A Request from Ray Villafane!
Good morning, Pumpkinistas!
Every once in a while, I receive a very interesting communication from someone in a pumpkin-related area. Yesterday afternoon, I received this e-mail from Ray Villafane, an internationally-known sculptor who happens to need a few 40-150 pound pumpkins at the end of August to carve in Anaheim. Since pumpkin growers are some of the most open and helpful people around, I let Ray know that I'd help him as much as I could. So, if you're interested in helping Ray, please let me know by contacting me at: sbs33@cornell.edu and I'll put you in touch with him.
"Hello, Stuart,
My name is Ray Villafane. I am a professional sculptor working for Warner Bros./DC Comics (Batman and Superman people). Anyway, each year I carve pumpkins and they are a hit with many people. I won the Food Network Challenge show for pumpkin carving and have had my pumpkins featured on Yahoo's main page, national TV shows and more. You can see some samples of my work at
I was recently invited to Anaheim CA to participate in a huge video gaming convention hosted by Blizzard Entertainment. They would like me to carve some pumpkins at the show. The show is during the last weekend in August and I would need to locate possible pumpkins in the area. The size pumpkins that I find ideal are between 40-150 lbs . Despite being so early in the season do you think you might be able to supply me with a few pumpkins when the time comes? I am in Michigan and need to arrange things before hand. I am simply trying to hunt down possible heavy quality pumpkins.
Thank you,
Ray Villafane"
