See our gardens come to life with astonishing artistic pumpkin displays all across our grounds.
These mixed media installations, made by talented local artists and interspersed with additional skeleton and ghost scenes, are sure to wow visitors of all ages!
2026 Artists:
Rita Jokerst first brought her artistic eye to Pumpkins on Parade in 2020 while working as a horticulturist at The Gardens on Spring Creek. Rather than creating just individual pieces, Rita installs immersive scenes that invite attendees to linger and discover more details the longer they look. She is drawn to the beauty and value of natural materials and uses a range of processing and preservation techniques to incorporate these more temporal materials into her work. The results are distinctive, nuanced, landscape-centered and whimsical Halloween displays that feel at home amid the natural beauty of the Gardens’ grounds. Rita lives in Fort Collins with her husband, dog, and cat and enjoys the standard fare of Colorado activities.
Stephen “Grant” Smith is a local artist and the Creative Director for the City of Fort Collins. Outside of his day job working for his community, his art focuses on hyper-realistic illustrations and paintings ranging from the organic to the mathematical. He considers himself an amateur pumpkin carver during the month of October and has partnered with The Gardens on Spring Creek for the past six years to sculpt a giant pumpkin live during the Pumpkins on Parade event. It’s one of his favorite projects every year. Follow him on Instgram: @stephengrantsmith.
Brooke Van Buiten is a multimedia artist based out of Fort Collins, CO. She is currently inspired by how visual art and live performance such as music, theater and puppetry can coexist in a world of constant collaboration. As a creator in many mediums such as music, painting and sculpture, she enjoys creating large scale installations and interactive artworks. She hopes her installations at the Gardens on Spring Creek Pumpkins on Parade will encourage guests to interact with her artwork and become a part of the visual world this art resides in.
Danice Chou (she/her) is a maker, engineer, and creative problem-solver who believes art and technology are most exciting when they come together. With experience spanning manufacturing, STEM tutoring, collaborative art, and community makerspaces, she enjoys helping people transform ideas into tangible creations. Through her work in makerspaces, she has supported vibrant communities of students, artists, and makers. When she is not in the lab, you'll likely find her gardening, socializing with neighborhood cats, curating a personal collection of illustrated natural history and pop-up books, or working on her next creative project.
Katie Redman is a designer and artist, who started designing, 3D modeling, and fabricating/constructing sculptural pieces at CSU in the Art Department, Interior Architecture & Design Department, and Design Thinking Programs. She is a mixed media artist comfortable working with wood, metals, plastics (3D printing), and fiber mediums, on both large and small scale projects.
Thank you to these talented artists for sharing their creativity and imagination with our community through this event.