The McConnell Springs Park jack-o’-lantern trail brought the families of the Lexington community out to surround themselves in nature and celebrate the Halloween season. 

The event was held from Oct. 22-25, and featured a trail of carved pumpkins, a s’mores-making stand, food vendors and two owls from Critters in the Classroom.       

Tatum Hopkins, the Parks and Recreation event coordinator, said that the trail has been an annual event since 2020.

“​​We needed some kind of outdoor event that people could still come to, but safely during COVID,” Hopkins said. “It was such a big hit that we’ve continued to do it, and it gets bigger and bigger every year.”

This year’s trail featured 1,000 pumpkins, all donated and carved by members of the community. They pushed for a higher number of pumpkins this year to help celebrate 250 years of Lexington, according to Hopkins.

Coming together with family and friends to make this trail happen is one of her favorite parts of the event, Hopkins said.    

“The thing that I love the most is everyone is so joyful here,” Hopkins said. “It’s like, people are ready, the air is crisp, fall is here, the holidays are coming, and you can just feel a little buzz in the air and everybody’s just a little happier than usual.”

The people who donated to the trail got four free tickets to the event and a special edition poster. 

Hopkins said one of her favorite jack-o’-lanterns on the trail was themed around the movie “The Sandlot,” including a hat that said “Smalls” and a baseball in its eye.    

Melissa Quinio, an art instructor for Parks and Recreation, as well as the president of Dance Attack Dance Company Booster club, said she and some of her dancers were volunteering at the event.  

During the jack-o’-lantern trail’s first year, Quinio had her art class carve a bunch of pumpkins to donate to the trail. They ended up donating around 40 pumpkins, according to Quinio. 

“The best part is when all the people donate the pumpkins and you get to see that so many people, so many different schools and groups will carve pumpkins and donate them, and you can walk around and see all the cool things that people designed and came up with,” Quinio said. 

Jill Lopez, an X-ray technologist, was with her family walking on the trail, including her 2-year-old daughter, Cassidy Lopez, who was interested in all the different pumpkins.    

“We’ve been pointing out all the ghost pumpkins,” Jill Lopez said. “My daughter just learned how to say ghosts and spot them all out, so that’s been the highlight, pointing out and finding all the ghost pumpkins.”