TOPEKA (KSNT) - Pumpkins are a Halloween staple that fills yards throughout the country this time of year. You probably have memories as a kid drawing, gutting, carving and lighting them up. Although, what you probably don't have a memory of is doing hundreds of them. That's exactly what one Topeka family is setting out to do.
"The first year we did about 30, the next year we did about 60 and then 90," Pumpkin carver Linda Laird said. "It just grew from there. Now it's our 20th year, and we're hoping to set a record, we're hoping to get 280."
With the help of family, friends, and neighbors, they start the process four days leading up to Halloween. They even get the help of some family traveling in from as far out as San Francisco to help out.
"We have anywhere from I'd say 20 to 40 people in our house the nights that we carve on those four nights," Pumpkin carver Greg Laird said.
And just like a snowflake, no two jack-o'-lanterns are the same.
"We have stencil books, so they can look at a stencil and you can apply it to your pumpkin and then shave it or cut it you know," Linda said. "But a lot of people just like to free hand. A lot of our kids, our grandkids, they'll just free-hand an idea that they have."
While this 20-year tradition brings the whole family together like Thanksgiving and Christmas, they don't do it for themselves, they do it for everyone else.
"We love it and we're gonna keep doing it," Greg said. It's just something that everybody that comes over enjoys, and that's why we do it. We do it for the little children, and then their parents and everybody that comes over and enjoys it."
Last year friends and family of the lairds carved 222 pumpkins. Their highest count is 277. This Halloween night, if you're trick-or-treating in the Potwin neighborhood, you'll be able to see hopefully a record-breaking number of jack-o-lanterns lit up to enjoy.
