Pumpkins

Last Fall, I was invited to meet a friend and former coworker at the Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence, Rhode Island. He was there to scope out a Halloween exhibit that the zoo puts on every year, to see if it's scaleable for the zoo where works.

He told me it was a Halloween event, and I knew it involved pumpkins, but wow. Just...wow. What a thing to behold. The exhibit itself was one thing. About a half mile trail, lined with pumpkins. Big pumpkins. Little pumpkins. Teeny tiny pumpkins. Pumpkins that are several times bigger than I am. Pumpkins up in trees. Pumpkins on the ground. All were detailed in their carvings. All were real. All were hand carved. There were thousands upon thousands of pumpkins, grouped into themes. There was an alien theme. A move theme. A political theme. Some were just nifty jack o lanterns.

The pumpkins themselves were amazing, but the real impressive part, for me, were the two men who showed us around. They are the contractors who bring this exhibit to the zoo every year. They commission the artists. They choose the music. They direct placement of the pumpkins. They know where each and every pumpkin is placed and how it should be presented. As we walked through the exhibit, if a guest had shifted a pumpkin even the slightest bit, these guys knew.

They knew about the artistry, about the sound, about the wiring, about where to acquire the requisite pumpkins. They were so proud of their work, and it showed. These men are true artists. This show was a thing to behold.

It's always a gift to meet people who are doing exactly what they should be doing in life.