IMAGES | Artists carving thousands of pumpkins for Jack O' Lantern Spectacular

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A sea of orange in Iroquois Park. Dozens of pumpkins are taking over. The Jack O' Lantern Spectacular is back in Louisville for another year.

"It has turned into a family tradition for so many people," said Brooke Pardue, CEO of Louisville Parks Foundation.

The work starts months before the pumpkin palooza delights, and enters the 11th hour leading up to dusk on opening day Tuesday. Pardue says it's an "all hands on deck kind of time."

"It's kind of like game time," added artist Mathew Sciannameo. "You know, that anxiety before a baseball game,"

There's last minute carving, loading, unloading, and making sure every gourd looks just right.

"There's a lot of sweat and muscle that goes into this," Sciannameo said. "These pumpkins don't lift themselves. There's also a lot of finesse, because these pumpkins don't carve themselves."

In fact, a lot of them take at least a full work day, and pumpkins can be problematic.

"They break and rot, fruit flies, and fungus," Sciannameo explained.

It's why carving can't start until four or five days out and guts can't be scooped out until the night before the show.

"That's when the clock really starts to tick," Sciannameo said.

Rot can become an issue in a matter of 16 hours. The crew always has a backup plan.

"We build an inventory of replacements, and duplicates that we'll use during the show," said Sciannameo.

Local artists are at their posts around the clock to keep up.

The Jack O' Lantern Spectacular is a fundraiser for Louisville's public parks. A portion of every ticket sold goes back into public parks.