Pumpkin Patch Visits In Bradenton: Origin Of Jack-O’-Lanterns

BRADENTON, FL — If you’re planning to turn your best find at a Bradenton-area pumpkin patch into a jack-o’-lantern, you may be wondering about the origins of the fall tradition.

First, here’s a list of pumpkin patches and fields around Bradenton:

• Fruitville Grove, 7410 Fruitville Road in Sarasota, hosts its 33rd annual Pumpkin Festival with a pumpkin patch and other fall activities.
• Hunsader Farms, 5500 C.R. 675 in Bradenton, hosts its 30th annual Pumpkin Festival Oct. 16-17, 23-24 and 30-31, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $12 per person and $5 to park. Children 10 and younger are free. The festival includes a pumpkin patch, craft show, live music and shows, hayrides, pony rides, a corn maze, a pioneer trades village, a petting zoo and more.
• Pumpkin Patch Express, 12210 83rd Street in East Parrish, is a popular trip from the Florida Railroad Museum takes you to a patch of pumpkins. Children are invited to pick their own pumpkin to take home. Everyone is also invited to participate in the hayride. Lincoln log building, crafts and other activities offered at no additional charge. Coach seating is $19 for adults and $15 for children. First-class, excursion and group seating is also available.

Hollowed-out pumpkins, with carved faces and lighted from the inside by candles, can be seen throughout Bradenton and across the country during the Halloween season. But the time-honored tradition actually originated in Ireland, with people carving turnips and potatoes rather than pumpkins.

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In fact, the name “jack-o’-lantern” comes from an Irish folktale about a man named Stingy Jack, who was said to be a mean-spirited blacksmith who, after tricking the devil, was doomed to spend eternity roaming the earth with a burning coal for light.

“In Ireland and Scotland, people began making their own versions of Jack’s lanterns by carving scary faces into turnips or potatoes and placing them into windows or near doors to frighten away Stingy Jack and other wandering evil spirits,” History.com wrote.

Irish immigrants brought the tale — and their carving tradition — to America. When they arrived in the 19th and early 20th centuries, they quickly realized that pumpkins were much easier to carve than the vegetables they had been using.

The tradition stuck, and now people in Bradenton and throughout the country look forward to carving pumpkins each year. Some stick with the classic jack-o-lantern, while others carve witches, owls and vampires into their pumpkins.

“The carved gourds have come to serve as much more than mere decoration,” National Geographic wrote. “Despite their often fearsome look, jack-o’-lanterns now symbolize a welcoming sense of community.”