Some laughs, some scares and lots of paint

It got a little messy at the Hendrickson Park administration building last Saturday morning. Fortunately, that was the plan.

The recreation department hosted its second annual pumpkin painting contest with about 120 children participating. The village provided the pumpkins, paint and brushes, and parents had to sacrifice a pair of their child’s clothing.

Pumpkins were judged in two categories — scariest and funniest. The judges were Ken Heino of the Valley Stream Youth Council and Debbi Gyulay, president of the Chamber of Commerce. “I thought all of the pumpkins were well done and the kids should be very proud,” Heino said. “It was a tough decision. They’re all winners.”

In the younger age group, so many children participated they had to be split into two rooms. In the one room, Denise Rubenstein took first place for the scariest pumpkin and Jordan Roberts came in second. Sara Schaefer and Kaitlin Garofalo were judged to have the funniest pumpkins. The other room boasted Edwin Ortiz as the winner for scariest pumpkin followed by Justin Torres. Jade Boden placed first for funniest creation and Courtney Chanblin got second place.

The older group had Luciana Viscarra winning first place for scariest pumpkin with Arianna Tzunum placing second. Trophy winners for funniest pumpkin were Kimberly Attansio and Erin O’Toole.

Every child got a participation trophy as well as a t-shirt from the Chamber of Commerce. They also got to take their pumpkin home.