Downtown pumpkin patch dazzles shoppers

Forty-five minutes pass, yet the same shoppers wander up and down the rows, cradling their favorite pumpkin, still searching for the perfect one. Although the rows and rows of fall decorations are like any other pumpkin patch, this patch has a dazzling effect.

The pumpkins that will cover the Bloomington Courthouse lawn are not grown on the ground, but made from blown glass, and come in all colors and sizes.

“It’s a visual experience,” said Bloomington Glass Pumpkin Patch event coordinator Jeremy Sweet, who encourages shoppers to spend time browsing the rows of pumpkins. “We want people to be overwhelmed by all the colors.”  

The Glass Pumpkin Patch is an annual event that Sweet has coordinated since 2006 and will take place this year on Saturday and Sunday.

David Camner, an artist-turned-art teacher who lives and works in Appos, Calif., designs the creations. He and a group of volunteers, students and adults spent the summer creating one-of-a-kind pumpkins.

Each pumpkin is made by a team of three glass blowers. One person leads the team, one makes the pumpkin stem and the third helps the group members with whatever they might need.

The pumpkins are made with clear glass, then rolled in crushed colored glass called “frit glass” to create different combinations, layers and looks. One team can make an original pumpkin in about 20 minutes.

“The pumpkin patch is an American tradition,” Sweet said. His goal is to create a pumpkin patch experience complete with fall decorations, scarecrows and rows and rows of glass pumpkins, he said.

Proceeds from the Bloomington Glass Pumpkin Patch as well as Camner’s two pumpkin patches in California raise money for the Arts Center in Palo Alto, Calif., and the children’s arts programs along with Palo Alto High School’s Fiery Arts program. Palo Alto High School is one of the few high schools in the country with an arts program that includes ceramics, sculpture and glass blowing.

Camner said he feels lucky to live and teach “in a place where the community and parents support the arts.”

“The appeal of the event is having lots of them,” said Sweet, who stores the pumpkins in Bloomington after they are shipped to him. This year’s patch will have hundreds of pumpkins with prices ranging from $40 to $100 that can be bought with credit cards and include boxes with shipping material.

“It’s almost a phenomenon. ... People go crazy over these things,” said Camner, who was originally skeptical of the glass pumpkin patch idea. But the more he saw the glass pumpkins, the more he realized they were fun to make, encouraged teamwork and were a challenge for his students to create.

“It’s interesting. They’re seductive. ... Women do a lot of shopping and they love them,” said Camner, who admitted that most of his customers are women, although some men also collect the glass pumpkins.

Although pumpkins are thought of mostly at Halloween, it’s really about “the fall season and the leaves changing colors,”  Camner said. He said people often buy his creations to decorate their homes and use as centerpieces during Thanksgiving dinner.