Once upon an October-weekend, a battle took place. It was a battle under a bright autumn-moon during a steady sprinkle of falling leaves. While bright stars were busy casting a touch of atmosphere, a fragrance of autumn flavor tickled my nostrils to the insane level of wonder that I had to give in for a purchase. As I slowly consumed the treat, sipped on my coffee, I felt like I was in a Hallmark movie, walking out to the “battlefield”.
This is not “Hunger Games” but a friendly battle where blood splatter luckily is replaced with hollowed pumpkins and here and there a pumpkin seed big as a dinosaur tooth. Kids are running around laughing and freaking out of excitement as they notice familiar characters shining through the flesh of 100+ pound pumpkins. Among hand-painted monsters carved as beautiful jack o lanterns, there is also cartoon characters, famous portraits, and here and there 3-dimensional carvings with faces of the twisted kind.
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Through the spooky soundtrack, a murmur of laughter and friendly comments constantly goes through. Things like “Wow, how can they do that by hand?”, and the fact that real carvers perform their skills in front of them, make their questions be answered by a demonstration in real time. Many are the jaws that leave the event, hanging wide open that night.
This battle is called “Battle of the Jack O Lanterns” and are a new extension in a smaller format in a smaller area than its “bigger brother” at Old Westbury Garden in Long Island, “Rise of the Jack O Lanterns”. Behind this events, there is an experienced team of artists, where I am very lucky to be one of them. Before this weekend I had never carved live before, but during the next day, I would change that forever as I was going to be one of the contestants. (P.s. All the carvers from “Rise of the Jack O Lanterns” already had created pumpkins to be displayed during the weekend. You can see my 3 pumpkins here below.)
I had signed up to compete in the Professional level of the Jack O Lantern category. As an illustration, I decided the night before to go with one of my own sketches of a pumpkin man. He has been popping up on other pumpkins during the years in different scenery. This time he is playing the banjo in front of his beloved pumpkin patch. I arrive early to start my illustration. I choose a nice haybale and prop my pumpkin up. I dab my brushes in ink and 2 hours later I find myself gutting him, ready to start carving as the sun has set and the event is about to start.
I take a quick look at my artist-friends work, wishing people good luck, and off we go. The first carving stroke is done, and throughout the night follows a nice experience with a lot of great conversations with people that never have seen such a thing before. Everything from detailed questions about the technique, but mostly “how long does it take you?” One kid claims that he have my pumpkin guy at home. I would have liked to meet him. Another kid is captivated by the string light I decorated my area with. There is a price for the best decoration and props as well, even though I didn’t have time to go all out for that category (maybe next year).
After a couple of hours, my pumpkin is done, and it’s time to check out everyone’s work. It is a battle scene of beauty. The best part is to realize that you are fortunate to be a part of something great like this. Everyone has despite the cold air done a magnificent job. Even if I didn’t win this time I felt like a winner just being there, and I am happy to see that all the prize money are going to great causes, and we all contributed to making a difference. Hope you have a chance to experience something similar near you but until then you can join us in our Sleepy Hollow festivities vlog:
P.s Check out the winners and their pumpkins below. (…from Battle of the Jack O Lantern’s Facebook page.)
Congrats to Paul Davis for winning the Best Jack O’lantern in the Amateur category! We’ll be sending $1,000 to the charity of his choice, the Southern Poverty Law Center! That’s something to phone home about!
Congrats to Maureen Collins for winning the Best Sculpted Pumpkin in the Amateur Category! We’ll be sending $1,000 to her charity, the Alzheimers Foundation of America!
Congrats to Rob Thompson for winning the Best Sculpted Pumpkin in the Professional Category! We’ll be sending $1,000 to his charity, the New York Food Bank!
Congrats to Rachael Kolby for winning Best Jack O’Lantern in the Professional category for her Mars Attacks Jack! We’ll be sending $1,000 to the charity of her choice, the ASPCA of Westchester!
Congrats to Battle carver Amanda Stockla for winning Best Use of Props! She went home with a $1,000 check for her charity, The Superkick Foundation!
P.s. Did you know that my Washington Irving pumpkin is inspired by a watercolor painting by me.
Available in my Etsy shop, or www.arttalesandmagic.com
And before you go, please consider to check out our previous post about how my wife turned out to be a mad scientist on a pumpkin in Long Island, NY. —> JACK O LANTERNS JOURNEY
