For those who miss seeing a ton of hand carved pumpkin displays such as the ones Sleepy Hollow Sports Park used to do on their “Blazing Jack-o-Lanterns’ hay ride (here is a photo of that one from 2014)…
…an international pumpkin attraction is setting up here in Des Moines. (I do not have photos of it, since it has not opened yet.)
Pumpkins After Dark has locations in “Canada, the United States, and Ireland.” There are two locations in the USA listed. It is always interesting when places like this choose Des Moines:
https://pumpkinsafterdark.com/locations
I am generally hesitant to post about things like this since we have had a few scams over the years where fancy websites announced attractions with locations “around the country” and pre-sold tickets … only to dig a little deeper and find they did not exist.
But Water Works Park does have them listed:
https://www.waterworkspark.org/events
I have written to their PR folks and received a response that summarized the experience:
“Pumpkins After Dark is an award-winning, family-friendly Halloween experience making its Des Moines debut this year at Water Works Park, running October 9–31.
The experience features thousands of hand-carved pumpkins, large-scale illuminated displays, live pumpkin carving demonstrations, roaming Halloween characters, music, photo opportunities, and plenty of Halloween atmosphere throughout the walk-through experience.”
Slade Creative
They start this Friday (October 9). Prices are listed from $12-$30 depending on the night (plus “processing fee”, “service fee” and “sales tax”). More information can be found at the Des Moines page on their website.
https://pumpkinsafterdark.com/des-moines
A “family pack” of four tickets on Friday comes to $83.52, which is just over $20 per ticket.
Once they open, and folks have checked it out, we should know more about the experience.