The Heritage Foundation of Williamson County puts on PumpkinFest, and it has run for 40 years as a one-day festival. In 2025 that one day drew more than 135,000 people to downtown Franklin. The 41st edition runs Saturday, October 24, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, October 25, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. This is the first two-day PumpkinFest in the festival's history.
The second day exists because Main Street ran out of room. The festival couldn't grow outward, so it grew longer. That one constraint shapes almost everything about the weekend: how the crowd spreads out, how people get downtown, and what the rest of Franklin schedules around it.
A festival that can't get any wider
When the Foundation announced the change in March, it was direct about the reason:
"Unlike events that can expand geographically, PumpkinFest is constrained by historic streets, sidewalks, and access points. As attendance increases, those constraints translate directly into higher crowd density, longer wait times, and more difficult navigation for guests, vendors, and emergency services."
Visit Franklin describes the usual footprint as Main Street from 1st Avenue to the Five Points intersection. That's a short stretch of a Victorian downtown. This year it has to hold more than 140 arts and crafts vendors and more than 30 food and beverage vendors. Once those blocks are full, more visitors can't spread into more space. They can only spread into more hours.
Bari Beasley, president and CEO of the Heritage Foundation, said in the same release that the Foundation "worked with our board members and the City of Franklin to expand the event" after hearing from guests and the community. The release also says the two-day format is meant to create "more consistent guest flow across operating hours" for the businesses along Main Street. Those businesses open with special promotions and extended hours on festival days.
Eight hours became fourteen
The 40th festival, held last October, ran from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., eight hours in all. This year Saturday keeps that same window and Sunday adds six more hours, for 14 across the weekend. The two days have different shapes.
| Saturday, Oct. 24 | Sunday, Oct. 25 | |
|---|---|---|
| Festival hours | 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. | 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. |
| Length | 8 hours, same as the one-day format | 6 hours, new this year |
| Franklin Theatre FEAR FEST | Ghostbusters 10 a.m., The Addams Family 1:30 p.m., Hocus Pocus 5 p.m., Backrooms: Everything Must Go Edition 8:30 p.m., Psycho 11:59 p.m. | Monsters, Inc. 10 a.m., Hocus Pocus 1:30 p.m., TERRORTHON double feature 5 p.m. |
| Lotz House Ghost Tour | 6 p.m., reservation required | Not listed |
| Shuttle hours published | 10 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. | Runs, but hours not yet published |
The City of Franklin's calendar entry for October 25 lists 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Both of the Heritage Foundation's 2026 announcements give Sunday as 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The organizer's hours are the ones to plan around.
Saturday is still the full-length day, and it has the most going on after dark. Sunday starts later and ends earlier, and the theater's TERRORTHON begins at 5 p.m., right as the street festival closes. The Foundation hasn't released attendance targets for each day. Its stated goal, though, is to spread out the crowd that used to arrive all at once.
What's on Main Street both days
The Williamson Herald's coverage of the Foundation's program announcement lists the 2026 setup:
- KidZone, presented by Hope UC Nashville, with children's games and crafts
- Main Stage, presented by Nissan
- Road Show Stage and Acoustic Stage, for more live music
- Autumn Alley, presented by Publix, with fall-themed entertainment
- Beer garden run by Bavarian Bierhaus
- Pet and people costume contests, presented by Jackson
- More than 140 arts and crafts vendors and more than 30 food and beverage vendors
Atmos Energy is the presenting sponsor. Area sponsors include Leiper's Fork Distillery, Williamson Health, United Communications, and VaVia. The festival is free to attend.
The costume contests are the one big unknown. The Foundation's October 2026 update confirms they're returning but hasn't said which day they fall on or when. The Williamson Herald's preview of the 40th festival reported that last year's people contest was at 12:30 p.m. and the pet contest at 4 p.m., both on the Main Stage. Those are last year's times. With two days to fill, the 2026 schedule may look different. Families planning around a costume should wait for the posted stage schedule before choosing a day.
Getting downtown when parking runs out
The same limits that stopped the festival from growing outward also apply to cars. The Herald's coverage says plainly that downtown parking will be limited. Franklin Transit is running a park-and-ride shuttle between The Park at Harlinsdale Farm and downtown for $1 per person each way.
- Saturday: The festival's event listing shows shuttle service from 10 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. That's 15 minutes before the festival closes, so anyone riding back to Harlinsdale should head for the shuttle stop before the last stage set ends.
- Sunday: The same listing says the shuttle runs both days, but Sunday hours and frequency haven't been published.
- Street closures: The City's 2026 event page links to a "Street Closure Map," but the linked map carries a 2023 copyright notice. No confirmed 2026 list of closed blocks or closure times has been posted yet. Anyone who lives or works on the side streets off Main should check the City's page again closer to the 24th. This is the first year closures could cover two days in a row.
The second day affects people who don't attend, too. Downtown has always lost one Saturday to the festival. This year a Sunday may be affected as well, and how much depends on closure details the City hasn't released yet.
The weekend built around Main Street
Other Franklin venues have scheduled around the festival weekend. The Franklin Theatre on Main Street is running FEAR FEST screenings. Its Saturday lineup starts as the festival opens and keeps going well after the street closes, ending with a midnight showing of Psycho. The Lotz House has reserved Ghost Tours at 6 p.m. on Friday, October 23, and Saturday, October 24, so the Saturday tour begins right as the festival day ends. Visit Franklin's October roundup also lists Tombstone Tales on October 24.
Halloween falls on the following Saturday, October 31. That gives Franklin two weekends in a row of seasonal events:
- Through November 1: The Haunted Speakeasy pop-up at Amendment XVIII Cocktail Club, which opened October 6.
- Friday, Oct. 30, and Saturday, Oct. 31: Two more Lotz House Ghost Tours, both at 6 p.m.
- Halloween morning: Halloween Brunch at 1799 Kitchen & Bar Room.
- Halloween midday: Building-wide trick-or-treating at Kings Bowl, 1910 Galleria Blvd., from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., followed by an adults-only event starting at 8 p.m.
- Halloween all day at the Franklin Theatre: Coco at 10 a.m., Beetlejuice at 1:30 p.m., Obsession at 5 p.m., Halloween at 8:30 p.m., and a midnight showing of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
- Halloween night: A three-hour paranormal experience at Cherry Manor, listed in Visit Franklin's roundup.
On the shuttle schedule, the stage lineup, and the closure map, the two-day format is still being worked out. The fixed points are the festival hours, the Harlinsdale shuttle, and the 135,000 people from last year who now have two days to visit instead of one.
If you'd like to talk through how downtown Franklin works for owners, on festival weekends and every other week of the year, High Style Homes is happy to help. Schedule a Consultation with Carla Patterson.
