Good morning, Cookeville.

CBS Boston reports that Wood Lancaster's pumpkin just weighed in at 2,598 pounds at the Topsfield Fair, the biggest ever grown in Massachusetts. Heavier than a Mazda Miata. The pumpkin on my porch is about the size of a basketball.

In today's Cookeville Scoop:

Let's get into it.

Tennessee Tech hosts Furman Saturday at 2:30. Kickoff at Tucker Stadium moved back an hour to line up with Tech's Preview Day, when prospective students and their families tour campus that morning. It's Tech's first season in the Southern Conference, and this one counts in the standings. Expect extra campus traffic before noon. If you can't make it, it's streaming on ESPN+. Get tickets · Game info.

The Bryan Symphony comes home Sunday. The orchestra opens its 63rd season at 3 PM in Derryberry Hall, where it was founded in 1963. Maestro Dan Allcott conducts, and mandolinist Jeff Midkiff solos in Jennifer Higdon's Mandolin Concerto. Beethoven's "Eroica" and Moncayo's Huapango round out the program. The box office opens at 2, and prices aren't posted, so call 931-525-2633. Park in the Henderson Hall or TJ Farr lots. Concert details.

Target opens Sunday. Putnam County's first Target opens at 1100 S Willow Avenue, next door to the Home Depot that opened last night. It's about 128,000 square feet, with a Starbucks inside, Drive Up, Order Pickup, and same-day delivery, and around 150 people work there. Regular hours are 8 AM to 10 PM. If you missed Wednesday, Home Depot's grand opening party is today, with food trucks, live music, and free hats. Target · Home Depot.

Run the Golden Helix 5K Saturday. The race starts at 7 AM outside Stonecipher Lecture Hall on Wings Up Way (the old 8th Street) at Tennessee Tech, and the course wraps by 8. Registration is $38.10 with the fee. You'll be done, showered, and back downtown with plenty of morning left for the History Hike. Register here.

Plenty talks Civil War tonight. Dr. Kent Dollar covers the Civil War in Putnam County and the Upper Cumberland from 6:30 to 8 PM at 41 W Broad Street, with a catered meal matched to the era. It's free with registration and part two of Plenty's America 250 series for college students and young adults (ask your professor about extra credit). Dr. Mary Evins closes the series October 15. Register here.

Downtown Restaurant Week has four days left. Buy something at five of the 14 participating businesses to fill your passport, then turn it in at The Biz Foundry by October 12 for a shot at prizes. If Monday's route didn't fit your week, try this one: Jamie's Eats & Sweets, a loaded tea at 11 Oak Nutrition, Strong Kitchen, Trackside, and a finish at 37 Cedar. Fire & Vine, The Putnam Room, and the rest are still on the list. See all 14.

Muddy Pond is making sorghum Thursday and Saturday. The Guenther family boils cane they grow themselves into 100% pure sorghum syrup at their mill on Muddy Pond Road in Monterey, and they run it Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays through October. Watching is free. Take home a jar of syrup or sorghum barbecue sauce, then cross the road to the Muddy Pond Variety Store for baked goods. Hours shift with the weather and the crop, so call (931) 445-3509 first. Visit Muddy Pond.

Shakespeare in the Park has been on the Dogwood lawn since October 2. It has three nights left, and the last one comes with a festival.

The play is All's Well That Ends Well, one of Shakespeare's comedies (and one of his stranger ones). Helen, played by Emily Woods, cures the King of France, and as a reward he gives her the husband she wants, Bertram (Ray Rice). Bertram runs off to Italy and sends back conditions he figures she can never meet. She follows him there and meets them anyway. Kate Breidert plays the Countess, Evan Cole the King, Ryan Steele the boastful Parolles, and Jack Lepley the court fool, Lavatch. Sam Raper directs for the city's Cultural Arts Division.

Shows are at 7 PM Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at the Dogwood Performance Pavilion, 43 N Walnut Avenue, and they're free. Bring a blanket or a couple of lawn chairs, pack a picnic if you like, and the park concession stand will be open.

Saturday is the big one. The city calls it a full day of Shakespeare, starting with an afternoon of themed vendors and ending with the closing performance. The Herald-Citizen has the festival running 2 to 6 PM, with family-friendly activities and local vendors. Last year's festival, the first one, had medieval vendors, music, a monologue competition, and combat demonstrations from the Society for Creative Anachronism's Shire of Easaraigh. This year's lineup isn't posted yet, so take that as a sense of the spirit, not a promise.

Weather.com gives Saturday afternoon a 40% chance of showers. If the sky looks iffy, call Leisure Services at 931-528-1313 before you load the car.

With the kids still out of school, that's a Saturday afternoon and evening sorted. If you've never gone, this is the weekend to try it! (Free Shakespeare is the lowest-stakes theater in town.)

Festival details · Show and cast info

Out-of-county students may soon pay to attend Putnam County Schools. On October 1, the school board approved on second reading a policy that would let them enroll if they pay tuition and meet other requirements. The proposed rate is $3,995 a year, meant to match the local cost of educating a student, and enrollment would be reviewed every year. The final vote is expected in November. The district has 353 fewer students than last year.

Turns out tuition doesn't wait for college.

Costume Swap – Free gently used Halloween costumes at the Cookeville library while supplies last, 9 AM to 5:30 PM

Rosenwald Schools Exhibit – A free traveling exhibit at the History Museum, 40 E Broad Street, 10 AM to 4 PM (also Friday and Saturday)

VIP Fall Celebration – Games and snacks for adults with developmental disabilities and their caregivers, costumes welcome, 10:30 AM

Home Depot Grand Opening – Food trucks, live music, and free hats at 1110 S Willow Avenue, doors at 6 AM

Right to Read Night – Jennie Ivey leads an all-ages talk on Brown Girl Dreaming at the Cookeville library, 6 PM

Shakespeare in the Park – Free All's Well That Ends Well at Dogwood, 7 PM

Dabgo Music Bingo – Free phone bingo at Roasted, 7 to 9 PM, with a comedy open mic after

Train Tales – Preschool train storytime at the Depot, 10:30 AM

Brown Bag Lunch Concert – Free music at the Depot with lunch for sale, performer not yet announced, 11:30 AM to 1 PM

Friday Matinee: Disclosure Day – Spielberg's PG-13 movie at the Cookeville library, which runs 2 hours and 25 minutes, noon

Slither Into Nature – Meet a live corn snake and hognose at Cummins Falls, free with registration, 4:30 PM

Country Creek Night Maze – The corn maze after dark for $15, 5:30 to 10 PM (also Saturday)

Shakespeare in the Park – Night two of the final three at Dogwood, free, 7 PM

Pumpkin Craft-Off – Family teams battle for a $25 prize at Roasted, $10 per team, 7 to 9 PM

Upperman vs. York Institute – Home in Baxter while Cookeville and Monterey are off, 7 PM

Golden Helix 5K – A 5K on the Tennessee Tech campus, details above, 7 AM

Tennessee Tech Preview Day – Tech's open house for prospective students and families, register, check-in 8:30 AM

History Hike – A free "Boogers, Haunts, and Haints" trivia walk down Broad Street, 10:30 AM to 2:30 PM

Tennessee Apple Festival – A two-day vendor festival at the Putnam County Fairgrounds, Saturday and Sunday (listings disagree on hours, so check first)

Haunted Vendor Day – Halloween finds, oddities, and handmade work at Roasted, noon to 10 PM

Second Saturdays at Plenty – Meet two local authors, free with RSVP, 2 to 4 PM

Shakespeare Festival – Themed vendors at Dogwood in the afternoon, then the closing show at 7 PM

Tennessee Tech vs. Furman – Football at Tucker Stadium, 2:30 PM

Sunrise Coffee at the Cascades – Bring a mug for park coffee at Burgess Falls, $5, and parking is very limited, 7 AM

October Big Day – Free birding at Window Cliffs for eBird's global count, register, 9 to 11 AM

Target Opening – Putnam County's first Target opens at 1100 S Willow Avenue

Bryan Symphony Orchestra – The season opener at Derryberry Hall, 3 PM

Dabgo Music Bingo – The afternoon round at Roasted, 3 to 5 PM

Early Voting – Starts Wednesday, October 14, at the Election Commission, 705 County Services Drive

The History Hike goes spooky Saturday. It's the last hike of the season, and October's theme is "Boogers, Haunts, and Haints." Start at the Depot Museum (116 W Broad) or the History Museum (40 E Broad) between 10:30 AM and 2:30 PM, grab a form, and answer trivia from signs along Broad Street. Turn it in by 3:30 for the prize drawing, then walk to Dogwood for the Shakespeare Festival. Free. Hike details.

Red Silo Brewing – Open Mic Night, 6 PM. Link

North Springs Music Festival, Whitleyville – Chris Knight headlines day one, gates at noon. Link

North Springs Music Festival, Whitleyville – Taylor Hunnicutt headlines, gates at noon. Link

North Springs Music Festival, Whitleyville – Silverada headlines, gates at noon. Link

Northfield Vineyards – Back Roads Band and a costume contest, $10, 6 PM. Link

Revolver – Savannah Dexter, 9 PM. Link

1854 Cocktail Bar & Lounge is a locally owned speakeasy at 18 N Madison Avenue on the Square, and finding it is half the fun. Use the double glass doors on the side of the building and follow the clues up the stairs. The plan: small plates before the 7 PM show (the kitchen closes at 9), free Shakespeare at Dogwood, then back up for a nightcap. It's open Thursday 5 to 10 PM, Friday 5 to 11:30 PM, and Saturday 2 to 11:30 PM. Reservations are recommended Friday and Saturday at (931) 559-1854, and the dress code is polished casual. If stairs are hard, call ahead. It's a Restaurant Week stamp, too. See 1854.

Monterey has a holiday nobody else does. Standing Stone Day falls on the second Saturday in October, which is this Saturday, and it's written into the town's books.

The stone was a 16-foot sandstone monolith that travelers and Native American tribes used as a landmark, until it was blasted to clear a railroad right-of-way. What's left of it sits atop a monument on Commercial Avenue, dedicated in 1895. Then the story was lost for about 83 years, until historian Dr. Oplus Walker traced it back. This year, an $8,000 Tennessee 250 grant is bringing back Native American presentations and dancers. Saturday's schedule isn't posted yet, so watch the Standing Stone Historical Society for details. Read the story.

Thursday 84 / 54 | 6% rain

Friday 85 / 57 | 4% rain

Saturday 83 / 61 | 40% rain

Share this with whoever you'd take to a blanket-on-the-lawn Shakespeare night. And if you've been working on a Restaurant Week passport, reply with your five stops before Sunday. I'm still collecting routes, and I'll pass the good ones along.

Thanks for reading, Cookeville. Catch a show, run a 5K, or just go watch somebody boil sorghum. Bring a blanket Saturday, and maybe an umbrella. 🧡

-- Travis