 Well fall is in full swing and with fall comes pumpkin. So over the weekend, Brainard celebrated the new season with their Great Pumpkin Festival. Our Anthony Scott takes us to Gregory Park for this week's Northwoods adventure. Today is the 12th annual Great Pumpkin Festival and it's one of those events that we look forward to every year because it's a great family event, great community event. It may have been a rainy afternoon but that did not stop families in Brainard from coming out to Gregory Park for the Great Pumpkin Festival. You know it's just a fun activity to be out here and watch the kids and really when the adults get into the things, kids get into things and so I just wanted to show my kids that we can have fun as a family out here. There was no shortage of activities with bouncy ball races, three legged races, pie eating competitions and they even had a sac race where competitors hopped their way to the finish line and the races weren't just for the kids. Some of the best fun we see, the biggest smiles are when the little child is with the parent and that's what it is. It's let's get everybody involved in it. My daughter and I actually competed in the three legged race too and I ended up flat on my face on the ground so that didn't go so well but just yeah it's a great opportunity, a great way to spend time with your kids. It was a free event and some families could even leave with a pumpkin of their own but for a while it looked like there might not be any pumpkins at the festival. Well when we planted them they started coming up and then with the rain they kind of rotted off so we had to call Tony and say no 89 pumpkins. We kind of banked on our our sponsorship by Walmart to get us a small amount so probably around 16 pumpkins but you know that's 16 people that get to leave today with a free pumpkin. An idea that started 12 years ago has now become a staple in the city of Brainerd. It was an idea I got from my nephew who grew up in Ohio and he said that they had a really good time doing it and this and that and so I kind of stole the idea from Ohio and brought it up here and it's been a smash in success ever since. There may have been a shortage of pumpkins this year but there was no shortage of fun at the Great Pumpkin Festival. Reporting from Brainerd for this week's Northwood's adventure, Anthony Scott, Lakeland News. If you enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland PBS.