"There’s definitely a pumpkin madness," four year glass artist Kathy Barret said. "I don’t know what it is, but people love pumpkins."

True to this declaration, Saturday marked the opening of the 11th Annual Great Glass Pumpkin Patch sale at the Palo Alto Art Center. The sale also is on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The Great Glass Pumpkin Patch was started by Bobby Bowes as a senior project in college, according to second year glass artist Stephanie Wise. It was also originally a fundraiser for the Bay Area Glass Institute (BAGI) studio. The Patch has since then grown to incorporate 29 different artists.

"It’s a collaboration between BAGI and the Palo Alto Art Center Foundation," event director Lori Camner said. For the exhibit last week "each person gives no more than 300 pumpkins, [but after the exhibit ends] they can have as many as they want [displayed] on the sale days."

For the sale, 60 percent of the proceeds of the event go to the artist, 20 percent go to the Palo Alto Art Center Foundation (PAACF), and 20 percent goes to BAGI.

The fetish for glass pumpkins in October is not just due to the month, according to the artists.

"It [the pumpkin] has a whimsical shape, and you can use all sorts of crazy colors," Barret said. "If you tried to do a pepper with a color like this [blue with polka dots], people wouldn’t get it."

In order to keep the artists from straying too far from the pumpkin phenomenon, the Patch, according to Wise, has a few "gentle guidelines," which include the obvious: the piece has to be recognizable as a pumpkin.

"Everyone has their own idea of what a pumpkin looks like," Wise said. "The trick is to come up with your own version that will stand out from the same kind of thing."

The vegetable may unify the Patch, but only to a certain extent.

"There are so many variations on one general theme," Wise said. "So within the Patch you get to know [different] artists’ styles, [and there are a few] artists who bring mastery to it."

New to this year’s Patch, Palo Alto High School students also have their own bed of pumpkins to sell.

"It’s great to get the Paly students involved, because they’re growing up with pumpkins and it’s part of Palo Alto culture," Paly glass, ceramics, and sculpture teacher, David Camner, said.

Paly senior and glass artist Addison Stern is also excited about the opportunity to blow glass at school and to show it at the Patch.

"It [glass blowing] is a good creative outlet. It’s just a lot of fun to experiment with it," Stern said. "People see it [glass] in windows and cars every day, so it’s great to actually create [with it]."

With so many talented artists, the fetish for pumpkins and the success of the Patch comes as no surprise to many.

"The pumpkin image itself crosses cultures," Wise said. "Halloween is generally more of a jovial holiday rather than a religious one, [so] it incorporates everybody."

"I’m guessing people buy them as gifts" PAACF volunteer and Paly senior Eric Sung said. "They [the pumpkins] will cover three holidays: Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas."

Overall, the Patch is an enjoyable experience for everyone.

"As kind of an outsider [since it is my first Patch], my feeling is that it is a social gathering, [in which] people run into friends and come together with friends," David Camner said.

"It [the Patch] is enjoyed by the community, and allows people to see art work," Lori Camner said. "It creates a little frenzy."