It used to be enough to just carve a couple triangles for eyes and a gap-toothed mouth into a hollowed-out pumpkin and — poof! — you had your Halloween jack o’lantern.
But that just doesn’t cut it at the Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits’ Be Our Guest luncheon, which was held Thursday afternoon on the field at a sunny and warm Excite Ballpark in San Jose.
There were plenty of attendees in costume — Sunnyvale Mayor Larry Klein went all out as Willy Wonka and Los Altos City Councilmember Neysa Fligor made a fantastic Queen Charlotte from “Bridgerton” — but the decorated pumpkins were the stars.
Leslie Rodriguez used her pumpkin as the base for a coconut tree in a nod to Vice President Kamala Harris, Santa Clara County Supervisor Otto Lee used a couple of gourds to depict rodent chef Ratatouille tending to a bubbling stock pot; Santa Clara County Food Systems Manager Cayce Hill turned hers into an overflowing popcorn bucket; VTA staff had a trio of pumpkins showing light-rail trains in some spooky environments; and Supervisor Sylvia Arenas turned her gourd into a garlic bulb…