11. My time is money. How long does it take to see all of Blaze?
Approximately 45 minutes.

12. I hear Blaze has “themed” areas. Is one the Miami Vice theme?
Perhaps the biggest themed area this year will be Jurassic Park, with its life-size dinosaurs. Other themed areas include the giant Undersea Aquarium, featuring carvings of fish and other oceanic life; “Scarecrow Infinity,” featuring, you guessed it, an “infinite” number of scarecrows; Pirate Cove; Stonehenge; and a classic Halloween section.

13. When I view carved pumpkins, ambience is key. How will you satisfy that need?
Professional lighting designer Jay Woods works with the Blaze team to create an atmospheric tableau of bubbles, fog, and light that enhances the pumpkin artistry and transforms the Manor House into an amazing, ever-changing spectacle.

14. Cool! If I remove my earbuds, will I hear a lot of Smashing Pumpkins along the route?
No, but you will hear original music by Kosmiche Motte , as well as Margaret Vetare & Bill Ochs, and Jim Keyes.

15. Are those real pumpkins?
Many are real and some are “art pumpkins.” All the pumpkins are individually hand-carved on site at Van Cortlandt Manor. For curatorial considerations (such as areas where the historic buildings could be damaged), and where the hand-carving is very intricate and worthy of being preserved, “art pumpkins” are used along with live ones.

16. I bet it’s a lot easier to carve these art pumpkins than it is to carve real ones. Right?
Actually, it’s harder. Both are well-suited for carving work, certainly, but nature’s canvas is much more pliable.

17. You must have wiped out some grocery store’s entire pumpkin inventory. Where did you get them all?
The live pumpkins all come from Walkill View Farm, a family-run farm in New Paltz, N.Y.

18. And just how much pumpkin are we talking here?
Because not all the pumpkins survive for the full month, we order approximately 4,000 live pumpkins, which weigh between five and fifty pounds each. That’s 1,000 pumpkins more than last year! They are delivered in 96-cubic-foot containers on four flatbed trucks (24 bins per truck). All told that’s about 100,000 pounds o’ pumpkin!

19. I subscribe to Pumpkin Enthusiast magazine. I need to know in advance what kind of pumpkins I’ll be seeing.
The Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze features Howden pumpkins.

20. I’ve never heard of this “pumpkin.” Tell me about them!
Pumpkins are fruits. A pumpkin is a type of squash and is a member of the gourd family (Cucurbitacae), which also includes squash, cucumbers, gherkins, and melons. They have been grown in North America for five thousand years and are indigenous to the western hemisphere. In 1584, after French explorer Jacques Cartier explored the St. Lawrence region of North America, he reported finding “gros melons.” The name was translated into English as “pompions,” which has since evolved into the modern “pumpkin.”

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