The Chadds Ford Historical Society has an annual pumpkin carving tradition.  I have heard about it for years but this was my first year of attendance. It was a beautiful fall evening, unseasonably warm actually, and a great night to be outside.  So I packed my kids in the car and made sure to make an early arrival.  I highly recommend arriving early to beat the crowds if possible.  We left before it was over and there was an insanely long line of traffic southbound on route one.  In my 38 years living in this area, I’ve never seen route one so backed up.  I guess that goes to show the popularity of the carving festival!  There are family friendly activities and it is just a nice fall activity.  Since we left early, I did not get to see everything completed but here is a link to see some of the finished pumpkins.

There is a Haunted Trail for the kids to explore…

You have to be careful because some “scary surprises”…

Walking Dead anyone?

We got there not too long after they just started carving.  It is impressive to see the creativity and how much they can get accomplished in a short amount of time.

This is the progress of the Yoda pumpkin.  Very timely since the new Star Wars movie is coming out.  He ended up placing as best overall pumpkin.  You can see the final result over on the Chadds Ford Live page.

There were so many pumpkin carving stations…everyone diligently at work, very aware of the time restraints.

The lights made it seem magical as the sun went down.

Walking away from the event and then looking back to see such a festive, warm glow.

By the parking lot, there was a spooky tree against the dark sky.