10.30.15 The Jack Facts

Who’s Jack? And what’s up with the lantern? There’s a lot of ancient tradition involving scary lights at harvest time. Pre-Christian Europeans celebrated Samhaim, the autumn festival of the Dead, with bonfires and torches and other late-night illuminations. Samhaim was later displaced by All Saint’s Day, but the fascination with…
2015

11.20.09 Squashed

It’s the great pumpkin shortage, Charlie Brown! The town of Morton, Illinois is without question the pumpkin capital of the world.  Morton grows more pumpkins than any other place in the world.  Each September, the local Chamber of Commerce proudly rolls out the Morton pumpkin festival, which draws approximately 60,000…
2009