The organizers behind Jack-O-Lanterns on 5th have big goals in mind. Not only are they fundraising to help end homelessness, but they are also aiming to become the largest jack-o-lantern festival in the Pacific Northwest.
“There’s nothing like it in the Pacific Northwest,” said Carla DeVore, development associate for ShelterCare, the organizers behind the event.
DeVore said ShelterCare thought a jack-o-lantern festival would be a perfect fit for the green-loving area.
For each jack-o-lantern brought in, the festival’s sponsors will donate $5 to benefit ShelterCare. DeVore expects to get 5,000 pumpkins at this year’s festival, almost tripling the amount of pumpkins from the first year.
The festival will have numerous activities going on throughout the day, but the main activity is the jack-o-lantern contest, bringing in carvers with varying skill levels.
The work of two artistic pumpkin carvers will be there to inspire aspiring pumpkin artists. One pumpkin artist will be at the event doing carving demonstrations. The other, Eugene resident Scott Cully, will be carving the Guinness Book of World Records’ largest pumpkin of 1810.5 pounds at a festival in New York.
But Cully didn’t forget about Eugene; last weekend he carved a 900-pound pumpkin, which is currently on display at the Fifth Street Public Market.
Cully has carved five of the world record-breaking pumpkins in the past 11 years, though carving these giant pumpkins is no quick task. He said carving “takes about 45 minutes to one hour for every 100 pounds.”
With 22 years of carving experience under his belt, Cully has learned to never mess with the structure of the pumpkin.
“The pumpkin itself inspires me,” he said. “Whatever figure is inside, that’s what I bring out.”
Though carvers at the festival will not have to compete with Cully’s jack-o-lantern masterpiece, they will face ample competition from the numerous community and University groups, student-athletes and fraternities and sororities that are participating.
One campus group, the University National Student Speech Language Hearing Association, was contacted by ShelterCare to help corral University student involvement.
“We are helping spread the word about the event and informing people of the opportunity to help,” NSSLHA Secretary and University student Rachel Furman said.
The event was inspired by bigger, older jack-o-lantern festivals from across the country, including the Keene Pumpkin Festival in New Hampshire that brought in more than 20,000 jack-o-lanterns at its festival this past weekend.
DeVore hopes this unique event will draw plenty of attention from University students and the community alike to help ShelterCare reach its fundraising goal of 5,000 pumpkins.
ShelterCare hopes to break the West Coast record for most pumpkins at a jack-o-lantern festival one day, but the organization currently faces stiff competition from seasoned festivals in Northern California.
DeVore, however, is optimistic about this festival’s potential.
She said events like this “have such growth potential. They can evolve into huge town festivals.”
Jack-O-Lanterns on 5th will be this Saturday, Oct. 30 at the Fifth Street Public Market. Activities begin at noon and last until 8:30 p.m. At dusk, they will be lighting all the pumpkins at the market.
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Jack-O-Lantern carving contest benefits homeless in Lane County
Daily Emerald
October 27, 2010
Alex McDougall
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