There is something that frightens me this time of year, and it is directly tied into my job as a creative director. You see while most are scrambling to get costumes or enough candy to avoid angry children retaliating, I have taken on the responsibility of designing a bunch of pumpkins. It may not sound so scary, but this year our marketing communications firm will be participating in The Great Highwood Pumpkin Festival held in our town, Highwood, IL.

The goal of the festival is to carve and light 32,000 pumpkins. There will be quite a lot of attention on the event, including media coverage. This, then, is the horror of it all. What kind of a pumpkin scrutiny will our design studio be under? Can we pull off the Mona Lisa of pumpkins, or will people look at our creations and say, “They went to art school, really? Did they finish?’’ I think the best way to approach this year is to enjoy the event for what it is, a good time that brings our community together, and just have fun carving goofy pumpkins. Maybe this year I won’t be so concerned with our work standing out, but be content with being another pumpkin face in the crowd.