How one man carving a pumpkin for his daughter transformed into an annual Fall Fest tradition at the Lincoln Park Zoo

CHICAGO (WGN) — A software designer by day and a self-described passionate craftsman by night, Marc Solomon has spent his Octobers over the last several decades carving some of the most intricate and beautiful designs into pumpkins for Halloween that Chicagoland has to offer.

“This all started because my wife wanted me to do a pumpkin for our daughter,” Solomon said.

From that first pumpkin, a beloved hobby transformed into a business, the work of which can be found on Solomon’s website, pumpkincarver.net. After all of these years and countless designs—featuring everything from the Chicago skyline to Minions-themed takes on historic paintings— Solomon has made quite the name for himself.

“We do a display at our house every year. We’ve been doing it for 30 years,” Solomon said. “I have people who come up [and] go, ‘We moved away, but we come back every Halloween to see what you’ve done.’”

That reputation has brought him to Fall Fest at the Lincoln Park Zoo (LPZ) for more than ten years straight now.

And while Sunday ended Fall Fest at LPZ, the joy Solomon sparked in his youngest guests this weekend will keep him returning his pumpkin carving station there for years to come.

“We just had a little girl here ‘ooo’ing’ and ‘ahh’ing’ over the pumpkin in front of you,” Solomon told WGN-TV’s Jewell Hillery, pointing at a pumpkin on display at LPZ. “That [was] just adorable.”