Brad's Beat: Pumpkin Carver
By: Brad Douglas
Updated: October 23, 2012
NEOSHO, MO.--- Bill Lentz is a man of many talents, and this time of year his pumpkin skills come in handy. He carves pumpkins for the kids at the United Methodist Church in Neosho and has been doing it for several years.
"They started the pumpkin patch 2 or 3 years ago. They said we needed someone to carve pumpkins, guess what, I got drafted," states Bill Lentz, Pumpkin Carver.
His first love is being a wood carver. He's been doing that all of his life. He likes to carve people, girls in particular. One of my favorites is this piece he calls "Global Warming." He believes in it, because bathing suits have gotten smaller over the years, but he says if you want to get started carving wood, you'll need to stock up on a certain item.
"It's a little box of band aids, because you're gonna need them," states Lentz
He says pumpkins are a lot easier to work with than wood.
"With pumpkin's, you try to get faces on there to entertain someone until the 31st of October," says Lentz.
He uses a lot of the same tools.
"Half a hack saw blade routed in piece of wood. Poke it through," states Lentz.
Bill says carving pumpkins helps keep you young.
"Oh yeah if you grow up, you're gone. I tell people I may be getting older but I refuse to grow up," says Lentz.
It's one of his favorite holidays', but back in the day he used to do more tricks than treats.
"I turned outhouses over, that was my Halloween tradition," states Lentz.
He even made a KSN pumpkin and thought about carving Gary Bandys' face on it.
"I don't know if this was the good side of his face or the bad side. I didn't know which one it was. So I didn't try it," says Lentz.
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