Along with projects the CORE team has been hired to implement, Dan and Kadie have along history of creating events based on their own creative brainstorming. That is how one hot summer evening in Morristown, the two sitting beside the reflecting pool in front of the Vail Mansion, inspired by the historical architecture and the light dancing on the water came up with a way to incorporate both in a fall holiday event for the entire town.
Within three months of that initial conversation in 2001, the first Pumpkin Illumination, sponsored by Morris Arts and overseen by Director of Creative Placemaking, Kadie, took place with fifty or so families and their jack o lanterns providing the light.
Over the years as the crowds expanded exponentially!
The event grew incorporating life sized, lighted, cardboard masks created by Dan’s students and live music, most recently a New Orleans style, jazz band.
It is now a tradition, one of Morristown’s trademark events, attracting and delighting thousands of adults, teens and children, and the team has been hired by other towns to help create their own versions based on the original model.