By Joseph Tucci
The Middletown Press
TOLLAND, Conn. — Kris Farley said that after moving to Tolland in 2021, he contemplated what kind of Halloween decorations he could place in his yard. Thinking that there was no way he could outdo the extravagant light displays of his neighbors, he wanted to find something that could still stand out. He found a company from China that created inflatables and had them to create a 30-foot-tall pumpkin.
“I did this whole thing as a joke because I was like, you know, what would be really funny and just absolutely crazy is if I threw this thing in my front yard,” Farley said.
In 2022, Farley put the “Great Tolland Pumpkin” in his front yard for the first time. While Farley said he wasn’t expecting the pumpkin to draw that much attention, soon visitors from all across the Nutmeg State journeyed to visit it. He keeps the pumpkin up through October each year and sets up parking spaces for visitors who want to get out and take a photo with it. He started a Facebook fan page for the inflatable, which now has over 2,000 followers. Farley, who is a volunteer for the Tolland Fire Department, added that other members now help him set it up each year.
“Some people find it really special. The nice thing about this is that it’s one of the few things in life that is completely apolitical,” Farley said. “There’s not many more people that get joy out of it than I do. A lot of people love this thing, but to put the amount of effort that we all do every year into making this thing function, you have to love it. I love setting this thing up. I love the attention that it brings, the positivity that it brings.”
The giant pumpkin standing tall in Farley’s yard this year is not the original one from 2022. That one was blown down the road and into a church parking lot by the wind. While Farley was able to retrieve it, it got damaged and when he went to deflate it later in the year, another burst of wind ripped it apart. Farley started a GoFundMe “as a joke” to replace it, which raised $1,610. The new pumpkin is held down by stronger anchors and has black triangles for its eyes and nose instead of the yellow ones the original had, Farley added.
“I totally did not expect anybody to fund it, because I didn’t think anybody cared that much about it,” Farley said.
Joining the pumpkin this year is a 13-foot model of Jack Skellington, the main character of “The Nightmare Before Christmas” as well as an around 10-foot tall scarecrow. When the Christmas season rolls around, Skellington will still be standing next to Farley’s other giant inflatable, a 40-foot-tall Santa. He added that the giant Santa, which stays up from late November through December, is more of a hassle to maintain because snow can weigh it down and it’s easier for the wind to knock it over. To try to keep Santa from being blown away, Farley puts around 100 pounds of sand into Santa’s boots.
“The nice thing about Jack Skellington is that because ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ is technically a Christmas movie, he will serve a double purpose, so he’ll be working extra,” Farley said. “It honestly is scary if you ever go get to see it in person—how massive (the Santa) is compared to the pumpkin. Even though it’s only 10 feet taller than the pumpkin, let me tell you, it is something else when you’re up next to it.”
While Farley doesn’t charge visitors to take photos with his inflatables, he does do a fundraiser each year to coincide with the pumpkin going up to raise money for local animal shelters. He was inspired by his mother, who would take in injured animals like squirrels, rehabilitate them and release them back into the wild. From his first GoFundMe to replace the pumpkin destroyed in 2022, he donated an extra $500 he raised to Tolland Animal Control, and this year his GoFundMe has raised an additional $1,135 for the organization as of Oct. 8.
“This is something that, regardless of who you are and where you’re from, we can all agree that we want animals to have a safe, healthy home,” Farley said. “As we get towards the colder months, these problems tend to pop up more than others, and it’s important that we take care of those that take care of animals for us.”
Farley’s pumpkin isn’t the first inflatable to gain attention around the tri-state area this year. In August, a 15-ton rubber duck at Playland in Rye, New York , received hundreds of visitors.
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