Twenty six years ago Ida Beutler, a retired school teacher, combined her love of children and Halloween to bring about what the community now calls the Pumpkin Walk. This year the walk will run from Oct. 23-24 and 26-27 from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. at 1100 E. 2500 North. With cookies and free admission, this event is for the student in need of an inexpensive date and a good time or families looking for fun.

Over the years this event has held many themes to delight and awe the public eye. This year the theme is “and now a word from our sponsors,” and it includes many new ideas such as pumpkins of Michael Jackson, McDonalds and Keebler Elves, to Macs, PCs and farmers. Gina Worthen, committee member and scene designer for the Pumpkin Walk, said the art some people do is “amazing.”

Worthen said each scene is different but has one thing in common: pumpkins.

“You can’t do a pumpkin walk without pumpkins.”

Designers also use an array of media, including paint, fabric, pipes, wood and pulleys. Worthen said it’s even fun to go explore Deseret Industries (DI) and say, “Aw, that is just what I need.”

Many scenes from the imagination splatter the walkway from beginning to end. USU junior in family consumer and human development Laynee Ortega said she enjoys seeing just how creative many people are.

“I’m not talented in that way, so I think it’s really awesome,” she said.

The end of the walk includes some of the most elaborate displays, along with a visit from a friendly witch and a free cookie provided by Pepperidge Farms. Nancy Israelsen, who has worked with the walk from the beginning, said it’s not the children as much as the grownups who want the cookies.

Besides the donated cookies and help from the city to provide lighting, the entire event is based on volunteer work. People from all over the surrounding area give of their time, ideas, work and materials to bring the event together. There are many Eagle Scout projects and even the younger boy scouts get a part in chucking the old pumpkins after all is said and done. This year, students from the USU sixth stake of the LDS church volunteered to carve all of the pumpkins lining the walk. In past years, USU students have helped build the scenes too. Students, family and community members alike come together to support and have fun, but 26 years ago Beutler never expected her idea would become such a hit.

What started out as a few family and community friends having fun at the Beutler farm soon rose to a large event of approximately 50,000 people. The idea originated when Beutler decided to host a fun Halloween celebration that was fun but not too scary for the kids. She baked cookies and rounded up all the apples from her orchard to make cider.

Israelsen said Beutler was a “great hostess.” One year it was so cold at the farm that Beutler put potatoes in the oven and handed the tangible heat to her friends and family to keep warm.

That first year a mischievous neighborhood boy destroyed one of the small themes. A cop found him and asked Beutler what the punishment should be. Beutler told the cop she would start with milk and cookies then she would need his help to put on a real pumpkin walk, a real show. And so it began.

“People still long for that who saw it there,” Israelsen said. Beutler has since passed away but her tradition still holds fast.

“You can only trick or treat once, but you can always do this,” Ortega said.

– kirsten.r@aggiemail.usu.edu