It’s National Pumpkin Day!: Stoddard Avenue Pumpkin Glow illuminates Halloween season

Credit: Teesha Mcclam

Credit: Teesha Mcclam

The sight of 1,000 intricately carved pumpkins glowing on a hillside is pure Halloween magic, especially today, National Pumpkin Day, Oct. 26.

If you haven’t witnessed Dayton’s beloved tradition, the Stoddard Avenue Pumpkin Glow, your chance is here.

Presented yesterday and continuing tonight from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. the hill behind Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, 500 Belmonte Park North, will be blanketed with a maze of gleaming gourds. The event is free to the public.

Food trucks including Zombie Dogz, El Meson, The Family Bean Coffee Truck and Urban BBQ will be at the event.

Parking will be available around the church, the Dayton Art Institute and in the Grafton Hill neighborhood. Stoddard Avenue will be closed for pedestrians.

Judith Chaffin, known as the “The Pumpkin Lady,” began the Stoddard Avenue Pumpkin Glow in Dayton’s Grafton Hill neighborhood in 1994. She died in 2018. To help celebrate her legacy the community can gather to gut and carve the pumpkins for display.

HOW TO GO

What: Stoddard Avenue Pumpkin Glow

When: Oct. 25 and 26 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Where: The hill behind Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, 500 Belmonte Park North

More info: Facebook

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