SYCAMORE – Only eight months after the death of Wally Thurow, local author Tom Oestreicher has released a comprehensive biography of the Sycamore icon known affectionately as “Mr. Pumpkin.”

Oestreicher began working on the book in earnest shortly before the 50th annual Sycamore Pumpkin Festival last October, at the request of Mr. Pumpkin himself.

“He contacted me two years ago and said, ‘We want to do this,’ ” Oestreicher said. “When we started on the project, little did we know that we would lose Wally on Feb. 3.”