First, draw a design with a water-based marker.
Then cut the top off, scoop out the seeds and carve away.
These are basic tips for a pumpkin carver, but the type of blade or design could be the determining factor of who will win today’s Great Pumpkin Event at 4:30 p.m. today in the Elizabeth D. Rockwell Pavilion.
"We wanted to do something fun – something to engage students with the library in a non-traditional way," Carolyn Meanley, library development coordinator, said. "We, the staff, wanted to enjoy it too."
The Great Pumpkin Event was initially created three years ago to promote a good-spirited Halloween and create a way for the library to interact with the UH community, The Daily Cougar reported in 2005.
"Each year we’ve thought of something more to add to it," she Meanley said. "For instance, this year the mascots will be joining us."
The first year it poured rain and all 10 of the entries had to be into the 24-hour lounge.
This year’s contest has 440 entries.
Judging will be done by University Libraries Donors at 3 p.m. and will have six categories: best school spirit, scariest, most unique, best celebrity impersonation, dean’s choice and most bookish.
The pumpkins will be on display starting at 4 p.m. where judging will determine the winners and announce them at 4:30 p.m.
Marketing senior Treva Anderson won last year’s contest for most bookish and received a plaque like the other winners.
"(I) did it because it was fun, and it didn’t seem like a lot of students were going for that category, which made it easier to win," Anderson said.
Art junior Thomas Bridges said he was interested in participating in the event and would try to attend the festivities today.
"I was going to do graves with math formulas and maybe even some Shastas – something way too detailed," he said. "I’m an art student, and we’re egotistical."
Additional reporting by Anny Sivilly
