Pumpkins at night excite, delight kids at Mill Creek Park
Giada Campana, 3, of Girard holds a miniature pumpkin, which proved a big attraction among children at the walk.
YOUNGSTOWN
When children find more than 600 carved pumpkins lit by candlelight and tucked into gardens with tulips, rhododendrons and fringe- trees, it has a specific effect on them.
They tend to run, scream, laugh, cry and ask a host of perplexing questions that leave their parents either playing along or at a loss for words.
The scene at Fellows Riverside Gardens in Mill Creek MetroParks on Sunday was a primer on kids at Halloween.
In short: They get excited, really excited.
The gardens hosted its ninth annual Pumpkin Walk at Twilight and if there was a motto among the crowd, which was expected to peak at more than 6,000 before the night’s end, it belonged to the children.
The majority seemed to revel in the event, with most yelling at some point or another “that is so cool,” while just as many seemed to ask at intervals “is it Halloween yet?”
“It’s a fun evening, and it’s becoming quite a tradition here,” said Horticulture Director Keith Kaiser as he sunk into a chair in his office at the Davis Education and Visitor Center on the grounds of the gardens.
Kaiser wasn’t sitting for long though, he was acting as a sort of de facto master of ceremonies. At one point, one of his volunteers hurriedly entered to tell him that six crates of mini pumpkins at the center had already sold out. He was quick to give a directive and a minor disaster was averted when still more clamoring children were able to line up with their parents and purchase the auxiliary supply Kaiser had on hand for just such an emergency.
Beyond the visitors center, where the gardens sweep out over 12 acres of land, the sun was starting to set and soon the moon took its place to stand sentry over a scene that evoked Halloween completely.
Carved pumpkins, some with crows and spiders patterned into their sides, and others with the words “boo” or “Youngstown” cut in the flesh, were among the hundreds that lined the walkways of the gardens.
Since last Thursday, volunteers from the community had come at their leisure to carve the locally-grown pumpkins. Whenever they were finished, the pumpkins were laid out for Sunday’s twilight walk, simply a free stroll through the grounds that also featured live entertainment and some light refreshments.
“We came last year and we liked what we saw,” said Daniela Price, who came along with her husband and his family. “We’d been trying to figure out when they were going to have the walk again because we wanted to bring the kids and we love the garden.”
The Price family traveled from North Jackson and they had three baby girls in tow, all of whom were busy drinking from bottles as they looked out over the gardens from the North Terrace.
Surprisingly, Kaiser said the event is not widely advertised aside from the news media and some MetroParks literature. The event was scheduled to take place from 5:30 to 8 p.m., and by 7 p.m. one volunteer, equipped with nothing more than a hand-held tally counter, had recorded 4,434 pumpkin walkers — at only one of several entry gates.
“I can’t get over how many people are here, this is unbelievable,” said Janet Victo of Farmdale, who came with her grandchildren to the event for the first time. “I thought the presidential pumpkins were the best.”
But her grandson, Gavin Clower, 5, adamantly disagreed voicing his satisfaction for one particular pumpkin mostly fashioned in the shape of a wolf.
His sister, however, Paige, 3, was clear on why the night seemed so enchanted in the first place.
“The flowers, I liked flowers best.”