Arizona Pumpkin Carving Festival
The pumpkin carvings on display at the Enchanted Pumpkin Garden in Carefree, Arizona are a Halloween spectacular you must see. Admission is free to this family-friendly Fall festival. The pumpkins, carved by master pumpkin carver Ray Villafane, will be illuminated each night and are on display along the walking paths throughout the Carefree Desert Gardens. In addition to the intricately carved pumpkins, you’ll find various scenes with pumpkins designed to look like the characters set throughout the grounds of the Carefree Desert Gardens Park.
Carefree Desert Gardens
The Carefree Desert Gardens is a four-acre public park with desert plants, water features, and walking paths located in Carefree, Arizona. Carefree is located about 30 minutes north of the popular Arizona resorts in Scottsdale and Phoenix. A visit to Carefree is a good day trip when vacationing in Arizona. The Desert Gardens park is also home to the Carefree sundial, one of the largest sundials in the world. It stands 35-feet tall and 72-feet long.
The various plants in the Carefree Desert Gardens are identified with small signs. It is a botanical garden but admission is free year-round.
Enchanted Pumpkin Garden
We were in Carefree this weekend and got a sneak peek at some of the scenes with the pumpkin people that have been created for the annual Enchanted Pumpkin Garden. Look closely at the displays, they’re very detailed. Different pumpkins in various parts of each scene are making mischief. Sometimes the pumpkins have accidents and need to go to the pumpkin hospital.
Sometimes the naughty pumpkins end up in jail.
Sometimes the pumpkins relax in hammocks.
Sometimes the pumpkins are dare-devils.
We had so much fun walking the paths in the Desert Gardens and discovering the different whimsical pumpkin scenes.
Pumpkin Carving
When the Enchanted Pumpkin Garden officially opens on October 19th, carved pumpkins will be on display. The pumpkins are carved by Ray Villafane, a master pumpkin carver with years of experience making incredible pumpkin sculptures. Ray has competed on the Food Network’s Challenge: Outrageous Pumpkins. He swept the competition and won the grand prize several years in a row. The pumpkins that Ray and his team carve are not your typical jack-o-lantern with triangles cut out for eyes and nose. These pumpkins are works of art carved by a master carver. The faces on the pumpkins appear life-like with incredible details. At night during the festival, the pumpkins will be illuminated.
Nighttime Lights at the Pumpkin Festival
I am looking forward to returning to the Carefree Desert Gardens to see the carved pumpkins on display. I am also excited to see the pumpkin vignettes at night when twinkling lights will create a magical scene. Here are some photos from last year’s festival.
Look at the details in the expression of the pumpkin taking a punch in the boxing ring! Amazing!
Fall Family Fun Activities
Other activities that will be occurring when the festival is running are a pumpkin pie eating competition, pumpkin carving workshops, and costume contests. There will be a beer garden and food trucks will be at the event some evenings. Be sure to check the Enchanted Pumpkin Garden website for dates and times for the special activities.
The Enchanted Pumpkin Garden Festival runs from October 19-28, 2018. It is open, free of charge, from 10 A.M. until 9 P.M. daily. Free parking is available on the streets around the Carefree Desert Gardens located at 101 Easy Street in Carefree, Arizona.
Do you enjoy Fall activities? Does your town have a fun Fall or Halloween festival that you love to attend?
22 Comments
Laura
Omg those pumpkin people are adorable!! The lights festival is so neat too. I’ve never heard of Carefree before.
Sheila
Aren’t they cute? We found them by surprise when we visited the town after a hike in the area. I’m hoping to go back this weekend when the whole festival is up and running. There will be so much to see! Carefree is just about 30 minutes north of Central Phoenix.
Sydney | A World in Reach
This looks like so much fun! My city has a similar Jack-O-Lantern festival. I love fall and all the fun activities!
Sheila
I love Fall too! So many fun festivals and events plus the great, cooler weather.
Sarah Wilson
Great photos! This festival looks a lot more fun than our pumpkin festival in our village in Portugal lol.
Sheila
Thanks. It is such a unique festival and best of all it is free with free parking!
corina
this is such a great post, how cool are these pumpkins!!! seriously a very cool art. Would love to be there.
Sheila
Thank you. I was amazed by the pumpkin carving. I’m hoping to get back this week and get some more photos of the carved pumpkins. Truly unique.
Jimmy
Wow! Those are some talented artists who carved the pumpkins and made the displays. The Mrs and I would love to walk around the display.
Sheila
The pumpkins are truly works of art. The carver and his team are very talented. It is so nice to stroll around and look at the different scenes and carved pumpkins.
Elizabeth
OMG- This is going on our bucket list! I’ve never seen anything so adorable!!!
Sheila
It is an annual event in Carefree, AZ so you can make plans to visit. Arizona is beautiful in the fall. The pumpkins are pretty cute, the scenes are so creatively done.
Arunima Dey
Not gonna lie, I really just clicked on the post because I was expecting to see some cool photos. And I was not disappointed. Seriously, some of these pumpkins are massive!! Besides that, I learned about something new since a Pumpkin festival is alien to my culture.
Sheila
Glad you liked the photos. The festival is super-fun and the detail in the pumpkin carving is amazing. Thanks for checking out the post.
Alex Trembath
What a unique event! I’ve never seen anything like this before. We’re always looking for new festivals to experience and this one looks full of fun and creativity.
Sheila
It is a fun festival. The pumpkins are amazing and during the week the festival is low key and you can just browse around and check out the displays. On the weekends there are more organized events occurring with the festival. I highly recommend visiting if you can.
Yeshi
I’ve only ever carved pumpkins when I lived in the US and it was such fun! I love the pumpkin scenes they have displayed around – very creative!
Sheila
I didn’t realize pumpkin carving was not an international thing but based on some comments I’m thinking this may be unique to the US. It is a fun festival.
Brittany
Really cute pumpkin display! Love the pic with the pumpkins in the ring, boxing each other. Very imaginative!
Sheila
I love the expression on the face of the pumpkin taking a punch. So life-like!
Pia
Haha, this looks like so much fun! If we’re ever in the neighborhood we’ll need to give this a try for sure 🙂
Sheila
It is fun for adults and children both. Several great restaurants in the area too.