Published: October 12, 2006 11:59 pm      

‘Pumpkin House’ will feature 3,000 examples and new light show display

KENOVA — Ric Griffith already has 2,400 pumpkins in his back yard and there are 600 more to be delivered.

He said his wife calls it 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. We don’t really need carvers, just scoopers, because I have a team of guys who use a jigsaw to cut the pieces out. But we desperately need volunteers to help out with many other jobs.”

Volunteers are invited to Griffith’s house at 748 Beech St., Kenova, from Oct. 25-30 to participate in the project.

“We’ve had people come from Portsmouth and Charleston and Cincinnati,” he said. “I had dozens of people come up and thank me for letting them help. They enjoy being a part of it. It’s such a different display with the yellowey-orange glow they create, and I think people are kind of in awe that these are just vegetables.”

Griffith said Habitat for Humanity sends volunteers each year who collect the seeds and the other pumpkin innards to use to make pies, breads and other treats.

“Then they sell them in a fundraiser for the organization. After Halloween, I invited farmers to come and pick up as many of the pumpkins as they want so they can feed them to cattle and hogs. So nothing really goes to waste,” Griffith said.

The “Pumpkin House” features similar themes and displays each year, Griffith said, but no two pumpkins are alike.

This year the 57-year-old pharmacist plans to work a new, high-tech display which 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.”

In addition to the pumpkin orchestra, there will be a cat choir singing the “Hallelujah Chorus” in cat voices.

On Thursday, Griffith went around drawing faces on hundreds of pumpkins, getting them ready for carving. He said he only gets about four or five hours of sleep during the month of October as he works diligently preparing for the thousands of visitors who will come on Halloween night to see his pumpkins.

“People ask me every year, ‘Why to you do this?’ I always said it was something for the children and adults who enjoy coming to the ‘Pumpkin House.’ But an elderly woman said something to me one Halloween that really gave meaning to all this,” he said.

“She was crying and she said, ‘It’s so easy for adults to lose the wonderment of childhood. When you get older, you never feel like you did when you woke up on Christmas morning. Well, I want to tell you that I got that feeling here.’”

The “Pumpkin House” will be open to visitors on Oct. 31. Displays will stay up as long as weather permits.

SARAH LYNCH can be reached at slynch@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2650.