The North Logan Pumpkin Walk started back in 1983 by retired school teacher and North Logan resident, Ida Beutler and her husband Wallace. It has been a symbol of the beginning of the Halloween season for over 30,000 people from all around Utah.
The occasion started when Ida devised a plan to spread the Halloween spirit by doing something fun for friends and family. She set up scenes around her farm, which ended up being vandalized by some boys in the neighborhood in its first year.
After the vandalization, the boys were invited back to the scene of the crime to help Ida create the following year’s display, and it grew from there.
It was later taken over by North Logan City, on the grounds the event stayed free and unadvertised.
The event includes painted and carved pumpkins used to recreate movie scenes and a variety of other displays. This year’s walk includes an outer space scene made by a third grade class.
To add more excitement, staff member Sandy Ballard hides a small pumpkin in each scene, and encourages attendees to try to find them all.
Many of the staff and the attendees have come to the Pumpkin Walk for as long as they can remember , for decades.
“I’ve been coming since I was a kid, and it's one of my favorite traditions.”
“We actually try to make it every year.”
“I used to come here as a kid … we would come out almost every year and come see it … but I haven't been back for years and years. But this is our daughter's first little Halloween, Maeve. And anyways, we decided that maybe she'd want to come take a look at it.”
After over four decades, participants marvel at the event’s growth.
“We just keep learning and figuring out how to do things we learn from each other," said Gina Worthen, a member of the Pumpkin Walk Committee. "And so I think, I think the scene quality and creativity has just dramatically gotten better over the years.”
Worthen said the team begins planning next year’s walk almost immediately after the event closes.
“We go through and see what worked, what didn't work, what do we need to do?" Worthen said. "And then we have a planning meeting in May, and we nail down more details for the year.”
Worthen noted that the event starts taking shape two weeks before opening, as the volunteers create and set up scenes, put up lights, and run electricity through the park.
“It's just mad craziness down here,” Worthen said.
Worthen said the event would not be possible without the help of the hundreds of volunteers that bring it all to life.
"I mean, we have people volunteer to carve all these pumpkins that line the path," Worthen said, "And we have someone in charge of that to make sure that that gets done …. And so I like to say, for every pumpkin you see, there's one volunteer behind it.”
The Pumpkin Walk will close on Oct. 21 and the best time to show up is around 4:30 p.m.
“So before they shut the road down to allow for the bus to come through," Worthen said. "Because what you do is you walk around once and you see it in the light, and then you walk around again and see it in the dark with the lights on.”
While all of the scenes are unique, the Disneyland Cruise, the Night at the Museum, and the Madeline scenes are especially praised.
“It's just totally awesome," Worthen said.
