At first glance, the dozens of basket-carrying people wandering around the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Kresge Oval resembled an adult Easter egg hunt.
Instead of Easter eggs on the ground, however, there were unique, vibrant, handcrafted glass pumpkins made for the MIT Great Glass Pumpkin Patch.
Held on Saturday, the 10th annual Pumpkin Patch was well attended and had a long line at its 10:00 a.m. opening.
"Every week or so, beginning, intermediate, and advanced students work together for a few hours in teams of six or seven to produce pumpkins for the sale," the MIT Glass Lab website said.
The lab was originally brought in as an art program, and has since become increasingly popular.
According to Whitney Cornforth, who has been an instructor in the MIT Glass Lab for 12 years, there is a lottery system to determine those which students get the opportunity to take the voluntary, no-credit class.
Unfortunately, the lab is small and therefore cannot accommodate as many students as they would like, Cornforth said.
Although students have some time to make glass pumpkins for themselves, most are crafted specifically for sale purposes.
While the Glass Lab aims to create between 1,000 and 1,200 pumpkins, Cornforth said that they had about 2,200 distinctive pumpkins to sell at this year's event.
Betsy Friedberg and Michelle Boulogne, both first time attendees at the Glass Pumpkin Patch, were impressed with the glasswork.
"I read about it in The Globe and emailed Michelle because we love crafts and it looked magical," Friedberg said.
"My daughter happens to be taking a glass-blowing class at another school, so I went to watch her one day and gained a newfound appreciation," Boulogne said.
"I most enjoyed the intricacy of all of the pumpkin designs. They were all really impressive and amazing," said Nikki Jenner, a freshman at the College of General Studies.
"Overall, the event was a lot more fun than I thought it would be," Jenner said. "I didn't know what to expect, but when I arrived, I found that I enjoyed looking at all the pumpkins. . .it exceeded my expectations and brightened my day. I will absolutely return next year, and earlier in the day to see more of a selection."
The approximately 2,200 works of art were placed on the ground in clusters and Boulogne could not believe "how trusting they are with these expensive pieces."
The proceeds from the pumpkins, which ranged in price from about $50 to more than $400 dollars, go toward the MIT Glass Lab, "where the MIT community can learn and practice the art of glassblowing," according to the website.
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