Pumpkins After Dark is new to Vancouver, so I was unsure what to expect. I have always appreciated the talent and creativity of professional pumpkin carvers, but Pumpkins After Dark took it a step further by creating massive lifesize displays out of pumpkins. I ended up spending two hours there and it is well worth the price for those looking for outdoor Halloween activities.
You enter from Swangard Stadium in Burnaby, but the majority of what is to come is hidden from sight in the adjoining forest. I am not one to buy event merchandise, but I could not help myself when I saw the light accessory tent. The light-up Jack-O-Lantern necklace was $10 and in my opinion my impulse purchase was well worth the price! Little did I know I was about to get my mind blown by the lit up real carved pumpkins.
Along the track you can watch two professional pumpkin carvers at work, a few food trucks and sponsors. My favourite was the tent with intricately carved single pumpkins. These pumpkins were gorgeous and I could easily spend hours studying all the details. There was the Mona Lisa with her much debated smile, the 7 dwarfs from Snow White, several sugar skulls, and iconic horror characters.
The real experience is the forest walk through which is accessible at the end of Swangard Stadium's track. The walk-through experience is comprised of 8,000+ hand carved pumpkins! Each piece is comprised of several pumpkins which are all carved to create one giant lifesize piece of carved pumpkin art.
The pathway winds through the park and at every turn there is a new theme of pumpkin sculptures. They range from animals, to Halloween horror to movie and pop culture icons. The breadth of work was astounding, so there is something for everyone to love. I was not expecting all 12 zodiac signs, anime characters, Greek mythology, American hippies, and several other themes to be presented through the medium of pumpkin carving, but Pumpkins After Dark did just that!
The majority of the displays were carved to be lifesize which made it all the more striking. I do not think it would have had the same effect if the characters and animals were small. There were also effects like sound and mist machines to add to the ambience. Coloured lights were used to give more depth to the displays like making Shrek his iconic green and using various bright colours in the sugar skull.
Everytime I thought we were getting to the end of the experience, more pumpkin sculptures would appear. Dress warm because it is chilly in the forest and you are going to be wandering through it for at least an hour.
If you are looking for something to do in the days leading up to Halloween, go to Pumpkins After Dark in Burnaby! Tickets need to be purchased prior to by time slot. A lot of the days and times sell out, so hopefully you are able to go for 2022.
BYES
No comments:
Post a Comment