Ocean Park chairman Allan Zeman's face on pumpkin promotes Halloween

No shrinking violet, entertainment mogul Allan Zeman took publicity to new levels yesterday when a pickled pumpkin sculpture of his face went on display to help mark the start of Halloween festivities at Ocean Park.

But park boss Zeman's beaming orange visage is put in the shade by the centrepiece of the unconventional display - a huge creation carved out of the biggest pumpkin to come out of the United States this year, a 454kg gourd fashioned into a munching monster.

The men behind the parade of pumpkins, which will see more than 100 sculptures displayed in a "pumpkin creation lab" from now until Halloween at the end of the month, are professional sculptors Ray Villafane and Andy Bergholtz.

The two men hand-picked and flew more than 350 pumpkins from the US especially for the job.

Villafane, 44, who has had work displayed in the White House, said that when he was approached by the park in March, the idea of a science fiction-themed haunted house with pickled pumpkin heads immediately came to mind.

Pumpkins have to be pickled so they don't quickly turn into mush. But the 454kg monster was too big to pickle, so it has a shelf life of just a week.