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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

City's pumpkin Picasso out in garage, carving

By: Nick Martin

Posted: 10/31/2011 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

Capt. Jack Sparrow and other characters glow from pumpkins carved by lawyer Jim Sedgwick on the front steps of his Dominion Street home on Sunday. (JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) Photo Store

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The crowds will flock to Dominion Street tonight to see the burning orange heads outside Jim and Michelle Sedgwick's house.

Captain Jack Sparrow, Mona Lisa, Shrek, Aaaaahhhhhnold -- bring a camera, vote for your favourite, and don't forget to ask for a piece of candy.

Jim has been carving pumpkins for seven years, Michelle said Sunday evening as her husband was carving in the garage.

"He doesn't tell us what he's doing," she said. Once Jim is finished, he calls in the family, and they have to identify his latest subject. He puts out six pumpkins each year.

"He wants a tall pumpkin" to buy at the supermarket this morning, she said, and who that pumpkin will become is as much a mystery to her as to everyone else.

"He just kind of does it for fun. The kids in my daughter's class (at Wolseley School) ask what her father is going to do this year," Michelle said.

No, Jim Sedgwick isn't an artist, at least not a professional one -- he's a lawyer for Manitoba Hydro.

"No, not at all, just pumpkins," Michelle said. "He's a self-taught pumpkin carver. He gets excited this time of year."

Jim doesn't carve wood or any other substance.

He uses simple knives, nothing elaborate, nor does he use anything to embellish his pumpkins, such as drawing on features: "It's just carving," Michelle said.

"Lots of people come by. We often get people taking pictures of them. We ask them (to vote) and keep count on a piece of paper."

Yes, they put candles inside the pumpkins, and yes, like any pumpkin, they'll be in the compost within a few days.

The Sedgwick house is between Westminster and Wolseley avenues on Dominion Street.

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition October 31, 2011 0

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