PumpkinFest has been one Saturday on Main Street for 40 years. On October 24 and 25, 2026, it runs two days for the first time. Under the Heritage Foundation of Williamson County's schedule, Saturday keeps the costume contests and the longer hours. Sunday is a separate, shorter festival built around the stages.
The Main Street both days run along has also changed since the 40th PumpkinFest. Several familiar storefronts closed this year, a few new names opened, and one shop changed its sign without moving. If you've walked this festival for years, you'll pass storefronts that weren't on Main Street last October.
Why there's a second day now
Last year's festival was a single day, Saturday, October 25, 2025, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. According to the Williamson Herald, that day drew more than 110,000 people downtown. The organizer's vendor listing puts the figure above 115,000. Neither number is an audited count. Either way, that's more than 100,000 people on one street over eight hours.
The Heritage Foundation says that crowd is the reason for the change. "PumpkinFest has grown year after year, and honestly, it's a great problem to have," Will Clark, the Foundation's associate director of Brand and Content Marketing, told the Williamson Herald. "As the crowds kept getting bigger, we wanted to make sure every family could enjoy the festival comfortably and safely."
Foundation President and CEO Bari Beasley gave WSMV a second reason, from the guest side: "we heard from our guests and community that they wanted more time to enjoy everything the festival has to offer."
So a second day means two things: room to spread out a crowd that had outgrown one Saturday, and more time for people who already treat the festival as a fall tradition. The schedule shows both goals.
Saturday and Sunday, side by side
Clark told the Herald that the people and pet costume contests are "staying right where everyone loves them: on Saturday." That single decision shapes the two days more than anything else. The full split looks like this:
| Saturday, Oct. 24 | Sunday, Oct. 25 | |
|---|---|---|
| Festival hours | 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. | 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. |
| First Main Stage act | Southern Irish Dance, 10 a.m. | Ann Carroll School of Dance, 11:10 a.m. |
| Closing act | Brandon Scott, 5:10 p.m. | Brandon Scott, 4:15 p.m. |
| Costume contests | People contest, 12:30 p.m., Main Stage; pet contest, 4 p.m. | None scheduled |
| Shuttle starts | 10 a.m. | 11 a.m. |
| Last shuttle window | Ends 15 minutes before close | Ends 15 minutes before close |
Saturday runs eight hours and Sunday runs six. The Heritage Foundation's own event page lists the 11-to-5 Sunday window. The City of Franklin's calendar shows Sunday as 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The organizer's hours are the ones to plan around.
Without the contests, Sunday runs on the three stages. The Herald describes Sunday's stages as "packed with live entertainment." Besides the openers and Brandon Scott, the lineup includes Rocky Top Revue, School of Rock, Mark Anthony Ensemble, Histown Dance and Performing Arts, Nashville Opera, Music City Strings and Musicville. The KidZone is set for the festival, but published coverage doesn't give its hours for either day.
Some things run the same both days. The festival is free, and Atmos Energy is the presenting sponsor. More than 200 merchant, food and business vendors line Main Street, among them The Heirloom Shop, Welded Permanent Jewelry, Port Royal Woodworks and The Potters Hand. Landmark Booksellers at 114 East Main Street will host dozens of local authors outside the store for both full days, and its signing schedule is on the store's site.
If you're bringing a costumed child or a costumed dog, it has to be Saturday. If you mainly want the music, the vendors and the book signings, Sunday has all of them in a shorter window.
Getting downtown, and getting home
WSMV reported that parking will be limited during the festival. Franklin Transit is running a $1-per-person shuttle from The Park at Harlinsdale Farm to 1st Avenue and Main Street. Shuttles start at 10 a.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. Sunday and stop 15 minutes before the festival closes each day. Going by the organizer's hours, that puts the last shuttle window at about 5:45 p.m. Saturday and 4:45 p.m. Sunday. Brandon Scott's Sunday set starts at 4:15, so anyone staying for it on Sunday will be close to that cutoff.
Pets aren't allowed on the shuttles. That matters most on Saturday, when the pet contest runs at 4 p.m. and dog owners will be looking for parking. The garages on 2nd Avenue and 4th Avenue will be open.
The City's event listing links to a festival road-closure map, but that map carries a 2023 date. Treat it as a general guide to the closed area rather than confirmed 2026 limits.
The Main Street you'll be walking has changed
PumpkinFest takes over Main Street and its side avenues. Since the 2025 festival, these storefronts have turned over, listed here in walking order from east to west, with one stop on 2nd Avenue:
- Perenn Bakery, 94 E Main Street. Still open as a bakery and café, but regular dinner service ended after Saturday, August 15. Perenn is also planning private events.
- The Franklin Butchery, 129 2nd Avenue North. A chef-led, family-owned butcher shop from the Salaber and Tirado families, selling hand-cut meats, seafood, prepared meals and sandwiches. Williamson Source reported it open in March.
- Southern Cottage, 320 Main Street. Tin Cottage and Southern Manor merged into one gift, home décor and apparel shop, owned by Greg and Marianne DeMeyers. Its ribbon-cutting was March 13.
- Franklin Spice Works, 324 Main Street. Same address and same owners, Hollie and David Rollins. The shop changed its name from Savory Spice Shop on July 28.
- 335 Main Street. Anthropologie closed this shop on July 20 and moved to The Factory at Franklin.
- 347 Main Street. The Registry, the bridal registry, tableware and gift shop run by Kathy Berry and Jane Dugan, closed at the end of January.
- 506 W Main Street. Habit Boutique closed its Franklin shop on January 3. Its Green Hills location stayed open.
Biscuit Love's downtown Franklin location also served its last day on February 15. The Berry Farms location is still open.
This year downtown lost a brunch spot, a registry shop, a boutique and a national clothing retailer. It gained a butcher shop that also serves sandwiches and a merged gift store, and a long-running spice shop now carries the town's name. PumpkinFest's 41st edition will be the first to run past all of those changes, and the first to run over two days.
What comes after PumpkinFest
The next events on the downtown and Harlinsdale calendar come quickly, and several of them reuse PumpkinFest's footprint:
- November 7: Wine Down Main Street, on the City of Franklin's annual events calendar.
- November 7, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.: Franklin Parks' free Family Day at The Park at Harlinsdale Farm, 239 Franklin Road, the same farm that serves as the PumpkinFest shuttle lot. The day includes hayrides, pony rides, a petting zoo and a pumpkin patch.
- December 4 and 5: The Christmas Tree Lighting, then the Christmas Parade.
- December 9 to 11: The Flashlight Candy Cane Hunt at Harlinsdale.
- December 12 and 13: The Heritage Foundation's 41st Dickens of a Christmas, downtown from 10 a.m. Saturday through 5 p.m. Sunday.
If you'd like help finding a home within walking distance of Main Street, or close to the Harlinsdale shuttle lot, Parker Brown knows downtown Franklin's festival calendar and the blocks around it. Let's connect and start your Nashville search.
