Enter Ventura’s First-Ever Ventura-Inspired Pumpkin Carving Contest

by Visit Ventura

  Calling all Pumpkin Carvers. Time to enter Visit Ventura’s First Annual (traditions have to start somewhere) Ventura-Inspired Pumpkin Carving Contest. Rules? Guidelines? Nah, there aren’t any. Just carve out your Ventura-Inspired pumpkin holding to any (many) Ventura theme you choose. Surfing pumpkin? Beach pumpkin? Craft beer pumpkin? Craft beer(s)-inspired pumpkin? Doesn’t matter. Just let your creativity run amok, head to our Facebook page at this link and then post a photo of your creation in the comments section. Maybe there is one rule. You have until Thursday, October 29th to share your pumpkin. Witching hour (legal term, entries close) is Friday, October 30th because that’s the day we’ll pick our winners. Yep, in the Halloween spirit — and the spirit of fun — there will be more than one. Winners will receive a luxurious Ventura-branded serape (warm and cozy and big enough to wrap two) and a Ventura tote bag filled with assorted small goodies. Think friendly neighbor tossing a fistful of treats into your pillowcase. Need a little creative inspiration? Who better to draw inspiration from than the Irish? Yes, the Irish have elevated blarney (a verbal version of creativity) to untoward heights, but here’s some rare Irish fact. It was Irish immigrants who brought the tradition of carving pumpkins into Jack O’Lanterns to America. Though the original Jack O’Lanterns were not pumpkins at all, for pumpkins did not exist in Ireland. The Irish carved out turnips on All Hallow’s Eve, placing a burning ember inside them to ward off evil spirits. Upon arrival in the New World, the ever-adaptive Irish quickly discovered that pumpkins were a whole lot easier to carve. But easy isn’t always the path to victory. A member of our Visit Ventura team carved the pumpkin pictured. Asked for a quote, he said, “It took two Hunger Games to finish.” So get started. And don’t worry. We’ll be posting this blog several times again, so you’ll have several chances to post your Ventura-Inspired creation on our Facebook Page here. Have fun! And thanks for having a sense of fun.