As Oct. 31 looms and children of all ages are trying oncostumes, people are already well into the search for ajack-o-lantern that will either tickle or terrorizetrick-or-treaters.

It’s the search for the perfect pumpkin, and no pumpkinshopper’s wish list is the same as another’s.

Brookhaven’s Anna Smith and her 5-month-old daughter Ella PaxtonSmith left a local store with more than 10 pumpkins and gourdsMonday.

“I was looking for something different,” she said. “Not thetypical bright orange pumpkins. And these stood out.”

She pointed to a muted orange pumpkin that appeared almostexactly round.

“These are the kind you make pumpkin pie out of, because they’renot stringy like jack-o-lantern pumpkins,” she said.

Smith said she doesn’t know how to make pumpkin pie, but shemight try to do it, simply because she’d bought the right kind ofpumpkins to make it with.

Meanwhile, inside the store, Shannon Bowden, also of Brookhaven,perused the baby pumpkin patch. The pumpkin aisle was just one stopon her grocery list, but she said the orange gourds have alwaysbeen an important part of her Halloween rituals.

“When I lived in North Carolina when I was a kid, there was apumpkin contest, and it was when Pac-Man was so big,” she said. “Imade a Pac-Man pumpkin, and made the goblins out of colored tissuepaper. It was really cool.”

Needless to say, Bowden won that contest. So what does anaward-winning pumpkin carver look for?

“I look for just that – the perfect pumpkin,” she said. “Onewith no dents, no bad marks on it. Sometimes it’s whatever appeals.As long as it’s got good color and good size.”

Bowden said, though, that things seemed a little different inthe pumpkin patch since her childhood. She admitted it could bethat things seem bigger and brighter through the eyes of a child,but she said the pumpkin crop seems to leave a little more to bedesired each year.

“They used to always have big pretty orange pumpkins, butthey’re not as healthy-looking anymore,” she said. “It might be thestuff they spray in the air, but the quality and the texture justaren’t as good anymore. They used to seem a lot more colorful.”

Johnny Davis, of Copiah County, said he has had a pumpkin on hisporch every year, even after his children had grown and gone.

“Even if I don’t put a face on it, it’s just the tradition ofit,” he said. “I just feel like I have to have one because it’slike a Christmas tree, only at Halloween.”

Davis said he doesn’t get many trick-or-treaters out in thecounty where he lives, but he keeps the candy jar by the door justin case.

“And I’ll eat it myself if I can’t give it away,” he said. “Itdoesn’t take me long.”

Smith said the trick-or-treaters are her favorite part of theseason.

“Where we live on South Jackson Street, there are so many kidscoming up and down the street,” she said. “It’s just a lot offun.”

Those people who are out to enjoy dressing up and goingdoor-to-door, said Bowden, are the whole reason for having theperfect pumpkin.

“I always try to make a happy pumpkin,” she said. “I like tobring a smile to people’s faces and make others happy. I want tomake something they’ll smile when they look at it.”