A good pumpkin, once carved, should be sprayed with disinfectant and Vaseline lathered on to its cut edges.
That is the advice from Mark McNamara, who has been carving pumpkins professionally for 16 years.
The perfect jack-o-lantern begins with the picking. Before buying, he says, give the options a good look-over and avoid ones with soft areas or bruising. Once home, wash the pumpkin with soapy water.
McNamara advises against choosing a very sharp knife. Cut the lid at an angle so it does not fall through, he says.
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Once you have scooped out the fruit’s seeds and guts, try to ensure the area that will become the face is about half an inch thick. Any deeper will make it too difficult to cut through. The design looks better when the flesh is thinner, he says.
McNamara recommends displaying the pumpkin in a cool spot, which will help it last for a week or two.
Alongside pumpkin carving, McNamara, from Walkinstown in Dublin, creates pop art and paintings. About 16 years ago he spotted that his artwork skills were transferable to pumpkin carving.
During the presidential election of 2011, he approached Fallon & Byrne in Dublin offering to carve the faces of presidential candidates for the shop’s autumnal window. He then made carvings for Whelan’s pub and others on Wexford Street.
“Every year, it goes from strength to strength,” he said of his business. Now, each October, he balances his office job with his Halloween artwork.
Ahead of October 31st this year, McNamara was invited to showcase his carving skills at Pumpkins After Dark at Newbridge House & Farm in Donabate, north Dublin.
The event has its roots in Milton, Ontario, in Canada. Its first outing, six years ago, attracted more than 90,000 visitors. It soon spread to other locations across North America and Canada.
Cliodhna Owens, who lives in Canada but is from Raheny, is part of the team who brought the event to Dublin and Europe.
Bringing the event back home is “lovely” she said, adding that there is an “Irish twist” to it, with the festival of Samhain tied in.
The event displays more than 10,000 pumpkins, each hand-carved by a team of artists. Some bear carvings of leprechauns, hurlers and gardaí.
McNamara was not involved in carving these display pumpkins. Instead, he demonstrates in front of the public. During the first few nights of the Dublin event, he completed more than 25 pumpkin carvings.
Carvings take him between half an hour and 45 minutes. “By Halloween night, my hands will be cooked, I’ll be done,” he says, laughing.
He takes inspiration from TV shows, films or news stories around the time of carving, with recent depictions including RTÉ presenter Marty Morrissey and Japanese animation character Hello Kitty. This year supernatural TV shows such as Wednesday and Stranger Things have been particularly popular.
“Its fantastic. We’ve imported [Halloween] back and I think we’ve put our own spin on it as well. It’s bigger every year,” he said.
With organisers hoping to make Dublin-based Pumpkins After Dark an annual event, Newbridge House & Farm has started growing its own pumpkins.
Chargehand farmer Shane Corbally, from Duleek in Co Meath, said he grew pumpkins for the first time last year.
“They worked very well. It’s becoming a very popular thing everywhere and a lot of farmers are doing it,” he said.
Pumpkins, a type of squash, are a “minimum input crop”, making them easy to grow in Ireland’s temperate climate, he said. He explained that seeds from the previous year’s crop are dried and sowed at the end of May before being harvested in October time.
“They don’t like any cold weather, so going into a nice dry bed, they’ll grow away.”
