The Great Pumpkin Carve may be the largest fundraiser for the Chadds Ford Historical Society, but for carvers and attendees, it’s fun — along with some artistry. This year’s opening night crowd was one of the largest for opening nights since the society took over the event in 1991.
Sandi Johnson, the society’s director of operations, estimated 3,500 people came through Thursday night. That’s about 1,000 more than usual, she said.
As far as fundraising is concerned, The Carve is a boon for CFHS. Jennifer Terrey Manderscheid has been chairing the event for 14 years. She said the society nets a little more than $100,000.
Manderscheid said the society had to deal with a supply problem this year. HG Haskel of Hilgert Farm usually grows the pumpkins but the weather didn’t cooperate. Too much heat at one point and too much rain at another point. So, CFHS wound up getting the big gourds from a farmer in Lancaster County.
While The Great Pumpkin Carve is a fundraiser for CFHS, carvers and visitors come for the fun.
Deb Parry, of Cochranville and the Lawn and Garden manager at the Brandywine Ace Pet & Farm in Pocopson, has been taking part for more than 20 years. When asked why, her response is always the same: “It’s fun, and Halloween is my favorite holiday.”
April Margera of Pocopson Township is another long-time carver. She’s been doing it for 15 years. Her reason, too, is because it’s fun, but said that she started because “It was on my bucket list.”
Then there are the newbies, such as Zander Adams of Thornbury Township, Chester County. He attended his first Carve in 2001 at 10 years old and said to himself, “One of these days I’ll do this.”
That year, one of the carvers gave him a pumpkin seed which he planted in his parents’ lawn, and grew a 160-pound pumpkin. Earlier this year he planted another pumpkin seed and grew a 515-pound pumpkin.
While Adams doesn’t recall which carver gave him that first seed, the story could become part of the lore of The Great Pumpkin Carve.
It began about 50 years ago at the old Chadds Ford Inn (now Brandywine Prime), then moved to the parking lot at Hank’s Place, then to the parking lot at the Brandywine River Museum of Art, then to the Historical Society in 1991.
It started in the 1970s when, according to legend, Jamie Wyeth and Jimmie Lynch started carving pumpkins on the porch at the inn. Over the next few years, more carvers got involved, so many that, again as the tale goes, the pumpkins were getting in the way of the drunks. More than that, one of the carvers allegedly stepped back to look at the work and stepped into Route 1 where he was almost hit by a car.
According to the lore, that carver was Wyeth. When told of the story, Wyeth neither confirmed nor denied, but just laughed.
True or not, the story is part of the lore of The Carve and a part of Chadds Ford's Folklore.
About Rich Schwartzman
Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.
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