October 31, 2002 Student
News
Fun Without the
Fear Factor
Cache tradition offers wholesome Halloween activities
From
the Utah Statesman
(10/30/02)
 Where
else can you find Shrek, Woody and the three little kittens
but at The Great Pumpkin Adventure?
This year marks the 19th annual Pumpkin Walk since the first
one at Wally and Ida Beutler's farm. North Logan took over the
tradition in the early '90s when it got to be too big for the
Beutlers, said Mary Ellen McKenna, co-chairman of the Pumpkin
Walk.
"The Beutlers started it up on their farm. They just wanted
to have a wholesome Halloween activity for their neighbors and
grandchildren," she said. "Ida baked cookies and made
hot chocolate and apple cider, and it was just fun."
Pepperidge Farm now donates the cookies, about one ton per
year, which are handed out by volunteers.
Ayrel Jensen, an undeclared freshman, is one of the volunteers
passing out cookies this year.
 "I
love the whole atmosphere," she said. "Everyone is
so happy. It's something unique to Logan. Where I come from,
they don't have anything like this. I love how Halloween is
so big here."
This year's theme is "Tell Me a Story," and there
are 54 separate scenes and about 900 carved pumpkins in the
walk, McKenna said. The scenes range from miniature ones inside
one pumpkin, such as Harry Potter under the stairs, to larger
ones, like scenes from the book "Where the Wild Things
Are."
The Pumpkin Walk is free, and everyone involved with it is
a volunteer — from the people who grow and donate the
pumpkins to those who set them up. One family donates 2,000
to 3,000 pumpkins per year for the walk, McKenna said.
"They are all volunteers," McKenna said. "People
do it because they want to be part of something fun and special."
Those who participate range from school groups to Macey's employees.
Laura Swift, a member of the USS Rendezvous Science Fiction
Club, helped build a scene out of miniature pumpkins that portrays
the fake news broadcast from Oct. 30, 1938 that sent the country
into a panic.
 "People
tuned in to the broadcast in the middle and didn't hear the
first 10 seconds that said, 'Orson Wells dramatization,'"
she said. "Every city had traffic jams because people thought
Mars had really attacked. We thought it would be fun to act
out one of the scenes with pumpkins."
The club has been participating in the Pumpkin Walk for five
years.
School children from Ogden to Preston become involved by making
scenes for display and by coming to see the walk during school.
And nothing seems to keep people away, even bad weather, McKenna
said.
"We have school children constantly," she said. "And
it doesn't matter whether it's raining, snowing, the wind is
blowing or it's bitterly cold. The people come.
"There's something almost magical there. You walk around
and just feel good. That's why some of us do it every year.
For somebody, we're making the happiest place in the world,"
she said.
Thirteen-year-old Emily Haslem participates in a different
way than most school children. She sits on a hay bail, wears
a pumpkin on her head and scares passers-by.
"People think my legs are real, so they're like, 'go touch
it,'" she said. "The worst part is that it gets cold.
It hailed, so the hay got all wet and my mom had to bring me
something to sit on."
Margaret Archibald has been coming to the Pumpkin Walk since
it was first created.
"My favorite part is the creativity," she said. "It's
wonderful to see the community and schools and everyone who
participates every year. It's unique, and I like that it is
different every year. It's fun to see what people will come
up with."
Joy Ockerman from Idaho Falls visited the Pumpkin Walk for
the first time this year and said she was very impressed by
it.
"It's amazing that there are so many people involved and
volunteering their time," she said. "This is a really
neat experience."
People come quite a distance to visit the Pumpkin Walk —
including from Idaho, Wyoming, Arizona and Nevada — and
some plan their vacations around it, McKenna said.
"For some of us, it just gets into your blood," she
said. "People keep coming back because it's wholesome,
fun and creative. It has become a tradition, something that's
unique."
The Pumpkin Walk is open through Halloween from 9 a.m. to 10
p.m. and is located at North Logan City Park, about 1100 East
and 2500 North. Every year, it runs on Halloween and the three
days prior to it, except Sundays.
For more information on the Pumpkin Walk, visit its Web site
at www.pumpkinwalk.com.
For information about volunteering, contact North Logan City.
By Katrina Cartwright; kcartwright@cc.usu.edu
Photos by John Zsiray
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