Their Melrose Drive home, in the midst of Halloween, was filled with dozens and dozens of carved pumpkins.
“No one really knows our names, all they know us as is ‘the pumpkin people’ of Thibodaux,” Gary said. “You’ll hear them talking to each other about all the pumpkins we put out for Halloween. People seem to really get a kick out of it.”
According to Gary, about 12 to 15 members of his family contribute to the ornate Halloween pumpkin display that lines their yard and driveway in the front part of Rienzi subdivision.
This year’s display included 62 pumpkins with carvings ranging from popular Disney characters to sports teams like the LSU Tigers and New Orleans Saints.
Gary said the preparations for their pumpkin-carving event starts weeks before Halloween, when he and his wife head to J. Daniel Clement’s farm in Chackbay to select the round, orange symbols of fall.
“We’ve been going to him for years,” Gary said. “He let’s us pick out the ones we want.”
Everyone in the family helps chip in the money to buy the pumpkins and related supplies necessary to create the individual masterpieces that represent many different themes.
Having seen what the Hebert family does with all his pumpkins, Clement said he’s impressed.
“They put a lot of work into it,” the 77-year-old said. “I basically pile my pumpkins up behind my house and let them have first pick at them. When you go over there and see what they do with those pumpkins, it is truly amazing.”
Gary said the family gathers at his house to pick out patterns and do the tracing a few days before they carve the pumpkins.
On the day prior to Halloween, family members sit outside and take turns scooping out, cutting and carving the pumpkins.
“We begin early in the morning and typically keep going strong into the evening,” Gary said.
Gary’s wife, Sara, said she enjoys showcasing the family’s pumpkins for the public.
“I love seeing the smiles on the people’s faces,” she said. “That’s what we do it for.”
HOW IT STARTED
Gary said he’s not quite sure when the clan began displaying the pumpkins — having had to check out some older pictures to pinpoint the exact year when the family began displaying them for Halloween.
“We had to do some digging, but the best we can tell it was in 1994,” he said.
Initially, the display started with six pumpkins placed on a table.
The display grew “bigger and bigger,” Gary said.
Gary said they’ve steadily added several pumpkins to their display every year.
One of the bigger years was following the 9-11 terror attacks.
“We had a patriotic theme that year with lots of flags and other things like that,” Gary said. “We had a lot of people stop by to view our display that particular year.”
A few years ago, the amount of people that gathered to view the Hebert family pumpkin display necessitated the need for a police barracade.
These days, the intersection of Melrose and Elmwood streets is shut down to car traffic to make the area safer for pumpkin-viewing.
“We got in touch with the police and they were on board in terms of doing this for us because of the large amount of foot traffic we were getting in front of our home on Halloween,” Gary said.
COUNTING PUMPKINS
Gary said it is difficult to give a definitive count on the number of people that stopped by on Halloween, but he estimates more than 1,000 individuals walked around the horseshoe-shaped display they set up.
“We had made up 400 bags of candy to give to the kids, and we were all out of them by 7 p.m.,” he said.
Gary said they leave the display up until 9:30 p.m. to allow people ample time for viewing — after which they toss the gourd fruit in the garbage.
“What I like is standing off to the side and talking to people just to get their reactions to it,” he said. “We don’t want to be in the limelight, we just prefer to stand and observe people’s reactions when they see it. It is a lot of fun for all of us.”
With the support of their neighbors and community, Gary said they don’t have any plans on shutting down their pumpkin-themed display any time soon.
“We love doing this and will continue doing it as long as we can,” he added.
Staff Writer Thad Angelloz can be reached at 857-2207 or at [email protected].