GILBERT, Pa. — Celebrating Halloween doesn't always have to be spooky and scary. One attraction in the Poconos will take visitors through thousands of hand-carved pumpkins.
"It's a scarecrow, and the middle is going to be shaved, and it's going to open up," said Armitta Thomas from Palmerton as she explained her most recent creation.
This pumpkin will not sit outside of her home. Instead, Thomas' carving skills and others are helping transform the West End Fairgrounds in Gilbert into the Electrifying Jack-O'-Lantern Experience.
"We have corn mazes, and we have haunted houses, and we have all of that, but nothing dedicated to the fun of a jack-o'-lantern. They're just the quirkiness and the faces of it. It's become part of the Halloween tradition," said Cheryl Hines, the co-founder.
The family-friendly nighttime walk-through experience features thousands of artificial and real hand-carved pumpkins. It takes anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour to get through.
Hines says putting on this massive display is a labor of love.
"We start in April with carving all of the fake ones. We end up till the end and then start the live carving several days before. So, we started on Monday. We average between four and five carvers a day. We have two people gutting them, which is a process in itself. And then we pass them off to the carvers, and they do their own thing," said Hines.
To constantly keep the pumpkins fresh throughout the entire event, which runs till the end of October, more than 1,300 pumpkins will be carved.
"Over the years, we learned different tricks to preserve the pumpkins. Try to keep them connected at the top so they don't sink in. That way, we are not carving as much. No big openings. We like littler openings that also help protect them," said Thomas.
Despite the intense amount of work, those who put the event on say it's all worth it when families come through the gates and take in the sights at night.
The Electrifying Jack-O'-Lantern Experience opens for the season on Friday evening.