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It’s hard to fathom what 5,000 Jack O’ Lanterns looks like until you’re standing in a field surrounded by them. Even then, the awe comes in waves: First, there’s the surprise of the sheer volume — so many pumpkins! Then, the manpower behind them: How many hours did it take to carve them all?! Even the really basic, triangle-eyes-and-semicircle-mouth variety takes a while. And what happened to the guts? They must have pumpkin seeds for weeks!
But, the true shock and awe comes when you check out the pumpkins on pedestals — the ones that clearly took hours to sketch, scratch and carve, recreating spot-on Disney princesses, Draculas and Freddy Kruegers.
Even crazier, still, are the human-sized piles of pumpkins, carved to look like full-size creatures (dinosaurs! Spongebob Squarepants!) or classic cars and trucks.
This isn’t an anomaly; this event’s known as Rise, and it takes place in five cities across the country: Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Pomona, CA and Secaucus, NJ. Each one features 5,000 hand-carved pumpkins, offering tours to the public all day (and night) through Oct. 30th.
Check out some of our favorites from the New York event. It may inspire some last-minute carving — or a road trip.
Can you believe It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown is 50 years old?! Rise had an entire series of gourds dedicated to the classic cartoon.
Some kid-friendly fun. 
Look at the detail in that skull! It’s more than 6 feet tall.
