Navy Pier is saying goodbye to Hot Girl Summer and hello to Spooky Girl Fall with its ongoing Halloween celebration, “Pier Pumpkin Lights.”

“Pier Pumpkin Lights” made its premiere at Navy Pier on Oct. 1. The month-long event features a variety of outdoor pop-up installations and designs themed around pumpkins and Halloween, and will be accompanied by additional seasonal programs before closing on Nov. 2.

“Pier Pumpkin Lights” aims to bring together multiple age groups, Payal Patel, a Communication graduate student and Navy Pier’s senior communication manager, told The Daily. Patel said the event hopes to attract year-round engagement at Navy Pier and refute the landmark’s reputation as a strictly summer destination.

The pumpkin displays were conceived by local Chicago company Ivan Carlson Event Design. The group has partnered with Navy Pier for over 20 years on projects such as the Christmas-themed “Winter Wonderfest” and past smaller-scale Halloween events.

Ivan Carlson creative director Gary Jackson said “Pier Pumpkin Lights” allows the company to take a different, more unconventional approach with their designs.

”The previous Halloweens were more traditional scary, creepy skeletons and graveyards, whereas this year, it’s a little bit more of an upscale, artistic approach and a little twist on the traditional,” Jackson said.

According to Ivan Carlson president Tina Carlson, eight carvers worked with Navy Pier employees on the installations and constructed the figures using fake pumpkin material called “Fun-Kins.” The six-week project also includes a variety of lighting designs, ranging from waterproof rope lighting to faceted g40 light bulbs.

“Pier Pumpkin Lights” pays homage to several pop culture and art figures, Carlson said. For instance, a multi-tiered, 16-foot pumpkin tower showcases carved depictions of famous horror characters such as Dracula and Freddy Kruger. One display recreates the Picasso statue located in Chicago’s Daley Plaza using jack o’lanterns. Another display — a garden consisting of 105 jack o’lanterns — includes carvings of various icons like Mona Lisa and E.T. alongside three skeletons that represent the famous “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” saying.

Carlson said the company had to purchase the rights to the patterns and the characters in order to use them for the displays. She added that the designers aimed to incorporate a wide range of classic Halloween touchstones.

“We wanted to make sure we covered, in an artful manner, traditional Halloween images,” Carlson said. “We didn’t want to be too esoteric with this, that people didn’t know what they were looking at.”

Navy Pier will host several other events and deals during October to complement “Pier Pumpkin Lights.” Some restaurants at the pier will offer special seasonal drinks and desserts, from “Vampire Bite” martinis to donut pumpkin ice cream sandwiches.

In addition, the pier will organize its traditional free trick-or-treat event closer to Halloween. Other special programs include a cosplay contest on Oct. 26 and a haunted house from Oct. 18 to 31.

Patel said she hopes Navy Pier will be able to offer something for everyone during the Halloween season.

“We’re trying to make this an all-inclusive event,” Patel said. “The options are endless, and the demographics for this particular event are vast.”

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