Halloween enthusiast carves out place in pumpkin history
Monday, October 16, 2006 | 02:19 PM ET
The Associated Press
Ric Griffith already has 2,400 pumpkins in his backyard in Kenova, W. Va., and there are 600 more to be delivered.
He said his wife calls his annual pumpkin craze an obsessive-compulsive disorder, but those who visit the Pumpkin House on Halloween might call it an astonishing display.
Griffith has carved a total of 25,798 pumpkins since 1978. As the number of pumpkins he attempted to carve each year multiplied, more and more volunteers have been needed to help with the process.
"The most important part is scooping out the guts of the pumpkins," he said. "We have hundreds of volunteers who start coming on Oct. 25 to help."
Griffith said Habitat for Humanity sends volunteers each year who collect the seeds and the other pumpkin innards to make pies, breads and other treats. They sell them in a fundraiser.
This year, the 57-year-old pharmacist plans to work a new, high-tech display that will be made up of a 16-by-16 wall of pumpkins playing the 1812 Overture. It'll be done using a computer program that will synchronize lights in the pumpkins with the music.
"I've been thinking about this for about two or three years," Griffith said. "There will be a scarecrow as the conductor and a cannon pumpkin at the end that has a little pumpkin that will sparkle as its fuse."
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