If you’re reading this, it’s more than likely that you’ve seen the giant pumpkin on Saugerties–Woodstock Road, also known as Route 212, that signals the arrival of fall in the Catskills. And, if you’re like me, you’ve probably wondered what the story is.
Every October, Douglas Haeberer, a semi-retired handyman uses a truck and chain lift to drag a 500-pound spray-foam pumpkin from his backyard to the edge of his front lawn in Saugerties. For many locals, it signals the transition into spooky season as much as the changing leaves.
“All that pumpkin is made out of is like three-quarter-inch PVC conduit pipe,” he explained. “I made about five or six of those loops, tied them at the top and bottom, spread them out kind of like a globe. And then I wrapped it in burlap, and from there I just started spray-foaming it and making it what I wanted.”
Haeberer, 58, moved to the Catskills from North Haledon, N.J., shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, settling first in Hunter before buying his home in Saugerties nearly two decades ago. For 17 years he ran a spray-foam insulation business called Cutting Edge Spray Foam, crafting everything from fake rock walls to parade floats. He built the pumpkin 15 years ago, and regrets selling his spray foam equipment because of the popularity of the giant pumpkin. Passerby stop by to take photos or find out more, When business slowed during the pandemic and labor dried up, he turned to smaller handyman work.
He estimates the sculpture contains about $600 worth of foam. When he first finished it, the piece was an eerie off-white.
“Everybody thought it was the garlic clove for the Garlic Fest,” he said, laughing. “But ultraviolet light breaks down the spray foam. Within a year or two it got that nice orange patina. There’s no paint on that, that’s its natural color.”
Each fall, Haeberer hauls the pumpkin back into view. “I just put a chain on it, a skid plate underneath it, and haul it into the back,” he said. And every year, people stop to take pictures.
“A lot of people just thank me for making this and putting this out there and making people smile,” he said. “That’s pretty much the main point of it. I don’t make any money off this thing. It’s just for the people.”
Haeberer’s former assistant, Heather McKenna, recalled his knack for transforming industrial materials into art. “He made the giant snowballs for the Bank of Greene County,” she said. “He’s good at creating things out of spray foam, once it’s shaped and painted, it becomes real.”
Over the years, Haeberer has built parade props, a foam Santa head, the face of Thomas the Train, a pirate ship’s curling waves, and even a domed doghouse for his pet, which remains insulated to this day.
He still fixes leaky faucets and broken doorknobs around town, but there’s a restlessness in his voice when he talks about the work he used to do.
“It’s like, the more I talk about it, the more I’m like, man, I want another machine,” he said. “I just want to play.”
For now, his pumpkin remains his best-known creation—and one of the Hudson Valley’s most photographed roadside curiosities. Come November, he hauls it back to the quiet of his backyard, where it waits for another October, another season, another round of smiles.
Noah Eckstein is the editor-in-chief of The Overlook. Send correspondence to noah@theoverlooknews.com.