The Cincinnati Zoo has started a new fall tradition featuring more than 5,000 beautifully-carved pumpkins. The “Jack O’Lantern Glow” event will run until Oct. 31, lighting up chilly autumn nights with a dazzling display of pumpkin art.
Pumpkins smile, glower and scream in terror, dotting the walkways and hanging from the trees. Halloween music blasts from speakers, contributing to the festive atmosphere as visitors stroll through the glowing exhibits.
“All the people that have come here really seem to enjoy it,” Maggie, a zoo worker, said.
According to Trinity Evans, another employee, the zoo has been working on this event since last October. More than 100 local artists were commissioned to create the pumpkin masterpieces. The thousands of carved pumpkins, ranging in complexity, each took several hours to complete.
“They shouldn’t be identical in any way,” Evans said.
Evans is a pumpkin artist this season. She sat at a table, meticulously carving out a drawing of Jack Skellington from “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” A student from the Art Academy of Cincinnati, her process begins with a freehand drawing on the pumpkin, painting it in black and white and then carving out the white sections.
Themes for the event include Under the Sea, Day of the Dead and Cincinnati landmarks. Beloved Halloween characters such as Beetlejuice, the Addams family and the witches from “Hocus Pocus” peer out from realistically carved pumpkins.
“They were all pretty creative and unique,” Xiaodan, an attendee, said.
Xiaodan attended the event with her two young sons. The Jack O’Lantern Glow is popular with families in particular, as children gazed in awe at the towering pumpkin formations of dinosaurs, giraffes and popular superheroes.
As red and gold leaves littered the pavement, people clutched their seasonal treats such as pumpkin patch pudding cups, pumpkin spice hot chocolate and pumpkin spice elephant ears, taking in the fall atmosphere.
Many attendees expressed their desire to know more about the artists who worked on the pumpkins. Dakota Summer, a student from Northern Kentucky University, believed the zoo should provide more information about the creators of these works of art.
“I was very impressed with the artistic ability being showcased in the pumpkins,” Summer said. “But it was unclear as to who were the artists responsible for donating the pumpkins and their time.”
Summer suggested that the zoo take advantage of something such as QR codes linking to information about the artists. Xiaodan expressed similar concerns. Both felt that the zoo should further highlight the talent behind the stunning pumpkins, promoting local artists in the process.