The Great Highwood Pumpkin Festival Partners with Make-A-Wish® Illinois to Make 100 Wishes Come True
HIGHWOOD, IL (OCTOBER 7-9, 2016) -The City of Highwood is proud to announce its 7th Annual Great Highwood Pumpkin Festival will be held October 7-9, 2016, and will benefit Make-A-Wish Illinois. One of the main focuses of the event has always been to beat the Guinness World Record of 30,581 for most jack-o'-lanterns carved and lit at the same time. But this year festival organizers have a bigger goal in mind, to raise over $600,000 for Make-A-Wish Illinois to help grant 100 wishes to children with life-threatening medical conditions in Illinois. Additionally, local Make-A-Wish Illinois children will be on-site nightly to participate in the lightings and share their stories.
"This Festival has always been based around breaking records and making a difference, and this year is no exception!" says Eric Falberg, Highwood Alderman and Founder of the Fest. "We've set a lofty goal to grant 100 wishes and I'm certain we can break it with the help of our amazing community and network of caring volunteers."
In order to make their goal, organizers within the Great Highwood Pumpkin Festival have created several ways for the community to come together and support this great cause.
Below are ways festival attendees and supporters can help:
1. Another Pumpkin Brick in the Wall" fundraising program for Make-A-Wish Illinois, in which each "brick" represents a sponsor and no carving is required! This is a great acknowledgement for businesses with signage placed right on the pumpkin wall. Sponsors are encouraged to purchase these "bricks" of 40 pumpkins at $125 each. A tier of four bricks is $500 and donors can even purchase an entire pumpkin wall for an approximate donation of $3,600. Signage commiserate in size with the donation will be placed on the pumpkin wall. Additionally, donor's name will be listed on Pumpkin Fest website and in a Pumpkin Festival insert in all seven local 22nd Century publications with a circulation of 75,000 including: The Highland Park Landmark, The Lake Forest Leader, The Glencoe Anchor, The Wilmette Beacon, The Winnetka Current, The Glenview Lantern and The Northbrook Tower. What a way to make a difference for Make-A-Wish Illinois children!
2. Stencil the Streets: Make your mark up and down Pumpkin Boulevard (Waukegan, Sheridan and Highwood Avenues) by stenciling Pumpkin Fest grounds for all to see! There are four stencil sizes available. All friends, family and businesses can help!
a. Stencil 100 Wish donation levels:
i. $10 for five small stencils painted on the street representing the donation with donor's name listed on Pumpkin Fest website.
ii. $100 for the medium stencil painted on the street representing the donation and donor's name listed on Pumpkin Fest website and in the Pumpkin Festival insert within the seven local 22nd Century publications listed above.
iii. $250 for the large stencil painted on the street with donor's name or business representing the donation and donor's name listed on Pumpkin Fest website and in the Pumpkin Festival insert.
iv. 500 for the x- large stencil painted on the street with donor's name or business representing the donation and donor's name listed on Pumpkin Fest website and in the Pumpkin Festival insert. Donor will receive an autographed Pumpkin Fest print by Highwood based artist Mark McMahon.
2. Superhero 5K Run/Walk: This annual race kicks off at 9 a.m. on Saturday, October 8 and participants will run and walk from Waukegan Avenue and Walker, in front of The Bent Fork Bakery, while passing by more than 30,000 carved pumpkins to celebrate the season throughout the scenic route with mixed terrain through Highwood and Fort Sheridan. Participation is $35 and online registration is currently open!
3. Volunteer! Ranging from gate supporters, pumpkin drillers, pumpkin carving station managers, and parking attendants, to bartenders, food court managers, pumpkin movers, candle lighting crew and more- there is the perfect job for individuals and corporations to do good while having fun!
4. Sponsor! Festival organizers are currently recruiting sponsors to make the event possible! Businesses are encouraged to join the ranks of past and present sponsors including: HGTV, Home Depot, Hostess, The Viti Companies, xfinity, and so many more!
5. Purchase official Highwood Pumpkin Fest apparel now! From youth and adult shirts, vehicle decals, to caps and sports bottles, there is something for everyone!
6. Support the McMahon brothers' artwork: acclaimed pumpkin carving artist Hugh McMahon will be onsite carving amazing gourds, including Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump themed creations, to name a few. Joining in will also be Hugh's brother, Highwood based artist Mark McMahon and creator of the official Highwood Pumpkin Festival poster. He will be selling reprints of the official print for Fest goers to purchase, with a percentage of proceeds going to Make-A-Wish Illinois. Needless to say, the McMahon brothers will be bringing amazing visuals to the masses.
And, to break the world record of most pumpkins carved and lit at one time, the community is encouraged to:
1. BRING YOUR OWN PUMPKINS (BYOP): This year, attendees are encouraged to bring their own carved pumpkins and candles placed within the pumpkins to the event to receive a free admission pass good for the entire weekend. The World Record cannot be broken with only the limited number of pumpkins available onsite, so attendee contributions are a necessity. There will be drop stations in all parking lots and at the gates!
2. Join the Prelude to Pumpkin Fest Carving Party and Carve, Carve, Carve! Come to City Hall, 17 Highwood Avenue, all week starting October 2 through October 6 from 9am-9pm, and help carve pumpkins to be placed on the main Pumpkin wall in preparation for the first night's light show. It is FREE to join the carving party and participants will receive everything necessary to create their own jack-o-lantern masterpiece. Fest organizers believe early carving is crucial to breaking the record and will be tallying up pumpkins all week long!
Festival goers will be thrilled to have their favorite activities back, including: the great pumpkin maze, trick or treating, pet costume contest, kids costume contest, pumpkin parade, pumpkin Pie Eating Contests, hay rides, pony rides, petting zoo, carnival rides, kids crafts, two stages jam packed with solid entertainment, seasonal food and beverage vendors galore! As always, all lit jack-o-lanterns will be placed on pumpkin walls throughout the Festival grounds, with a ceremonial wall lightings set to music Friday and Saturday nights, and the grand lighting on Sunday evening.
In addition to these fundraising and record breaking efforts, there will also be a $3/day admission or $5 weekend pass. All children 6 and under are free. All the proceeds from The Great Highwood Pumpkin Festival will go to Make-A-Wish Illinois
Please note: As more details are secured and the music line-up announced, updates will be posted to www.highwoodpumpkinfest.com.
ABOUT THE CITY OF HIGHWOOD
Highwood was founded in 1868 by William Wallace Everts, a Chicago civic leader and world-renown educator. His concept of a family-based community has endured for more than a century. The beautiful Everts Park, in the heart of downtown Highwood, has been named in the founder's honor. Benches and trees in the park celebrate and remember people who, through turbulent times and peaceful ones, built and sustained the community. Many of Highwood's street names recall Everts' family and friends whom the founder encouraged to build homes here. Residents of Swedish, Irish, Italian, Latino and other heritages have since populated the community, each enriching the community through their cultural traditions. The Village of Highwood was incorporated in 1887. The name briefly became Village of Fort Sheridan and then City of Fort Sheridan. In 1904, the community officially became known as the City of Highwood. Fort Sheridan, a former army base slightly northeast of the City, has had a profound influence on Highwood's development, and it continues to do so today as part of its land, incorporated into the City, nearly doubled Highwood in size. Today, Highwood is blending the past and present with exciting new plans for its future.The City of Highwood, IL administrative offices are located at 17 Highwood Avenue, Highwood, Illinois 60040. For more information, please visit www.cityofhighwood.com. Tel: 847.432.1924.
ABOUT MAKE-A-WISH
Make-A-Wish Illinois will grant more than 700 wishes to children across the state this year. Wishes are granted to children with life-threatening medical conditions such as cancer, organ transplants, genetic diseases and many more. Wishes can be an important part of the treatment process, empowering children to make decisions and providing strength to comply with medical treatments.
Since being founded locally in 1985, Make-A-Wish Illinois has granted more than 13,000 wishes and continues its mission to share the power of a wish with children across the state. For more information or to find out how you can help, call 312.602.WISH or visit www.illinois.wish.org.
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