|
 Picture a typical
residential
block with say a dozen or more homes on each side making for a total
of twenty-four or more homes.
Each home has up to thirteen Jack O' Lanterns
spread out in a line in front of their property adding up to
literally hundreds of glowing Jack O' Lanterns on
Halloween night!
Basically all you have to do is talk to your neighbors and
convince them to each carve and display thirteen Jack O'
Lanterns in front of their property in an evenly spaced
line.
 Organizing
a Jack O' Lantern Lane event is much easier than a block
party because all you really have to do is give the
information to your neighbors and encourage them to
participate in the event.
And unlike
a full-fledged
block
party, you won't need to close off your street. But you
will want to make sure that no one blocks traffic with their
pumpkins. Below are some tips and suggestions for organizing
your own Jack O' Lantern Lane project.
Design
and print out flyers for the Jack O' Lantern Lane event.
Distribute the flyers to your neighbors one month before
Halloween. This gives them time to think it over, make
any plans and the let you know if they will participate.
Print the flyers on orange paper for added effect. We
have created an example flyer made in MS Word
format that you can
download (Left click to view the document or Right
click and select "Save Target As" to download it) and adapt for your event. Just change what
is in "red" and change as needed.
Homeowners can ask their friends and family to bring one
or more Jack O' Lanterns to add to the street display.
Help out elderly, handicapped and neighbors that are on
a tight budget by donating a few pumpkins and some of
your time.
Ask your
local pumpkin patch or grocery store about a group
discount for buying pumpkins. Just tell them what you
are trying to organize and how many pumpkins your street
will potentially be buying. With the price of an average
pumpkin costing around $4.00, you are asking your
neighbors to spend up to $52.00 each for the event, so
any discount you can get will be appreciated. Be sure to
include this information in your flyer and who they
should talk to at the pumpkin patch or store to receive
the discount.
Let them
know that if they are going to carve a lot of pumpkins,
they should start the night before Halloween, as it can
be very time consuming, particularly if they are going
to use complex pumpkin carving patterns. There are
methods you can use to
extend the life of carved pumpkins.
Suggest
that they let all of their friends and family know about
the Jack O' Lantern Lane. If you want added publicity,
you can let your local news paper, radio
and television stations know about it. You can make up a
wooden sigh for each end of your street where the Jack
O' Lantern Lane begins and ends.
Jack O'
Lanterns should not be placed on the actual street, but
just on the owners property line if possible. They
should be in a straight line and evenly spaced.
Jack O'
Lanterns lit with candles should be placed on a cleared
area where there is nothing that can catch fire and
burn. We highly recommend using votive candles in glass
votive candle holders. An alternative is to use battery
powered artificial candles such as those available from
Pumpkin Lights. Its only one night, but neighbors should
watch out for each other just in case vandals decide to
smash or steal any of the pumpkins.
Special thanks
to Lydia for the wonderful photographs.
|
The most recent
record for the most lit Jack O' Lanterns on
display at one time is held by Highwood,
Illinois. Highwood set the record on October
31, 2011 displaying some 30,919 pumpkins, beating
Boston's 2006 record of 30,128 by 791. |
|
|
