The City of Franklin and the Heritage Foundation were joined by members of the community on the Franklin square on Thursday morning where they unveiled the city's annual pumpkin tree to mark the beginning of fall festivities and celebrations.

Heritage Foundation of Williamson County CEO Bari Beasley welcomed the crowd of about 50 people to the event that she said was an attempt to make sure that the community could continue the tradition of celebrating the season with public safety in mind in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

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Bari Beasley

“Today we kick off ‘Paint the Town Orange,’ a month-long celebration of fall and community on historic Franklin’s mainstream,” Beasley said. “It will all culminate with a Paint the Town Orange final October weekend celebration.”

In June the Heritage Foundation announced the cancelation of all of their public events for the remainder of 2020 including Pumpkinfest which normally is held in October. 

Beasley said that the new season celebration will include online and in-store weekly merchant promotions and contests for retailers on the square, window displays and other special events.

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Each week will bring new themes, events and activities to downtown Franklin’s Main Street and are detailed below.

Week of Oct. 4 — Harvesting History & Culture: Historic and cultural sites and art galleries 

Week of Oct. 11 — Bountiful Brews: Octoberfest-themed pub and restaurant crawls and specials

Week of Oct. 18 — Seasonal Shopping: Retail stores and boutiques

Week of Oct. 25 — Autumnal Treats: Restaurants, bakeries and food shops

Friday, Oct. 30, and Saturday, Oct. 31 — “Paint the Town Orange” weekend celebration

Franklin Mayor Ken Moore donned an orange outfit for the occasion where he issued a proclamation naming October as ‘Paint the Town Orange Month’ while also recognizing the efforts to continue to celebrate the season.

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Franklin Mayor Ken Moore

“We are looking for ways that we can continue to unite our community and also ways that we can help our businesses in our county and city,” Moore said.

The Downtown Franklin Association, which is a division of the Heritage Foundation, Visit Franklin, Williamson Inc. and Twine Graphics were also recognized.

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Twine Graphics were screen-printing Paint the Town Orange shirts on site, while First Bank President Will Powell also spoke offering his support of the event.

More information about Paint the Town Orange can be found here.