The Great Pumpkin Mountain is being assembled in preparation for Pumpkinfest 2015.

The annual Family Arts Festival is sponsored by the Pony Express National Museum. Entertainment begins at 6:30 p.m. Friday. The Great Pumpkin Mountain Lighting ceremony will take place at 8 as the lights come on all at once.

“It’s been almost 20 years since we’ve done this,” said Carlene Makawski with Pumpkinfest. “Each time of course you’re always keeping your fingers crossed but you get this little twinge that says oh that’s so neat!”

Makawski said they’ll light the Great Pumpkin Mountain again Saturday night at 8. Workers started putting up scaffolding on Monday.

“The scaffolding is all there so we can walk and place the pumpkins,” said Cindy Daffron with the Pony Express Museum. “They will be gutting them and carving. Then Friday we’re going to be drilling a hole in the back of them and that’s where the little Christmas light will go in.”

Daffron said another highlight of Pumpkinfest is the Children’s Parade on Saturday morning. She said you can take your youngsters to the Patee Hall parking lot at 10 to register for the parade.

“It takes about 45 minutes from the time we leave up there and they walk and we get there then we pass out the prizes and the awards,” Daffron said.

She said there could be anywhere from 200 to 300 parade participants.

Pumpkinfest will be open from 5 until 9 pm Friday, 10 am to 9 pm Saturday, and Sunday from Noon to 5.