Located at the Los Angeles Convention Center and the Pomona Fairplex, this popular event is an unique, iconic, well-illuminated trail of exquisite hand carved jack o’lanterns that come in all different shapes and sizes with many well-known themes for adults and children of all ages.
From Disney to professional sports teams and icons, the RISE has it all and has brought the expectations very high this year.
“It amazes me on how creative artists get with their jack o’lanterns and how much more you can do with a pumpkin beside just the original scary face,” spectator at the RISE Kendra Wood said. “My kids and I have enjoyed it the past two years and will continue to for future years to come.”
Hundreds of carvers from around the country gather to create the show of a lifetime in only four cities in North America.
Having the shows for only one weekend in each city of Los Angeles, Boston, Long Island, and Secaucus, New Jersey, keeps the team at the RISE busy every single day carving over 5,000 pumpkins each weekend.
At the RISE, pumpkins range in all various shapes and sizes depending on the many themes of the jack o’lanterns. Some masterpieces contain a large collage of carved pumpkins to creating a life-size work of art. Others are 100 plus pound pumpkins that are intricately designed and carved to perfection.
Rachel Slover is just one of the many artists at RISE of the Jack O’Lanterns and was working on an elaborate piece involving a pond of koi fish on a pumpkin that was well over 100 pounds.
“A piece like this usually takes up from 10-15 hours, especially using small ceramic tools,” said Slover. “The trick is to carve at different depths of the pumpkin to get the various dimensions you see from the light.”
Another artist Zach Fajarado specializes in carving smaller pumpkins at a thicker depth giving his jack o’lanterns a more three-dimensional look.
“Using smaller pumpkins, a piece will take about 3-4 hours to complete,” said Fajardo. “I enjoy carving comic book characters and tend to usually stick with that theme, so detail is very important.”
Artists at the RISE say that a tip and a trick for your Halloween pumpkins are to never rush your art and to use Borax to keep your pumpkins stay looking fresh for days.
Each year the RISE of the Jack O’Lanterns sets the standards higher than the previous year, becoming more fascinating and one of the countries’ most talked about events for Halloween time.
Celebrities like Julie Bowen, starring on ABC’s Modern Family, were raving about the RISE of the Jack O’Lanterns on Jimmy Kimmel Live saying how the experience was completely unbelievable.
Tickets range from $20-$30 and sell out very quickly, so remember to plan early for next year and keep updated with new locations and special offers at therise.org.
