That question gets asked a lot w/r/t Blaze, and the answer, quite simply, is the legion of volunteers who help scoop the pumpkins, prepping them for the creative guns, and then lighting the candles each night (err, afternoon, actually. It takes upwards of four hours to get everything lit!).

Some of the folks who pitch in are dedicated individuals who got in touch and offered to lend a hand or two, but many others come as part of a group pitch-in. Among the organizations helping out this year are:

Westchester ARC

Another Step

Living Resources of Northern Westchester

Cardinal McClusky School

Even Start

Pace University 

Ossining High School

Croton High School

Rye Country Day School

John Jay Middle School

Westchester Putnam Boy Scouts

Heart of the Hudson Girl Scouts

United Way volunteer center

Stamford Girl Scouts

Kudos to who are unafraid of getting their hands pumpkiny, like the young lad above shown with carving meister Vern Ford.

Historic Hudson Valley is by no means a tiny sprout of an operation, but staging an event like The Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze poses manpower-related challenges. Imagine just the volume of scooping, lighting, re-scooping, and re-lighting alone! Blaze organizers tell me extra hands are essential and very much welcome. Last year, nearly 600(!) kind-hearted, pumpkin-loving souls — many representing local organizations and schools — donated precious time to the event.

Cheryl Bernstein of Van Cortlandt Manor told the Blaze Blog that Westchester ARC and local girl scout troops were particularly indispensable. “ARC was instrumental,” she said, “And if the Girl Scouts didn’t help, we wouldn’t have gotten it all done.”

Forty clients and five paid staff members of Westchester ARC spent six days helping scoop pumpkins for about five hours each day. That’s a lotta pulp and a lotta seeds. In addition, roughly 30 ARC volunteers were on site scooping at least two days each week before the event kicked off.

The Girl Scouts of Westchester Putnam were represented by 38 troops, who helped scoop and light pumpkins. Many brought siblings and parents to help.

Three troops from the Westchester-Putnam Council Boy Scouts scooped (as did two troops of Cub Scouts), and two troops helped light the pumpkins.

Thirty-five folks from Pace University helped light pumpkins for three hours over three nights. In addition, 15 people scooped for four hours over two days.

Students from several local schools pitched in. From Croton-Harmon High School, 15 students scooped and 20 students helped light pumpkins. From Ossining High School, 20 students scooped and 10 helped light. And from John Jay Middle School, 48 students, four teachers, and four parents helped light pumpkins.

Shown at left helping out last year are Katy Sackman, Caroline Acevedo, and Ellie Conti of John Jay Middle School, along with Nancy Errico of Van Cortlandt Manor (yes, she’s the one in the bonnet). The other image shows Ethan Cohen, Jake Wasik, Grant Gallagher, and Kyle Ogren, also of John Jay Middle School.

Other volunteers included Blaze devotees who were thrilled by the event in 2005 and wanted to lend a hand, friends of Van Cortlandt Manor employees, parents of children who had visited Van Cortlandt Manor for school programs, Historic Hudson Valley members, families of event sponsors, teachers attending Teachers Institute programs at Van Cortlandt Manor, staff from other Historic Hudson Valley sites, and people who saw a poster around town and couldn’t resist.

So what didit all add up to? There were 250 volunteers lighting pumpkins, 270 scooping pumpkins, and 60 volunteers working at the event in various roles.

Want to get involved with Blaze ’07? E-mail Cheryl Bernstein or call her at 914-271-8981, Ext. 10. Tell her BlazeBlogger sent ya…