The turnout beat all expectations of the staff of Amarillo Botanical Gardens for its new Halloween-themed trail. Cars began to pull up before the event and were parked all the way down Streit Drive and into the empty lot across from the gardens. On its first night, Oct. 22, the Trail of 1,000 Jack ‘o Lanterns brought in around 2,000 eager souls, young and old.
It took a massive effort in the last few days before the event to get 1,000 pumpkins carved in time, according to Greg Lusk, director of Amarillo Botanical Gardens, but it was well worth the hard work. Once the pumpkins are carved, there is a short time before they begin to rot, Lusk said earlier.
Lusk said that they had great community involvement before the first night. “We posted on Facebook that we needed help carving the pumpkins, and people responded Sunday, Monday and Tuesday nights. One family came out every night, and we stayed until 10 p.m., carving and letting people carve their designs.”
“It exceeded all our expectations,” said Lusk. “High Plains Vet Clinic sent out a team of 10 carvers to help us.”
The entrance was moved to the north so that people could go to the concession area first, where caramel apples, cider, popcorn among other treats were available. Halloween spinning lights were available to kids, along with special T-shirts made for the event. A food truck was available for people to eat with tables set up. After that, the groups entered the Gourd Tunnel with hanging gourds that grow there, according to Lusk.
They are looking forward to the groups that will show up this weekend, Lusk said. “We really didn’t expect this many people on a Wednesday night. We were shocked.”
He said that they are working on having some additional parking available. With the trail’s illuminating success, they are planning on it being an annual event. Young kids were able to take a pumpkin with them for their own.
“It just such a good feeling when the community comes out and supports us,” Lusk said.
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Thousands enchanted by Trail of 1,000 Jack ‘o Lanterns at Amarillo gardens
Reporting by Nell Williams, Amarillo Globe-News / Amarillo Globe-News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
