Bring gourds to Great Highwood Pumpkin Festival to break record

The City of Highwood and Celebrate Highwood will host the 10th Annual Great Highwood Pumpkin Festival Friday through Sunday, Oct. 11-13, in downtown Highwood.

Festival hours are 4 to 11 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday (with some events starting before official festival hours) and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday. The event area is between Sheridan and Green Bay roads.

The event benefits Make-A-Wish Illinois, and is sponsored by HGTV Magazine and GEICO. The last three Pumpkin Fests have raised $140,000 to help grant wishes for children with critical illnesses in Illinois.

To </a><![CDATA[comrate its 10th anniversary, Pumpkin Fest 2019 hopes to double that donation.

An ongoing goal of the festival is an attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the most pumpkins carved and lit at once. The record currently stands at 30,851. To that end, guests can bring their own pumpkins for free entry to the fest, and everyone is invited to help carve and fill the pumpkin walls.

In 2019, Highwood is emphasizing the community coming together more than ever.

Pumpkin Fest will include returning fan favorite activities, including all-you-can-carve pumpkins, trick-or-treating, costume contests, a petting zoo, carnival rides, children's crafts, food and beverage vendors and more.

Live music will be performed on three stages, including Main Stage acts Cirrus Falcon at 5:30 p.m. and Catfight at 8:30 p.m. Friday; Petty Kings at 2 p.m., Davidson County Band at 5 p.m. and Clayton Mann Band at 8:30 p.m. Saturday; and The Love at noon, Mike Zabrin's Funktastic at 3 p.m. and Unity the Band at 6 p.m. Sunday.

A Superhero 5K Pumpkin Run/Walk will be held at 9 a.m. Saturday honoring "Superman Sam" Sommer, a Highwood resident and Make-A-Wish child that lost his battle with cancer in 2013.

All lit jack-o'-lanterns will be placed on pumpkin walls throughout the festival grounds, with ceremonial wall lightings Friday and Saturday nights, and the grand lighting on Sunday evening.

Three local Make-A-Wish families will host the ceremonial pumpkin wall lightings.

Admission is $5 per day per person; free for children 10 and younger. For details, visit www.highwoodpumpkinfest.com.

Schedule of events

The event takes place Friday through Sunday, Oct. 11-13, in downtown Highwood. The costume and pie-eating contests take place at the The Benchmark of Highwood Party Lounge. Sign up for the contests and Superhero 5K Run/Walk at www.highwoodpumpkinfest.com.

FRIDAY

4 p.m. Festival opens: rides, vendors, activities, all-you-can-carve pumpkin stations (while supplies last), carnival and more

4-11 p.m. Kid Zone

4-9 p.m. Register to vote at the Info Booth

4-6 p.m. Trick-or-Treating throughout festival grounds

5-6:30 p.m. School of Rock Highwood House Band performs

5-9 p.m. Unlimited carnival ride special, $25 per person

5:30-7 p.m. Black Diamond Sessions (jam with the region's best musicians)

5:30-7:30 p.m. Cirrus Falcon performs

6:45-7:45 p.m. Grapefruit performs

7:30-9 p.m. Crooked Moon performs

7:45 p.m. Make-A-Wish Illinois Family Presentation and Pumpkin Wall lighting

8-10 p.m. Reality Bites performs

8:30-10:30 p.m. Catfight performs

9:30-11 p.m. Roger That performs

11 p.m. Festival close

SATURDAY

8 a.m. to noon Meet Batwoman at the CW26 booth

9 a.m. Superhero 5K Run/Walk signup

11 a.m. Festival opens

11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Meet the superheroes, princesses and princes from A Moment of Magic Wisconsin (formerly The Princess Project)

11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Free vision and hearing screening, in front of Chicago Mike's Ice Cream Co. and Tala Coffee Roasters at 428 Green Bay Road.

11 a.m. to 7 p.m. KILZ Lounge & Photo Booth at the HGTV Magazine Tent, with DIY Frames and California Walnuts sampling

11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Kid Zone

Noon to 1:30 p.m. School of Rock Evanston House Band performs

Noon to 4 p.m. Unlimited carnival ride special; $25 per person

Noon to 8 p.m. Register to vote at the Info Booth

12:30-2:30 p.m. DJ Hegemony performs

1:30 p.m. Celebrate Highwood Pride Fest donation check presentation

1:45-3:15 p.m. School of Rock Arlington Heights House Band performs

2-4:30 p.m. Petty Kings (A Tribute to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers)

2-4:40 p.m. Petty Kings, a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers tribute band.

3 p.m. Pumpkin Pie Eating Contest

3-3:45 p.m. Cover to Cover Band performs

3:30-5 p.m. School of Rock Oak Park House Band performs

4-4:45 p.m. The Racket performs

4:30-5 p.m. Do-it-yourself project with Mina Starsiak Hawk from HGTV's "Good Bones"

5-6 p.m. Nickel Blues performs

5-7:30 p.m. Davidson County Band performs

5:15-6:15 p.m. Exeter performs

5:30-6 p.m. Meet and greet with Mina Starsiak Hawk

6:30-7:30 p.m. Viridian performs

6:30-8 p.m. Saved By The Bundy's performs

7:30 p.m. Make-A-Wish Illinois Family Presentation and Pumpkin Wall lighting

8-11 p.m. Where's Maggie performs

8:30-11 p.m. Clayton Mann Band performs

8:30-11 p.m. Funk It Let's Jam performs

11 p.m. Festival close

SUNDAY

11 a.m. Festival opens

11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Kid Zone

Noon to 1:45 p.m. School of Rock Evanston and Highwood House Bands perform

Noon to 4 p.m. Unlimited carnival ride special; $25 per person

Noon to 6 p.m. Register to vote at the Info Booth

Noon Pet Costume Contest

Noon to 2:30 p.m. The Love, a Beatles tribute band.

1 p.m. Kids Costume Contest

2 p.m. Teen to Adult Costume Contest

2-3 p.m. F.L.A.M.E. performs

3-5:30 p.m. Mike Zabrin's Funktastic performs

3:15-4:30 p.m. The Motions perform

4-5:30 p.m. Matt Feddermann's Six String Jukebox performs

4:45-6 p.m. No Regrets (School of Rock Evanston Adult Band) performs

6-7:30 p.m. Meg Jessen performs

6-9 p.m. Unity the Band performs

6:15-7 p.m. Gemini performs

7 p.m. Make-A-Wish Illinois Family Presentation and Pumpkin Wall lighting

9 p.m. Festival close