Photo By Rochelle Smolinski | Team Marine Corps Base Hawaii carves four ‘Monument and Historical Landmark’...... read more read more
Subscribe
HONOLULU — Orange rinds, stringy guts, and pumpkin flesh littered the carving tables as teams competed in the third annual Pumpkin Carving Festival Corporate Competition at Bishop Square, Wednesday.
Many wielded carving knives, pokers, chisels, graters, even power tools to flesh out up to four pumpkins in a two-hour time limit. Exhibits ranged from the current presidential debates to the widely popular Gangnam Style. Marine Corps Base Hawaii carved out their own niche in the competition.
MCB Hawaii Chief of Staff Christopher Blanchard said he found out about the carving contest while working on the base’s own non-profit Marine Corps League Scholarship Program and promptly got involved with the Pumpkin Carving Festival.
“Master Sgt. Allis put out an e-mail for interested people,” Blanchard said. “We knew we wanted the cooks and the Marine Corps Community Services marketing department to participate. Combat Camera actually contacted us.”
Master Sgt. Amy Allis, staff secretary of Headquarters Battalion, put together the first military 10-person team to compete in the event. Allis and her team discussed pumpkin carving artwork and procedures during four practice sessions to rock the competition.
The Marine Corps Base Hawaii team had about two weeks to prepare.
The team chose to participate in the “monuments and historical landmarks” out of three available categories and carved the Arizona Memorial, Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima, the Lady Columbia statue at Punchbowl, and the King Kamehameha statue.
“We went to a meeting with the founder of the Pumpkin Carving Festival and the Chief and I both said we wanted ‘landmarks.’ We both felt we’re the first ever military team to enter the competition and we wanted to be the first to represent military places,” Allis said.
Sgt. Jacob Klatte, a designer for combat camera, has been carving pumpkins since he was young and volunteered to join the team. He drafted up the King Kamehameha design and tag-teamed the carving with fellow combat camera videographer Lance Cpl. Taryn McKenzie. Despite all their efforts, MCB Hawaii did not win any of the prizes, but many team members said they had fun participating and would be better prepared next year.
“Seeing all the different folks ideas and their plans, it really impressed me,” Klatte said. “They’re thinking outside the box and it really opened my eyes to the medium. Next year, maybe we’ll do sculptured things and push the boundaries.”
This year, the competition donated proceeds to USO and Keiki O Ka Aina Family Learning Centers.
Families are invited to carve their own pumpkins during the Pumpkin Carving Festival’s Family Day event from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Windward Mall, Oct. 27. For more information, visit www.pumpkincarvingfestival.org.
| Date Taken: | 10.24.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 11.08.2012 18:51 |
| Story ID: | 97528 |
| Location: | HONOLULU, HAWAII, US |
| Hometown: | HONOLULU, HAWAII, US |
| Hometown: | MARINE CORPS BASE HAWAII, HAWAII, US |
| Web Views: | 74 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, MCBH carves niche in pumpkin carving competition, by Rochelle Smolinski, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
