COAL VALLEY-- The month of October could be summed up in two words. Pumpkin everything.
Luckily, Illinois is a mass producer of pumpkins so there's plenty to go around.
Local pumpkin sellers, like Corn Crib owner Derek Engstrom, have already sold hundreds of soon to be Jack-o-Lanterns.
But if you want to get a little more creative, check out the specialty pumpkins.
“There are Cinderella's, there’s the longer looking squash, the white ones, we’ve got a lot of mini ones”, says Engstrom.
Choose from a variety of gourds like ones called the 'Cinderella pumpkin,' which are good for stacking, or the 'peanut pumpkin,' which looks like it has peanuts growing on it.
"It’s a conversation piece because they’re so different and crazy looking," says Engstrom.
They are a bit more expensive than the average pumpkin because they tend to be a little bigger. They can range from $8 to $15, depending on size.
Some look unusual but perfect for the creepy factor your home needs for a Halloween vibe.
It's been a growing trend over the past few years with more people buying these unusual looking gourds.
“A lot of this has changed over the years, where your specialties would be a smaller gourd but now they're more of the giant size," says Engstrom.