The Pittsburgh Zoo's Jack O'Lantern Extravaganza opens Thursday, Oct. 2. KDKA-TV's Kristine Sorensen got a chance to learn what it's like to carve the intricate designs in the pumpkins you'll see there, and it's a lot of work.

Kristine met the master carver and some of the people he has trained who carve the incredible images. This year, there are 4,000 pumpkins — that's 1,000 more than last year's inaugural pumpkin event. Of those, 75 are fresh pumpkins, and that means they have a short shelf life.

"The 75 live pumpkins that you are going to see are replaced every three days by human hands, drawn by a different person every time you see the design, carved by a different person every time you see the design. And with the 80-degree October that we are experiencing, we're gonna have to be rotating these guys a lot. It's a mad dash every single day that we're open to make sure that there are fresh beautiful works of art on the poles every single night," master carver Brendan Conaway explained. 

Brendan Conaway on PTL

In addition to all the carved pumpkins, you'll see real, massive pumpkins that weigh more than 1,000 pounds throughout the zoo along the path of pumpkins. There are also slightly spooky Halloween decorations and activities for the whole family.

The Pittsburgh Zoo's Jack O'Lantern Extravaganza runs almost every night from Oct. 2 until Nov. 2.  Tickets are $15-$26. Get more details on the Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium website. And check out Kidsburgh's Guide to "60 Not-so-spooky Halloween events" for families.

KDKA is proud to partner with kidsburgh.org.