A Few Hallowed Ideas Part 2

I  admit most years I procrastinate and leave the carving of my pumpkins til the very last minute. Sometimes this works to my advantage- like the year my kids caught wind of our town’s first annual carving contest 20 minutes before we were set to leave the house to attend the Halloween parade.

As I looked past their disappointed faces to the two beautiful but very un-carved pumpkins resting on either side of my front door, a feeling of unorganized parental guilt washed over me.  But then something caught my eye- a little sugar pumpkin that was resting nearby.  A light went off in my head!  The contest flyer said nothing of size requirements.

5 minutes later we had our submission.  A few hours later we had our first place ribbon- even the judges couldn’t help but laugh at how ridiculous it looked next to the other gi-normous entries.

A dramatic reenactment- the winner was actually even smaller, but you get the idea.  Now every year for my house I carve one of these little guys- give him a worried expression and place him well within squashing distance of the bigger guys. It still gets a laugh.

When I do finally get around to carving, my last minute antics result in your standard run of the mill Jack O’ Lanterns- crooked smiles and all.  Which is fine- I’m very much a traditionalist when it comes to my holidays, but its getting hard not to notice that the pumpkins around my neighborhood seem to be getting more and more intricate every year.  I spotted a couple last year that left me wondering if Martha Stewart herself had turned up to style the night.

Now this is something to aspire to! Some incredibly talented carver sent a picture of their Elvis O’Lantern into MarthaStewart.com-why oh why can’t I be patient enough to accomplish such a feat!

FYI-Did you know that gourds, potatoes and beets were originally carved on Halloween night to welcome the good spirits in and scare the evil ones away throughout Europe. That the celebration of Halloween didn’t really catch on in the USA until the late 19th century thanks to an influx of European immigrants, particularly Irish fleeing the famine in Ireland.  It’s the Irish immigrants in fact who are credited with the switch to pumpkins (indigenous to North America) once they realized how much easier they were to carve.  The name Jack O’Lantern is in reference to Irish folklore- the story of Stingy Jack and The Devil.

So this year I’ve  vowed to challenge myself. To move outside the familiar and create at least two interesting pumpkins.  But where to find inspiration?

A quick drive just past the famous village of Sleepy Hollow to Croton-on-Hudson, NY.  There lies the historic Van Cortlandt Manor and the answers to all of my pumpkin carving inspiration needs- The 5th annual Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze.

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On your drive though Sleepy Hollow beware of running into this guy.  Legend has it every October he’s menacing around!

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A carver’s inspiration mecca- Pumpkin Hedge, one of many extravagant displays as featured in this year’s Blaze celebration

Taking place over the past 5 years, the event transform the idealic 18th century riverfront home and properties of the historic Van Cortlandt Manor into a surreal world taken over by pumpkins lighting up the night’s foggy sky.

This is the second time I’ve attended Blaze, and it still shocks me to no end how much time, energy and creative power it takes to create this amazing spectacular event which -get this- features over 4000 pumpkins. Hows that for carving anxiety!

There were so many great carving ideas this year at Blaze that I had to snap up a few ideas for myself.

pumpkins, pumpkins and even more pumpkins- as far as the eye can see

I’m such a sucker for symmetry.  I love the idea of this pumpkin pair- they have a little bit of a 70’s feel to them, don’t you think?  Add in a few pumpkins carved with peace signs and you’ve got an Austin Power’s type swinging scene- Yeah, Baby! (skill level- with enough time, possible)

I’m thinking if  I could create any one of these I’d become a neighborhood legend in no time.

dino-pumpkins (skill level- supportive spouse and some friends)

take us to your leader-kins (skill level- an incredibly understanding, supportive spouse and even more creative friends)

underwater-kins (great idea if you live or simply aspire to live near the beach)

fairyland-ikins (it doesn’t always need to be spooky- these hung from the trees while the pumpkins on the ground where carve with toadstools, snail-y and other such enchanted accoutrements.

and my personal favorite- bees swarming their hive-ikins (skill level- it would take a village, I’m guessing)

Blaze’s creative director, Michael Natiello, says the true inspiration for Blaze is the landscape of Van Cortland Manor itself.  The event is a land art installation, with the themes and arrangements meant to complement and draw attention to the site’s architecture, history and landscape. Kudos to him and his incredibly talented staff!

I’m not the only one impressed, beside drawing thousands of visitors….Blaze attracted one famous visitor who happened to bring her camera crew along.  That Martha- she’s just everywhere!

Check out this behind the scenes look at what it takes to put on this pumpkin extravaganza:

For the best tips on carving the perfect pumpkin, Michael Natiello let’s us in on the tricks of his treat of a trade:

download the PDF file of carving tips from the Blaze website under Blaze Extras.

Okay…finally, I’m off to carve!