Volunteers carve 350 jack-o-lanterns to decorate RBG’s Great Pumpkin Trail

The Great Pumpkin Trail event is about to kick off at the Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG), but first hundreds of pumpkins still needed to be carved.

Around 100 volunteers were able to show off their “spooky yet creative” sides.

Kelly Hamilton wants to squash any ideas about her pumpkin carving expertise.

“[On a] scale of one to 10, I’m going to give myself maybe a 3.5,” said Hamilton. “I go old school: big eyes and mouth, one tooth hanging down, I keep it simple.”

Hamilton, along with close to a hundred other volunteers, helped carve 350 jack-o-lanterns on Wednesday at the RBG.

“In order to get that many done in one day, we use an assembly line approach — one group of volunteers opens the top, second group scoops them out, and the third group will individually carve the pumpkins,” said Scott McPherson, the Director of Marketing and Sales at the RBG.

The Great Pumpkin Trail event is running from Thursday to Sunday this week, and Friday to Sunday next week.

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“Most of the 350 will go along the one kilometre trail that goes through Hendrie Valley. When you talk about a spooky adventure to take, either as adults or with children, it’s tough to beat,” said McPherson.

“First of all, it’s so beautiful here — Kitchener, Barrie, wherever you are — it’s worth coming down,” said Hamilton. “My friends have never seen something so beautiful, and it’s right here in my backyard.”

Jessica Bryers claims that she’s a volunteer pumpkin carver, but “good gourd” she’s got skills.

“Oh, you just have to feel the ‘spooky’ in your heart — even if it’s not perfect, if it’s not exactly what you envisioned — you just have to commit to what you’re doing and let the pumpkin tell you what it wants to be,” said Bryers.

Along the Great Pumpkin Trail, there are pumpkins for everyone, including little ugly ones with warts or giant behemoths that weigh over a thousand pounds.

“My favorite part was that I hadn’t seen so much variety before, I’m old school, I thought they all came orange, and now it’s all about white and squishy ones that look like mushrooms,” said Hamilton.

You can carve out tickets for yourself by heading to the official Royal Botanical Gardens website.

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