If you think jack-o-lanterns aren’t scary enough for Halloween, wait until you take a walk down the Jack-O-Jaunt venue in downtown Palo Alto and see some of the participants.
The city held its annual Jack-O-Jaunt pumpkin carving contest Friday, at Lytton Plaza on University Avenue. The event venue bustled with hundreds of participants, more than ever, eager to show off their pumpkins, bringing together the community for Halloween.
Chase Hartman, the City of Palo Alto’s community service manager and organizer of the event, said this was the fifth year the Jack-O-Jaunt has taken place and has helped develop it for the last three years.
“We didn’t really have any sort of Halloween event that we’ve done before this [Jack-O-Jaunt] got created,” Hartman said. “We wanted to bring a Halloween event from the city to the community.”
Entering the display area, there was a wide variety of carved pumpkins on long tables. People walked down the aisle to look at all the uniquely carved jack-o’-lanterns and voted for their favorite pumpkins in three categories: Scariest, Cutest and Most Creative.
There were many types of pumpkins, some carved into animals like cats, others that had special props such as a plastic rat or ghosts inside and even pumpkins that used smoke machines to create special effects.
With increasing attendance every year, there are ideas to expand the Halloween spirit beyond this event.
Hartman said plans for future events could be hosted in different parts of Palo Alto.
“I think each year it gets a little bigger.” Hartman said, “We’re hoping to maybe expand beyond this, maybe even do partnerships with other departments within the city. We might also do a different sort of thing, like a trick-or-treating event on Cal Ave.”
The participants and viewers were of all ages, as the public event invited everyone for a chance to either submit a carved pumpkin or vote.
Alejandro Meza, a City of Palo Alto employee, said the Jack-O-Jaunt has been popular locally, even as a school event.
“We usually have people from the community,” Meza said. “Students from local schools are also participating as well.”
Palo Alto resident Anna Pearson said she attended the event because it was a part of the city.
“I saw it [the event] when I was driving over to Trader Joe’s, and I thought I’d better swing by as a local resident,” Pearson said. “I didn’t hear about this before, but now that I see it, maybe I’ll participate next year.”
According to Hartman, the indoor quarantine during the pandemic also contributed to its creation.
“We started right around COVID,” Hartman said. “We did it so that people could be outdoors. It was a little bit more cautious in the sense we wouldn’t let everybody in … we were looking for things to provide to the community.”
