Pumpkin Glow Returns to Hershey Gardens for Halloween, Bigger & Brighter Than Ever!
What’s Halloween without a few hundred jack-o-lanterns, creative pumpkin carving—and some creepy crawlers? This year’s Pumpkin Glow at Hershey Gardens is all that—and more! Now in its 10th year, the popular non-scary, family-friendly Halloween event, being held October 20, 21, 27 and 28, from 6 to 8:30 p.m., is bigger and brighter than ever, sure to give guests a feast for the visual senses.
Kids are encouraged to come dressed in their favorite costume, bring a flashlight and collect sweet treats at eight candy stations along the path. As they wind their way through the Gardens, they’ll see more beautifully carved jack-o-lanterns than ever before—more than 200.
Making Pumpkin Glow extra Halloween-ish this year is an expanded collection of live tarantulas, scorpions, bugs and beetles in the Creepy Crawly Gallery. Some friendly, furry animal puppets are also making their Pumpkin Glow debut, greeting guests as they make their way among the jack-o-lanterns and amazing fall displays of gourds, ornamental grasses and mums.
And what’s trick-or-treating without some yummy-ness? For the first time at Pumpkin Glow a food truck will be onsite, offering a scrumptious assortment of signature cupcakes, baked goods and beverages for sale.
But it’s the jack-o-lanterns that make Pumpkin Glow so special. In addition to dedicated staff, who does some of the carving, pastry and culinary arts students from local career and technology centers are able to further hone their carving skills to create the majority of whimsical and artistic jack-o-lanterns on display. This year, the amount of expertly carved pumpkins are plentiful, and they’re grouped by theme, such as Hero Headquarters, Creative Cartoons, Haunted Happenings, Halloween Zoo, Woodland Creatures, A Pirate's Life, Wicked Fun, Plants & Pollinators and Once Upon a Time. Some of the students who carved the pumpkins will be sharing their expertise under the tent in the Milton & Catherine Hershey Conservatory.
Sound too good to miss? Tickets for Pumpkin Glow can be purchased in advance at HersheyGardens.org or at the door. Members are free; Discovery passes not accepted. The Butterfly Atrium will be closed during Pumpkin Glow.
General admission is $12.50 for visitors ages 13-61, $11.50 for seniors (ages 62 and up), and $9.00 for juniors (ages 3-12); children ages 2 and under are free. For more information about Hershey Gardens, visit HersheyGardens.org or call 717-534-3492.
Candy distributed at Pumpkin Glow is generously donated by The Hershey Company.