Night of 1,000 Jack-o'-Lanterns

About This Event

Night of 1,000 Jack-o'-Lanterns is exactly what it sounds like — an illuminated after-dark path through the Chicago Botanic Garden lined with more than 1,000 glowing pumpkins, roughly 80 of them elaborately hand-carved showpieces, the rest simpler LED-lit jack-o'-lanterns filling out themed groupings along the way.

The showpiece pumpkins aren't carved by local talent — they come from Rise of the Jack O'Lanterns, a New York-based touring company whose artists spend up to 15 hours carving a single pumpkin (some of which weigh up to 150 pounds). The Botanic Garden brought the show to Glencoe around 2015, and it's grown steadily since, expanding from its original 10-night run to 15 nights by popular demand.

Worth knowing: this isn't a continuous three-week run — it plays on select nights only (three separate blocks this year: Oct 7–11, 14–18, and 21–25), with no event on the nights in between, so double-check the actual dates before planning a visit around this window. Tickets run roughly $21–24.50 for adults and $14–17.50 for kids, and timed entry typically sells out.