To date, the largest pumpkin she’s carved weighed in 1,100 pounds, though she’s hoping to get her hands on the second-place winner of this year’s Half Moon Bay pumpkin contest: a 2,465-pound monstrosity. She estimates it would take three days to carve.
While Goff gets the bulk of her jobs in October, her season really starts in mid-September and extends to early December. When pumpkins aren’t available, Goff carves other fruit and veggies, including butternut squash or sweet potatoes. Her favorite artwork she’s ever sculpted — a xenomorph from “Alien” — came from whittling a giant zucchini with a carrot for its tongue.
The hardest part of her work is that pumpkins don’t grow year-round, she notes, and she’s considering applying her carving skills to sand art or ice sculpture.
“Pumpkins are so seasonal, so I want to find more ways to work on art,” she said.
When Goff gets a pumpkin gig, she works with clients to bring their specific vision to life, but her personal style is inspired by film effects from the 1980s and ‘90s. She also gets ideas from her husband and, more recently, her two kids, who love watching her work.
“It’s like the badass version of pumpkin carving,” she said of her creations. “Most of my carvings aren’t really creepy or gory, but they are kick-ass.”
