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The Great Pumpkin Carve… and lighting

October 31, 2011

Happy Halloween!!!

Sometimes Candlelight is the best lighting, especially when it comes to lighting your Halloween Jack O’ Lantern.

Last weekend we had the opportunity to attend the Chadds Ford Great Pumpkin Carve. This event, which is over 50 years old, is a spectacular display of pumpkins carved by local artists in the Brandywine Valley.

The Great Pumpkin Carve Event was started by the early Wyeth family artists and is cosponsored by the Historical Society & Concordville- Chadds Ford Rotary and has featured local and national artists including many members of the Wyeth family. Many famous and local celebrities join in the action, including celebrity mom April Margera.

The Pumpkins are native pumpkins, grown by SIW vegetables of Chadds Ford. They weigh between 150 and 400 pounds. Most of them are of the variety “Prize-Winner,” a drought resistant pumpkin that tends to be bright orange. There are also a few “Atlantic Giants” which tend to be paler and sometimes a less regular shape. Each artist is assigned a pumpkin when they arrive and then has to quickly design his work based on the shape and look of the pumpkin he or she is assigned.

Much care is taken to design the carved pumpkin to work with the candlelight. Many artists remove the outside orange skin and varying layers of the white interior to allow different intensities of light to shine thru the pumpkin.

Mark your calendars for the weekend before Halloween next year if you want to attend. You can witness the artists carving the pumpkins on Thursday night and then they are on display for the next two nights. The event also features local music, food, hayrides and vendors. More information can be found here: http://chadds-ford-historical-society.org/events/great-pumpkin-carve/