![]() There was no music and no crowd, but there were crews hard at work preparing lights, platforms and backgrounds for the displays. There’s always a theme – this year’s is American Treasures – but there are always welcome, familiar sights like celebrities, cartoon characters and a whole zoo’s worth of animals.Įach year, the question we all ask ourselves is “How do they do it?”Īhead of the Spectacular, we took a tour of the pumpkin trail in broad daylight. Last year featured stunning displays of Hollywood’s Golden Age, carved with painstaking attention to detail into massive pumpkins. Each year, thousands of pumpkins are transformed, not just into bucktoothed jack-o-lanterns, but into intricate pieces of art. The Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular at Roger Williams Park Zoo is a tradition that never gets old. It’s one of the coolest things about fall in Rhode Island. Some seem pleasant enough for disembodied heads, others have a more sinister something in their crooked smiles. “I don’t have to do anything else until then.Thousands of faces leer at you from the darkness, their pumpkin grins illuminated by flickering light. “Alright, I’m free till Christmas,” a teenager said to his mom. Children, adults and everyone in between seemed to be impressed judging by the “oos” and “ahhs” coming from their mouths. The Jack-O-Lantern spectacular was a good holiday activity both for whole families and solo college juniors. A crowd favorite seemed to be a pumpkin with dollar signs for eyes. But even with thousands of others to compete with, the basic jack-o-lanterns stayed unique. The larger, more detailed pumpkins were surrounded by thousands of classically styled jack-o-lanterns, with eyes, a nose and a mouth. A jack-o-lantern showing scenes from “Where the Wild Things Are” represented “N” for Novels. At “K,” for Kingdom, Game of Thrones’ iconic theme song played. “H” was for Halloween, of course, and “I” was for impressionist. A song that went “the birds and the bees are flying in the trees” played on repeat and adults snickered. Representing the letter “A” was “Alice in Wonderland.” The pumpkins detailed shaded images made from light, from the Mad Hatter to the Queen of Hearts. However, where the skin was thicker the value was darker. A pumpkin with Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg carved onto it was completely lit. One pumpkin featuring a geometric pattern intertwined with a chameleon was a light-on-black style. Each pumpkin played with light in its own way. The styles varied from bold line work to life-like shading on faces. The large jack-o-lanterns featured in the exhibit were detailed works of art. Each letter of the alphabet had its own theme or tribute and pumpkins which accompanied that theme. and at Rodger Williams Park Zoo in Kentucky.Īt the Minnesota Zoo, 11 separate jack-o-lanterns messaging “Pumpkins A to Z” signaled the beginning of the main show. Passion for Pumpkins has run shows at Fenway Park in Mass. They claim to partner with great pumpkin-carving artists specifically to put on these displays. The pumpkins come from the company Passion for Pumpkins, based in Oxford Mass., who works to create illuminated jack-o-lantern shows around the United States. ![]() ![]() These “opener” pumpkins had two values: the completely carved out features that light shined through and the untouched outer skin. They lined the trees overhead, sporting every emotion imaginable on their faces. Jack-o-lanterns lined the walkway and spread out into the distance. “This seems like a good place for a tiger to ambush us,” a young man said to the child he was with.Īfter a long and winding walk, the jack-o-lanterns began, and it was not a subtle display. A couple main zoo exhibits, like the tiger den, were open to walk through, but no animals were out in the nighttime. The misty air meshed with the lights to encompass the spooky season. The trees lining the walkway, as well as the year-round sculptures, were lit from their feet in rainbow colors. Upon entering the zoo, it was apparent that the event was going to be that of Halloween ambiance. On a cold Halloweekend night, 5,000 carved pumpkins illuminated the zoo’s otherwise dark paths, creating an atmospheric autumnal art display. The Minnesota Zoo’s annual Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular was, in a word, spectacular.
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