RISE of the Jack O'Lanterns, Inc, Westbury

From scary movies to haunted houses, Halloween entertainment often errs more toward the trick end of the holiday's trick-or-treat spectrum. RISE of the Jack O'Lanterns, however, embraces treats with its scare-free, family-friendly walking trail, which showcases more than 5,000 hand-carved and illuminated Jack O'Lanterns. Each unique piece is the work of local artists and sculptors, who spend anywhere from a few minutes to upwards of 20 hours on their designs. Alongside mountains of pumpkins, the show also spotlights a few gourds standing around 3 feet tall.

Those images are arranged according to theme along the trail, leading guests past groupings of pumpkins carved with everything from a giraffe and dinosaur fossils to a 50-foot long dragon made from hundreds of pumpkins, all accompanied by corresponding songs. Visitors can also check out the auto show, featuring pumpkins carved and stacked as classic cars, and the live carving station, where artists paint and hand-carve 100-pound pumpkins into various TV and movie stars. 200 hanging lanterns, 75 floodlights, and a few fireflies just hanging around illuminate the 1/3-mile path, and on select nights, guests can see live carving demonstrations with artists featured on Food Network and the Travel Channel.