LEXINGTON, Ky. — From a thrilling magic show to pumpkin-carving, seasonal fun lit up Transylvania University over the weekend.

What You Need To Know

  • Transylvania University's Pumpkinmania returned to campus over the weekend

  • With nearly two weeks of events, the school invites students and the community to participate

  • Black Soil KY provides 500 pumpkins for the annual carving event

  • Jack O' Lanterns carved at Sunday's event will be on display until Thursday, Oct. 31

This year, Joseph Tran is bringing comedy, mystery, and a special magic show to students at Transylvania. He spends all year touring different schools and connecting with diverse audiences, and brought his show to Kentucky for Transylvania’s Pumpkinmania Festival.

“A lot of magic. A lot of mind-reading and comedy. Yes, at times, it can be spooky, but I want people to laugh as well. And in addition to going, what the heck just happened? And on top of that, I love Halloween.” Tran said about his act.

On Friday night, Tran brought his show to the school’s fine arts center to amp up the creativity and experience.

“We’ve had arts in this manner. We’ve always had family weekend events and other student events. But with our first premiere season at Mitchell Fine Arts, we are bringing in out-of-town professional artists on tour doing professional shows. Then we’re going to keep following that up next week,” explained Graham Posner, production coordinator for the Mitchell Fine Arts Center.

The Pumpkinamania Festival has developed a partnership with Black Soil KY, a group reconnecting Black Kentuckians to their farming roots. Executive Director and founder Ashley C. Smith shares that they have always connected with students and the community. This year, Black Soil KY is celebrating four years with Pumpkinmania.

“In the beginning, the very first year I went down and picked up from Cleaves’ family market. And again, this refinement and sophistication is what any business wants. And so we have grown and developed our infrastructure,” she explained. “That’s really how we got started with agritourism, like farm tours and farm-to-table dinners. And those serve as tools and resources to drive home our mission, which is to reconnect Black Kentuckians to their heritage and legacy in agriculture.”

Days before Halloween each year, 500 pumpkins are utilized for Transylvania’s annual pumpkin carving event.

“He has started cultivating these 500 pumpkins in the summer. We start having this conversation as soon as pumpkin mania ends, talking about next year. And we work alongside both entities, the farmer and the institution,” Smith shared.

Black Soil KY will collect each seed, scrap and pumpkin carved by the end of the week’s long celebration to be used on farms for future cultivation. 

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