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Splashing pumpkins: Underwater carving puts a twist on Halloween tradition

Published 10:30 pm Sunday, October 30, 2022

By Ben Hohenstatt

Mari Fester holds up a carved spaghetti squash that filled in for a pumpkin during an underwater carving event held Sunday at Auke Rec. With more standard fare in short supply locally, acorn pumpkins, warty pumpkins and even a pumpkin sourced from Anchorage thanks to a traveler passing through served as canvases for the aquatic artists. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire)
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Mari Fester holds up a carved spaghetti squash that filled in for a pumpkin during an underwater carving event held Sunday at Auke Rec. With more standard fare in short supply locally, acorn pumpkins, warty pumpkins and even a pumpkin sourced from Anchorage thanks to a traveler passing through served as canvases for the aquatic artists. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire)

Mari Fester holds up a carved spaghetti squash that filled in for a pumpkin during an underwater carving event held Sunday at Auke Rec. With more standard fare in short supply locally, acorn pumpkins, warty pumpkins and even a pumpkin sourced from Anchorage thanks to a traveler passing through served as canvases for the aquatic artists. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire)
Mari Fester holds up a carved spaghetti squash that filled in for a pumpkin during an underwater carving event held Sunday at Auke Rec. With more standard fare in short supply locally, acorn pumpkins, warty pumpkins and even a pumpkin sourced from Anchorage thanks to a traveler passing through served as canvases for the aquatic artists. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire)
his photo shows a jack-o’-lantern carved underwater near Auke Recreation Area. (Courtesy Photo / Carter Johnson)
Muriel Dittrich’s pumpkin won Best In Show at an underwater pumpkin carving event held Sunday at Auke Rec. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire)
A variety of gourds await carving under the Eagle Shelter at Auke Rec. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire)
A jack-o’-lantern depicting goggles and a snorkel rests on a ledge next to damp flippers on Sunday at Auke Recreation Area. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau EmpireP)
Divers make their way into the water at Auke Rec to carve their pumpkins. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire)

Some niche traditions could be described as underground. This one was underwater.

Sunday marked the ninth annual underwater pumpkin carving event in Juneau. Ten divers carrying gourds and carving implements made their way into the waters at Auke Recreation Area and emerged with completed jack-o’-lanterns.

“It’s a group of people that love diving in cold water, and it’s a fun added challenge to a Halloween tradition,” said Carter Johnson, who noted Juneau divers are far from the only ones to partake in underwater pumpkin carving.

A sort-of companion event also took place in Kodiak, and internet search results show competitions across the nation and world.

“It’s a ridiculous thing to do underwater,” Johnson said.

Johnson is a Ph.D. student in the University of Alaska Fairbanks fisheries science program. Most of Sunday’s participants are part of the program. Carvers paired off and reviewed a safety plan before submerging.

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Pumpkins — as well as a few other types of gourd necessitated by standard pumpkins being in short supply locally — were cut open and scooped prior to the dive, but the actual carving was done in the water at depths ranging from roughly 20 to 50 feet.

Designs included a snorkel and goggles, a sassy cat and classic grinning faces among. Some were planned ahead of time, others were improvised during the dive. Muriel Dittrich, a multi-time underwater carver whose effort depicting a submerged diver, went on to claim the Best In Show award, said she always makes up her designs on the spot.

The pool of participants included both practiced hands and first-timers.

“It was kind of cool,” said Wyatt Lee, who was a first-time participant in the event but has diving experience at Auke Rec.

He was among the divers to report visibility wasn’t especially bad despite dismal, blustery conditions topside.

After the pumpkins were completed, attendees enjoyed chilli in the relative warmth of the recreation area’s Raven Shelter, and awards were distributed for jack-o’-lanterns.

Winners included: Dittrich for Best In Show; Alaska Award, Tamsen Peeples; Scariest, James Crimp; Most Unique, Courtney Hart; Picasso Award, Lia Domke; Best Science-Themed, Alex Reich.

• Contact Ben Hohenstatt at (907)308-4895 or bhohenstatt@juneauempire.com. Follow him on Twitter at @BenHohenstatt.

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