Area women create unique pumpkin displays
Beverly Barncord of Elizabeth works on one of her latest carved pumpkins. She spends two weeks every year preparing pumpkins for Halloween.
Karen Quinn works on the final touches of a pumpkin while demonstrating her carving skills at Simmons Farm on a recent Saturday. It takes Quinn just 15 minutes to carve each pumpkin.
Beverly Barncord of Elizabeth is carving about 40 pumpkins this year for a display outside her home. In past years, Barncord has carved more than 100 during the fall season. Barncord also carves pumpkins with different themes and sells them.
Karen Quinn demonstrates her pumpkin-carving abilities at Simmons Farm. Quinn said she started doing the more intricate carvings with her children.
Karen Quinn creates unique carved pumpkins during the fall season. Each pumpkin creation takes her about 15 minutes. She doesn’t gut the pumpkin; instead, she uses shading to give her designs an extra pop.
For the next two weeks, Beverly Barncord will be elbow-deep in pumpkins. Literally.
She started her yearly two-week vacation Saturday to prepare for the impending spooky holiday. But instead of turning her home on Monongahela Avenue in Elizabeth, just across the Monongahela River from Washington County, into a haunted house, Barncord decorates with 40 or more skillfully carved pumpkins.
“It’s all visible from the street,” Barncord said of her display. “I start setting them up maybe 10 feet from the curb. People will drive by at 10 p.m. or 11 p.m. to see them.”
While there have been years when Barncord scrambled to put the finishing touches on her display, she said she usually starts about 10 days prior to Halloween. Barncord and her husband, Tim, make a few trips to Duda’s Farm in Brownsville to gather their bounty. After the pumpkins are unloaded, Barncord starts to “grab and go,” removing the seeds and goop inside. She said she can gut a pumpkin in about five minutes.
Little tricks, like knowing how to grab pockets of seeds at one time, help her along the way. Once she removes the seeds, Barncord takes a kitchen spoon and removes the last bit of goop.
After all the pumpkins are gutted, Barncord sketches her designs onto the pumpkins. To prevent ink smudges, Barncord makes tiny holes to outline her path. More intricate designs take roughly 45 minutes, while basic faces take less time.
Barncord started carving when her two daughters, now 21 and 18, were young. From there, her talents have blossomed.
“I found a few patterns, and it snowballed from there,” she said. “I started my daughters out when they were young. I would let them go to town.”
In addition to her display, Barncord also takes orders from the community. She charges between $10 and $15 for her creations.
“Last year, I did a Harry Potter-themed wedding,” she said.
People learn about Barncord through word of mouth, she said. She once carved at the Covered Bridge Festival in Mingo Creek County Park after telling the owner of a pumpkin display about her skills.
Peters Township resident Karen Quinn also creates impressive displays. Each year, Quinn pulls out her knives to carve for Simmons Farm in McMurray.
Several Saturdays spanning the end of September and the middle of October, Quinn sets up shop in one of Simmons’ greenhouses. Using pumpkins with unusual shapes and gourds, she sculpts different faces for the crowds that gather.
“I try to keep them simple so that people could say, ‘Hey! I could do that,'” Quinn said.
Quinn, an artist, said she started carving pumpkins with her children. She chooses not to gut her pumpkins and uses shading – which removes layers of the fruit but doesn’t pierce the skin – to give her designs an extra pop.
Sharp kitchen knives allow her to complete a pumpkin in roughly 15 minutes.
“Normally, I do faces,” Quinn said. “That’s what the kids like. Everyone loves the crazy ones.”
Quinn said comic strips inspire her designs. She likes to carve big eyes, mouths and teeth.
“I make them very exaggerated,” she said.
Quinn does not sell her pumpkins. “It’s just something fun,” she said. “I’ll do them for my grandson.”
Both women said carving is a fun way to celebrate the season.
Barncord really enjoys Halloween, and she’s hoping for a nice evening for her jack-o’-lantern display.
“Last year it was cold and rainy,” she said. “I couldn’t get the blessed things lit to save my life. My husband finally got them to go with a flare!”