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‘Tis the season for pumpkins, traditions and the color orange in Prince George's County. October in the county means it's time for another year for long-standing traditional pumpkin decorating and carvings, pumpkin mazes and pumpkin walks.

The Greenbelt community had its 13th annual pumpkin carving event and its 21st annual pumpkin walk. Old Maryland Farm in Upper Marlboro, in operation for more than 30 years, had its traditional pumpkin maze and hayride for visitors.

The College Park Youth and Family Services had its annual Halloween event, which has been happening since the 1970s.

Carving time

The Greenbelt pumpkin walk tradition began in 1987 because the Green Belt Committee wanted to save the remaining 200 acres of forest land. The pumpkin carving tradition began later, in 1995.

In 1987, about 200 acres of the Greenbelt forest was proposed for development and the land was the last of original Greenbelt, said Paul Downs, a Greenbelt resident and one of the three members of the Green Belt Committee.

Rodney Roberts and Ruth Kastner were also on the committee that formed in 1987.

Greenbelt had 800 acres of forest land circling the community and over time it dwindled to 200 acres because of development, he said.

"Some people said we only had the green buckle left," Downs said.

The 18-year battle ended victoriously for the conservationists; the city protected the land and it officially became a forest preserve, Downs said.

The next step was to get the community into the woods. The idea to carve jack-o-lanterns and then, the following night, line a half-mile trail and have the community walk through was born.

"When [the community] read about Parcel I or [that the] Greenbelt woods was threatened, people didn't know what it was, so we decided to make it real to them so they would be connected to the woods," Downs said.

And so, the pumpkin walk began in 1987 with about 50 people participating and last year, nearly 300 people attended, Downs said.

Sustained by popular demand, the event has continued for 20 years. Downs organized the pumpkin walk for 20 years and the pumpkin carving for 13 years. He didn't plan to have the event this year, but Greenbelt resident Allison Smith wanted to see the event happen and decided to organize the events herself.

Community volunteers and pumpkin donations allowed for the event to happen, Smith said. She didn't get all the donations needed—recouping only half of what she put in—but the event was still successful.

"There's nothing like the walk; it's timeless and so unique it could have done this in 1490s," Smith said. "It's magical in the pitch black woods with glowing jack-o-lanterns placed yards off the trail in this place of nature. There's a human element and it's beautiful. Kids can see their work next to someone's masterpiece and it can be an inspiration."

Smith's efforts were well worth it because nearly 130 of Greenbelt-area residents came to the pumpkin carving Oct. 24 and nearly 300 people came to the pumpkin walk Oct. 25, despite the rain.

Greenbelt residents Tammy and Tony Colandrea are parents of Ruby, 2, and Gus, 15 months, who attended the pumpkin carving event.

"It's a project to do with the kids that they can come back and see it the next day," Tammy Colandrea said. "It's a family activity, which is what's special about it. It's a good way for the community to come together. It was wonderful; the kids had a good time and we're still playing with the jack-o-lantern."

Maze and hayride

The fall season begins each year at Old Maryland Farm in Upper Marlboro with Kinderfest — a carnival — the first Sunday in October, said Ronnie Proctor, administrative aid to the farm.

The farm, owned by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, has been in operation since 1974, Proctor said. Hundreds of school-aged children from county schools come on field trips to the farm each year.

Among those school-aged children were more than 75 kindergarten students from Rockledge Elementary School in Bowie, who visited the farm Oct. 10. The students screamed with excitement as they went through the 5-foot tall pumpkin maze made out of bails of hay and topped with hundreds of pumpkins. They picked out their pumpkins and loaded the tractor pulls for a hayride.

"Picking out a pumpkin is my favorite thing," 5-year-old Langston Rich said of the field trip. "I like pumpkins because they're smooth, shiny and have a little hook [stem]."

Langston's classmate Justine Cohen, also 5, was equally excited to pick out her pumpkin.

"I like pumpkins because they're nice and shiny and I like to carve pumpkins," she said.

Some Rockledge kindergartners picked out pumpkins nearly as big as they were.

"I'm excited to pick out a pumpkin," said Ellie Helgeson, 6. "I like the pumpkin maze and hayride."

Chandler Pope, 5, said she too was looking forward to the hayride and picking out a pumpkin.

Melissa Constantine, a Bowie resident, brings her children Sophia, 4, and Marcus, 2, to the farm periodically because it correlates to what they're learning in school.

"I like the part [of the farm] with the orange stuff [pumpkins]," Sophia said.

Halloween tradition

The College Park Youth and Family Services had its annual Halloween event Oct. 25, which included pumpkin decorating, a costume parade and a haunted hallway, among others. Hundreds families from the College Park community brought little ghouls and goblins to the event.

Children participated in creative pumpkin decorating, affixing curly hair and foam eyes, ears and mouths to pumpkins, said Kathleen Reardon, facility director of the College Park Youth Services Center.

The frightful part of the annual event is the haunted hallway.

A hallway in the center was made completely dark, said Peggy Higgins, director of the College Park Youth and Family Services. Smoke was emitted from a smoke machine, skeletons were hung in the hallway and University of Maryland student volunteers lay on the floor and grabbed children's legs as they walked past. One University of Maryland student dressed up as a mummy, stood in the darkened hallway and reached out to the children who walked by.

Children either closed their eyes or put a pillowcase over their head to guess what body part they're touching, such as an eyeball, which are really grapes in oil.

"The haunted hallway is generally successful at scaring children," Higgins said.

There were also fake spider webs and event volunteers who popped out wearing scary masks, said Tracy Samuel, a family therapist at the College Park Youth and Family Services.

"The kids love it and it's pretty much stayed the same [over the years]," Higgins said. "Some parents say they came as a child. It's an opportunity for the community to come together, celebrate and be together."

Nearly 250 people from the neighborhood and community come to the event annually, which has been going on since the 1970s, Higgins said.

The College Park Arts Exchange executed the arts and crafts portion of the event.

Community volunteers, high school students and University of Maryland students volunteered at the event, said Jessica Prentice, one of two Catholic University graduate students interning with the College Park Youth and Family Services.

E-mail Liz Skalski at eskalski@gazette.net