By Brenna R. Kelly
The Cincinnati Enquirer

He's the Pumpkin King of Boone County.

"I get quite a reputation," said Norman Zeidler, a Petersburg artist with a fondness for all things Halloween - especially jack-o'-lanterns.

Each year he carves about 10 for the Boone County Jack-o'-lantern Contest and Walk.

IF YOU GO

What: 14th Annual Jack-o'-lantern contest and walk. When: 7:30-9:30 p.m. Saturday Where: Central Park, 9190 Camp Ernst Road, Union To enter a jack-o'-lantern: Drop off jack-o'-lantern from 9 to 10 a.m. Saturday along with a $1 entry fee. To pre-register, call 334-2117

"I just start early and carve as many as I can," said Zeidler, 46, who has entered his carvings in just about every walk for the last 14 years.

"The kids expect to see the skulls," Zeidler said. But he also carves aliens and traditional jack-o'lanterns, all freehand, with no drawing or tracing on pumpkins.

On Saturday night, Zeidler's jack-o'-lanterns will be among hundreds that will light a pathway through Central Park. Last year, about 3,000 people strolled through for the jack-o'-lantern walk, said Geri Wege, assistant program director at the Boone County Parks Department, which sponsors the event.

Not all of the pumpkin faces are carved by experts like Zeidler.

Kids carve most, and many of those kids are related to Rebecca Jones.

For Jones, of Burlington, creating jack-o'-lanterns for the walk has become a family tradition.

The night before the walk, the family - including Jones's three children and their 10 cousins and several aunts and uncles - gather to carve pumpkins.

"It is always an exciting event for the kids. We look forward to it every year," Jones said.

Jack-o'-lanterns are judged in 12 categories, including scariest, happiest, eeriest and traditional. The winners of first, second and third place in each category get a T-shirt.

Zeidler has a drawer full of shirts from his past winnings.

Now when he enters, he tries to pick categories that children don't usually enter.

And he picks pumpkins most people would reject.

E-mail bkelly@enquirer.com