GREENFIELD — There are few places more aligned with fall and Halloween than the James Whitcomb Riley Boyhood Home. Frost on pumpkins, goblins that’ll get ya, an old house with nooks and crannies, and this year, the Festival of the Jack-o-Lanterns.
From Oct. 25 through 31, the Riley Boyhood Home, in partnership with Hancock County Arts, will host the Festival of the Jack-o-Lanterns. Nightly, from 7 to 9 p.m., the pathways and greenery of the Riley Gardens behind the Riley Home at 250 W. Main will be dotted with individually carved pumpkins for a candlelit walking tour. Guests are invited to tour the grounds at their leisure.
Organizers are hoping for more than 100 pumpkins and are asking for the public’s help to reach that number. Those wishing to help can drop off carved jack-o-lanterns at the Riley Museum, next door to the Riley Home, between noon and 5 p.m. As an added incentive, prizes will be awarded for the best pumpkins in children’s and adult categories. Visitors can also vote for a people’s choice award jack-o-lantern.
For those who would like help carving a pumpkin — or those who want to learn some tricks of the trade — Festival of the Jack-o-Lanterns will kick off from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Oct. 25 with a pumpkin carving workshop in the Riley Garden Gazebo. Participants of all ages should bring their own pumpkins and carving tools for assistance from local artists. Carvers may take their pumpkins home or leave them to be part of the exhibit.
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For those who want to enjoy the flora of autumn in leaves and fall flowers –or who don’t want to be out after dark — Riley Gardens are open during daylight hours as well.
For additional fun, opening night of the event will include refreshments of donut holes and cider. The Ghostbuster ambulance, icon of the 1984 film starring Bill Murray and Sigourney Weaver, will be sitting out front (sans Bill and Sigourney) for photo opportunities.
The nine little goblins, with their green glowing eyes, are atop the front of the Riley Home and guests may find a few extra goblins in the garden. Sandy Hall, artist-creator of the rooftop gremlins, has begun a multi-year project to paint and frame a series of nine garden goblins. Three will be unveiled for the upcoming festival.
“They’ll be waterproof,” Hall said. “Acrylic on vinyl and in frames so they can be removed and stored.”
On Oct. 31, at 2 p.m., the Riley Boyhood Home will be host to author and historian Alan E. Hunter, who will discuss his latest book, “The Petersen House, the Oldroyd Museum and the House Where Lincoln Died.” Hunter, known for his Irvington Ghost Walk Tours and his love of all things Lincoln, will have copies of the book available for purchase and signing.
For more information about all the events happening at the Riley Home, visit the James Whitcomb Riley Boyhood Home or Hancock County Arts on Facebook.
