Pumpkin House to Come Back 'Brighter Than Ever' Next Halloween

Editor's Note: This article was written prior to the Halloween snow storm and was originally expected to run one week ago, on Halloween Day. It was later updated with news of it's cancellation. 

Since 1980 Bethel husband and wife Billy Michael and Rosaly Donofrio have been lighting up Halloween night with a spectacular display of hundreds of jack-o'-lanterns at their home on Fleetwood Avenue. The display, which usually features about 500 pumpkins, draws so many people on Halloween night that members of the Bethel Fire Department or Police Department are brought to the road to help direct traffic.

Taking a short break from pumpkin carving last week Michael said, at night once the pumpkins are all lit up it's quite a sight.

“It's very enchanting. There are hundreds and hundreds of glowing jack-o'-lantern faces. It looks like an enchanted garden of jack-o'-lanterns,” he said. “It's something that's hard to describe verbally it's something that has to be seen.”

On Halloween, Michael said the majority of the crowd comes between around 7 and 9:30 p.m. but he said guests are welcome to stop by anytime between dusk and dawn.

“It's the only party that goes all night, it goes till dawn,” he said.

However this year, the party had to be canceled after the Halloween snow snow wrecked havoc in town, also canceling many other festivities. 

Though the public pumpkin display was canceled due to the storm and power outages, Michael said the spirit of Halloween could not be extinguished.

“Even though we didn't have the public aspect of our Halloween celebration a small group of pumpkin carvers stayed out till 3:30 a.m. on Halloween night and enjoyed the pumpkins that were carved albeit unlit,” Michael said. “The public aspect where people came over here in droves didn't happen but it takes about a month to put this together and so there was plenty of Halloween celebration here for that month.”

He added, next year the pumpkin display will be back and brighter than ever.

“We're already excited about 2012 and it will be here before you know it,” he said.

Many years ago, the event originally started on a much smaller scale. Michael and his wife, who are huge Halloween enthusiasts, adorned their house with 35 pumpkins the first year. From there it snowballed.

Michael said in the 1990s the event “exploded exponentially when we teamed up with Wade Hackney.”

Hackney was a farmer from New Milford who donated pumpkins he couldn't sell to Michael.

Today Michael said he and his wife are able to pull off the event in recent years thanks to help from family and friends.

“We have a cadre of family and friends that make this an annual ritual,” he said “The five days before Halloween and the day after this whole cadre of people are here and we get it done.”

Rather than using candles which would poise a fire hazard Michael and Donofrio use Christmas lights to light the jack-o'-lanterns.

“We generally like red and orange lights,” Michael said, “the pumpkins look their best when they're placed over a red or an orange Christmas light.”

The pumpkins used in the display are surplus pumpkins that local farms donate. The farms that contribute include the Harris Hill Farm in New Milford, the Warrup's Farm in Redding, Castle Hill Farm in Newtown and Blue Jay Orchards in Bethel.

This year because of the ravishes of Irene the local pumpkin crop has been depleted and farms have not had many extra pumpkins to donate to the display. At the beginning of the week Michael didn't have enough pumpkins but he said the community of Bethel really came together and individuals have been donating pumpkins.

Spearheading these community efforts has been The Sycamore Drive-In Restaurant in Bethel which has served as a location were people can drop off pumpkins for the display.

Patrick Austin the owner of The Sycamore said Michael is a daily costumer at the restaurant and when he and his sister, Kathy Austin, learned of Michael's pumpkin plight they wanted to do what they could to help.

“We wanted to try to make Halloween and his pumpkin house a success,” Austin said. “So far so good. I believe he's going to be able to meet his goal. All of our customers really kind of came together.”

Like many in Bethel, and even surrounding towns Austin is an annual visitor to the pumpkin house.

“It's really quite a site to see when it's all lit up,” he said. “It's quite an interesting spectacle.”

Austin added he was happy to help the event go forward this year.

“It's just nice to know we live in a nice community where if we ask for help everyone will kind of rally together and pitch in and make something successful,” he said.

For more information visit event website at www.bethelpumpkinhouse.com.