Meet the student artists behind 'Pumpkinferno' at Upper Canada Village

While many are hanging on to the final weeks of summer, there's a dedicated team south of Ottawa that's been getting ready for fall since May.

In a workshop at Upper Canada Village (UCV), college and university students have been carving pumpkins for the past four months.

"You get pretty dirty here but you get pretty used to it," said film student Kristina Beaudette. "You know not to wear your good clothes!"

Beaudette applied and was offered this summer job back in 2018, returning every year.

"It's super fun to tell people what you do, and when you say pumpkin carving, and not believe you, it's hilarious to watch their reactions," said Beaudette.

Closeup of a pumpkin being carved for Pumpkinferno at Upper Canada Village. (Nate Vandermeer/CTV News Ottawa)

Beaudette and eight other students make up the team behind Pumpkinferno, the glowing pumpkin art exhibit that opens in September at the historical park, now in it's 11th year.

"We carve around 2,000, maybe 2,500 every summer," said UCV Special Events Officer Carli Smelko.

Job openings go out around February, and are open to any post-secondary student, no matter their major.

"We are looking for people who are creative, arts students, not necessarily arts students, but if their hobby and passion is art, more than welcome to apply," Smelko said.

"We have a graphic designer come in in April and she begins the carving templates; however, the carvers are required to come up with their own designs occasionally, but they do the bulk of building, the drawing, the carving and the gluing together," Smelko added. "Then we do a test lighting as well so they are very much all encompassed in the process from start to finish."

A student showing off a pumpkin while carving. (Nate Vandermeer/CTV News Ottawa)

There are usually between five and eight carvers hired each year, plus another opening for a labourer.

"They do more of the simple carpentry, the lighting, so we're looking for somebody that is more into the manual worker side of things," Smelko said. "They don't have to be creative, they can be, but they don’t have to be."

Alexandra MacDonald is an arts student at Concordia University, who never thought she had a chance at the job when she applied.

"I thought these are going to be professional people who've done this forever, I'm going to be so lucky if I get in," MacDonald said. "When Carli called me and said she wanted an interview and then later that I had the job, I think I almost cried I was so excited."

She has returned for her fourth and final year in the role, remembering her first day.

"It was hard to learn at first but within a couple weeks I was doing it," she said. "It's a great team and everybody helps each other and I was on my way and haven't looked back since. It's very rewarding."

Everyone that applies must pass a practical carving test on one of the foam pumpkins, which is not an easy task.

"One of the carvers this year was in neuroscience, and she loved art," MacDonald said. "She came in, she's amazing, did really great. The more people we have with different backgrounds, I think the better it is because we all get excited about different things, we all have different talents and I think that's what makes the team work."

"You don't really need to have an art background," added Beaudette. "You can have a passion for it—that definitely helps—you can be a scientist, you can be in history or education, I think this is a good job for basically anyone."

Both students also get to do something special for their final year in the job, having their likenesses carved into one of the displays.

Alexandra Macdonald holds a pumpkin carved with her likeness, which will be displayed at Pumpkinferno at Upper Canada Village. (Nate Vandermeer/CTV News Ottawa)

Each display usually takes about a week to build from start to finish, depending on the size.

"It's an amazing job. Anybody should try for it and it's super fun," MacDonald added. "And please come to the event because we love to hear people's opinions and what they think."

"The students, they feel very accomplished by the end of the summer," noted Smelko. "All of their hard work, they have something to show for it, so once they come to the event in October it's just such a proud moment for them."

"It's so gratifying," said Beaudette. "When (guests) see this beautiful display, they are like 'cool, pretty art', but we know the background, it's pretty amazing."

A new display for the 2022 edition of Pumpkinferno at Upper Canada Village. (Nate Vandermeer/CTV News Ottawa)

Smelko says for those interested in applying in 2023, start checking the Parks of the St. Lawrence website at the end of January.

Pumpkiniferno opens on Sept. 30 at Upper Canada Village, with tickets available starting Sept. 6.