The pumpkin of Buffalo Bills’ running back James Cook that was featured on the CBS television broadcast was a hit last week at the community garden on Main Street in Wellsville.
Eric Jones sculpted the pumpkin and gave it to the garden (Fassett Greenspace Project) as a gift to show off in the community.
“I could not believe the amount of messages and photos I received from people who enjoyed that pumpkin in Wellsville,” Jones said. “So I came up with an idea to keep the local art going at the Fassett Greenspace Project.”
On Friday night, Jones Memorial Hospital had an employee and family Halloween party. Jones did a demonstration and then children of the employees helped carve two sides of a 70-pound pumpkin that is now on display on Main Street.
Jones even talked about the Wellsville pumpkins Friday morning during a live segment on ABC’s Ch. 7 Buffalo morning show (to watch, click HERE). Jones sculpted pumpkins on Good Morning Buffalo.
“The kids in Wellsville were so fun to work with,” Jones said. “They have blood on the one side of the pumpkin and even glued some pumpkin seeds to the face to make it look like warts. And the other side is more of a funny sculpt with pieces of the outside of the pumpkin for hair.”
Like the James Cook pumpkin, employees from Pizza King are bringing the pumpkin inside the Stillwater restaurant for safe-keeping each night and then hauling it back out in the morning to display.
Jones has not slowed down since the James Cook pumpkin. His team won again on the Food Network and advanced to the semi-finals of the Pumpkin Wars show (Jones, a champion in Season 3 of Outrageous Pumpkins was chosen for this all-star show).
Then, he did an assembly for Cuba-Rushford students and one at Jamestown Community College.
On Friday morning, Jones made a pumpkin sculpture of a goal at KeyBank Center in front of the Buffalo Sabres French Connection before another student presentation and then the Jones Memorial event in Wellsville.
Jones had a class in Cuba for 50 people and then made his way to Corning where he is carving a 300-pound pumpkin on Market Street.
If all of that was not enough, Jones stopped at Alfred State to build up hay bales and make the ox in the hay for fall new student open house.
When visiting the pumpkin, you may see volunteers cleaning up for the year in the garden, but there are still herbs there for the public to pick for free. There are also some fall peas.
In the spring at the Fassett Greenspace Project, volunteers will plant peas, carrots, berries, potatoes and more (visit their Facebook page HERE).
They had their biggest harvest ever this year, as most farms did, as far as production.
Photo gallery below:
