A Halloween tradition carved in community spirit

NORTHAMPTON — Many families celebrate Halloween with trick-or-treating, decorating houses and watching scary movies, but one house on Harrison Avenue has carved out its own Halloween tradition of pumpkins and popcorn.

For the last 25 years, Sue Fortgang and David Nehring have filled their lawn with 100 jack-o’-lanterns and handed out popcorn popped in vintage popcorn machine. What started as a couple’s tradition soon grew into a neighborhood pumpkin carving, where families gather the night before Halloween to gut and sculpt pumpkins grown in Nehring’s garden.

“We don’t do any other pumpkin carving,” Ester Smigel said on Thursday night, holding a pumpkin that her daughter cut two heart eyes into. “I never feel like I have to fit this into my schedule, because I always know that we’ll be doing it here.”

This year on the 25th anniversary of their jack-o’-lantern decor, Fortgang and Nehring added a crown jewel to their display in the form of a 500-pound pumpkin. The large pumpkin was donated and sculpted by Ed Malinowski of Malinowski Farms, a West Hatfield farm known for its pumpkins of all shapes, colors and sizes.

“Everybody likes it. They keep coming back. A lot of neighbors come up to me and say they enjoy that I do it,” Nehring said. “One year this lady happened to say lightly, ‘Oh, this is so great,’ and we started talking about how this can get really costly. Then I found some money in an envelope that said, ‘I really appreciate that you do this.'”

The yearly event began when Nehring planned a pumpkin surprise for Fortgang. She was returning from her job in New York City just in time for Halloween weekend, so Nehring carved “I love Sue” into a pumpkin as a welcome home gift.

Only, Fortgang did not walk in the door that weekend. She was stuck in New York, caring for her sister. The couple made sure to carve the pumpkins together the following year.

“A lot of kids in this whole neighborhood used to come here to Harrison Avenue [on Halloween], kids from Springfield and Holyoke and everywhere,” Fortgang said. “I didn’t want leftover candy to eat, so I decided popcorn and we started carving a few. And then friends would drop by the night before, and more friends and more friends. And we just decided, OK, let’s do 100.”

Fortgang estimates 20 people come and go throughout the evening to carve pumpkins, but this year a heavy rain kept most families inside. The Smigel family, however, was determined to continue their yearly pumpkin carving. Fortgang invited them when they first moved to the neighborhood five years ago. Since then, they’ve designed pumpkins with stars, cats, flowers and even an octopus.

“There’s not very many intrepid people like us,” Smigel said over the rain.

The key to pumpkin carving

Nehring makes quick work of carving with a sheet rock knife. These, he said, do not break like the knives in pumpkin carving kits. He goes in at a angle to make the lid, and adds a notch called a key.

“The key is to enable quick lighting and return of the lid,” Nehring said. “If you don’t have that key, then you spend too much time trying to get it tight.”

He scoops out the inners and throws them into the compost bin to haul back to Valley View Farm in Haydenville. While the farm owned by both Nehring and Fortgang is mostly used for weddings, there’s always a small patch of land where pumpkins grow from the previous year’s seeds. If he has a bad crop, he will find pumpkins at other local farms.

Then comes the carving. Some people try detailed designs, but Nehring sticks to simple triangle eyes, a nose and big smile. Sometimes, he drills holes to make a dotted smile or even dice.

“If you try to get really ornate, there’s so much you have to leave behind, yes, because otherwise it collapses,” he said.