Sycamore for the parade and meet with students in the Sycamore High School music department, according to the festival.

Rosas and Carter are not the only VIPs of the 2025 Sycamore Pumpkin Festival, however. Retired Deputy Police Chief Jeffery Wig will serve as the 2025 Friend of the Festival.

Wig, who retired from the Sycamore Police Department in March, spent years working with the Sycamore Pumpkin Festival committee to plan the multi-day event that is attended by thousands.

Like the other dignitaries, Wig grew up in Sycamore, with the pumpkin festival as a cornerstone of the fall calendar. He was born in Sycamore Hospital, the now-closed Kindred Hospital, and graduated from Sycamore High School in 1990. After spending time with the Illinois National Guard and graduating from Illinois State University in 1995, Wig would go on to work 24 years for the Sycamore Police Department. He was the first Sycamore High School alumnus to become a school resource officer at his alma mater.

“Among my duties as Deputy Chief was being in charge of planning special events, including the Sycamore Pumpkin Festival,” Wig said in a festival news release. “Being a hometown ‘kid,’ it was a great honor to be involved in the planning of Pumpkin Fest.”

For information on the festival and to see a full calendar of events, visit sycamorepumpkinfestival.com.