Pumpkin fever
Resident celebrates Halloween by decorating yard with jack-o-lanterns
By Katie Pizza
Argus Observer
Friday, October 31, 2008 11:06 AM PDT
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| Eli Esplin (left), 9, and Andy Esplin, 10, sit on Teresa Hopman’s porch carving pumpkins Wednesday afternoon. The Esplins, who also include Garrit Esplin, 13 and Mary Esplin, 3 (both not pictured), carved pumpkins to contribute to Hopman’s 33 pumpkins displayed in her front yard at 3645 Clark Blvd. in Ontario. |
Ontario — Eerie halos of orange and red lights emanated from 33 pumpkins situated on the front lawn of Teresa Hopman’s Clark Boulevard home Wednesday, with more silly and scary sculptings slated to join their brethren on this ghostly holiday.
“We do it because people seem to enjoy it,” Hopman, 52, said Wednesday night at her home at 3645 Clark Blvd.
Hopman said she has been carving the pumpkins for 10 years with help from her daughters, Beralyn Hopman, 21, and Marina Hopman, 18, and neighborhood children, Garrit Esplin, 13, Andy Esplin, 10, Eli Esplin, 9, and Mary Esplin, 3, who help carve the creations after school. Wednesday afternoon, Andy Esplin, 10, sat on Hopman’s front porch with a pumpkin containing the beginnings of a headless horseman dotted onto its surface. Hopman said she collects designs from the company Pumpkin Masters, which provide patterns for pumpkins. After placing the pattern on a pumpkin, Hopman punctures the pumpkin with a special dotting tool. She then covers the pumpkin with liquid colored gelatin in order to make the dots easier to see for the children.
“I made that kitty one,” Mary Esplin said, pointing toward a carving of a black cat in front of the moon.
Mary Esplin’s housecat was not the only feline spotted on Hopman’s front lawn Wednesday, with several other domestic cats and even a tiger carving glowing in the cool night air.
Though he did not carve the tiger or housecat, Eli Esplin said he enjoys carving animals into pumpkins.
“I did a wolf with a moon behind it,” he said.
Andy Esplin also talked about his pumpkin preferences.
“I mostly like scary things like werewolves,” he said.
Their older brother, Garrit Esplin, 13, however, prefers insects and highlighted a segmented scorpion he carved into a pumpkin.
“It doesn’t take that long,” he said.
To preserve the masterpieces, Hopman places plastic wrap around the front of the pumpkins with the spooky glow of Christmas lights for extra flair. Hopman alternates between orange and red lights, with other colors used when needed.
“Like if we had a Frankenstein,” she said, “he’d be green. Or an alien. An alien would need a green light too.”
As she stood in front of the newly-placed Headless Horseman pumpkin, courtesy of Andy Esplin, Hopman also highlighted some of the other pumpkins in her front yard. One of those was a totem pumpkin, with three faces carved into pumpkins that sat on top of each other and emanated green, red and blue lights. Hopman said she simply cut the top off of one pumpkin and cut the top and bottom off of another pumpkin and crowned it with a third, bottomless pumpkin to get the effect.
Hopman said she has received comments from neighbors about how the pumpkins have illuminated their Halloween.
She said she has given pumpkins to area businesses, such as IB Scrap’N, situated at 1052 S.W. Fourth Ave., in Ontario, and Ontario Instant Print, 212 S.W. Fourth Ave.
“We just give them to people sometimes,” Beralyn Hopman said.
The pumpkins have also been a part of school fundraisers, Teresa Hopman said.
Beralyn Hopman said she prefers to paint the pumpkins rather than carve them, as evidenced by the multicolored pumpkins with “Welcome” emblazoned on the front, leading to Hopman’s front door.
“It’s just regular acrylic paint,” she said, adding she likes to paint, and that pumpkins are cheaper than canvasses.
Hopman said the pumpkins are grown at her sister’s in Caldwell, with planting normally beginning in March. However, there is sometimes an overflow of pumpkins, leaving the Hopmans to get a little more creative.
“One year we spelled out Merry Christmas in pumpkins,” she said.
