Spectacular, indeed!

Many years ago, sometime in the mid to late 1990s or thereabouts, I found out about a Halloween event in Oxford, MA via a small blurb in Triple A's member magazine. It was called the Great Jack O'Lantern Fest and described as hundreds of carved, lit jack o'lanterns on display. According to this article, the event began back in 1988! 

Once I heard about it, though, it was a no-brainer -- I had to go see this thing. So some of my Halloweeny friends and I went and it was amazing. The setting was path through a wooded area tucked away behind the local high school, and was more or less only lit by jack o'lantern glow, and accompanied by music. We visited annually for a few years in a row and affectionately called it "Walk O'Lantern."

Walk O'Lantern, circa 1997?

 

It changed locations a couple of times, including Salem MA for at least one year - but sadly, it lost something fundamentally magical about it for awhile. It fell off my radar for many years, but then I heard about the Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular at the Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence, RI - it was my beloved Walk O'Lantern! 

Its new spot was a bit of a drive, about 2 hours from where I live(d) in CT, so I kept putting off visiting it year after year. And then I moved to WA state about 6 years ago. Every year, I've kicked myself for not going earlier when I had the chance. But FINALLY, I went last night! 

 

And spectacular it was. The weather was a little rainy, but it wasn't too cold out and it contributed to the overall New England autumn vibe. As before, the display is accompanied by music, themed by decade. I took a ton of pics, which I will allow to speak for themselves.

 

 

 

 My rating: 10/10 Jackos!
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All photos and content by Petrichor & Pumpkins/Nebulosus Severine/CMPauluh 2021