Scott Illsley is up to Halloween mischief again in West Galt, even though he doesn’t live here anymore.
He’s a Nova Scotia native and remembers the annual Halloween festival in Kentville. More than 300 “pumpkin people” decorate that town every October, he says.
He and his wife Allison brought the tradition to Cambridge in 2015, after moving to Brant Road in the West Galt neighbourhood.
“My wife Allison and I thought it would be fun to start the tradition in West Galt,” Scott says.
“The pumpkin people are silly, fun-loving folk happy to share a laugh with passers-by and the kids – young and old – love them!”
Scott’s pumpkin people aren’t usually carved up. Instead, faces are painted on, so that the pumpkins can last a week or two on display.
West Galt Goes for the Gourds
The Pumpkin Possee quickly grew to patrol streets all around Victoria Park in the historic Dickson Hill neighbourhood. Students from Highland Public School head out to tour the displays, he says.
By 2017, there were themes for every year’s display, from sports to work to music and fairy tales. The 2023 theme was movies. For 2024, it The Olympics. In 2026, it’s Water.
The displays are added to the long-standing reputation of West Galt as a prime Halloween location for trick-or-treaters, with tree-lined streets and front porches on the big homes built more than a century ago.
Scott and his family moved back to the Maritimes in 2020, to Prince Edward Island, to be closer to family. He has many friends in West Galt and returns each autumn to keep the pumpkin people tradition alive in the last two weeks of October.
Scott doesn’t advocate carving up pumpkins. He’s all about painted faces, costumes and goofy situations playing out front yards across Dickson Hill. Like the high-jumper into a pool of leaves on his front yard in 2018, shown above.
“I always say that the charm of these pumpkin people is that they don’t take themselves too seriously and neither should their creators. People shouldn’t stress about any themes. Putting up any display is amazing and the more houses that get involved the better!
“In the past, we have had themes such as Pumpkin People Playing Sports, Pumpkin People at Work, TV Shows, Music and Fairy Tales. I am always amazed at how creative the West Galt families are in what they come up with,” Scott says.
Pumpkin People Information
If you want to join in the fun, he offers construction and lighting tips at https://www.westgalt.org/pumpkins
Email Scott: westgaltpumpkinpeople@gmail.com
Scott’s Pumpkin People Pro-Tips
The pumpkin people are generally on display over the last 2 weeks of October, often put up the weekend after Thanksgiving.
The pumpkin faces are best painted onto the pumpkins, so that the pumpkins last a bit longer. People should also make back-up heads as the pumpkins can go soft after a week and need replacement. Squirrels can sometimes get to them too some years.
How-to Craft Your Pumpkin People
What you need:
1. Pumpkin for the head and paint to make the face – big white eyes with dark pupils show up well. It is best to make backup heads as they may need to be replaced after a week.
2. Old clothing
3. Hay, newspaper, plastic bags or leaves for stuffing
4. Frame for the body – you can use wood (1″ x 3″ or similar) or Cornstalks- tape three or four stalks together with packing tape every 2 ft or so – you need enough stalks to be stiff enough to keep the pumpkin person standing upright.
5. Optional – Flood light to light up your display at night.
Pro tip: Keep spare pumpkin heads at the ready, as replacements. Sometimes, things go soft after a few weeks, or the squirrels make their own mischief in the displays.
Scott’s Pumpkin People, Step-by-Step
1. Make a frame or skeleton for the pumpkin person out of wood or cornstalk. The frame can be very simple but will need to form at least one leg, a torso, a neck (that can all be a single piece of wood) and arms. The neck should extend 6 or so inches above the arms to allow for mounting of the pumpkin head.
2. Dress your frame in clothing. You may wish to fasten the pants to the shirt or sweater to help contain any stuffing.
3. Stuff the clothing with straw, leaves, plastic bags, et cetera.
4. To stand your pumpkin person upright, use a wooden stake, sharp at one end. The stake should be as tall as your pumpkin person if using a cornstalk frame
5. Drive stake into the ground – you may want to do this at a slight angle to match the angle of the leg
6. Slide one leg of the pumpkin person over the stake. For a cornstalk frame – unbutton or lift shirt and wire stake to cornstalk frame. For wood frame – screw stake to leg with wood screws.
7. Consider supporting opposite leg with a shorter stake
8. Mount head onto neck but cutting a small hole in the bottom of the pumpkin
9. Sit back and laugh at your creation!
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