Aficionados of whimsical jack-o’-lanterns should hop the red line down to the Boston Children’s Museum at noontime this Halloween, where the Fort Point Channel Pumpkin Pageant commences its 10th Halloween happening. Bemusement and free snacks will be had by all. Last year, Sarah Casasanto played a key role in rallying her coworkers at Margulies Perruzzi Architects to craft the “Scariest” category winner: squash-rendered likenesses of Jack Skellington and his main squeeze, Sally.
Tell me about these Nightmare Before Christmas pumpkins.
Obviously, “The Nightmare Before Christmas” is a cool movie, so we went that route. We’re architects, we’re creative, and it was a little outside the box. We joke because Sally, in a way, came out looking more like Snooki.
I’ve known multiple women who find Jack attractive. What’s up with that?
I don’t know! He’s a little bit out of proportion, when you think about it. There’s no way his little body can hold up his head.
What were your favorite jack-o’-lanterns last year that you didn’t have a hand in creating?
Um, someone made this whole structure with tons of little pumpkins and big pumpkins that were all Angry Birds. It was amazing. There was another one where some restaurant cut the pumpkin in half and carved the bottom half to look like a boat. The sail was this sugary, clear concoction. It was unbelievable. Someone, of course, did a pumpkin that looked like it was throwing up. It’s like, “When it doubt, make the pumpkin look like he’s throwing up, or eating a smaller pumpkin.”
From the pictures I’m seeing, I can’t tell if that pumpkin is vomiting or eating…
Yeah, it’s like, “Really? Nothing else came to mind? The event is at the Children’s Museum. Children don’t need to see that! When we were brainstorming different stuff this year, we were like, “We have to be conscious of children around the vicinity.”
Why? What could you do that would be offensive?
Well, not to give too much away, but we’re doing the Cheshire Cat. Obviously, his head detaches, so we’re trying to figure out how to get the head to look like it’s floating. There are trees in the area, so wouldn’t it be cool if we could make it float and hang out in the trees? At the same time, if kids are hanging around and, if, God forbid, the pumpkin lands on a kid, I’m pretty sure we won’t win….
