Locomotoring

I am busy preparing for autumn – cleaning gutters, trimming plants and trees, harvesting the summer crop. But I find myself feeling unsettled. It isn’t a new feeling, it just happens around this time of the year and lasts all the way to the new year. So I look for avenues to distract myself. Filoli had promised an autumn show – “Crisp air, golden light and pumpkins everywhere”. I had picked the last slot of the evening. I had modest expectations from a weekday night from a neighborhood garden estate. Filoli surprised me with their extensive Halloween display. What surprised me more were the number of people, thousands had turned up late on a weekday, many were in costumes, lots of kids.

Night had fallen by the time we arrived. We were directed to the overflow parking. The overflow parking itself was overflowing. These were ticketed and timed entries, so I concluded that the previous batch of visitors hadn’t left. I should have realized right then that it was a good show.

The walk had two options, starting at the the redwoods or the main house. We decided to start with the redwoods. The first thing I saw were the magical firefly lights. The dirt path led to a Pumpkin field, a Haystack Critter Trail, a Haunted Railway and a Witches Outpost. Tucked in between were places for people to sit, eat and spend time with their families. The Meadow by the main house offered more pumpkins, food truck, a bar. The historic house itself offered a champagne lounge and was decorated from top to bottom in Halloween theme. It was clearly an immense effort. While every show has a commerce angle, this one felt like effort of love.