{"id":369484,"date":"2026-10-26T02:02:22","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T07:02:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/picasso-of-pumpkin-carvers-brings-artistry-to-a-halloween-tradition"},"modified":"2026-10-26T02:02:26","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T07:02:26","slug":"picasso-of-pumpkin-carvers-brings-artistry-to-a-halloween-tradition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/picasso-of-pumpkin-carvers-brings-artistry-to-a-halloween-tradition","title":{"rendered":"‘Picasso of Pumpkin Carvers’ brings artistry to a Halloween custom"},"content":{"rendered":"


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HALF MOON BAY, Calif. — <\/span>When fall arrives and leaves start changing color, Mike Valladao, a systems engineer at a cybersecurity company, slips into his alter ego, \u201cFarmer Mike,” also known as the \u201cPicasso of Pumpkin Carvers.\u201d <\/p>\n

Farmer Mike has been chiseling whimsical faces and comical creatures into big pumpkins for more than four decades. Wearing his trademark orange overalls and farmer hat, he’s sculpted hundreds of gourds into ghoulish faces, seaside landscapes, witches, dragons and pop culture figures such as Yoda and Charlie Brown. <\/p>\n

Valladao doesn\u2019t have any formal artistic training, but he’s always looking for inspiration. He gets ideas from looking at art in a museum or just walking down the street.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes I\u2019ll look at somebody and I\u2019ll think, oh, I like the teeth or I like ears or the way the nostrils flare,” Valladao said.<\/p>\n

This year, \u201cFarmer Mike\u201d celebrated 40 years of Halloween artistry at the Half Moon Bay Art & Pumpkin Festival<\/a>, which is held in mid-October and is best known for its giant pumpkin weigh-off. At the two-day festival on the coast south of San Francisco, Valladao works on stage so people can watch.<\/p>\n

Valladao stumbled into his artistic hobby after he began growing big pumpkins at his San Jose home in the mid-1980s. He didn\u2019t know what to do with the massive gourds, so he pulled out a knife and started slicing faces into them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m an engineer by trade and I tend to look at it as building something the same way I would build a piece of hardware, one layer at a time,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

In 1986, festival organizers saw a picture of Valladao\u2019s pumpkins and invited him to showcase his carving skills in Half Moon Bay, where his family opened the town\u2019s first feed and seed store in the 19th century. He grew an 800-pound (363-kilogram) pumpkin once but it was a lot of work, so he doesn\u2019t participate in the giant pumpkin contest.<\/p>\n

His art has since taken him to different parts of the country, including an appearance on \u201cThe Tonight Show.\u201d He has gotten requests to carve pumpkins at venues such as the San Diego Zoo, the California Academy of Sciences and the State Fair of Texas.<\/p>\n

He uses Atlantic pumpkins that weigh from 100 to 1,000 pounds (45 to 454 kilograms). They have thick skins that allow him to cut protruding facial features shallow or deep.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really about the illusion of depth,\u201d Valladao said. \u201cI can make it so that it\u2019s three-dimensional, such that the eyes are inset and the nose sticks out. So it\u2019s a little bit of carving, but it\u2019s just adding a little more magic to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Valladao said he doesn\u2019t name his creations because he recognizes the ephemeral nature of his art, which only lasts a few days.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt never really bothers me when a pumpkin starts to age because in some cases they\u2019ll build character,\u201d Valladao said. <\/p>\n

And there’s always more pumpkins to be carved.<\/p>\n

After 40 years at Half Moon Bay, Valladao doesn\u2019t have any plans to hang up his carving knives.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s fun, it\u2019s enjoyable and, quite frankly, it\u2019s a piece of me,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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