Night time in Pomona, California and early autumn is marked by a thousand bright faces carved into pumpkins big and small all ready for Halloween night. There are at least 3000 jack-o’-lanterns on display for California Pumpkin Nights each with its own unique design.One of the main alleyways is proudly called a mood alley. Every pumpkin face here is different and reflects a certain feeling.All the designs were carefully thought through and crafted by artists and sculptors.
We’re not really trying to do scary ones, just try to do some funny ones. They have a lot of more character and their character are better.However this art is by no means immortal.It has a very definitive expiration date: about a month.The Chinese lanterns and Dragons, pumpkin reefs and pirates;all these scary and funny tributes to the spirit of Halloween will go bad shortly after the big night of October 31st but until that happens they bring joy to the many locals and tourists.It’s really fun, we’re really enjoying it. Yeah it’s really creative, we like the different faces, stuff like that so yeah.We just started getting into the mood of like, you know, being like festival and I more into the Halloween style like that.
While Halloween traditions date back 2000 years to the ancient Celts.The modern US celebration didn’t emerge until the late 1800s with festivities meant to appease good spirits and ward off evil one on All Hallows Eve which later became known as Halloween.Irish immigrants were the ones who made pumpkins a symbol of the holiday and the famous jack-o’-lanterns appeared even later.Yet again also thanks to the Irish.
To make sure that this Pumpkin Night in Pomona is going smoothly, a very special manager is keeping an eye on the celebration.Archie is an owl. He’s four years old and he is quite strict. This doesn’t bother him. He’s handled everyday, he goes out to events and commercial shoots.He’s got people in his face all the time, cameras lights, so none of this bothers him.The 90’s festivities in Pomona will continue beyond Halloween until early November.