Giant cyclops jack-o-lantern steals the show at Inglewood’s annual pumpkin carving contest

By Rob Paul

For the second straight year, the Village of Inglewood Association held its Annual Pumpkin Carving contest.

The contest came together last year when the pandemic hindered Halloween festivities, which led to the idea of a community pumpkin carving as a safe alternative.

The contest allows for residents of Inglewood to decorate their homes for Halloween while coming together in the spirit of the season, and this year's contest had a clear cut winner.

Travis Farrell, who was a winner in last year's contest too, took it up a notch by not only carving a giant pumpkin, but turning the pumpkin into a monstrous cyclops for all in the community to enjoy.

While the community's eyes were fixed on the giant pumpkin, the cyclops' eye was on all the trick-or-treaters in the neighbourhood who passed by the Stationlands Pavilion.

The giant cyclops pumpkin was locally grown by Farrell and carved on-site for everyone to watch him go to work with his machete. Weighing in at over 1,200 pounds, Farrell had some help from Dave Robertson, owner of the Riverdale Fitness Mill, in moving the pumpkin into the community with a forklift.

On Halloween night, the jack-o-lantern was lit up with its lone eye glowing bright while surrounded by dozens of other pumpkins Farrell grew and carved. 

Carolyn Wadley, Farrell's aunt, was ecstatic about her nephew getting involved again this year and this time bringing one of his famous giant pumpkins.

“The Village of Inglewood Association runs the contest, and this was the second year doing it,” said Wadley. “And they decided last year with the lockdown and people not trick-or-treating that this would be something to bring a little joy and happiness to the community. So, by October 31, they wanted people to submit their carvings. I went over to see Travis and his giant pumpkins—he's been growing them for about three years now—and he had grown four of them. They're just amazing so I asked if we could submit one into the contest and of course he was happy to and ended up getting first prize. The Village of Inglewood Association were just blown away by it.”

Carving the pumpkin on-site was an event in itself with plenty of residents stopping by to pepper Farrell with questions as he turned the Pumpkin into a spooky creation.

“He was out there on Friday and the Village of Inglewood Association put it out on social media letting residents know he'd be carving it so they could come watch,” she said. “Travis said so many residents were asking him questions as he carved it with his giant machete. There were massive chips of pumpkin on the ground when he was done, so he and my son loaded the chips into their truck and are offering them to local farmers for their cattle. It was such an amazing thing.”

With the cyclops jack-o-lantern being the showstopper of Halloween in Inglewood, it became the place residents congregated at to enjoy a night of candy and community. 

“It ended up becoming the meeting place on Halloween night,” she said. “Hardly anyone went trick-or-treating last year so this year with Coywolf open, the Village of Inglewood Association had a costume contest where they gave out prizes. So, there was just so many kids around the village of having a blast. People were just so happy with the pumpkin, and it was great. It was all about people coming together for the community and this is Travis' passion, so he was so happy to show it off.”