Man has spent 20 years carving hundreds of intricate foam Jack O' Lanterns for his community to enjoy
A Utah man has spent 20 years carving hundreds of intricate foam Jack O' Lanterns for his community to enjoy. Retiree Ken Klinker, 63, carves 50 to 60 foam pumpkins every year between September and Halloween to display in his yard and around his community in Farmington, Utah. Each of his intricate creations can take up to eight hours to make and every spooky season Ken displays anywhere from 50 to 275 of them in his front yard. "I used to carve real pumpkins all the time but then I'd spend several hours carving and I'd have to just throw it away," Ken explained. "Eventually I started carving foam pumpkins so I could keep them from year to year."Ken's passion began over two decades ago, when he started carving pumpkins for his kids. "I used to carve the regular triangle eyes and nose for my kids and one day I bought a book with patterns in it," he said. "When I put a light in it the picture popped out at me and I got hooked on carving the more intricate patterns."His favorite designs include the zombie Tarman from Return of the Living Dead, a skeleton steering a ship and Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean. To make the pumpkins pop even more Ken lights them with different colored Christmas lights."If I have a Frankenstein I can put a green one in it or if there's a devil I can put a red one in there," he said. He sometimes makes his own patterns but also uses ones from website StonyKins and spends anywhere from 45 minutes to eight hours carving them into the pumpkins. Previously he's been able to also showcase them in his city's community room and in his wife's school, but this year due to COVID he's stuck to his yard and displaying them at haunted houses and haunted forests.Ken said that the public's response is one of his favorite parts of the whole process. "That's the thing that drives me to keep doing this, to stand there and watch people as they come in," he said. "People are just amazed by it."
A Utah man has spent 20 years carving hundreds of intricate foam Jack O' Lanterns for his community to enjoy.
Retiree Ken Klinker, 63, carves 50 to 60 foam pumpkins every year between September and Halloween to display in his yard and around his community in Farmington, Utah.
Each of his intricate creations can take up to eight hours to make and every spooky season Ken displays anywhere from 50 to 275 of them in his front yard.
"I used to carve real pumpkins all the time but then I'd spend several hours carving and I'd have to just throw it away," Ken explained.
"Eventually I started carving foam pumpkins so I could keep them from year to year."Ken's passion began over two decades ago, when he started carving pumpkins for his kids.
"I used to carve the regular triangle eyes and nose for my kids and one day I bought a book with patterns in it," he said.
"When I put a light in it the picture popped out at me and I got hooked on carving the more intricate patterns."His favorite designs include the zombie Tarman from Return of the Living Dead, a skeleton steering a ship and Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean.
To make the pumpkins pop even more Ken lights them with different colored Christmas lights."If I have a Frankenstein I can put a green one in it or if there's a devil I can put a red one in there," he said.
He sometimes makes his own patterns but also uses ones from website StonyKins and spends anywhere from 45 minutes to eight hours carving them into the pumpkins.
Previously he's been able to also showcase them in his city's community room and in his wife's school, but this year due to COVID he's stuck to his yard and displaying them at haunted houses and haunted forests.Ken said that the public's response is one of his favorite parts of the whole process.
"That's the thing that drives me to keep doing this, to stand there and watch people as they come in," he said.
