A curvaceous Marilyn Monroe beams at the New England Patriots football team. Ernest Hemingway winks brightly at Harry Potter, as Pink Floyd plays softly in the background. Lions, tigers and bears run wild, pausing only to torment the Tin Man and share sonnets with Shakespeare.
Is this a celebrity dinner party gone horribly wrong?
No, it’s a regular night of mirth at the second annual “Jack-o-Lantern Spectacular,” haunting the Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence, from Oct. 10 to Oct. 31. Zoo visitors can walk through three acres of more than 5,000 beautifully carved pumpkins, divided into 26 “skits,” including: “Alice in Wonderland,” “Old West,” “Van Gogh’s Sunflowers” and the “Secret Garden.”
But fiery vegetables are only the beginning. Swirling disco balls illuminate the path at some junctures; in other areas, simple candlelight flickers and spills onto wooden footbridges. Thematic music also heightens the experience — faraway strains of “How Much is That Doggie in the Window?” accompany the “Dog Show” skit, while infectious giggles and guffaws — set to techno music — liven the “Laughing Place” skit, which features scores of smiling pumpkins.
A “tree of lights” showcases hundreds of miniature pumpkins, drilled with holes, and hanging on all branches, some 100 feet or more off the ground. And the “Romance” skit consists of pumpkins carved with hearts and the words “I Love You,” — supposedly the site of a marriage proposal last year.
“This event appeals to people of every age, intellectually and emotionally,” said Lisa Bosce, spokeswoman for the zoo, as she paused to gaze at the “Mozart” skit. “This one is so beautiful — the music notes appear to be dancing on the water.”
Indeed. A pumpkin carved in Mozart’s likeness presides over hundreds of notes (carved into the sides of various pumpkins) in the stream behind him, as his music fills the chilly October air.
“That is really the most fulfilling aspect,” added Oxford resident John Reckner, the creator and head carver at the event, his kind blue eyes sparkling. “Young children aren’t generally exposed to classical music. And this gives them a creative chance to experience it. This isn’t Looney Tunes.”
Reckner, smiling under the “carving demonstration” tent next to the line of 4,000 people waiting to enter, patiently explained the festival’s small beginnings as he demonstrated various carving techniques.
His specialty is intricate pumpkins – created by scraping varying layers off the pumpkin’s face to allow different shades of light through, thus producing a 3-D, shadowy effect — but he also carves quick jack-o-lantern fillers, which resemble the more classic “triangle eyes-jagged teeth” variety that most of us struggle to achieve. Reckner can carve an intricate in two or three hours depending on the level of detail, while a filler only takes him a mere five minutes.
Reckner receives a month off from his post office job each fall to execute the elaborate festival, already well in progress — conceptualizing themes in January, sketching designs for two to three weeks in September and gutting pumpkins and carving pumpkins for the last three days before the Oct. 10 debut. Pumpkins on the trail must be replaced every three to five days, as they begin to grow mold and decompose, so there is never a dull moment.
Such awesome dedication and artistry stems from relatively simple beginnings.
“Sixteen years ago, I took my family up to Northern Vermont in the fall,” Rackner said, carefully scraping away the orange bits of pumpkin skin and rind from an emerging Renoir carving. “We saw a hillside decorated with 500 simple jack-o-lanterns, and it was incredibly simple and beautiful. On the ride home, my wife and I, both art school graduates, decided that we wanted to create a display at our home that was similar but more elaborate, more theatrical.”
The next year, 1988, the Reckners, along with 30 friends and family members, created a pumpkin display in a local Oxford schoolyard, which included 185 jack-o-lanterns. The one-night event attracted nearly 300 spectators.
“When we began, Halloween was suffering. People were poisoning candy. We needed a way to celebrate it again,” he noted. “And each year it became bigger.”
Fast forward to 1999. That year, the Library of Congress recognized the Reckners’ project as an American “local legacy.” After the award, Salem, Mass., asked Reckner and crew to carve pumpkins for their 2000 fall festival. He readily agreed, but Salem wasn’t a good fit for his artistic ambitions.
“It was one big field,” he offered. “There was no room for creative lighting or music — we lost the edge.”
So when the Roger Williams Park Zoo — with three acres of abandoned walking trail, left over from a now-defunct dinosaur exhibit and a desire to raise funds for new exhibits and improvements — approached Reckner, asking him to move his vision to the zoo, he accepted. Last year’s run brought in 80,000 visitors, with more expected this year.
“It was a perfect marriage,” sighed Bosce, walking briskly, weaving through the groups of children on the path. “The zoo is good at security and marketing, and John [Rekner] is certainly good at carving. So now we can both concentrate on what we’re best at.”
And with 250,000 lbs of pumpkin from farms all over New England and Pennsylvania on the premises, they have much to work with.
“I know how many pounds we have because when you order pumpkins, they charge by the pound,” she noted, laughingly.
An inarguable highlight of the spectacular is the “peace” pumpkin, unveiled on Oct. 17. Fresh from winning the blue ribbon at the recent Topsfield Fair, this 1177 pounds beast of a pumpkin, raised by Goffstown, N.H. farmer Jim Kuhn, is the third largest pumpkin ever grown and the largest ever to be carved. In its final growth stages, the pumpkin slurped 30 gallons of water each day.
Reckner jumped on the chance to carve the monster. He carved a giant dove into the center, and the word “peace” in several languages around the perimeter.
“Last year, we featured a pumpkin of the Twin Towers,” he said. “This year I wanted something more hopeful.”
Reckner is all about messages, as evidenced by the concluding skit, “Simple Pleasures.” Carved pumpkins display the message, “Joy is in your backyard.”
“That’s what it’s all about,” Bosce stated. “It’s about pumpkins and light. Joy isn’t about Nintendo, it’s about the simple things in life.”
“If you combine illuminated art and good music, and exhibit them in a unique landscape, then you will certainly draw people in,” Reckner added, smiling. “People love the storybook feel.”
Yet, in reality, one question remains: what does the zoo do with all the seeds, meat, and other pumpkin byproducts? Where do the deceased pumpkins go to rest?
“We compost some,” Bosce said. “And the rest we feed to the elephants. It’s part of their enrichment program because they don’t usually get to play with pumpkins. They like to stomp them.”
First, beaming pumpkins dangling from hundred-foot branches, carved a la Picasso and Monet, and then, elephants stomping and squashing pumpkins. What will they think of next?
