The Louisville Jack O' Lantern Spectacular is Halloween Heaven
If jack-o'-lanterns are your favorite part of Halloween, you need to take a trip to Louisville, Kentucky. For the last six years, 5,000 carved pumpkins have graced a ?-mile walking trail through the woods. More than 100 of those pumpkins are illustrative pieces of art, making the Louisville Jack O’ Lantern Spectacular an outdoor art gallery that celebrates Halloween.
There's more to see on this trail than the amazing carved pumpkins. Every year, there are new themes of the walk with accompanying music, sets, and large props. Over 20 themes go into each show, creating striking vignettes of popular movies, TV shows, and book characters.
Past years' highlights include pumpkins moving around a Ferris wheel, embellishing a miniature Japanese pagoda, and surrounding a giant purple light-up octopus. Some past themes include the Wizard of Oz, The Hobbit, Harry Potter, and Disney. In some areas, there are lit pumpkins 80 feet up in trees or stacks of pumpkins that reach over your head.
Related: How to Carve a Pumpkin
This family-friendly (and non-scary) event runs over three weekends, with each show starting at dusk. The weekday shows end at 11 PM, and the Friday and Saturday shows close at midnight. Thousands of people come to this event every year, and it’s only growing. The event’s site warns that lines to enter the trail on weekends may reach a two hour wait time—so plan ahead!
Related: See How Disney Decorates for Halloween
Kids under 3 get in free, but all other age groups need to pay for a ticket. All tickets are under $15. The Jack O’ Lantern Spectacular is a fundraiser, and money from ticket sales give back to Louisville Metro parks.