Jack O'Lantern World will be open Thursdays through Sundays through Oct. On Thursday nights during the festival, there will be candy stations for trick-or-treaters.įor those who like their fall festivals to be scary, for one night, Oct. Other special events during the festival will include a pumpkin pie-eating contest on Oct. 'Another said he has a 1,800-pound one that he's just hoping will finish in the top five.'Īnd once the big boys are weighed and certified by officials from the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth, the plan is for them all to be turned into art as well, likely with chain saws, Starykowicz said. 'I've heard from a grower who said he's got a 2,000-pound pumpkin he's entering,' Starykowicz said. With a $10,000 cash prize on the line, Starykowicz says he expects farmers from all over the Midwest to haul their contestants in to be weighed. National Championship Pumpkin Weigh Off, which will be held at the festival the evening of Oct. The rest of the giants will trickle in during the lead up to the U.S. He said it is the heaviest pumpkin that already has been weighed at an official event this year. One whopper already has arrived a 2,200-pound specimen which Starykowicz recently picked up from a Kansas farmer. Some of the jack-o'-lanterns sure to turn heads during the festival will be ones made from some of the biggest pumpkins grown in the country this year. Starykowicz said he couldn't give a breakdown of real pumpkins to fake ones at the festival since each of the real ones essentially has to be replaced as many as four times during the month. Not every jack-o'-lantern needs to be replaced because many are carved onto faux pumpkins. So the team will carve new creations throughout the festival to replace those that are getting smelly. 'To be able to support the arts like this is exciting.'Īs anyone whose carved their own knows, jack-o'-lanterns are not built to last. Daily Herald Media Group is your local print and digital newspaper publisher and local marketing solutions group based in the Chicago suburbs. We are paying people to produce this artwork,' said Starykowicz of Lake Zurich. Starykowicz said his company, All Community Events, employs around 75 people, around 50 of whom are artisans, craftsmen, carpenters and builders recruited from the area. Over the past few weeks, 11 semi-trucks filled with pumpkins, hay bales and other equipment have been unloaded at Paulus Park for this year's festival. 'It has evolved into an extremely popular, special event that people look forward to,' Poynton said. Lake Zurich Mayor Tom Poynton said he's pleased the festival is back for a third year. 'Every one is hand-carved, it's one-of-a-kind, you can't go anywhere else and see another version of this.' 'Not only do we have this huge conglomerate of jack-o'-lanterns, we have pumpkins which people took 30 hours on,' Starykowicz said. Visitors to Jack O'Lantern World will see the fruits of all that labor in the form of thousands of carved pumpkins, a display which Starykowicz says is one of the largest in the world. 'Right now we've got people carving pumpkins from early in the morning until late at night,' said founder Peter Starykowicz. But to make Jack O'Lantern World, the monthlong festival which kicks off at Lake Zurich's Paulus Park Friday, takes dozens of artists carving all day long for weeks. Nearly anyone with a pumpkin, knife and tea candle can make their own jack-o'-lantern.

The event starts today and runs through October. Local businesses and entrepreneurs help our communities thrive, and we are passionate about providing marketing and advertising solutions that maximize your company’s return on investment.Peter Starykowicz, founder of Jack O'Lantern World at Paulus Park in Lake Zurich, poses atop a 2,200-pound pumpkin. With our diverse portfolio, we are able to develop a customized, targeted marketing plan to help businesses effectively reach our print and digital audiences (ranked 5th in the U.S. We have the expertise and the range of innovative products and services to maximize our clients’ advertising and marketing budgets. Our deep suburban roots and our commitment to the communities we serve have been the driving forces behind Daily Herald Media Group for more than 150 years. We place a strong emphasis on remaining local and engaged in the community and we are the primary information source for our suburban audience. Marketing group and content provider in the Chicago suburbsĭaily Herald Media Group is your local print and digital newspaper publisher and local marketing solutions group based in the Chicago suburbs.

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