LOUISVILLE, Ky. — You have to see it to believe it. They may look like screengrabs of famous TV shows, but they're actually hand-carved Jack-O-Lanterns.
What You Need To Know
- The 9th Annual Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular is happening now until October 31 in Louisville's Iroquois Park
- Louisville artists carve out-of-this-world pumpkins
- Event runs to its traditional "walking" tour
- Jack-O-Lanterns must be replaced every few days, depending on weather
It’s a Halloween tradition unlike any other in Kentucky. Louisville’s Jack-o-Lantern Spectacular features out-of-this world pumpkin carvings.
The amazing visual display is happening right now until Oct. 31 at Iroquois Park, but a few days before opening night Spectrum News 1 visited the artist warehouse. This is where all the craving takes place.
In fact, Spectrum News 1 cameras were there on "Gutting Day," a title appropriate for the spooky season we're in.
Brooke Pardue is the president of the Parks Alliance of Louisville which organizes the annual event.
"Their time and their talent is a treasure to us," Pardue said of the artists who work at all hours to carve and then re-carve pumpkins. The orange works of art have to be replaced every few days.
“We are replacing pumpkins almost daily throughout the show so we have artists working in here the entire 32 days," Pardue said.
Louisville in October is still pretty warm, so the clock starts ticking for each finished jack-O-lantern once it's taken from the cool warehouse to it's perch along the event trail.
Two days before opening night, Byron Nelson was elbows deep into a pumpkin depicting Bryan Cranston and the cast of Breaking Bad. A few pumpkins over is an etching of Will Smith, of "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" and "Yo, MTV Raps" acclaim. "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," is spotted as well.
The theme of this spectacular is “Changing the Channel: A Timeline of Television History." Pardue said features decades of your favorite TV characters projected onto great big pumpkins.
On "Gutting Day," artists carve out the pumpkin pie filling and scrape the walls to the perfect thickness. This is done in the building's "dark room."
“That’s awesome, you’re going to get some good shots back here," Art Director Katie Pardee said. She's been involved in 8 out of the 9 years in Louisville.
"These pumpkins are such a unique medium so it’s really impressive to to look and be able to work on them in the first place. It’s a lot of fun," Pardee said.
Each pumpkin is perfected, placed and inevitably replaced, which means, just like your favorite TV series, the Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular is worth several viewings.
“A show stopper is what we call a pumpkin that’s incredible to look at... Everybody wants to get a photo of it. Every single pumpkin on the trail this year is a show stopper," Pardee said.
Don't miss your chance to take in the impressive art. Ticket information can be found here.