Thousands of hand carved pumpkins light up the night at The Rise of the Jack O’Lanterns event, hosted by Descanso Gardens.

The path is approximately a third of a mile long and takes about an hour to walk through. There are myriad types of pumpkins along the trail as well as eerie music playing with each of the displays.

A team of artists take on the task of creating these beautiful masterpieces for the event. Depending on the design of the pumpkins, carving time can sometimes take up to 20 hours.

Some pumpkins are simple and others are extremely intricate works of art.
The larger pieces have an array of themes, such as Spiderman, Jurassic Park and even a 50-foot long dragon. The smaller pumpkins on the path are varied in design. There were all sorts of things carved and painted on the jack-o’-lanterns, some include portraits of presidential candidates, celebrities, cartoon characters and even emojis.

There is also a large oak tree that holds more than 1,000 hand carved pumpkins.

Throughout the trails, sculptors carve pumpkins live — offering tips and tricks on how to carve the perfect pumpkin.

This event is Halloween-themed and is more of a family friendly art show.

On a recent evening, the Rise was crawling with children of all ages who were more amused than terrified.

“It was way better than I expected. It was my first time here and there were more pumpkins than I thought, the tiger was my favorite,” attendee Julie Stein said.

Other than cool pumpkins, guests could enjoy turkey legs, churros, corn on the cob along with other sweets and snacks. Beer and wine is available for adults too. The Descanso gardens gift shop is also open during this event.

There are two Los Angeles locations: Descanso Gardens and Santa Anita Park. Tickets range from $22 to $30 depending on the date, location and time. Discounted tickets are available at therise.org.

The Rise runs Thursdays through Sundays through Nov. 1. Times vary depending on nightfall. For more up-to-date information, visit therise.org.
“It was definitely worth the price and I would pay it again. We had an awesome time,” Sandra Hamilton said.