November 2, 2009

Pumpkin Pandemonium


On November 1st, people in our neighbourhood take their jack-o-lanterns from the night before, relight them and place them in our community park - just a minute's stroll from my back door. It is a wonderful, spontaneous tradition, with literally thousands of folks adding their pumpkins to the parade. It's really an awesome spectacle.

This fairly new custom started about 6 or 7 years ago with around 20 participants and snowballing (if I can mix my seasons) into a citywide attraction. Coming home at dusk we were stuck in a traffic jam of parents with their young children and pumpkins in tow; some on foot, some being pulled in their wagons.

The jack-o-lanterns are left to smoulder all night and vandalism is at a minimum. The City agrees to collect them en masse the next day.

Here are some pictures (far too many) of last night's festivities. One person put Cinderella in her pumpkin. My yellow Lab Jersey is on hand to judge.













15 comments:

Kitty Shepherd said...

What absolutely great photographs.

Alistair said...

Hullo C-Pup,

Lovely....

welcome back.

regards...Al.

T. said...

This is an utterly fantastic tradition! Wish I had been there.

amourissima said...

What a fantastic idea! I bet it was a sight to see!

Call me strange, but I've always loved the smell of a candle lit jack-o-lanterns.

The Clever Pup said...

Hi, it's me. The tally for last night was over 1,600 pumpkins!!

Giulia said...

Lots of fun...1,600. My goodness. It's sort of a take on the rounding up of Xmas trees when I was a kid & burned in big Celtic manner on shore of Lake Erie.

This sounds much cosier...

Hi Pup, good to "hear" your voice.

Off to the vet (well, GG is & I'm carrying the all-important checkbook, taxi money, etc.)

xoxo

Susan

Kat Mortensen said...

What a fantastic idea! There ought to be a by-law requiring pumpkin-people to do this.

So nice to find you here once again!

Kat

California Girl said...

What a great way to continue the joyous lighting of pumpkins so all can see. I hate throwing them away. It's like throwing away the Christmas tree. Brilliant!

Megan said...

So cool!!!!

Tess Kincaid said...

What a delightful tradition. I love this!!

Brian Miller said...

what a cool tradition...wish we had that. would b cool to see!

Ima Wizer said...

An excellent tradition to be sure...it should be done everywhere!

Candie said...

Those are awesome!Thanks for sharing.Hope you had a great weekend.

Rouchswalwe said...

A wee village in the area has a tradition of lining a trail through the woods with Jack-o-Lanterns. But we probably reach only about 500. This year, the cider was delicious.

Margaret Gosden said...

Great photos of carved pumpkins, particularly those that include other designs. Very creative by those who make them and your photos are wonderfully
dramatic.