Get Some Halloween Inspiration from The Big E

Triple Scoop Ice Cream Cone 

Forget about the mess of pumpkin carving – grab some paint and start a new Halloween tradition of decorating them instead! It’s a lot of fun and if you have a knack for it, why not enter them at The Big E next year?

Each year, the Fair holds an annual Decorated Pumpkin contest in Farm-A-Rama. You don’t even need to grow the pumpkins – all you need is art supplies and imagination.

The contest has been a Fair tradition for as long as I remember. People get pretty artistic with their work, designing anything you can think up. In the past we have seen snowmen, Mrs. Potato Head, hen and chicks, Winnie the Pooh, a queen bee, Harry Potter, Papa Smurf, Mike Wazowski from Monsters, Inc., Dr. Suess’ the Lorax, a lot of birds, and so much more. 

He ate the whole Big E!

Longtime exhibitor, and my father, Mike Pietruska, has been entering decorated pumpkins in the contest since 2000. Every year, his pumpkins depict The Big E’s First Aid nurses saving the day.

While some participants make their pumpkins almost unrecognizable with clay, feathers, and other modeling materials, Mike likes to keep his pumpkins looking like pumpkins.

Mike adds his own brand of creativity to the pumpkin contest with the outlandish characters and zany scenes he constructs. If you search back through photos of the contest history, it is easy to pick out which displays are his.

Like father, like daughter. I have even entered a few pumpkins. From 2004-2007, I created a watermelon Jack-O-Lantern I titled “Wat-O-Melon,” a Halloween cow and pig and “Pumpkin Bowling Association” complete with bowling lane, ball and pins. My personal favorite was a three scoop ice cream cone.

Have something in mind already? Practice decorating pumpkins for this upcoming Halloween and show off your talent at the 2014 Big E! 

Check out a collection of decorated pumpkin entries at The Big E on our Pinterest page! http://www.pinterest.com/thebigefair/decorated-pumpkins/