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Bethel Park pumpkin display returns to help cause

By Harry Funk Staff Writer Hfunk@thealmanac.Net 2 min read
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Harry Funk / The Almanac Amy Reuschling is looking forward to carving this year's pumpkins, including this nearly 100-pound specimen.

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Amy Reuschling is looking forward to carving this year's pumpkins, including this nearly 100-pound specimen.

With October’s temperatures feeling like August’s should have been, there are some drawbacks.

“We’ve had a little problem with the weather. We’ve lost a bunch of pumpkins,” Amy Reuschling said. “But by this week, I will have 300 pumpkins on this deck to carve.”

Two years ago, the Bethel Park resident revived her family’s longtime tradition of displaying a yard full of sculpted pumpkins – the Reuschlings, relatives and friends work all week on them – at their Eastview Road home.

They encourage visitors to make contributions to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Amy was diagnosed in 2000 and wanted to help the organization that has helped her, and the efforts have been a success with more than $4,000 raised the past two Halloween seasons.

“I’d love to get to $3,000 for the third year,” she said, which also explains the number of pumpkins she wants to have on display.

Many are donations from Lisa Jenkins of Jim Jenkins Lawn and Garden Center in Scott Township, and friends also have helped the cause, with at least one of the pumpkins weighing close to 100 pounds. Also, the Reuschlings’ steady connection the past couple of years, a gentleman Amy knows as Steve from Irwin, has boosted the supply.

“We have it really organized this year,” she said about the carving process. “We have one with patterns we’re doing first, because they’re the easier ones. We’re waiting to do the more intricate ones until the end, which will be Saturday and Sunday.”

Then comes the display starting on Monday and continuing, of course, through Halloween night. Carvings can include anything from Pittsburgh sports teams to characters from favorite cartoons and horror movies.

In fact, the Reuschlings’ displays started around the time Amy’s brother, Jeff Yeckel, became a big fan of Tim Burton’s “The Nightmare Before Christmas” in the 1990s. Since then, her husband, Rich, and daughters – Mia, Kelly and Maddie – also have enjoyed helping to get everything ready.

And Amy looks forward to Jeff’s daughter, Lucy, taking part.

“She wasn’t even a year old yet last year,” Amy said. “I’m hoping she’s into it more this year.”

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