Malachi Cooper plopped down $10 and approached the Hang Time bar at the Hartsburg Pumpkin Festival on Sunday.
The challenge was simple: Hang onto the bar for 120 seconds and win $100. Simple, but not easy.
After 30 seconds, the strain on Cooper's forearms became more pronounced. More than two dozen passive spectators began focusing more intently.
After 60 seconds, they offered words of encouragement: "You got this!" one man in the crowd yelled. The strain on Cooper's forearms spread to his face. After 90 seconds, the audience was gripped as Cooper's grip began to weaken. His face reddened and his arms trembled.
100 seconds passed, and Cooper couldn't hold on any longer. As he fell a foot or so to the ground, a collective "ohhh!" came from the sympathetic audience.
Just a day before, Cooper had come within a second of winning the cash.
"There's always next year," he said as he walked away. Still, he said he was proud he was able to hang on longer than many of those who tried.
So it went at Hang Time, one of the popular new booths at the festival.
Booth operator Michelle Chrisman said seven people won Saturday and five won by mid-afternoon Sunday. She suspected some of the winners were gymnasts.
What's the attraction?
"The money is a big attraction, although the other is the women," Chrisman said, adding they often encourage their men to win them the cash prize.
"And a little bit of male bravado goes a long way," she added.
Despite the new attraction, much of the 27th annual Hartsburg Pumpkin Festival remained the same as in prior years. Festival organizers aren't interested in wholesale changes to their winning formula that centers around more than 200 booths selling food, crafts and, of course, pumpkins.
Each year, the festival draws upwards of 40,000 people - about the size of Jefferson City - to the quaint farming community of Hartsburg, population 103.
For vendors, it can be a windfall if they have the right product at the right price.
Face painter Ines Hernandez applied for three years before she was given a spot at the festival. This is her fourth year of painting faces there. For her, it was worth the wait.
"This is probably my favorite festival to come to," she said as she greeted another customer. "This is the mother of all festivals in the Midwest."
Typically, about twice as many people attend the festival Saturday compared with Sunday. That occurred this year as well, with light rain Sunday morning that cleared up as the day progressed.
Despite lighter crowds Sunday, Hernandez and the other two face painters at the festival seemed to have their share of customers.
Jeri Cooper, a festival committee member, said the festival uses the vendor fees to make improvements to the town, help out local organizations and give college scholarships to seniors at Southern Boone High School.
Last year, it used profits from the festival to build a playground near the gazebo in Hartsburg and help the Hartsburg Lions Club replace a pavilion that was destroyed by a storm.