At 8 a.m. Wednesday morning, Nathan Brockman picked up a power tool and warned a small crowd of people: “This will throw pumpkin guts.” Upon hearing his warning, a couple of people tentatively stepped back as Brockman sliced into the first of around 1,600 pumpkins.

Spirits in the Gardens is an annual Halloween event hosted by Reiman Gardens, which includes free candy, costumes and performances. However, the event’s main feature is its display of more than 1,000 freshly carved and uniquely designed pumpkins.

By the end of this year’s event, which will take place Oct. 13-15 and Oct. 20-22, Reiman will have carved and displayed roughly 1,600 pumpkins. Brockman, Reiman’s director of entomology, helps lead the work required to display each pumpkin, but a bulk of the effort is also completed by volunteers.

To prepare for last year’s Spirits in the Gardens, which featured 1,400 pumpkins, more than 1,900 volunteers contributed roughly 1,300 volunteer hours, according to Kimberly Hope, Reiman’s manager of volunteer engagement.

Each year, volunteers contribute to the Spirits event through four main steps: stenciling, tracing, gutting and carving.

Hope said volunteers begin stenciling in November as soon as the previous year’s event has ended. During this step of the process, volunteers use a cutting tool to stencil the designs that will appear on the pumpkins, which Reiman chooses and prints ahead of time.

As the event draws closer, volunteers move onto tracing, where they use the stencils to draw the designs onto the pumpkins. Once the tracing is complete, the pumpkins are ready for gutting.

Many organizations who host similar events carve their pumpkins by hand, according to Brockman. However, throughout the many years of their Spirits event, Reiman has developed their own system to complete the work.

To gut a pumpkin, Brockman applies a 4-inch hole saw that cuts the top out in a matter of seconds. After he or a volunteer removes the top from the pumpkin, Brockman follows up with a second power tool, which churns the insides and removes the guts from the inside edges.

“When we got the gutting tool, it made all the difference in the world,” Brockman said. “The volunteers used to literally scrape the insides out by hand, but now the tool basically does most of the work.”

Once Brockman applies the gutting tool, a volunteer can go in and empty the pumpkin’s insides by dumping it upside down and quickly scooping out its contents.

When there is a large group of gutting volunteers, the goal is for Brockman and a second helper to go down the line of pumpkins without turning their power tools off. For both Brockman and the volunteers, this can create a messy, and in some ways, chaotic environment.

“Some people walk up very surprised, and they don’t understand what gutting pumpkins means,” Brockman said. “They know what gutting pumpkins means at home, with a spoon or their hand, but definitely not power tools flinging pumpkin guts everywhere.”

Ashley Proctor, Lydia Lenz and Ellie Hira, three friends who volunteered together Wednesday, began their shift with pumpkin carving. However, they soon decided to help gut the pumpkins instead because it looked more fun.

“It’s a little terrifying, but we’re making it through,” Hira, a sophomore studying aerospace engineering, said. At the same time, Lenz, a sophomore studying marketing, said the experience was “gruesome.”

Gutting volunteers are often covered in pumpkin guts by the end of their shift, but Reiman provides them with a lab coat or poncho, gloves, protective eyewear and hairnet to minimize the mess and prioritize safety.

The group of three said that despite the power tools and flying pumpkin guts, the experience was relaxing because it gave them something to fixate on as they worked. One of them also compared it to a wreck room.

“It’s definitely fun,” Lenz said. “It feels like you’re at an amusement park, like a little adrenaline rush.”

Next to the gutting area but away from the flying globs of pumpkin, several more volunteers support the Spirits event by carving the pumpkins that Brockman and his teams have cleaned out.

During a two-hour shift Wednesday, Karen Wolters, a member of ISU’s Women’s Gardening Club, carved two pumpkins. Her first design, which featured a dog, cat and rabbit, took her 20 minutes. She dedicated the remaining hour and a half of her shift toward a zombie Hello Kitty.

Based on her own carving speed, Wolters estimated how many volunteers Reiman would need to help prepare the pumpkins, which impressed her.

“It’s amazing to see they have that much support,” Wolters said.

Andi Zarazua, a sophomore studying anthropology, helped carve pumpkins during one of the volunteering shifts because she needs volunteer hours to keep a scholarship. However, she said she is glad she participated and may return with her roommates.

“It’s very fun,” Zarazua said. “It’s a little hard, but they’re really interesting designs. It’s not what you’re used to carving with a little smiley face.”

Macie Stump, a junior studying journalism and mass communication, decided to volunteer after seeing an announcement through her school email. She said she enjoys carving pumpkins but does not have a place to store one while living in Ames with her sorority.

“I was just really excited about pumpkin carving because I get to do it at home, but I don’t get to do it while I’m here,” Stump said.

Stump said she was signed up with two friends who both ended up getting sick, but she decided to still attend, regardless.

“It’s very chill,” Stump said. “I had a midterm, and I have a lot of homework and busy rest of my day, so it’s nice to kind of step away for a little bit and just carve a pumpkin.”

By the time the pumpkins make their way into the gardens for the first night of the event, volunteers will have contributed more than 1,000 hours of work. For Brockman, who helps gut the pumpkins from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., all this time and work is always worth it.

“What [the event] does to help us do our other programs and help us meet our mission, it’s a big reason why we do it and do it as big as we do,” Brockman said.

Brockman also loves to watch people enjoy the event, especially when there are groups of college students or families featuring a wide range of ages and generations. He has many memories of the event’s visitors, including a young girl who was very enthusiastic about the display one year.

“This little bitty girl just stopped and she just shook, and she goes ‘It’s so magical!’” Brockman said.

In addition to the volunteers who give their time, Reimans receives support from the ISU Horticulture Farm, which grows most of the pumpkins they use.

“This event could not happen without almost 2,000 volunteers from the community showing up to help us, so we’re incredibly grateful,” Hope said. “I am so thankful to the volunteers for everything they do at Reiman Gardens year-round, but this is one of my favorite events because it takes a whole village to pull it off.”