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Like their namesake, Jack, the wily Irishman denied entrance to
heaven for having lived a life of laziness and thievery and barred
from Hell for having tricked the devil, they are rejects. They may sink with a lopsided slump, bear a bad bruise, have too much of a soft spot, or sport too much green. They cannot be sold with their pumpkin peers at Ellie’s Farm Stand alongside Route 16 in West Berlin, Vermont. Instead, they line up, 1000 strong, awaiting their transformation through Karen Moynihan’s carving tools and playful imagination into smiling faces, surprised faces, frowning faces, and famous faces like Mona Lisa, Minnie Mouse, the Lion King, and Elvis the King.
Karen devotes eight days each Halloween season to carving, so the Jack-O-Lanterns can spend two nights, October 30th and 31st,
flickering in the farm’s fields. They cluster as headstones for the
ghostly departed, rise as illuminated totems, circle as carousels, and cart candles on a Ferris wheel. They bear messages, play on words— like the corpse bride called Myra Maines—and signal grave entrances through Rusty Gates and Pearl E. Gates. They absolutely mesmerize the thousands who make the pilgrimage each year to see their spectacle, while lurking in the dark enjoying their reactions is Karen.
These carved characters are Karen and her husband Billy’s thank
you to all who stop by their farm stand and gift shop, named for
Billy’s late mother, Ellie, who opened the shop over forty years ago. Loyal customers come each year to buy bouquets of flowers, bushels of apples, jugs of cider, bottles of syrup, and trees for Christmas.
Read more
In the Fall issue of La Vie Claire Magazine |
