Presidential pumpkins

Jennifer Kho

COSTA MESA -- Election day is a week away, but one local race has

already been completed.

The Pumpkinhead Election, with voters selecting between the faces of

presidential candidates George W. Bush and Al Gore carved out of

150-pound pumpkins, was the main attraction at the annual Trick or Treat

Festival at the Orange County Fairgrounds on Sunday.

Bush won with 50 votes, while Gore garnered just 42 votes. Six voters

were undecided.

The real winners, however, were the voters whose names were drawn from

plastic pumpkins after the election.

Costa Mesa resident Linda Kasper, who voted for the Bush pumpkin, and

Orange resident Julie Foley, who voted for the Gore pumpkin, got to take

the pumpkins home.

Mike Valladao, a San Jose resident, carved the pumpkins in about seven

hours based on photos torn from magazines.

Vallodao, who said he has been carving giant pumpkins -- and only

giant pumpkins -- for 15 years, discovered his talent for carving after

he began growing the large pumpkins as a project with his cousin.

He said he bought chisels 16 years ago with the intent of carving a

wooden teddy bear for his newborn daughter, but he gave up on the idea

after cutting himself.

Then Vallodao grew his first big pumpkin, a whopping 135 pounds.

“I didn’t know what to do with it, so I carved it using those

chisels,” he said, adding that pumpkins that size are the smallest he

will carve now. “I thought ‘This is pretty cool,’ and I’ve been doing it

ever since.”

Figuring out the depth of the pumpkin skin is a challenge, Valladao

said, and noses are the most difficult parts to carve.

“You want the eyes to be inset, the nose protruding and the teeth

inset, but the pumpkin is only so thick,” he said. “This is about the

depth of the pumpkin. If I went on another inch or so I would be in the

inside. So getting a protruding nose is a challenge. The nose is always

going to look a little bit off.”

Gore and Bush are not the first presidential candidates Valladao has

carved. He said he once carved Ross Perot.

“He was easy because he had big ears,” Valladao said. “These guys are

difficult because they’re kind of nondescript.”

A number of festival attendants watched Valladao as he carved.

“This is pretty impressive stuff,” said Irvine resident Doren Hibbard

at the festival. “I don’t know what the application of it is, when all is

said and done, but it’s a unique skill to have. Fascinating.”