This fall my wife and I, along with some friends had the opportunity to visit the “2013 Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular – Pumpkinville” event at Roger Williams Park.
This was our first time visiting, and it truly was spectacular to say the least. It was awesome to be able to walk along and view the display of over 5,000 illuminated jack-o-lanterns representing various regions of the U.S.A.
It was very crowded that evening, but definitely worth the wait. After purchasing our tickets, we proceeded down the trail, and it took approximately 45 minutes before we arrived at the displays.
The carvers divided the displays of pumpkins into various vignettes within the walk. Some of these carvings were extremely intricate and the representations so realistic. They represented numerous dioramas from across America, cultural landmarks, history, fictional characters, cartoons, and many other childhood favorites. Some of the regions that were included were, the Heartland of America, Pacific Coast, Mid-Atlantic, New England, and Appalachian Highlands.
We were informed that these carver-experts began working on these pumpkins in the middle of September. They constantly continue to maintain the presentation and keep it fresh throughout the month of October.
As we experienced, weekends are extremely crowded so anyone planning to visit during those times, plan extra time. Allow extra time for walking the trails into the displays, and with the crowd, it also does make for a difficult time in trying to take photographs. But it is definitely an event that shouldn’t be missed.
Who needs film when you have pumpkins, high ISO, self textured, positive or negative, back-lit, front-lit, … Cool!
Thanks Cemal. It was the first time we’ve ever visited this event. We found it enjoyable, but definitely challenging to photograph. Even with the high ISO, the contrast with the bright and dark made it quite inspiring. The varied lighting conditions made it very interesting. -Sal