Pumpkin-carving queen Pam Hallinan is in her element at Halloween; she and her family have won dozens of ribbons at the Collector Village Pumpkin Festival – plus, she has the American advantage (and an arts degree).
The former Washingtonian now lives in Collector, and she owns a mean set of pumpkin carving tools: Dremel drill with various attachments, knives, spoons and spatulas. Growing up in the USA, where a massive 73 per cent of the population celebrates Halloween, Pam has tonnes of jack-o-lantern experience.
In case you haven’t noticed the cobwebs and coffins in Canberra’s streets, Halloween is on the rise (one in four Aussies celebrate Halloween). It’s driven largely by the influence of American culture (even though Halloween has Celtic origins) and – most importantly – the universal desire for free lollies.
“I’m a humble person so I don’t think I’m an excellent pumpkin carver, but I do enjoy it, and I do watch pumpkin carving videos,” Pam said. “Compared to an American who does all this good stuff, I’m totally not up to their specs.”
The champion pumpkin-carver misses the Collector Village Pumpkin Festival, so she’s throwing an idea out there – if anyone (Canberra?) wants to pick up where Collector left off in 2020, it’s up for grabs.
Like Canberra’s sorely-missed Birdman Rally, the Collector Pumpkin Festival gained legendary status amongst locals with its giant pumpkin competition (the 2018 winner weighed a massive 271kg). It was the biggest event on the Upper Lachlan Shire calendar and ran for 17 years, attracting up to 15,000 visitors. Unfortunately, the small village couldn’t cope with the influx of hungry visitors and Covid put the nail in the coffin.
“The whole Collector Festival stopped because it became too big and they didn’t have a lot of volunteers, I just wish some suburb would pick it up,” Pam said. “Whether it be somewhere in Canberra, Sutton, like any regional area, I think should pick this up because it’s a great festival. It was the sheer size, and I think it became a little bit overwhelming for Collector.
“It’s a great autumn festival so if some regional town picks it up, it’s really going to take off. If you build it, they will come.”
In the absence of an official pumpkin festival, Pam throws an annual Halloween party at her place in Collector, to sharpen her pumpkin-carving skills. The qualities in a pumpkin that Pam looks for are symmetry (none of the “odd bunch” veggies from Woolies).
And if Woolworths or Coles are reading this – stop cutting the stems off the pumpkins because they’re really important to a pumpkin carver.
“The stems are part of the pumpkin’s character. I wish we had a pumpkin patch to go to,” she said. “The stem just adds character to it, it’s kind of like having your hair on your head the way the pumpkin stem curves. It’s just part of the pumpkin that needs to be there.”
