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Pumpkins will roll in expanded festival Saturday

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By By Eric Robinette, Staff Writer 9:18 PM Wednesday, October 28, 2009

FRANKLIN — Every year, Linus of the “Peanuts” gang would wait in vain for the Great Pumpkin. As it turns out, that’s in Franklin — sort of.

Franklin’s Fallfest starts Saturday, Oct. 31, and the event has greatly expanded its offerings this year.

One of the new attractions is “The Great 4th Street Pumpkin Roll,” a race in which visitors will head to the top of the hill on that street, release their pumpkins and let gravity do the rest. That starts at 2 p.m.

“The public received the old event really well, so we expanded it and we’ll see what happens. We wondered, what would happen if you rolled a pumpkin down 4th Street? I think it’s going to be pretty messy,” said City Manager Jim Lukas.

And that won’t be the only fun with pumpkins. There will also be a pumpkin pie-eating contest, although Lukas assured these will not be from the pumpkins in the roll. They will be donated pies from Frisch’s.

Participants in this contest must be at least 18, and there is no entry fee for the first 40 people who register. There will also be pumpkin bowling, using pins donated by JD Legends, the combination bowling alley/restaurant.

Other events include the costume competition, the City Building being turned into a “spooky hallway,” and a magic show featuring Franklin resident Richard Jones, who has performed in Las Vegas.

Jones’ act will include “one of my stage illusions, a floating table, which is pretty cool ... I have a rabbit, who is of course named Harvey, and I’ll do a lot of comedy bits with him throughout the show,” he said.

The opening and registration for the festival will be at 1 p.m., the pie-eating contest is at 3 p.m., the costume competition judging is at 3:45 p.m. and the magic show is at 4:45 p.m.

Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2836 or erobinette@coxohio.com.