See Thousands of Glowing Gourds at the 2024 Louisville Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular

My senior year at the University of Louisville, I lived right next to Iroquois Park. I loved being able to take walks through the park especially in the fall when the leaves turned colors and the weather turned nice and breezy. It was also really handy not to have to fight for parking to go to a show at the Iroquois Amphitheatre. Just strolled on over and back again when it was over.

However, I moved back to Louisville right before the area started hosting the coolest event of the year, and let me just say, the FOMO is real! The Annual Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular is back for the 12th year and fans from across the country are already planning their trips back to the Bluegrass State for the occasion. I guess that means this year is the year the Maddox fam treks on over to check it out. Here's what we can expect for 2024.

From October 1st through November 2nd over 5,000 glowing gourds take over Iroquois Park. Intricately carved pumpkins that are referred to as organic works of art. Because they really are. Depicting characters from movies, spooky stories, and other famous works of art. Ever seen the Mona Lisa sculpted into a squash? Keep scrolling for some incredible photos taken by my friend Kenny King of Dream Copy Photography.

Kenny and his lovely wife Debra love to see the pumpkins with the Condray family of Owensboro. Adrienne Condray told me they've been going for ten years now. "We have a great time! We love seeing all of the talent in the pumpkins along with the other visual and sound components to make it an immersive experience." With twinkling lights and ghouls and goblins its a festive way to celebrate spooky season. This year, the theme of the evening is Trivia Night: Pumpkin Edition. Fun!

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Monday through Thursday 6:30 p.m. until 10 p.m. and Friday and Saturday 6:30 p.m. until 11 p.m. the trail is open for visitors. The perfect family outing you can come dressed in costume or your favorite Halloween gear.

Organizers even host a 4-Miler Spooktacular run through the park on September 30th to raise money for Parks Alliance of Louisville. Tickets go on sale September 1st for the regular admission to the trail as well as VIP tickets to the Pre-Lit Bash opening night event. To kick off the season, there will be a whole shindig with food, drinks, live music, and live professional pumpkin carving. Mark your calendar and visit Jack-O-Lantern Louisville.