Almost 7,000 pumpkins have sprouted up at the Morton Arboretum. And while you can’t carve them, they won’t rot either.
The Glass Pumpkin Patch is one of the most popular attractions at the arboretum. They estimate 15,000 visitors attend the patch each year.
Visitors have the chance to peruse the art and even meet the artists behind each piece.
“A lot of preparation work goes into it,” said artist Kit Paulson, who is also a Naperville native. “I start off by making one stage of the process and I’ll do that for a couple of days and then another stage of the process and I’ll do that for a couple of days until I have enough components built up that I can make a full pumpkin. I believe I’ve made somewhere around 680 this year.”
Seventeen artists show off their wares and lead demonstrations where visitors can watch a glass blower create a pumpkin right there in the patch.
Artists have created several different designs for the arboretum, like flowers and acorns. And when it comes to pumpkins, they have small, medium, and larger sizes.
“You will really see a distinct style when you walk from section to section for each artist,” said Glass Pumpkin Patch Producer Jacque Fucilla. “You can kind of tell the way they use color, maybe the way they shape their stem or maybe the way they crimp the edges of their pumpkins. It’s all very unique.”
The glass pumpkin patch is free with admission to the arboretum, but is only open October 10-14. And if you come on the weekend, you can even purchase pumpkins for your home.
Naperville News 17’s Casey Krajewski reports.
