PUMPKINS, SPOOKS TRANSFORMED INTO A CELEBRATED HOLIDAY

Witches, pumpkins, straw people and grinning ghosts are everywhere.

Halloween, with all of its colorful decorations, has become a much celebrated holiday.

The October holiday decorating season is second to Christmas, especially during the past decade as Americans have adopted the practice of decorating yards and the outside of their homes with colored leaves, cornstalks, chrysanthemums and jack-o-lanterns -- both real and ceramic -- and other pottery.

Tombstones, goblins, ghosts, spider webs and much more have become the norm as motorists drive up and down the street of almost any city, U.S.A.

Cape Girardeau is no different.

In fact, one address in the City of Roses attracts more motorists than the norm -- 3254 Kage Hills, where more than 250 of the grinning pumpkin jack-o-lanterns greet the passing public.

"This will be our fifth year for the jack-o-lantern yard," said Myra Burgfeld, who oversees the almost week-long project.

The pumpkins arrived this weekend, she said. "We'll have a carving party Monday and Tuesday, and light the jack-o-lanterns Wednesday."

About 20 to 25 Burgfeld family members and neighbors gather for the annual carving projects, which results in a mixture of jack-o-lanterns designs.

"We carved 255 pumpkins last year," said Burgfeld. "Hopefully, we will have at least one more this year.

Diebold Orchards Inc., in Benton, will provide the pumpkins.

"And, we're already receiving candles for them," said Burgfeld. "We'll find some candles on our porch almost every day."

The project started in 1993, when Burgfeld carved five pumpkins.

"They were lost in our big yard," said Burgfeld. "So, I went out and found another hundred."

That started it ... the event has become an annual tradition.

"Now, everybody -- neighbors and relatives -- pitch in," she said.

Starting Wednesday night -- "we'll light them at dark," said Burgfeld -- a line of traffic is expected in the 3200 block of Kage Hills.

A lot of people get out of their cars and walk through the yard to see all of jack-o-lanterns and designs.

More and more people throughout the city are involved in Halloween decorations, said Burgfeld.

Halloween has become a night of magic and merrymaking, including young ghosts, goblins and trick-or-treaters who go from door to door seeking treats.

Some cities, including metro areas of Dallas, Kansas City, and New York City, have had Halloween festivities, complete with decorations, costuming and activities.

Halloween is the first big harvest holiday, with colors of the evening ranging from blacks and oranges to whites, browns and various shades of green.

Halloween, according to legend, goes back to the Celts of Britain and Northern France as well as the Irish. It was believed on Oct. 31, all spirits of ancestors arose and congregated for assignments during the coming year. Anyone who went out that night carried a lantern.

In Scotland it was the custom to hollow out large turnips or rutabagas and place candles inside them. Originally, holes were put in the sides only to shed light, but later these became faces, possibly to frighten evil spirits. Possibly, too, these were the forerunners of the attractive clever faces that are painted on pumpkins today.

Cape Girardeau residents have really been getting into the Halloween spirit for the past couple of weeks, decorating their yards with festive ghouls and goblins.

A lot of people share the Burgfeld family's zest for celebrating Halloween with outdoor displays. Traffic slows in a number of areas to view scarecrows, tombstones, bales of hay and flashing-lighted pumpkins through the city.

Some people make their own decorations, and they grow from year to year.

Travelers Gazebo Gardens, which offers a number of decorating items, including straw bales and mums, also has a straw person at its location at 104 N. Sprigg.

"Halloween has become a big decorating season over the years," said Glenda Bridges. "This year, we went through more than 2,000 mums and a lot of baled straw.

Bridge and her brother, Michael Obermiller, operate the service station and gazebo gardens.

"I really like the fall and Christmas holiday seasons," said Bridges, who turns her Halloween straw people into Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus during the Christmas season.

"More and more people are into Halloween decorating," said Dena Deimund, a department manager at the Silk Tree Factory, a home decorating center.

A couple of items at Silk Tree were crows and "little" scarecrows. And, Halloween lights, featuring such figures as pumpkins and ghosts.

Hobby Lobby, an arts and crafts supply center, ran out of some Halloween supplies.

"We ran out of plastic skeletons," said Kevin Wilson, a co-manager at the store. Other popular decorations, said Wilson, were strings of lights with black and orange Halloween figures.