Carving pumpkins for charity

BY COLBY FRAZIER
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

While many homes throughout the country have a handful of carved pumpkins on their front doorsteps, one Santa Barbara family has the enviable number of nearly 200 jack-o’-lanterns lining their front lawn.
Part block party, part public art project and part food drive, the Hall family neighborhood pumpkin carving party has blossomed into a successful way to bring the neighborhood together and raise funds and food for the Food Bank of Santa Barbara County.
It looks pretty cool too.


“It’s just such a blast because at night every one of these things becomes a masterpiece,” said Kevin Hall, who started the pumpkin carving event three years ago with his wife Lesley. “It’s been a big community builder.”
The pumpkins are perched on a set of wood bleachers that Kevin Hall and his neighbor assembled during the carving party’s inaugural year and disassemble at the end of each Halloween. They line the grass next to the sidewalk and attract spectators armed with cell phone cameras throughout the evening.
Instead of a candle, Kevin Hall lights the jack-o’-lanterns with a string of Christmas lights. The bulbs fit into a hole he drills in the back of each pumpkin.
In true Halloween form, he could be seen last night standing in the dim glow created by the pumpkins wielding a drill and puncturing the pumpkin.
Last year Kevin Hall said he and his wife decided to turn the event into food drive, which drummed up 600 pounds of food and $500 in cash donations for the food bank.
The formula is simple. The Halls said they invite the neighborhood and all of their friends from around town. Then the Hall’s children, Madison and Logan, invite their class mates. Before they know it, a couple of hundred people show up on the front lawn ready to do some carving.
He said the participants donate $5 and are encouraged to drop off some food.
“Not only did it sound like fun but it was for a good cause and that’s an unbeatable combination,” said Chris Morales, one of Kevin Hall’s friends who carved a Batman symbol into his pumpkin.
Kevin Hall carved several different pumpkins, one of which honors the Boston Red Sox’s World Series Victory and another simply says “1.5%,” which he said is symbolic of the amount of commission charged by Goodwyn & Thyne Properties, his employer.
If nothing else the event proves one is never too old to display their own art on the side of a pumpkin.
“It’s so much fun,” said 11-year-old Madison Hall, who added she had already carved eight pumpkins. “
The Hall’s said the carving began this year on Saturday, and on Sunday about 100 people showed up. Though most of the 185 pumpkins, some of which were donated by Albertons and Big Wave Dave’s Pumpkin Patch, have been carved, the Halls said anyone interested in stopping by their home at 3709 Capri Dr. and checking out the pumpkins can continue dropping off food and cash donations for the Foodbank through Wednesday.
She said the event is a good way to give back to the community and has acted as a yearly opportunity to teach her children the importance of doing so.
Hall said she’s not sure if she and her husband will continue the event in the future, but imagines their children won’t let them not do it.
The neighbors gathered last night might not either.
“I think it’s a wonderful thing,” said Teresa Harris, who was letting a neighbor kid help her carve a pumpkin. “It’s good for kids, families and everybody. It’s a really nice thing that they’re doing.”