Haunted houses are a dime a dozen. Not to mention, they’re too scary for pre-schoolers, if you own some. That’s where “Jack” comes in. Refreshingly light on fright, spellbinding displays of Jack O’Lanterns have sprung up all over the country, offering a more artistic, interactive, and engaging Halloween event the whole family can enjoy. Each year, they get bigger, with bragging rights going to the Keene Pumpkin Festival in New Hampshire, which now features over 22,000 carved creations.
Jack O’Lanterns weren’t even associated with Halloween until the mid 1800’s. The practice of carving lanterns from gourds and other vegetables had a long history in the United Kingdom before that. Now of course, it has elevated to craft, limited only by the carver’s imagination.
Here are ten of this year’s largest Jack O’Lantern festivals, each showcasing at least 1,000 or more glowing gourds.
Keene Pumpkin Festival
Keene, NH
Saturday, October 17
Tourists outnumber residents along Main Street for a day of entertainment, crafts, contests, costumes and pumpkin-carving. The World Record was broken here in ‘03 with 28,592 Jack O’Lanterns. (Boston held an even in 2006 and broke that record with 30,128.)
Jack O’Lantern Spectacular
Roger Williams Park Zoo, Providence, RI
October 8–November 1
The Zoo transforms its wetlands trail with the glow of 10,000 pumpkins. Over 30 professional pumpkin carvers spend six weeks creating the trail.
Portland Pumpkin Festival
Monument Square, Portland, ME
October 15–17
Nearly 5,000 Jack O’Lanterns fill the square, anchored by the giant Pumpkin Tower. The event raises funds for Camp Sunshine, a national retreat for children with life-threatening illnesses and their families.
The Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze
Van Cortlandt Manor, Croton-on-Hudson, NY
October 3–November 1
More than 4,000 glowing Jack O’Lanterns cover the grounds of a 17th-century historic site. Find them hanging from tree limbs, perched on rooftops, and staged as an undersea aquarium, a hillside spider web, a scarecrow avalanche, and a field of detailed Celtic knots.
The Great Pumpkin Challenge
Bennington, VT
October 24
Locals bring their own Jack O’Lanterns downtown, lining the streets nearly 2,000. The evening’s main event involves 150 people participating in “Thrill the World,” a world-wide simultaneous dance (to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”) attempting to break world records.
