29th Annual Pumpkin Carve at Dudley Courtyard

The architecture department hosted its 29th Annual Pumpkin Carve on Friday.

Students and community members crowded the Dudley Courtyard to purchase and carve pumpkins. It was a happy and family-friendly atmosphere.

The event was full of creative Halloween costumes where many people entered to win the costume contest. Hannah Foster, sophomore in fitness conditioning and performance, and Lauren Fleming, sophomore in undeclared science and mathematics,  won the contest for their Dunkin’ Donuts costume.

There was a cookout provided at lunchtime with a number of booths led by different College of Architecture, Design and Construction organizations selling baked goods, waffles and hot beverages as fundraisers.

Inside the college, there was a silent auction of framed napkin sketches drawn by various students. There were also several raffles and an appearance by Aubie, who wore a festive jack-o’-lantern costume.

“It is mostly for the pride of winning, but the prize is a J and M gift card, and with the amount of supplies we have to buy that is pretty coveted,” said sophomore in architecture Krista Weiss.

Weiss said the Annual Pumpkin Carve was her favorite event of the year.

“My favorite part of the event is when everyone stops carving and all the pumpkins are lit,” Weiss said. “It’s really pretty and fun to go around and look at them all.”

Sophomore in architecture Alex Hamady said the event is the highlight of the month of October.

 “The whole community loves it," Hamady said. "I try not to get too competitive with my carve though; I just want to have a nice time.”

Kristen Ossenfort, treasurer of Auburn's chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects, manned a booth at the event. The event sold dead plants and weeds in an assortment of arrangements.

“Fall marks the end of a lot of perennial and annual plants lifecycles,” Ossenfort said. “So we wanted to celebrate these ephemeral beauties by making bouquets.”

Due to the number of design majors in attendance, the courtyard was full of intricately carved pumpkins with stunning designs. Weiss said it was a very competitive event among CADC students.

After the all the pumpkins were lit, winners were selected. The first place pumpkin by Megan Edwards was auctioned off with the other top pumpkins and many other pumpkins could be purchased for a $5 donation to CADC.

Ossenfort said it was her 4th year attending the event.

“I love how it brings everyone together to celebrate such a fun part of the year,” she said.