It’s one thing to carve a pumpkin for Halloween.
It’s something else entirely to use pumpkins to create giant spiders, an entire sea serpent and even to resurrect dinosaurs.
That’s exactly what organizers of the Great Jack O’ Lantern Blaze have been doing for the past 11 years in upstate New York.
The event is put on by Historic Hudson Valley, an educational nonprofit.
Rob Schweitzer, marketing director, said the Blaze draws people from all over the world, including the greater New York City metropolitan area from the beginning of October to mid-November. Last year, over 110,000 people came to see the pumpkins, strategically arraigned on the ground of the Van Cortlandt Manor in the town of Croton-On-Hudson, a property managed by Historic Hudson Valley .
Michael Natiello, the Blaze's creative director, comes up with the overall designs, and a small team of artists carve the 7,000 pumpkins that make up the show.
There are very few candles in these pumpkins. Many are lit with LED lights instead. The Blaze also has its own music director who composes music to correlate with each different section and the lighting, bringing the carved pumpkins to life.
The Great Jack O’ Lantern Blaze will keep glowing on weekends through November 15.
