To conjure up a spooky autumn mood, the Chicago Botanic Garden invites visitors to experience Night of 1000 Jack-o-Lanterns. Attendees can walk a trail filled with 1000 jack-o-lanterns that accompany 75 professionally-carved pumpkins. With nine different carving categories that range from Spooky Cartoons to Haunted Chicago, there is a little something for every ghost and ghoulfriend to enjoy.
-
Rachael Kolby carves characters from Beetlejuice into a large pumpkin on Friday, Oct. 18, 2024, at the Chicago Botanic Garden. Kolby has over 10 years of pumpkin carving experience and each pumpkin can take 15 hours or more.
'
-
A Groovie Goolies pumpkin sits on an elevated platform in the “Spooky Cartoons” section of the Night of the 1,000 Jack-o’-Lanterns path on Friday, Oct. 18, 2024, in Glencoe. The event consists of entertainers, spooky music, pumpkin-carving demos and seasonal snacks and drinks.
'
-
Pumpkin carving tools sit in shavings from a large pumpkin carving on Friday, Oct. 18, 2024, in Glencoe. While many of the large pumpkin carvings consist of intricate ink details and shaving sections out, this artist does reductive carving, taking away large chunks of the project.
'
-
The Chicago Botanical Garden hosted the Night of 1000 Jack-O-Lanterns on Friday, Oct. 1Rachael Kolby stands with the pumpkins she is carving for demos during the Night of 1,000 Jack-o’-Lanterns event on Friday, Oct. 18, 2024, at the Chicago Botanic Garden. In addition to pumpkin carving, Kolby is an illustrator, painter, sculptor and graphic designer.8, 2024, in Glencoe. This is the eighth year of the event and consists of 1000 small carved pumpkins and 75 large, artfully carved ones.
'
-
Chicago Botanic Garden patrons cross the path into the entrance of the Night of 1,000 Jack-o’-Lanterns on Friday, Oct. 18, 2024, in Glencoe. The event consists of 1,000 small carved pumpkins and 75 large, artfully carved ones.
'
-
Ari Pickus takes a photo of her twin sons, Jacob and Zachary, 6, in-front of one of the carved pumpkins on Friday, Oct. 18, 2024, in Glencoe. The event was sold-out for its first weekend.
'
-
A large pumpkin carving of Edward Scissorhands sits on display along the path of the Night of 1,000 Jack-o’-Lanterns event on Friday, Oct. 18, 2024, in Glencoe. The large pumpkins fell into categories that led the path through the event and consisted of categories such as popular album covers, haunted Chicago history and popular Halloween movies.
'
-
Small carved pumpkins sit scattered throughout the paved path of the Chicago Botanic Gardens on Friday, Oct. 18, 2024, in Glencoe. There were 60 Garden volunteers that carved the 1,000 small pumpkins for the event, leaving roughly 16 pumpkins for each volunteer to carve.
'
Stay informed with The DePaulia’s top stories,
delivered to your inbox every Monday.