Ghoulies in the Coulees

The Norwegian Heritage Farm in Coon Valley, Norskedalen, requested the help of the community to assist in carving 400 pumpkins for their annual jack o'lantern lit trails for the "Ghoulies in the Coulees" later this week.

My Global Buddy Jie and I were two of the volunteers to answer the call for help. The majority of the volunteers during our shift were UW-L students completing community service hours. 

This was Jie's first experience to create a Jack-O-Lantern since Jie is from Guillin, China and this is her first Halloween. 


It was a bit chilly in the open pavillion and the pumpkins were cold but we managed to carve up 5 jack o'lanterns during our two hour stay. On the left is Jie's first jack o'lantern. I think both Jie's and the pumpkin's smiles represented our fun afternoon together. We also chatted with some of the volunteers around us but most were concentrating on their artistic efforts.

My geometric design should cast some nice shadows...

Luckily for us after our first pumpkin, a couple of the guys had electric drills which sped up the procedure since they drilled off the tops and scooped out the majority of the innards so all we basically had to do was design and carve. 

It looks like Jie has done this many times...

My third

 My second effort was a small pumpkin with the word BOO.
Jie read it as BOD. Uh oh. Easy enough to fix the 'D' looking letter into an 'O'. Thanks, Jie.

Unfortunately, we missed out on the promised snacks as they arrived after we left. It would have been nice to have had some hot cider/ hot cocoa.

Monday at 10-6, the 20th, more volunteers will be needed to continue creating more 'pumpkin' lanterns. Maybe, if you have some free time and are in the area you could help/ perhaps you will want to attend and support "Ghoulies in the Coulees."
 Here's the: LINK

One thing's for sure, it is a 'drop dead' gorgeous drive and you will be in a beautiful setting, just as beautiful as End of the Rainbow Valley... Jie and I will just have to return one day to be tourists and visit the historic buildings.