Hang On To Your Jack-O-Lantern

Staff Photo by Jeff Depew

With the Fall season in full swing and the scent of pumpkin spice in the air, the community is beginning to prep their porches and yards with décor for the Halloween holiday. There’s nothing more Autumn-like than a impromptu trip to the corn maze and pumpkin patch. Of course, a trip to the pumpkin patch always means jack-o-lanterns and baked pumpkin seeds. That is until a few short weeks later the seeds are all eaten, and you’re left with a soft pile of pumpkin mush on your porch. Well, when talking to a few of the art professors at Carson-Newman University this week, they directed me to a few products they learned to use to preserve fruits and vegetable for sculpture, or in this case, holiday decoration. Professors Lisa Flanery and David Underwood from the photography department recommended using a light powered bleach to preserve pumpkins. This method is commonly used to help preserve perishables during photo shooting or painting still lifes. The easiest and safest method is to use a spray bottle to coat the inside and the outside of the finished jack-o-lantern. If the bleach is too strong, you can dilute it to a 50-50 concentration of bleach to water but no other chemicals. Hopefully this little tip will keep those cute carved faces lighting up all the way up to Halloween.