There is a park in my neighbourhood where pumpkins parade en masse before their last hurrah on November 1, the day after Halloween. According to last night’s BlogTO article there were more than 1,600 pumpkins on display this year, exceeding previous years. I don’t know when or how it started, but someone commented on BlogTO’s article last year that it’s been going on for about five years.
It really is a spectacle, seeing people’s creativity by the glow of tea lights accompanied by the smell of singed pumpkin filling the cool autumn night air. There were plenty of ‘ooohs’ and ‘aaaahs’ over the trio of Michael Jackson’s Thriller-inspired pumpkin carvings, chuckles over current event-inspired H1N1-carved pumpkins, and some very elaborate pumpkin-art designs such as what I overheard one person call “a diaspora in a pumpkin” — see below:
There were clown pumpkins, abstract pumpkins, pumpkins with every facial expression imaginable, puking pumpkins, painted pumpkins, and celebrity variations of Johnny Depp, Heath Ledger as the Joker, Harry Potter, and even — who would think of this? — an image of Rex Murphy.
Maybe it will catch on, this pumpkin parade, and neighbourhoods around the country (or even beyond) will make it a tradition. As an event it’s ideal: fun for all ages, non-destructive (although many pumpkins were maimed for Halloween, I doubt any additional pumpkins were sacrificed for the parade), artsy, requires very few materials, and best of all, it serves to bring communities together outside, in an age where most entertainment comes in the form of a box.
The bunch of us who stopped by after a Vietnamese dinner nearby last night enjoyed the atmosphere, and I only have one caveat: if you want to take photos, go after about 9pm because parents put their kids to bed and the crowds thin out. With all the people milling around it’s tough to take photos!
And here are my photos: [thumbnails] [slideshow] — or click through the set in the Pictobrowser (which also has a slideshow)
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