The show at Roger Williams Park marks the 22nd anniversary of the event.Īfter it’s over, Reckner said, he retreats to Saratoga Springs in New York to relax. It grew too big for that space and moved to Providence. In Oxford, he enlisted the help of residents in carving 185 jack- o’-lanterns and displaying them on a hill behind a local school. A resident of the town, Reckner got the idea for one after seeing a Vermont farm lined with glowing jack-o’-lanterns. Reckner held his first Jack-O’-Lantern Spectacular in 1988 in the Worcester suburb of Oxford. Other pop culture figures include Jerry Garcia, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, John F.
“I’m sending this one to my husband,” she said after photographing a pumpkin carved in the likeness of the cast of “Seinfeld.” “He loves that show,” she said.Įarlier along the path there was a glowing, orange Betty Boop, W.C Fields, Marilyn Monroe, Albert Einstein and the Three Stooges.
SPOOKY SPECTACULAR ROGER WILLIAMS ZOO PATCH
12 and it’s been around-the-clock since then.” Reckner said his crew of about 30 workers carved 10,000 pumpkins that rotate throughout the monthlong run of the event.Īs Auckly makes her way through the brightest pumpkin patch in New England, she stops to snap photos with her cell phone of the more elaborate designs. I’ve got 12 artists who do those intricate ones. “I just love to come here and see the smiles on people’s faces,” he said in front of DaVinci’s “Virgin on the Rocks.”
SPOOKY SPECTACULAR ROGER WILLIAMS ZOO PROFESSIONAL
These are done by a team of professional artists and they start working on them in September, said Jack-O’-Lantern Spectacular founder John Reckner, while walking the trail on a recent evening. It’s clear: These are not the pumpkins carved by your 7-year-old that sit on your front steps. It’s so beautifully well done,” said Cynthia Auckly of Weymouth, visiting the Jack-O’-Lantern Spectacular for the first time. Visitors also spend time in the Wild West with Billy the Kid and in the Renaissance era with DaVinci’s “Mona Lisa.”
In addition to seeing traditional Halloween characters and scenes, visitors meet and hear the dinosaurs of the Jurassic era and pass through an African jungle lined with intricately carved lions and tigers. When people come out they tell me how unique and cool the experience was.” “It’s astonishing to see everything lit up like that. It’s artistic and it tells a story,” said Janet Mariani, director of marketing for the zoo. “There are a lot of pumpkin shows, but this is so original. Hanging from trees, arranged on the ground, the pumpkins dazzle against the background of theatrical lighting and a sound system pumps out period music such as Gene Autry singing “Back in the Saddle Again” and the Andrews Sisters belting out “Boogie-Woogie Bugle Boy.” Along a paved path through the woods, you follow a timeline featuring legendary rock stars, classic movies, television sitcoms and historical figures from the 1920s through today.
As the gates open, visitors pile in and head toward the 3-acre trail where more than 5,000 intricately carved and illuminated pumpkins are displayed.
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